Tagged “clearleft”

I’m a fan of web designers and developers collaborating closely rather than designers throwing mock-ups over the wall. Recently I read two newsletters relating to this topic, or perhaps more accurately about perceived divisions between design and development and some better, more modern ways of thinking.

The first, The best handoff is no handoff from Smashing Magazine, presents alternatives to waterfall including The Hot Potato Process espoused by Brad Frost and Dan Mall.

The second, Promises from Clearleft argues that presenting flat designs for sign-off at an early stage of a project doesn’t make sense given the nature of the web, and that it makes promises that can’t be kept.

In practice, sign-off leads to disappointment for everyone involved. A design created in isolation in a graphics-design tool almost never survives contact with the reality of the web. The client is disappointed that the final output doesn’t match what was signed off. The developer is disappointed that they weren’t consulted sooner. The designer is disappointed that the code doesn’t match the design.

Clearleft argue instead for presenting the coded page in the browser because it avoids broken promises and presents reality.

Jeremy Keith deconstructs the cheeseburger icon and—referencing Luke Wroblewski’s Obvious Always Wins mantra—argues that while icons alone look tasty they risk users failing to understand and engage.

Loved this short listen from Clearleft, on a subject close to my heart! New job titles can feel a bit “emperor’s new clothes” but with Design Engineering I think Clearleft, GitHub et al. might be onto something. It was fascinating hearing people from both design and engineering backgrounds give their perspectives, and how ultimately they’re addressing the same thing—the need to “finesse the overlaps/gaps” between design and the realisation of that design in engineering, especially in light of the complexities of the modern front-end.

(via @Stugoo)

A recent issue of the dConstruct newsletter about choosing more ethical online services really chimed with me at a time when I’ve been reflecting on my online habits.

Clearleft produce an excellent regular technology-based newsletter – dConstruct – to which I heartily recommend subscribing.

A recent issue compared online services in the gig economy – such as Uber, Deliveroo and AirBnB – plus music services Spotify and Bandcamp, and considered the relative ethics of each with respect to the extent they exploit the sellers in their “marketplace”. For example, which services let the seller set the price? AirBnB do, and so do Bandcamp. But not so Uber and Spotify.

The success of services like Bandcamp – which is far more profitable to lesser-known producers than the likes of Spotify – show that we don’t need to follow the crowd and can make better choices about the online services we use.

I’ve used Bandcamp more than usual in 2020 because I like the way they are actively supporting artists during a difficult period. I also like the convention that when you buy a vinyl release, the digital is also bundled free.

I’m currently typing this post in a Firefox tab and have been making an effort to switch (back) to it from Chrome, for a less invasive browsing experience.

I use DuckDuckGo rather than Google search when I remember, and have recently made it the default “address bar search” tool in Firefox which should help break old habits.

As for Facebook, Twitter and other time-draining, sometimes harmful social media platforms, well, I’m weaning myself off those and recently wrote about how I’m using Feedbin to aggregate news and updates.

I don’t know about you, but I find it helpful to do a periodic health check on how I’m using the internet, and see where I can make better choices.