I am amazed by Twitter. A simple question asking “What are you doing?” and it has become wildly popular. What I think is even more interesting are the great web apps that have showed up around the web utilizing it’s API. Some of these are really cool (foamee, strawpoll, twistori, fuelfrog). I am inspired and think aggregating certain twitter data could be very useful.
Twitter, let’s build something. I have an idea for a twitter-based web app and I plan to build it over the coming weeks in my spare time. Check back here or follow me on twitter to see how it goes.
When using IBATIS, use $parameter$ to inject literals in your sql maps. For instance, if you have a sql query that injects a comma separated list of ids, using #parameter# will put quotes in the sql, causing an error if you were using the “in” operator. Using $parameter$ removes the quotes and your sql is content.
Example with #:
select filter.id from filter where filtertypeid = #filterTypeId#
and typeid in (#typeIds#);
could yield
select filter.id from filter where filtertypeid = '2' and typeid in ('0,1,4');
Example with $:
select filter.id from filter where filtertypeid = #filterTypeId#
and typeid in ($typeIds$);
could yield
select filter.id from filter where filtertypeid = '2' and typeid in (0,1,4);
Conclusion:
Remember to use your dollar signs.
Usability is beautiful. I think it shines when the interface is simple. Simple to the point that users get it when they see it (an Ah-Ha moment), and the flow comes naturally. That simplicity comes with a focus on understanding your user and the problems they want to solve. Your solution orients them in a way to solve their problem more effectively and moves complication out of the picture.
I attended Refresh the Triangle for the first time last Thursday at iContact in Durham. Rob Goodlatte gave a great talk on “Justifying Design”. He made some good points about what to consider when designing for the web. There were two points that he made that I certainly agree with and I think are worth mentioning again:
- Design is about Problem Solving.
- Define Goals by Asking Interesting Questions.
As a designer/developer, when creating a website or web application, your goal is to understand and solve a problem for your user. In order to do this, you have to ask the right questions throughout the build process. You have to be intentional about understanding your user and identifying their whole problem. The result (and what I think Rob’s ultimate conclusion was from his talk) is a functional and elegant user experience.
Also, iContact did a great job of hosting the event. It was nice to meet with some of their developers and their host for the night, Brandon Milford.
Typing was one of the most valuable classes I took while growing up. I will never forget my 7th grade typing teacher, Mrs. Moman. She taught me how to type the right way on a huge typewriter where whiteout was your option for backspacing. We had computers for word processing at the time, but we were forced to use the old typewriters. This was for the best, since I probably would have taken the backspace key for granted. The pastor of the church we attend posts some great stuff on his blog and tonight he posted a typing website called 10 fast fingers. You should check it out and brush up on your typing skills.
I ran across this site today and I am glad I did. Refresh the Triangle seems right up my alley in terms of development and design, and it’s local. It’s also sponsored by companies from around the Triangle. This is great and something I always love finding out about. Hopefully I can make it over to this from time to time. It looks like it is hosted on the last Thursday of every month. This is something that looks to be growing, and certainly worth checking out