Reading Digest 03

Fun fact — did you know that dialing “03” in USSR would allow you to call an ambulance? Anyway, here are some hand picks from what I read recently.



The Work

The MEAN Stack: MongoDB, ExpressJS, AngularJS, and Node.js — I've been looking at this one from a distance (the distance I typically call a “lack of time”), yet the ability to use JavaScript on all levels looks very attractive, at least for quick prototype building or solo-projects (along with all the Grunts and Gulps it brings along). Gotta try it out myself!

Why are there three default worksheets in MS Excel — don't you love it when the top answer starts with “I was on the Excel team when this was designed…”, history in the making! Quite a good answer, too, teaches you a thing or too about working with legacy software and an existing user base.

jQuery 1.11 and 2.1 Released — for me the interesting part is their work with npm and Bower — more community awareness, I suppose? No library is an island unto itself, yay!

7 Lessons a Writer Learned from Tweeting — while the list itself is a bit too obvious, I totally agree on welcoming limitations in creativity — we're forced to think, choose carefully, edit-edit-edit, and make sure every word counts. Which also brings me to this:

5 Ways to Write a (Very) Good Sentence — nice analysis of building bricks for powerful writing (and them bricks are not just “words”, nay).

The Fun (at work)

Comparative maps create surprising size perspectives — some enlightening information to be sure, yet also makes you think about how far you'd want to go to visualize data. Also — Monaco!

Color Matching Game — a bit too hectic for me, but a nice visual tool-lite to teach a “feel” for color. Make sure to check their other games too, I find that a lot of homegrown designers have no clue as to the basics (kerning, whaa?), and this could be a good start.

The Conclusion

I like observing solutions that people come up with, especially talented people in very limiting situations. So, may we all learn to be as efficient in our work and live, as these firefighting planes that refuel on the go. Can you imagine what it'd be like? If you can — do it! :)


Comments

Popular Posts