Things I wrote
-
Highlights from The Working Life: The Promise and Betrayal of Modern Work
-
I recently finished reading a book that has gotten me thinking about a lot of things. The book, along with a couple of online conversations, have made me seriously wonder about what work is in relation to a job and how does work fit into our lives.
-
I have a secret, it's not a shocking one, don't worry. And yes, it does have to do with front end web development. Well, here it is, I really dislike JavaScript. When I say that, I don't mean that it's just not my favorite thing to do in my job, I mean to say it is at the very bottom of the list.
-
Last night I attended the local meet up group of Portland Web Designers. I went because I wanted to actually see a blind person use the web and the whole evening was all about accessibility. I admit to being slow to learn all the ins and outs of accessibility, I've read some about it, but recently with a new project I've been working on, I've become passionate about making sure it is accessible.
-
Highlights from The Art of Choosing
-
So this weekend, with Ethan's book in hand, I sat down to tweak my blog. (See my <a href="http://susanjeanrobertson.com/geekery/progressive-enhancement-and-responsive-design/">previous post</a> for a review of the book itself.) When I launched this design back in March, I had used the A List Apart article to set it up and prep it for a liquid layout ...
-
Wow, what a week to be a working on the web. Two fantastic books came out recently and they both arrived in my little hands in the last week and I sped through them. What they both have in common is the small, compact, not a wasted word style. They also go about explaining the concepts in humorous, fun ways. What books am I talking about?
-
So last night I made my way down to Mobile Portland. I was so excited about the event as the topic was the exact thing I have been thinking about over the last couple of weeks, The Myth of Mobile Context. The panel did not disappoint.
-
But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in observing people on their mobile devices, it’s that they’ll do anything on mobile if they have the need. Write long emails? Check. Manage complex sets of information? Check. And the list goes on. If people want to do it, they’ll do it on mobile -especially when it’s their only or most convenient option.
-
On the heels of the post from the weekend, I have been thinking more and more about how to implement a single code base that works on all devices. When talking about this at work with a coworker, he was skeptical. I described what I have heard about the Boston Globe redesign and he said, "nirvana, it doesn't exist." Then he said, "when I am on my mobile, I want to complete my task quickly and easily and be done." I pointed out to him that not everyone is like him, that many people are using their mobile devices to read on, to dive deeper.
-
Lately I have been thinking a lot about an image that I saw at An Event Apart in Seattle. It came at the very end of [Jeremy's](http://adactio.com/) talk and he was standing on the stage in front of the screen and the slide he was showing just kept adding in more images of his website on several different devices, such as the iPad, the iPhone, the Kindle, a large monitor, and even a very old version of IE.
-
I have been thinking about screens a lot lately. Part of that is surely because I just finished <em>The Winter of our Disconnect</em>. It's a really interesting read about an American woman living in Perth, Australia who decides her family, which consists of 3 teenagers, needs to take a 6 month break from screens in their home. This means for 6 months no smartphones, no computers, no TV, nothing which has a screen.
-
Go for a walk; cultivate hunches; write everything down, but keep your folders messy; embrace serendipity; make generative mistakes; take on multiple hobbies; frequent coffeehouses and other liquid networks; follow the links; let others build on your ideas; borrow, recycle, reinvent. Build a tangled bank.
-
Highlights from reading Where Good Ideas Come From
-
For the past several months I have been thinking a lot about balance. I am sure that the fact that I started practicing yoga last November is part of the reason, so much of it is about balance, and not just in keeping your balance as you hold poses, but also in being balanced in mind and body.