Vintage Flock: the Info Repository

Engr. Adino D. Caballero: Imbentor - Ilonggo / Cabatuananon

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:46:00 +0000

ISANG PANAYAM

G. ADINO D. CABALLERO

Mailking pagpapaliwanag

Nuong nakara ang Marso 27 ng kasalukuyang taon, naikwento ni SB. Noemi Caballero na darating ang kaniya lolo mula sa bansang Amerika. Naabot rin n gaming maikling kwentuhan na may “patent” na nakapangalan sa nasabing lolo. Napukaw nito ang aking mapanuring kaisipan na ng ako’y naka uwi, agad kong binuksan ang aking kompyuter at hinanap sa internet ang pangalang nabanggit ni Bb. Noemi. At duon nga nakita ko ang isang uri ng pamproteksyon sa salamin na nakapangalan nga kay G. Adino ang pagkakalikha.

Sa ganitong pagkakataon, nabuo ang balak na makapanayam ang nasabing tao, upang mas lalo siyang makilala.

Mahigit 90 porsyente ng mga susunod na tipan ay nagmula sa wikang Ingles. Kung kaya’t ang ibang terminolohiya na hindi malalapatan ng tugmang salita sa Filipino ay mananatili sa orihinal na wika.

JOSEFINO C. PANCRUDO JR – Maraming salamat pos a pagpapa unlak ninyo sa pagkakataong ito bagamat gahol sa oras.

ADINO D. CABALLERO – Walang anuman. Yun nga lang, ako ay nagtataka kung bakit napili na kapayanamin.

JP- Napag alaman ko po kasi na isa po kayong imbentor. At sa ngayon po an gating paaralan na CNCHS ay isa ng Tek-Bok na paaralan. Kung kaya’t napagtanto ko po na kayo’y tanungin tungkol sa inyong naimbento.

AC – Ang aming nagawa ay isang uri ng protective coating for glass.

JP – Saan po ito nagagamit?

AC – Kadalasan ito ay ginagamit para sa mga ilaw pang medikal o di kaya ay para sa mga lugar na pinaghahandaan ng pagkain. Ang katangian kasi ng imbensyong ito ay, kung sakaling masira ang ilaw; walang pangamba na ito’y mawawasak. Mababasag ang salamin, ngunit walang pangambang magkakaruon ng bubog lalo na ang mga ino operahan.

JP – Gaano po ninyo katagal ito nabuo?

AC – Masasabing ito’y nagging bunga rin ng pagsasaliksik at pag gamit ng kaalaman mula sa iba pang bagay na ginagawa n gaming kompaniya. Ito kasi ang isang katangian nating mga Pilipino, mahilig tayong maghanap ng mas mabuting paraan ng pag gawa ng mga bagay na nariyan na.

JP – Ito po ba’y inyong napag aralan?

AC – ang natapos ko kurso ay Mechanical Engineering, mula sa dating ICC na sa ngayon ay tinatawag na na Western Institute of Technology. Dagdag pa rito ang Textile Engineering mula naman sa bansang alemanya.

JP – Kung ganuon po, parang ang layo naman po yata ng inong napag aralan sa inyong trabaho?

AC- Yun na nga e. mas nalinya ako sa pagtutuklas sa Chemical Engineering kaysa sa orihinal na kurso ko. Pero, ito ay isang pagpapatunay ng isa pang ugali nating mga pinoy. Dahil kung ating nanaisin, ating kayang gawin. Nagsimula lamang ako sa pagtimpla ng ibat-ibang tinta para sa pintura hanggang sa naging technical manager ako n gaming kiompanya.

JP- Gaano na po kayo katagal sa inyong kompanya?

AC- Kung susumahin mga 20 taon na. Binigyan ko na nga lang sila ng isang taon bago magretiro. Matagal ko na ring balak na magpahinga at maliwaliw, ngunit ako’y pinaki usapan na huwag muna.

JP - Sa tinagal tagal nyo po sa pinagtatrabahuhan ninyo, meron po ba kayong mga di makakalimutang kwento?

AC – Marami, pero merong isa na aking laging binabaliktanawan. Ito’y nangyari mga ilang taon na ang nakalipas. Kung saan meron kaming kliyente na naghahanap ng isang uri ng material na ginagamit sa mga sasakyang pang konstruksyon.sa nasabi kasing kompanya, ang tanging pinagkukunan nito ay ang isa pang kompanya mula sa Inglatera.

Sa ganuong proyekto, kasama ang aking mga tauhan. Nakagawa kami ng isang uri ng coating material na di hamak na mas mura at mas matibay. Lubahang natuwa ang aming kliyente na lahat na ng kanilang kailangang parte ng sasakyan na aming nadebelop ay sa amin na nila pinapagawa.

Nakarating ang pangyayaring ito sa kompaniya sa Inglatera. Kaya kanilang ipinadala ang 3 sa kanilang bise president eng kompaniya upang alamin kung sino ang may gawa ng makabagong parte ng nasabing sasakyan. Nang ako’y kanilang nakausap, tinanong nila ako kung saan ko nakuha ang PhD o pagkadalubhasa. Sinagot ko naman na ako’y isang inhenyero at walang ganuong titulo. Ayaw pa rin nilang maniwala, kahit na sinagot ko na ang kanilang tanong. Sa ganang akin, di kailangan ng PhD kung gusto mong maging magaling sa inyong larangan.

JP- Maliban po ba sa nakatala sa inyong pangalan, me mga naimbento pa po ba kayo na ibang bagay?

AC- Sa aking bilang, meron pang mga 10 na maaring kunan ng patent; ngunit ito napag desisyunan na maging sikreto na lang ng gaming kompanya.

JP – Salamat po sa inyong pagpapaunlak. Kung me maiiwan po kayong mensahe sa mga mag-aaral ng CNCHS, ano po iyon?

AC – Gawing gabay ang inyong mga karanasan. Ang pag bigo ay isang daanan patungo sa tagumpay.

Pagkatapos ng panayam na ito nuong Marso 2, 2010 ay nabuksan ang isipan ng may akda na lubhang maipagmamalaki natin ang ating lahi bilang pinoy sa ating pagiging maparaan at mas lalo na an gating pagiging Cabatuanon sa pagkakaruon ng isang imbentor. Lubhang dapat ipagmalaki ang katulad ni ENGR. Adino D. Caballero.

Using Technology to GROW your business

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:27:00 +0000

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Using Technology to GROW your business

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Future of Composite Apps S-Controls and Beyond

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:34:00 +0000

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Future of Composite Apps S-Controls and Beyond

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Building customer loyalty programs

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:20:00 +0000

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Building customer loyalty programs

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AppExchange 101 - Building Custom Apps to Extend Salesforce

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:16:00 +0000

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AppExchange 101 - Building Custom Apps to Extend Salesforce

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Intro to AppExchange - Building Composite Apps

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:11:00 +0000

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Intro to AppExchange - Building Composite Apps

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MySQL Admin and Development Tools

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:48:00 +0000

Below are some of the most useful and most popular MySQL Admin and Development Tools for Mac, Windows and Linux, for beginners and for professionals. Among other tools phpMyAdmin, MySQL Workbench, HeidiSQL and SequelPro. Please let us know if some useful MySQL-tool is missing in the list by commenting upon this article.

MySQL Workbench (Win, Linux, Mac)

MySQL Workbench
This application is a fully featured visual database design package that includes database design, modeling, creation and maintenance bundled into a single environment for the MySQL database system. The free version is the Community Edition, which is loaded with features that will meet almost all your requirements. If you feel adventurous you could always go for the commercial version (Standard Edition).

Help and Support
MySQL Workbench Help
Download
Select your download version

HeidiSQL – MySQL made easy (Win, Linux)

Heidi SQL
Heidi SQL is lightweight and fast with a flexible interface, it allows you to browse and edit your databases databases, manage tables, view and edit records, manage user-privileges, import data from text files, run SQL queries, synchronize tables between two databases and export selected tables to other databases or SQL scripts, and all this from an intuitive Windows interface.

Help and Support
Heidi SQL Forums
Download
jHeidi Alpha 4 download

You can also download a small app for the iPhone called jHeidi Mobi, whicht is the only application to offer Oracle and MySQL access in a mobile application. jHeidi Mobi Download Page

Aqua Data Studio (Win, Linux, OS X, Solaris)

Aqua Data Studio
This complete IDE, has four major areas of functionality: Database query and administration tools; a suite of compare tools for databases, source control and file systems; integrated source control client for Subversion (SVN) and CVS; and a powerful database modeler. The Studio has a single consistent interface to all major relational databases, this allows the developer to simultaneously tackle several tasks from within a single application.

Help and Support
Aqua Data Studio Support
Download
Aqua Data Studio Downloads Page

phpMyAdmin

phpMyAdmin
This very popular, feature rich and easy to use free tool, written in PHP (obviusly), has been built to handle the full administration of MySQL. It can create and drop databases, create/drop/alter tables, delete/edit/add fields, execute any SQL statement, manage users and permissions, and manage keys on fields. A nice feature from this legendary tool is that you can download and change the theme (not exactly a monumental feature, but a unique feature), download themes here: phpMyAdmin Themes (remember themes are version specific).

SQLyog MySQL GUI (Win)

SQLyog
SQLyog is another popular SQL management tool that has a couple of useful features such as visual schema designer, visual query builder, intelligent code completion and a data / structure synchronization. It support HTTP / HTTPs / SSH tunneling and SSL connections. You can also specify a job manager, define a scheduled database backup and use a notification service to be reminded when some jobs are finished. There is a free Community version and a commercial Enterprise edition. You may also use MONyog, a MySQL Monitor and Advisor.

Help and Support
SQLyog Forum
FAQ
SQLyog FAQ
Download
SQLyog Downloads Page

MySQL-Front (Win)

MYSQL Front
This graphical GUI for the MySQL database, is a “real” application, it can offer a more refined user-interface than is possible with systems built on PHP and HTML. Response is immediate, as there is no delay of reloading HTML-pages. If your provider allows it, MySQL-Front can make direct contact with the database. Otherwise, only one small script needs to be installed on the publishing website. Login information are stored on your hard disk, so you no longer have to log on to different web interfaces.

Help and Support
MYSQL Front Forum
Download
MYSQL Front Downloads Page

Sequel Pro (Mac OS X)

Sequel Pro
This MAC OSX database management app gives you direct access to your MySQL databases on local and remote servers with support for importing and exporting data from popular files including SQL, CSV and XML. Sequel Pro started as a fork of the open source CocoaMySQL project. It is the self proclaimed “Best Looking MySQL Database Management App for the Mac OS X“, going by the screenshot below they wouldn’t be wrong, it is sleek and cool.

Help and Support
Sequel Pro Support
Download
Sequel Pro Downloads Page

SQL Buddy (Web-App)

SQL Buddy
This cool lightweight ajax powered database management tool is amazing. It is very, very easy to install, unzip the folder to your server and thats it. As for upgrading, delete the older version and replace with the new version, simple. Being powered by Ajax, it is browser friendly so you can use normal browsing actions like “bookmark”, “back” and “refresh”. There is also a useful range of keyboard shortcuts, which you can view here: SQL Buddy Keyboard Shortcuts.

Help and Support
SQL Buddy Support
Download
SQL Buddy Downloads Page

EMS SQL Manager (Win)

EMS SQL Manager
EMS SQL Manager is a fairly high performance tool for database administration and development. Features include MySQL triggers, views, stored procedures and functions, InnoDB foreign keys, it allows you to create/edit all MySQL database objects, design databases visually, run SQL scripts, import and export database data, manage users and their privileges and has many other useful features. There is a commercial version, but download the free version, its fairly powerful and offers plenty of features.

Help and Support
EMS SQL Manager Support
Download
EMS SQL Manager Downloads Page

Navicat Lite MySQL Admin Tool (Win, OS X, Linux)

Navicat Lite MySQL Admin Tool
Navicat is a fast, reliable and popular (millions of downloads) Database Administration tool purpose-built for simplifying database management and reducing administrative costs. Designed to meet the needs of database administrators, developers, and small and medium businesses, Navicat is built with an intuitive GUI which lets you create, organize, access and share information in a secure and easy way. Navicat Lite is available as a free download only for non-commercial customers.

Help and Support
Navicat Support
Download
Navicat Downloads Page

DreamCoder for MySQL (Win)

DreamCoder for MySQL
DreamCoder works with all MySQL versions from 3.23 to 6.0 and it supports all MySQL features including tables, views, procedures, functions, triggers, InnoDB Tables, foreign keys , UDFS, BLOB Types, etc. It also includes the most advanced options for data manipulation, build queries visually, execute queries, script execution, reports generation, database monitoring and export and import data to/from most popular file formats. DreamCoder for MySQL is easy to use for the novice MySQL user and is powerful enough for any expert user.

Help and Support
DreamCoder Support
Download
DreamCoder Downloads Page

Toad MySQL (Win)

Toad MySQL
Toad for MySQL is a database development and administration tool that provides productivity features for rapidly creating and executing queries and managing complex database systems. It provides utilities to compare, extract and search for objects, manage projects, import/export data and administer the database. Changes to the interface recently has been the the introduction of the “Tabbed Document Interface”, this means you can view a fully maximized window without the need for you to constantly resize, arrange, or tile the windows.

Help and Support
Toad MySQL Support
Download
Toad MySQL Downloads Page

DB Tools Manager Professional (Win)

DB Tools Manager Professional
DBManager is a fairly powerful application data management data management. With builtin support for MySQL, PostgreSQL, Interbase/Firebird, SQLite, DBF tables, MSAccess, MSSQL Server, Sybase, Oracle and ODBC database engines, making it one of the most advanced database application. The free edition (Standard Edition) has a minimun set of features that makes it ideal for new database users to perform basic database management, you can use this for non commercial use.

Help and Support
DB Tools Manager Forum
Download
DB Tools Manager Downloads Page

MyCon – MySQL GUI (Win)

MyCon – MySQL GUI
MyCon is an extremely powerful windows based graphical user interface, MySQL GUI, for administering and working with MySQL server databases. This easy to use MySQL GUI front-end client includes all the functionality and tools you will need to be productive in MySQL as a DBA, developer, manager, report writer or a general end-user.

Help and Support
MyCon – MySQL GUI Forum
Download
Free MyCon Downloads Page

MyDB Studio (Win)

MyDB Studio
MyDB Studio is a complete collection of powerful tools for MySQL Server administration. MyDB Studio (freeware) is designed for MySQL developers and administrators to rapidly manage, create and execute queries and develop SQL and Php code more efficiently. Keep an eye out for the upcoming Adobe Air version of MyDB Studio, that will be cool.

Help and Support
MyDB Studio FAQ
Download
MyDB Studio Downloads Page

MySQL Sidu (Win)

MySQL Sidu
MySQL Sidu is a FREE MySQL client that works via your web browser, it is simple, intuitive and an easy database tool to use. Sidu is not as powerful as other similiar tools but packs enough punch to merit its place in this list, its features may be limited but it does do exactly what the name says (Sidu stands for Select Insert Delete Update).
You can also use a Firefox Extension in conjunction with Sidu that enables you to insert data from text fields & textareas in a webpage. View the details here: Firefox addon for MySQL Sidu.

Help and Support
MySQL Sidu Support
Download
MySQL Sidu Downloads Page

apache friends – xampp (Win, Mac, Linux, Solaris)

apache friends – xampp
It’s not easy to install an Apache web server and it gets harder if you want to add MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. It is really very easy to install and to use – just download, extract and start.

Help and Support
xampp Support
Download
xampp Downloads Page

Retrieved from http://www.smashingmagazine.com 11/03/09

The Cloud Without the Airfare - Peter Coffee 10.09.09

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:34:00 +0000

I spend a lot of time on airplanes, en route to give conference keynotes and other such briefings, most of which are centered on the question of "What's this cloud computing thing and what will it do for me?"

Retrieved from blogs.salesforce.com 10.14.09

Open Source Blogging Tools

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:05:00 +0000

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Open Source Blogging Tools

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Programming Beyond Basics: Rapid application development (RAD)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:21:00 +0000

Rapid application development (RAD) refers to a type of software development life cycle which uses minimal planning in favor of rapid prototyping. The "planning" of software written in RAD is interleaved with writing the software itself. The lack of extensive pre-planning generally allowed software to be written much faster, and makes it more flexible to change in requirement.

RAD calls for the interactive use of structured techniques and prototyping to define user's requirements and design the final system. Using structured techniques the developer first builds preliminary data models and business process models of the business requirements. Prototyping then helps the analyst and users to verify those requirements and to formally refine the data and process models. The cycle of models, then prototypes, then models, then prototypes and so forth on, ultimately results in a combined business requirements and technical design statement to be used for constructing new systems.^[1]

RAD approaches may entail compromises in functionality and performance in exchange for enabling faster development and facilitating application maintenance.

Web Based Rapid Development Application Tool

Active Agenda's code generator is a RAD development framework using XML specification files and the PHP development language.
Alpha Five is a commercial RAD development environment for both client and web-server based database driven applications. This tool is typically classified with commercial packages such as Microsoft Access and FileMaker.
BFC is a RAD framework for both client and server-side development in the .NET environment.
CakePHP is a RAD development framework using the PHP development language.
CodeCharge Studio is a visual RAD development environment for web-based database driven application development. CodeCharge Studio places emphasis on code generation technology to provide ASP.NET, PHP, JSP, Servlets, ColdFusion and Perl language support.
Zend Framework is an open source, object-oriented web application framework licensed under the New BSD License.
Django is an open source web application framework, written in Python, which loosely follows the model-view-controller design pattern
IBM Rational Business Developer Extension is a cross-platform, Rapid Application Development IDE for creating enterprise and web applications and services for Windows, Linux, Unix (Solaris, HPUX, AIX), System z and System i
GForge Advanced Server a full software development process platform for complete project management and collaboration tool suite with tracking plug-ins for Eclipse IDE as well asMicrosoft Visual Studio and other related tools were added to increase developer functionality.
LibreSource
NConstruct is Windows and Web rapid enterprise application development tool and environment for .NET framework.
nuBuilder is an open source browser based database development tool which stores all forms, reports, data and any custom code in MySQL and displays the content dynamically.
Oracle Application Development Framework uses Oracle's JDeveloper a FREE IDE that supports ADF's J2EE based framework.
Panther (and its open source version POSSL) is a cross-platform (Windows, Unix, Linux; TUI, GUI, Web), cross-database RAD toolset for development of C/S and n-tier database oriented applications.
Ruby on Rails sponsored by 37signals
SednaSpace is a browser based Rapid Application Development tool, that generates code in technologies like AJAX, C#, VB.Net, Java and many other.
Symfony
Thoroughbred T-WEB is a Web RAD tool
Web2py is a RAD framework for web-based database driven applications with key features including in-browser coding support, admin/design interface, DAL (database abstraction layer), and translation support.
WebDev
Wavemaker Visual Ajax Studio is an open-source, browser-based IDE based on Dojo, Spring and Hibernate.
Visual WebGui Visual WebGui (VWG) is an open-source rapid application development (RAD) framework for AJAX & Silverlight GUIs. The platform presents a new approach to applying desktop usability to the web by viewing it as an extension to a desktop rather than web
cakeApp an online rapid development tool with WYSIWYG SQL editor and framework based on CakePHP.

http://en.wikipedia.org/ - Retrieved on 18 July 2009

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_application_development

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rapid_application_development_tools#Cross-platform_RAD_tools

Programming Beyond Basics: PHP

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:19:00 +0000

What is PHP ?

PHP is a server-side scripting language for creating dynamic Web pages. PHP's programming syntax is very similar to that of Perl. Because of its elegant design, PHP makes it easy for anyone to learn. It is significantly easier than comparable Perl or ASP Code. Unlike other scripting languages, PHP supports the most common databases like Oracle, Sybase and MySQL. It is also possible to integrate external libraries to generate PDF documents or parsing XML PHP is an open-source language and is supported by a large groups of delvelopers. The code is downloadable from php.net.

Rasmus Lerdorf, who wrote the originalCommon Gateway Interface binaries, andAndi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski, who rewrote the parser that formed PHP 3 While PHP was originally created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1995, the main implementation of PHP is now produced by The PHP Group and serves as the de factostandard for PHP as there is no formal specification. PHP is free software released under the PHP License, which is incompatible with the GNU General Public License (GPL) due to restrictions on the use of the term PHP

What is MySQL ?

MySQL is a relational database management system. It is a Open Source SQL database provided by MySQL AB. MySQL is very fast, reliable, and easy to use. It also has a very practical set of features developed in very close cooperation with our users. MySQL was originally developed to handle very large databases much faster than existing solutions and has been successfully used in highly demanding production environments for several years. Though under constant development, MySQL today offers a rich and very useful set of functions. The connectivity, speed, and security make MySQL highly suited for accessing databases on the Internet.

PHP Main Development Sites

PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor Home Page PHP is a server-side HTML embedded scripting language. It provides web developers with a full suite of tools for building dynamic websites: native APIs to Apache and other web servers; easy access to MySQL, Sybase, Oracle, and other databases; IMAP; LDAP; HTTP headers and cookies. This site is the official home of PHP4.

Zend A bottom-up rewrite of the PHP scripting engine. It features a modular architecture, vastly improved performance, and greater scalability.

International PHP Magazine Web-based magazine for Web professionals focused on PHP based development. News, online articles, book reviews, forum.

Quality Assurance Team Voulonteer coders dedicated to providing coders with quality assurance.

Codewalkers A community site dedicated to PHP and SQL. Includes user submitted code, tutorials and forums.

PHP Freaks A community designed to assist developers with PHP and MySQL related information. Includes tips, tutorials, forums, articles, code examples and manuals.

PHP Everywhere Articles on PHP on Windows and Linux. Also compares PHP to ASP, Cold Fusion and Perl.

PHP News by CodingTheWeb.com PHP development news, tutorials, technical articles and HOWTOs. This is the definitive news source for PHP. Updated hourly.

PHPMac.com A site dedicated to PHP programmers that use the Mac OS. In particular Apple's new OS X unix system.

Devshed - Searching with PHP and ht://Dig Adds search capabilities to site using the popular open source tools PHP3 and ht://Dig.

Wrox Resource Center PHP support and resource forums run by programmers for programmers, provided by Wrox Press.

Core PHP Programming Home page for the first book about PHP

Club of the Developers This is a site of programmer's group united by a desire to develop PHP technologies in Internet.

ThePHPGuy PHP, MySQL and Apache articles, tutorials, guides. Also features daily updated developer news as well as a monthly developer newsletter packed with PHP programming tips and tricks.

Recent Releases

PHP 5.0.0 PHP5 has finially been released. This is the first full version of PHP5 with all the new features.... www.php.net

PHP 4.3.8 This release is made in response to several security issues that have been discovered since the 4.3.7 release.... www.php.net

Apache 2.0.50 This version of Apache is principally a bug fix release. In particular it addresses two security vulnerabilities: a remotely triggered memory leak and a mod_ssl buffer overflow... httpd.apache.org

PHP 5 RC3 The third (and hopefully final) Release Candidate of PHP 5 is now available! This mostly bug fix release improves PHP 5's stability and irons out some of the remaining issues... www.php.net

2009 PHP TestFest PHP 5.3.0 Released!

PHP 5.3.0RC4 Release Announcements

PHP 5.2.10 Released!

PHP 5.2.10RC2 and PHP 5.3.0RC3 Release Announcements

TestFest 2009 PHP 5.3.0RC2 Release Announcement

PHP 5.2.9-2 (Windows) released

Google Summer of Code 2009 PHP 5.3.0RC1

Release Announcement 5.2.9-1 (for Windows) released

PHP 5.2.9 Released! Windows PECL binaries

PHP 5.2.8 Released!

PHP 5.2.7 has been removed from distribution

PHP 5.3 alpha3 released!

PHP Advent 2008

Retrieved on 11 July 2009

http://www.info4php.com

/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PHP

Programming Beyond Basics: Ruby on Rails

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:16:00 +0000

Ruby on Rails, often shortened to Rails or RoR, is an open source web application framework for the Ruby programming language. It is intended to be used with an Agile development methodology which is used by web developers for rapid development.

History

Ruby on Rails was extracted by David Heinemeier Hansson from his work on Basecamp, a project management tool by 37signals (now a web application company).^[1] Heinemeier Hansson first released Rails as open source in July 2004, but did not share commit rights to the project until February 2005.^[2] In August 2006 the framework reached a milestone when Apple announced that it would ship Ruby on Rails with Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard",^[3] which was released in October 2007.

Technical overview

Like many contemporary web frameworks, Rails uses the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture pattern to organize application programming.

Ruby on Rails features several tools intended to make commonplace development tasks easier "out of the box". Rails provides scaffolding which can automatically construct some of the models and views needed for a basic website. A simple ruby web server (WEBrick) and Rake build system are also included. By including these common tools with the Rails framework, a basic development environment is in effect provided with all versions of the software.

Ruby on Rails relies on a web server to run it. Mongrel is generally preferred over WEBrick at the time of writing but it can also be run by Lighttpd, Abyss, Apache (either as a module - Passenger for example - or via CGI, FastCGI or mod_ruby), and many others.

Rails is also noteworthy for its extensive use of JavaScript libraries Prototype and Script.aculo.us for Ajax. Rails initially utilized lightweight SOAP for web services; this was later replaced by RESTful web services.

Since version 2.0, Ruby on Rails by default offers both HTML and XML as output formats. The latter is the facility for RESTful web services.

Framework structure

Ruby on Rails is separated into various packages, namely ActiveRecord (an object-relational mapping system for database access), ActiveResource (provides web services), ActionPack, ActiveSupport and ActionMailer. Prior to version 2.0, Rails also included the Action Web Service package which is now replaced by Active Resource. Apart from standard packages, developers can make plugins to extend existing packages.

Philosophy and design

Ruby on Rails is intended to emphasize Convention over Configuration (CoC), and the rapid development principle of Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY).

"Convention over Configuration" means a developer only needs to specify unconventional aspects of the application. For example, if there is a class Sale in the model, the corresponding table in the database is called sales by default. It is only if one deviates from this convention, such as calling the table "products sold", that the developer needs to write code regarding these names. Generally, this leads to less code and less repetition.

"Don't repeat yourself" means that information is located in a single, unambiguous place. For example, using the ActiveRecord module of Rails, the developer does not need to specify database column names in class definitions. Instead, Ruby on Rails can retrieve this information from the database based on the class name.

Recent developments

Rails version 2.3 was released on March 15, 2009. Major new developments in Rails includes templates, engines, Rack and nested model forms.

Templates enable the developer to generate a skeleton application with custom gems and configurations.
Engines let one reuse application pieces complete with routes, view paths and models.
The Rack web server interface and Metal allow one to write optimized pieces of code that route around ActionController.^[4]

On December 23, 2008, Merb, another web application framework, and Rails announced a commitment to work together. The Rails team announced they would work with the Merb project to bring "the best ideas of Merb" into Rails 3, ending the "unnecessary duplication" across both communities.^[5]

Trademarks

In March 2007 David Heinemeier Hansson filed three Rails related trademark applications to the USPTO. These applications regard the phrase "RUBY ON RAILS",^[6] the word "RAILS"^[7] and the official Rails logo.^[8] As a consequence, in the summer of 2007 Hansson denied to Apress the permission to use the Rails logo on the cover of a new Rails book written by some authoritative community members. The episode gave rise to a polite protest in the Rails community.^[9]^[10] In response to this criticism, Hansson made the following claims:^[9] I only grant promotional use [of the Rails logo] for products I'm directly involved with. Such as books that I've been part of the development process for or conferences where I have a say in the execution. I would most definitely seek to enforce all the trademarks of Rails.

www.wikipedia.org - Retrieved on 4 July 2009

Ruby on Rails

Blogging Beyond Basics: How to choose a blog name

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:30:00 +0000

There are three simple rules to follow when choosing a blog name:

1) It must describe your blog: it is probable that lots of people will see a link to your blog before having the chance to actually read it (in search engines, for instance). Guess what, if just by looking at the name they can figure what the blog is about they will be more likely to visit it.

2) It must be easy to remember: suppose your blog talks about cycling, fitness and health advice in general. Naming it “The Cycling, Fitness and General Health Advice Blog” would offer quite an exhaustive description of the blog, but would it also be easy to remember? Stick with simple names.

3) It must be equal to the domain name: this rule is often ignored by people, probably because finding a suitable domain that has not been registered yet is a difficult task. Still if your domain name does not match the blog name you will probably lose some readers along the way. When people visit your blog through a link they will just read the name of the blog. Should they decide to revisit the site a couple of days later they will just type that name followed by a dot com. If they do not find your blog once they hit enter they will just go somewhere else.

Glossary of blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 08:06:00 +0000

Blog-related terms
A
Atom
Another popular feed format developed as an alternative to RSS.
Autocasting
Automated form of podcasting that allows bloggers and blog readers to generate audio versions of text blogs from RSS feeds.
Audioblog
A blog where the posts consist mainly of voice recordings sent by mobile phone, sometimes with some short text message added for metadata purposes. (cf. podcasting)
B
Blawg
A law blog.
Bleg
A blog article that begs for something, such as a donation or product sale.
Blog Carnival
A blog article that contains links to other articles covering a specific topic. Most blog carnivals are hosted by a rotating list of frequent contributors to the carnival, and serve to both generate new posts by contributors and highlight new bloggers posting matter in that subject area.
Blog client
(weblog client) is software to manage (post, edit) blogs from operating system with no need to launch a web browser. A typical blog client has an editor, a spell-checker and a few more options that simplify content creation and editing.
Blogger
Person who runs a blog. Also blogger.com, a popular blog hosting web site. Rarely: weblogger.
Bloggernacle
Blogs written by and for Mormons (a portmanteau of "blog" and "Tabernacle)". Generally refers to faithful Mormon bloggers and sometimes refers to a specific grouping of faithful Mormon bloggers.
Bloggies
One of the most popular blog awards.
Blogroll
A list of blogs on a blog (usually placed in the sidebar of a blog) that reads as a list of recommendations by the blogger of other blogs.
Blogosphere
All blogs, or the blogging community. Also called blogistan or, more rarely, blogspace.
Blogware
A category of software which consists of a specialized form of a Content Management System specifically designed for creating and maintaining weblogs.
The BOBs
The largest international blog awards.
C
Collaborative blog
A blog (usually focused on a single issue or political stripe) on which multiple users enjoy posting permission. Also known as group blog.
Comment spam
Like e-mail spam. Robot “spambots” flood a blog with advertising in the form of bogus comments. A serious problem that requires bloggers and blog platforms to have tools to exclude some users or ban some addresses in comments.
D
Desktop Blogging Client
An off-line blog management (posting, editing and archiving) tool
F
Fisking
To rebut a blog entry in a line-by-line fashion.
Flog
A portmanteau of "fake" and "blog". A blog that's ghostwritten by someone, such as in the marketing department.
A food blog; sometimes, a blog dedicated to food porn.
Feeds
RSS Feeds.
J
J-blog
A journalist blog.
A blog with a Jewish focus.
JukeBlog
A music blog of tracks from a specific genre or theme.
L
Lifelog
Typically wear computers in order to capture their entire lives, or large portions of their lives.
M
Milblog
Term for blogs written by members or veterans of any branch of military service - Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marines. A contraction of military and blog.
Moblog
A portmanteau of "mobile" and "blog". A blog featuring posts sent mainly by mobile phone, using SMS or MMS messages. They are often photoblogs.
Mommy blog
A blog featuring discussions especially about home and family.
Multiblog
A blog constructed as a conversation between more than two people.
P
Permalink
Permanent link. The unique URL of a single post. Use this when you want to link to a post somewhere.
Phlog
Type of blog utilising the Gopher protocol instead of HTTP
A Photoblog. A portmanteau of "photo" and "blog".
Photoblog
A blog mostly containing photos, posted constantly and chronologically.
Pingback
The alert in the TrackBack system that notifies the original poster of a blog post when someone else writes an entry concerning the original post.
Podcasting
Contraction of “iPod” and “broadcasting” (but not for iPods only). Posting audio and video material on a blog and its RSS feed, for digital players.
Post
An entry written and published to a blog.
Post Slug
For blogs with common language URLs, the post slug is the portion of the URL that represents the post. Example: http://domain.com/2008/01/this-is-the-post-slug
R
RSS
Really Simple Syndication is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts.
RSS aggregator
Software or online service allowing a blogger to read an RSS feed, especially the latest posts on their favourite blogs. Also called a reader, or feedreader.
RSS feed
The file containing a blog’s latest posts. It is read by an RSS aggregator/reader and shows at once when a blog has been updated. It may contain only the title of the post, the title plus the first few lines of a post, or the entire post.
S
Spam blog
A blog which is composed of spam. A Spam blog or "any blog whose creator doesn't add any written value."
Slashdot effect
The Slashdot effect can hit blogs or other website, and is caused by a major website (usually Slashdot, but also Digg, Metafilter, Boing Boing, Instapundit and others) sending huge amounts of temporary traffic that often slow down the server.
Subscribe
The term used when a blogs feed is added to a feed reader like Bloglines or Google. Some blogging platforms have internal subscriptions, this allows readers to receive notification when there are new posts in a blog.
Search engine friendly URLs
or, for short, SEF URLs, implemented with a Rewrite engine.
T
Templates
Templates, used on the "back end" of a blog that work together to handle information and present it on a blog.
Theme
CSS based code that when applied to the templates will result in visual element changes to the blog. The theme, as a whole, is also referred to as a blog design.
TrackBack
A system that allows a blogger to see who has seen the original post and has written another entry concerning it. The system works by sending a 'ping' between the blogs, and therefore providing the alert.
V
Vlog
A video blog; a vlogger is a video blogger (e.g. someone who records himself interviewing people of a certain field).
W
Warblog
a blog devoted mostly or wholly to covering news events concerning an ongoing war.
Weblog
the unshortened version of 'blog'.

Reference: www.wikipedia.org - Retrieved on 05 June 2009

Introduction to Keyword Density

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0000

by: Joel Jambongana

follow Joel on Twitter | Facebook

Search engine optimization has always put emphasis on Keywords; however with the ever changing and evolving algorithm of the search engines (Google in particular), is it really worth to consider keyword density or not?

My answer is yes and no.

Should we mind?

The fact is in the quest of Google for more and more quality content and less and less spam, the algorithm takes less and less consideration of specific keywords but rather the general relevancy of the content as a whole.

Another speculation towards this conclusion is also the fact that whoever was to write an article for readers will actually meet the required density almost naturally.

Does it really hurt to focus on it or not?

No, it doesn't hurt, at least not directly. The obvious downside is clearly the waste of time spent on something that is done naturally through your genuine writing. Now on the other hand, for all the other aspects of your optimization (beside the main content of your page), keyword density does play a role. Indeed people must be aware that not optimizing a site will get you unnoticed, however thanks to their new algorithm, one should not over-optimize if he or she doesn't want to be penalized.

The truth is that abuse of keywords will hardly ever come from your main content, but rather from the optimization of all the other factors on your page. This is particularly applicable for these elements:

Page title
Meta Tags
Meta Description
Images Description
Headers Tags

I said particularly applicable, which means that because I didn't list an element here doesn't mean that it's not important. To put it simple, it is the same for all the elements of your page.

What is the right percentage?

The difficulty with keyword density is that there's no magic number! That's right, the keyword density is a relative value constantly fluctuating as it is usually drawn from the top 10 websites of your keyword. However, the formula itself is simple to understand for the people who are willing to spend some time on it.

Title Density Calculation

If you want to make sure that your density is satisfying for your specific search term, here's the process:

For this example, we'll assume that I want to check the keyword density of my page title "Keyword Density by Nicolas Prudhon" for the search term "Keyword Density".

Make a Google search of your keyword term, let's say "Keyword Density".
Write down all the 10 page titles.
Count how many words in your page title. In our case 5 words.
Count how many times you use your keyword. In our case 1 time.
Do the same for each page title of your top 10 competitors. The count varies from 2-12 words.

So what do we get from those numbers:

If we make the ration of our keyword and page title length, the keyword density for our search term is:

Keyword Density: 40
Density: 20 and 100 and 40 and 50%

The next step is to compare your competitors' ratios and yours.

If your density is lower than your competition, you should consider removing some text to increase your keyword density or the search engine may not consider your page as sufficiently relevant.
If your density is within the range, you are doing a good job.
If your density is above your competitors, it's a warning! Consider adding more text to decrease your density, or you'll be facing the risk to be considered as spamming through over-optimization and may get penalized.

In our case, we are passing the density test.

In Conclusion

The same concepts and method applies to each and every element of your website. For the people who still give much importance to the keyword density, I recommend to try to achieve a median ratio, rather than being close to an extreme side; simply because as I mentioned earlier, it's a fluctuating ratio depending on which site is in the top ten. Playing the average and being in the middle should give you some flexibility.

Blogging Beyond Basics: Conceptual Design

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 31 May 2009 21:25:00 +0000

"In philosophy, the abstract noun design refers to a pattern with a purpose."

Conceptual design, along with need identification and analysis, make up the initial stage of the design process. Need analysis transforms the often vague statement of a design task into a set of design requirements. Conceptual design encompasses the generation of concepts and integration into system-level solutions, leading to a relatively detailed design. In particular, it focuses on parameter analysis, a methodology that leads the user through the design process, helping to identify critical issues (parameters) of the design and propose configuration-specific solutions. To illustrate the principles discussed, the authors present numerous examples and a variety of real-world case studies. The emphasis throughout is on innovation. This useful text will appeal to advanced undergraduate and graduate students, as well as practising engineers, architects, and product development managers.

By understanding and implementing the foundations of design: the basic elements and principles of design. These elements and principles are applicable to all design mediums such as architecture, art, graphic design, photography, print and web design. Special emphasis will be given to the application of these principles and elements, along with color and typography, to the medium of web design.

Design Concept Development

Developing a design concept is "fun", and this is where your imagination can run free and you can come up with new and creative ideas. You are not trying just to design something that looks new, but you are trying to find a balance between all the different factors that influence your product or output. The product must appeal to its intended users at a variety of levels: function, usability, cost, reliability, shape & colour, etc. This is why it is so important to study the design problem so carefully. Without really understanding the problem, there is little hope of generating concepts that can be turned into realisable products that satisfy all its requirements.

"Brainstorming is a great way to stimulate the develop of ideas and concepts."

It's important to be able to "think outside the box" - to come up with different (not necessarily better or worse) solutions. If you can do that often enough, then eventually you shall have a really great idea. With practice and experince, you can improve the odds that the different ideas you have will be good ones.

In order to develop a concept, the following stages are used:

Concept ideation, as the term implies, is about forming ideas. Ideation is generally a cognitive task - it's something you do with your brain. Some people ideate best alone, others work better in teams. Within the scope of design engineering, concept ideation is about looking at the requirements of a problem and coming up with a short description of the general class of product that can satisfy the requirements.
Concept Generation, is a layout or drawing of a product. Usually, concepts are best described by an annotated sketch.
Concept Modification, evaluating sets of possible concepts you can use tools (i.e decition matrix or decition tree) to eliminated more than half of the designs (the bad designs), then you can now focus on improving the remaining concepts.
Concept Validation, in design requires the approval of the deliverable (in this case, a concept) by all interested stakeholders. In the "real world" this will include your corporate leadership (i.e. the boss), any potential clients, sales & marketing people, other engineers, etc.

Blogging Beyond Basics: Importance of Blog Design

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 28 May 2009 01:19:00 +0000

Blogs are becoming more and more popular. In many quarters it now seems that having a blog is more normal than not having a blog. Blogs are a place where you can rant and rave about things that have effects on your daily life, keep a diary, or talk about your favorite hobby. Now many Web businesses are starting blogs to keep in contact with customers and give customers the heads up on new products and services being considered.

The blog has become a marketing tool. Internet promotion is no longer simply a matter of having a website and advertising its existence on every popular website and in every popular newsletter. Now you can promote your business products and services with blogs.

People who spend a lot of time using the Web have likely read many blog posts whether they realize it or not. Most of the younger generation either has blogs or spends a great deal of time reading friends' blogs. The young adults of today spend a great deal of time reading blogs such as those put out by their favorite authors or blogs that have product reviews.

One of the most interesting recent developments is that people of all ages have started using blogs as a source for the latest news. Blogs provide up to the minute eye-witness accounts of major events within minutes of their occurrence. On the other hand, blogs don't have to be approved by any fact-checkers or editors before they are posted. So the reliability of blogs as a news source is questionable.

The main idea is that blog reading is becoming a more and more normal activity, undertaken by average people. For a Web marketer, the prospect of having a blog means more Web traffic if the blog has many readers.

There are a lot of things you can do to improve your blog's traffic. You can advertise it as a pay-per-click search listing in search engines. You can also swap links with other blogs and websites. But, it is even more important that you provide interesting content in your blog that will keep your blog's readership levels high.

The Importance of Blog Template Design

Most people know the information I've already given you. What most people don't realize is how much the blog template design plays a roll in the success of a blog. Even whether or not people find your content amusing can be heavily impacted by the surrounding environment your blog provides to your content. Most blog software and blog hosts offer a basic set of templates that you can use to make sure your blog is organized. If you don't do your own blog template design, you should at least customize one of these blog templates.

Blog Template Customization

Advertisements - It may not seem like advertisements are a feature that enhances a blog, but the truth is that pertinent advertisements serve a purpose to those who are interested in your topic. Google AdSense is one of the top advertisement services currently being integrated into blog templates. However, it is also an excellent source of revenue for your blog.

Audio Content - While not directly a piece of the template, seamlessly embedding audio into your blogs can make them much more interesting for site visitors. You can also include quick links to audio in your blog template navigation bar.

Banner Customization - You should create your own banner for your blog, not use the placeholder banners provided with the basic blot templates. Make it relevant to your blog topic and suitable for your business image.

Favicon for Personalization - Use a favicon to further brand your blog. This will give people a personalized feel for your site in their bookmarks and next to the blog address. It should be consistent with your blog and business image.

Page Features - Take the time to customize your blog template skins. Make sure the layouts and backgrounds are consistent with the rest of your Web business site. You don't want a generic blog design to hamper your branding.

Photos for Personalization - You ought to not just include photos in your blog entries, but also place them wherever they will supplement your company image in the template. Use borders around your photos to give them a framed look.

RSS Feeds - Make sure you enable the RSS feeds option on your blog template setup. Those with newsreaders or using Web RSS feed services will see the headlines and content of your blogs. They can click on headline links to read more from your blog site. This is one of the best ways to get exposure and a constant stream of dedicated readers to your blog.

Author: Zackery Lim
Everybody can blog but not every blogger makes money! If you are serious about wanting to make money blogging , then make sure you pick up the essential guide at http://www.blogforprofits.info and find out how you can get set up your blog correctly and start blogging for profits from the very first day.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Blogging Basics: Importance of Blog Design

Repository

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 May 2009 06:13:00 +0000

Blogging Beyond Basics for Beginners

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 May 2009 02:15:00 +0000

A blog (a contraction of the term weblog) is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketches (sketchblog), videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Micro-blogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.

You can start a blog without spending money or learning webmaster skills. All it takes is a few minutes of your time and the passion of sharing your thoughts.

With the right blogging platform, you can successfully create a blog without taking the pains of learning technical skills and paying the bills. The one that allows you to focus on content writing as what a blogger should do.

Choose a Hosted Blogging Platform

A hosted blogging platform is the easiest and fastest way to start a blog and publish your contents to the web in no time. The popular choices are blogger.com and wordpress.com. There are other hosted blogging platforms available on the internet but these two are the easiest to use and cost nothing.

Blogger.com

- Preferred by most bloggers and one of the most popular on the web.

- Simple to use with straightforward posting interface that beginners can appreciate.

- It comes with simple pre-built designs.

- Advanced users can use free open source template designs and can customize html codes

- Offers more documentation, tutorials and due to its popularity, you'll find all kinds of advice online.

- Automatically submits your blog to the Google blog directory making your blog available to millions of internet users.

- Great tool for beginners and experienced bloggers.

WordPress.com

- Designed for ease of use and offers tools that you ever need to build a stylish blog.

- Provides more professional design templates that you can readily use.

- Posting is as easy as using a word processor.

- Documentation, tutorials, tips and advices are available online.

- Submits your blog to Google blog directory and Technorati and allows users to subscribe via RSS or Atom feeds.

- Shows traffic stats such as views, top posts, referrers and search engine terms so you know which topic to focus more.

- Perfect for beginners.

Create Your Blog

First, create an account by signing up with Blogger.com or WordPress.com. Each has its unique way in guiding you to the creation process but it should be easy to follow and only takes few minutes to complete. Then, you will be ready for the next step which bloggers do best.

Start Blogging

Writing posts or content is a challenging task and an ongoing activity in blog life depending on how you take it. For your first entry, consider writing your experience in creating your blog. Others will find it interesting.

Blogger: How to start a blog -YouTube

List of URL Shorteners

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 24 May 2009 10:31:00 +0000

The URL shortener websites play a big role because every character counts, services offers to shrink your long URLs.

Unlike long URLs sometimes links tend to sometimes break in email, are harder to verbalize in a conversation, and they are difficult, or in some cases near impossible to remember.

Here’s a compiled list of the URL shortener websites that have a URL not more than 7 characters, including the TLD (Top Level Domain) and the DOT.

ow.ly

tr.im

zi.ma

bit.ly

www.s.xe

w3t.org

url.ie

sn.vc

rt.tc

pnt.me

nsfw.in

ne1.net

nn.nf

23o.net

lnk.in

is.gd

cli.gs

yep.it

follow me on twitter http://www.twitter.com/vintageflock

the Architect

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 22 May 2009 21:20:00 +0000

An architect is trained and licensed in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of abuilding. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton (arkhi-, chief +tekton, builder), i.e. chief builder. A looser usage of Architect is: the translator of the building user's requirements of and from a building into an inhabitable environment. Moreover, the words architect and architecture are used in the disciplines of engineering, e.g. computer software architect; however, in some of the world's jurisdictions, the professional and commercial uses of these etymologic variants, are legally protected from such loose denotations.
In systems engineering, the systems architect is the high-level designer of a system to be implemented. They establish the basic structure of the system, defining the core design features that are hard to change later. They provide the vision for where the system needs to go and strive to maintain its integrity as it evolves.

In systems engineering, the systems architect is responsible for:

Interfacing with the user(s) and sponsor(s) and all other stakeholders in order to determine their (evolving) needs.
Generating the highest level of system requirements, based on the user's needs and other constraints such as cost and schedule.
Ensuring that this set of high level requirements is consistent, complete, correct, and operationally defined.
Performing cost-benefit analyses to determine whether requirements are best met by manual, software, or hardware functions; making maximum use of commercial off-the-shelf or already developed components.
Developing partitioning algorithms (and other processes) to allocate all present and foreseeable requirements into discrete partitions such that a minimum of communications is needed among partitions, and between the user and the system.
Partitioning large systems into (successive layers of) subsystems and components each of which can be handled by a single engineer or team of engineers or subordinate architect.
Interfacing with the design and implementation engineers, or subordinate architects, so that any problems arising during design or implementation can be resolved in accordance with the fundamental architectural concepts, and user needs and constraints.
Ensuring that a maximally robust architecture is developed.
Generating a set of acceptance test requirements, together with the designers, test engineers, and the user, which determine that all of the high level requirements have been met, especially for the computer-human-interface.
Generating products such as sketches, models, an early user guide, and prototypes to keep the user and the engineers constantly up to date and in agreement on the system to be provided as it is evolving.
Ensuring that all architectural products and products with architectural input are maintained in the most current state and never allowed to become obsolete.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_architect)

The Principles of Composition & Design

UNITY - is the quality of cohesion that makes an artwork feel complete and finished. Artists achieve unity by using consistent methods and concepts to reveal the meaning, purpose, and/or the intention of their artwork. Distinctive ways of creating unity are often identified as artistic styles.

BALANCE - refers to the distribution of visual weight in a work of art. "Empty" areas should not appear to be unfinished. Instead, they should represent void, or negative space. Likewise, positive shapes and forms should not appear to be too crowded, heavy, or "busy." Balanced art may suggest motion, but it should not appear to be so unstable as if to suggest it is about to fall over or hang crookedly.

MOVEMENT - Visual movement is used by artists to direct the scanning behavior of the eye along a circuit or path within an artwork. This circuit leads the viewer to areas of visual interest, focus, and/or emphasis. Motion is suggested by the Action Line of the subject in a picture. The action line moves in the apparent direction that the subject is moving or looking.

RHYTHM - is the sequencing or repetition of visual movement presented by the composition of visual elements: colors, shapes, lines, values, forms, spaces, and textures. Variation and contrast keep rhythm interesting and dynamic.
FOCUS (Emphasis) - is the emphasized form or area which draws attention and reveals the subject, central idea, or theme of an image. Emphasis is often achieved by using rhythm and movement to lead the eye to an element that is unique, or has a contrasting value, shapes, sizes, or colors. Focus and contrast are the same principles as emphasis and variety. In photography, selective focus can be optically achieved with a lens.

CONTRAST - is the organized interplay of visual differences which provides variety and stimulates visual movement. Contrast refreshes the eye and enables the viewer to better perceive and evaluate the relationships between the visual elements.

PATTERN - is a system of elements which creates a recognizable sequence of repetition. Pattern may also be thought of as the underlying structure, concept, or plan that organizes the artwork.

PROPORTION - refers to relationships of size and form between the WHOLE and it's parts. Although proportion can often be mathematically measured and described, it can also be compared to one's expectations of natural or ideal form. Proportion is usually related to size and scale. Proportion often influences the emphasis of an image, and our sense of space.

What Makes a Design Seem 'Intuitive'?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 21 May 2009 00:53:00 +0000

In a recent usability test, I once again witnessed something I’ve seen a hundred times before: a frustrated user claiming he knows exactly what is wrong with the interface he was fighting with. What was his suggestion? “These guys need to make this thing a lot more intuitive. The problem is that this program isn’t intuitive enough. It needs to be more intuitive!”

I think he used the I-Word no less than 25 times during the session. His frustration was real and his desire was great. So, why wasn’t the interface ‘intuitive’? Well, it’s probably because it’s really, really hard to do.

People Intuit, not Interfaces

To those who police the English language, interfaces can’t be intuitive, since they are the behavior side of programs and programs can’t intuit anything. When someone is asking for an intuitive interface, what they are really asking for is an interface that they, themselves, can intuit easily. They are really saying, “I want something I find intuitive.”

But, I believe that English is an adaptable medium, so it’s ok with me if we call a design intuitive. Yet, what does it mean, from a design standpoint, when someone desires a design to be intuitive?

To answer that question, we first have to look at how people understand the design in the first place. To do that, we need to look at the design’s knowledge space.

Current and Target Knowledge Points

Imagine a long wall where you’ll line up all the users who will use your design. We’re going to want to organize the wall, so against the left side, we’ll put everyone who knows absolutely nothing about how to use the interface. (Maybe they don’t even know how to use a mouse.)

On the right side, we’ll put everyone who knows everything there is to know about the design. (That may only be the designers.) We’ll organize all the people along the wall by how much they know. If they know only a little, they’ll stand closer to the left. The more they know, the closer we put them to the right. (Here is a picture of what our wall might look like: )

You can think of an interface’s knowledge space as a continuum which goes from knowing nothing about the interface and to knowing everything someone could possibly know.

If you’re looking at the wall, the distance from the left represents how much any given user knows about the design. For each user, we call this the current knowledge point. That’s the amount of knowledge they have when they approach the interface.

There’s another point that’s of interest to us: the target knowlege point. This point represents how much knowledge the user needs to know to accomplish their objective. Every time a specific user tries to complete a specific task, the current knowledge and target knowledge points become very important to us. (Here you’ll see our wall with sample current and target knowledge points marked off: )

For a given user trying to complete a given task with an interface, there are two points in the knowledge space that interest us most. Current Knowledge represents the knowledge the user has when they first approach the interface to complete the task. Target Knowledge is the knowledge the user needs to accomplish the task.

Now, every user will have a different current knowledge point and that point changes as they get more experience. Yet, we’ve found that, by plotting out different users, we often see very clear clusters—bunches of users that share extremely similar current knowledge.

Working with users in the middle of several of the most important clusters gives design teams a nice place to start. (Using these clusters can help design teams determine which personas to focus on.)

The Knowledge Gap

The distance between current knowledge and target knowledge has a technical name: “The Gap”. (Subsequently, an entire chain of clothing stores was named after it!)

The Knowledge Gap is where design happens. We don’t need to design to the left of current knowledge point, because it’s all stuff the user already knows. And we don’t need to design stuff to the right of the target knowledge point, since the user won’t be needing that information (for this task, at least). We only need to design the interface for the space in between current knowledge and target knowledge. (See a picture of the Knowledge Gap here: )

The space between the Current Knowledge and Target Knowledge points is called The Knowledge Gap. This is the portion of the knowledge space we’e most concerned with when we’e designing interfaces.

Users can complete their objective when current knowledge equals target knowledge. There are two ways this can happen. You can train the user, thereby increasing their current knowledge, until they know everything they need to know. Or, you can reduce the knowledge necessary, by making the interface easier, until target knowledge only requires the information the user already has. In fact, most good design involves both: users are trained (through explanatory text and other devices) while the designer reduces complexity, reducing the gap distance from both directions.

The Two Conditions of Intuitive

In our research, we’ve discovered that there are two conditions where users will tell you an interface seems ‘intuitive’ to them. It only takes meeting one of the two conditions to get the user to tell you the design is intuitive. When neither condition is met, the same user will likely complain that the interface feels “unintuitive”.

Condition #1:
Both the current knowledge point and the target knowledge point are identical. When the user walks up to the design, they know everything they need to operate it and complete their objective.

Condition #2:
The current knowledge point and the target knowledge point are separate, but the user is completely unaware the design is helping them bridge the gap. The user is being trained, but in a way that seems natural.

The Hotel Phone

Recently, I stayed in a hotel while visiting an old friend. Wanting to call my friend to warn him of my imminent arrival, I approached the phone in my hotel room and lifted the receiver, ready to make my call. Can you guess what button I pressed first?

Chances are you guessed the ‘9’ button. As adults, we learn at an early age that the ‘9’ button will get us an outside line when using a business or hotel phone system. This becomes part of our current knowledge as we travel from phone system to phone system. ‘9’ becomes intuitive, though it isn’t innate—we had to learn it somewhere along the way.

Of course, for this hotel, you would’ve been wrong. The designers of this phone felt that the ‘8’ button was a much better choice. How unintuitive could they be? Everybody knows ‘9’ is far more intuitive!

Because other people had problems with this, there were little signs all over—on the phone, on the wall, on the receiver—that stated you needed to press ‘8’ to get an outside line. I immediately saw these signs and, without really contemplating the design, pressed ‘8’ and the rest of my friend’s number.

The signs made ‘8’ seem intuitive by training me without my even realizing it. They narrowed the gap quickly and without the distraction often associated with learning new things.

Had the phone used the ‘9’ button, it would’ve met condition #1. However, since it had the signs for the ‘8’ button and they worked unobtrusively, it met condition #2.

Making Designs Seem Intuitive

The biggest challenge in making a design seem intuitive to users is learning where the current and target knowledge points are. What do users already know and what do they need to know? To build intuitive interfaces, answering these two questions is critical.

For identifying the user’s current knowledge, we favor field studies. Watching potential users, in their own environments, working with their normal set of tools, and facing their daily challenges, gives us tremendous insight in what knowledge they will have and where the upper bounds are. Teams receive a wealth of valuable information with every site visit.

For identifying necessary target knowledge for important tasks, usability testing is a favorite technique of ours. When we sit users in front of a design, the knowledge gap becomes instantly visible. (We’ve had great success, right after a test, listing out all the knowledge the user needed to acquire during the test. It can be quite revealing!)

Intuitive Doesn’t Always Make Sense

Unfortunately, making an interface intuitive often increases development costs dramatically. Reducing target knowledge, particularly for large knowledge gaps, can be a very expensive process, particularly if you have to build complex tools, such as wizards and data auditors.

Anyone who has tried to build a tool that reduces target knowledge knows that they take tremendous work to get right. Is making an interface intuitive worth the investment? Not always.

For example, Amazon makes the process of returning a purchased product fairly intuitive. Once a user finds the (sometimes hidden) magic button on the order form, they have no trouble going through the return process—a multi-step wizard which asks intelligent questions and guides the user through the process of printing a shipping label, determining the shipping costs, and returning the product.

However, in our studies, users have much more difficulty finding a phone number to call Amazon’s customer service center. Amazon doesn’t want a lot of phone calls from users. They aren’t set up to handle the volume of calls and building a complete customer service call center could render their entire operation unprofitable. While it’s inconvenient to the user, they’d rather handle the problems through email, which is far more cost effective.

The designers at Amazon have deliberately made the process of calling them very unintuitive to encourage customers to find another way to resolve their problems. (We’re not saying this is the right thing for Amazon to do, but their choice does have some sound logic behind it.)

Understanding How Intuitive Works

Once you understand how ‘intuitive’ works—what makes someone perceive a design to be intuitive—it becomes easier to make the decision as to whether an intuitive design is worth the extra effort. The knowledge your users have when they arrive at the design (current knowledge), what knowledge they’ll need to complete their tasks (target knowledge), and what the design needs to do to help them complete the task (the gap) are the key ingredients for making an interface that seems ‘intuitive’ to your users.

By Jared M. Spool, Originally published: Jan 10, 2005, http://ow.ly/8bEY