Git is an endlessly powerful version control system, by far the strongest I’ve ever used in my career. Yet that said, I stick pretty much to basic command line (pull, push, diff) commands on a daily basis. Developer Nicola Paolucci’s post on Git tips I think will change this. Major hat tip to him for two actions I’d invoke commonly: listing all deleted files in a respository and searching for a string in all revisions of git history.
Nick Bilton, writing for The New York Times:
The worship of design has also taken designers out of the back offices and into top executive jobs. Engineers are still in the mix, to be sure. But they don’t rule the roost in product development, which may also be why tech products are easier to use, more human.
As Bilton’s piece illustrates, this is a time where great web designers make or break websites. The collaboration level between designers and developers is key as well; without a great workflow, all the great design ideas in the world won’t be implemented.
I’ve been listening to the design/mobile/tech podcast Iterate for a while now. While it’s often pretty jargon dense and gets pretty deep in the weeds in terms of iOS and mobile design, as a full time web designer/developer, it’s a must listen each week. Episode 36 with designers Louis, Brad and Jessie of group Pacific Helm is one of my favorites to date. Very funny with plenty of little design tools and tips I didn’t know about.
This episode recorded this last Saturday at CES has some good back and forth specific to the web in the first twenty to thirty minutes. In particular, hosts Josh, Nilay and Paul discuss the recent spat between Microsoft and Google due to the removal of Google Maps web access on Windows Mobile. There’s talk about monopolies on the web, Webkit and web standards.
Software developer/startup founder Dan Newcome:
The value of the Web is the content and connections. Just let me use the Web. I don’t care that much if I get slightly jerky scrolling, or if the list doesn’t seem like it’s infinitely scrolling off the edge of my little iOS world.
There’s a reason why this short post made the front page of Hacker News for 24 hours; If there’s anything that I’d like to see end in this new year, it’s the “native apps for everything” trend. Native apps are great, web browsers are great; but neither is great for everything.
I generally dislike iOS third party apps that mirror or attempt a slight tweak on good Apple default system apps like Music or the Alarm Clock. Yet this new app by Simple Bots is awesome. It’s pretty and has slick gestures, but the key advantage here is speed. I can set my morning alarm in about 10 seconds: a swipe up or down followed by a quick pull to the left and I’m done.
The Ashbury and Ashbury design shop blog:
There’s a writing angle to the whole thing that needs some airing. The whole story is already being co-opted as a case study in the importance of clear communication and getting the tone right. This worries me, because that’s exactly what it isn’t, at least not in the way that’s being suggested.
More than almost any of the many other articles regarding Instagram, this one nails why Instagram is in such hot water with its users. I myself don’t plan on quitting Instagram immediately, but for now my main photographic attention has shifted to Flickr.
Excellent profile by The New Yorker’s Alec Wilkinson of Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor. It’s behind The New Yorker’s usual paywall, but if you have access it’s a really engrossing read (admittedly as a huge NIN fan since my teenage years I’m probably a bit biased in this regard.)
There’s some interesting tech news here as well: Reznor is working with Beats Electronics on the design of a new music-streaming service that will compete with Spotify and Rdio. He argues Spotify is like “being on the web without Google” and he has a point. As noted earlier today, music curation is a huge challenge to crack. Will this new Beats offer anything really different? We’ll see.
Avand Amiri:
Perhaps the solution is more holistic. A great setlist takes into account when a song was played last, its popularity, how it relates to friends’ musical tastes, and similarity to music that’s currently playing. Rdio could compute a compound index, Play Strength, and expose it in the interface to help suggest the next tracks. You don’t have to explain how you computed the index, but the mechanics are interesting. Pandora does this when they explain why you’re hearing a particular song and it adds to the experience.
We need more people like Avand working in places like Spotify and Rdio. Great music curation is a huge design challenge.
Designer Sarah Parmenter compiles a great list. Special props to the United Pixelworkers T and the A Book Apart collection set, both are great choices for any web geek during the holidays.