8 Ways to Sunday

IBM’s developerWorks site is running an article from web design consultant Carolyn Snyder that anyone who makes web sites should read. She lists some of the tricks that web designers and power users rely on daily to get around the web, but that non-technical users have no knowledge of at all. This discrepancy can cause serious usability problems when web sites are desgned with the assumption that visitors will know the same tricks that the developers do.

Anyone who makes web sites should read this article. You’d be amazed at what constitutes a “trick” for some people (more than one window at a time, for instance).

(citation: atmaspheric | endeavors)

You know how some Peanut M&Ms get stuck together during the chocolate coating process and come out kind of “conjoined”? Sometimes, I pretend that I’m attempting to separate them in a daring high-risk surgery performed with my teeth.

Sadly, neither twin ever survives.

Keeping with the overall celebratory spirit today, I want to extend my congratulations and best wishes to my friends Mickey and Lars Ræder on their first anniversary. Best wishes for many more to come.

I’m twenty-seven years old today.

Just had a little office birthday party and got some great gag gifts, including a barista action figure and a “Bush in a Box” paper stand-up George W. Bush with interchangeable Bushisms. I also got a Batman cake, complete with plastic Batman and Batmobile decorations.

I decided to make a little diorama out of my new toys, with the Batman buying a grande late from the barista action figure. I’ll take a picture and post it on my photoblog later. A picture of this micro-tableau is up on my photoblog.

Scriptygoddess’ Jennifer is learning WordPress in preparation for the migration of her well-known DIY blog to the new platform. In the process, she’s unearthing and sharing lots of great information and has just released her first WP plugin, WP-Paginate.

Present and former Movable Type users will probably have heard of MT-Paginate, a plugin that makes short and simple work of a PHP-powered multi-page archive. Jennifer has brought this idea over to WordPress in an even easier to use form with her plugin. Finally, an easy cure for those too-long category archives! Well done, Jennifer!

In the course of her WP explorations, the Scriptygoddess has also discovered:

• A comprehensive reference for all WordPress function calls (citation)
• How to do the “previous | home | next” links
• How to show certain things only on single post pages (that’s “individual archive template” to us MT refugees)
• Formulated a WordPress “wish list” that inspired Kevin Schumacher of Gamewhore to create a much needed template manager add-on for the CMS

Not bad for a few days’ work! Sure makes me feel like a no-talent slacker.

Thanks for all your hard work and curiosity, Jennifer. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next!