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What’s On Your Programming Bookshelf?

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On July 31, 2015

In Design, Programming

Do you read code? Reading code can help you learn to write better code. Whether that is database queries, JavaScript, CSS or your favorite programming language. You should read as much code as you can. Programming books can be a great source of code to read. Everyone who writes code should have a few favorite books on writing and designing code on their bookshelf.

Here is a sample of books that I have on my bookshelf:

  • The Pragmatic Programmer
  • Creative Code
  • The Strategic Web Designer
  • Don’t Make Me Think!
  • Always Be Testing
  • Bonus: The Magna Guide to Databases

Programming books on shelf

The Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas

Want to be a programmer? The Pragmatic Programmer is a practical guide on the best practices of software development. Whether you are new to programming or experience, you can find tips and tricks to help you write better code. The authors, Andrew Hunt and David Thomas, use tips, stories, code and diagrams to help you learn new skills and habits.

Creative Code by John Maeda

Is programming a creative process? Creative Code shows that it is. This book has an wide variety of essays that talk about design issues and how to integration digital design into our daily lives. While not a typical programming book, the focus is on design and how to challenge your approach to problems.

The Strategic Web Designer by Christopher Bulter

How do be more than just a web designer? As you develop web projects, your clients need you to do more than design or code a website. They need you to think about their projects in a strategic and comprehensive manner. The Strategic Web Designer helps you to take charge of your web projects from design to launch and beyond.

Don’t Make Me Think! by Steve Krug

How do you keep people on your website? Many people leave websites for different reasons. They leave if it takes to long to load, too difficult to do anything or they can’t read it on their phone. How usable a web site is depends not only on the design, but on decisions made by the developer. Steve Krug wrote the original guide on Web Usability. In Don’t Make Me Think, his tips range from design to testing. He helps you to make your website better and more usable for your users.

Always Be Testing by Bryan Eisenberg and John Quarto-vonTivadar

Test. Test. And test some more if you want your website to more sales, leads and profits. In Always Be Testing, Bryan Eisenberg and John Quarto-vonTivadar explain how to use the Google Website Optimizer to test your website and to get your visitors to take action. Whether that action is subscribing to a newsletter, purchasing your product or sharing your latest post. They teach you how to develop a testing framework, optimize your landing pages and design tests.

Bonus Book

The Magna Guide to Databases by Mana Takahaski, Shoko Azuma and Trend-Pro Co., LTD.

The Magna Guide to Databases explains database through the use of a Magna story. When I found the book, I had never read any Magna. It was a fun refresher of how databases worked. I liked the way they introduce the story and how databases would help the main character, Princess Ruran solve her data problem. You learn with the Princess and Cain the concepts of a database and why they are important. In the Manga Guide to Databases, you switch from story to databases and back to the story. They build upon the database concepts presented in the story.

Summary

Technology changes quickly. Information in programming books can get quickly out of date. That shouldn’t stop you from reading programming books. You never know when you may find something that helps you on your next project. Keep reading and writing code.

What are a few of your favorite books?

Tools on Creating Images for Your Projects

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On June 27, 2015

In Photography, Web Development

Want to create images for your projects? Photos and images get shared more frequently than plain text. You want your images to be unique. How do you get started?

Where to get photos?

You have two choices. Use your own photos or someone else’s. Not a photographer? Don’t have the time to take all of the photos you need for your projects? You can use sites that have free photos. There are quite a few to choose from. Some sites and photos have different requirements. You may use some photos in personal and commercial projects. Check each photo on how you can use it to avoid copyright infringement issues.

Pexels

Here are a few sites to choose from:

Remember, when you use these sites, check the license to make sure you can use it in your project.

What tools can I use?

Once you have the perfect image for you project, you need to change it. If you have a photo editing tool like PhotoShop or GIMP, you can change the photo to look the way you want. Not a designer? You can use online tools like:

What if you want to create a quote photo (Photo with a Quote)? You can use one of these 9 tools to make a quote photo.

No tool is perfect. Each tools has its quirks, You’ll need to experiment to see which tool works for you. By using these tools, you can create images for your web sites or social media projects.

Related Article

Curiosita Labs Post on How to Add Text To Images

From Design Rules to Thinking Like An App Designer

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On May 31, 2015

In CSS, Design

Learning about Design? Design has rules, tips, tricks and techniques that you need to learn. As you learn, you realize that there is a right and wrong way to apply these. Some design rules can be broken. You need to learn when and how to break these rules.

20 Design Rules You Should Never Break

Canva’s Design School talks about 20 Design Rules You Should Never Break. When you are designing, you can break certain design rules. You first need to learn these design rules, so you can break them in a way that makes sense for the design. This article provides you with tips, tricks and rules on how to fix common design errors.
Thinking Like An App Designer

Why designers should never use fake text

Are your designs filled with fake text or lorem ipsum? Do you use it as a placeholder until the real text is ready? Jerry Chao explains why you shouldn’t use fake or dummy text. He suggests that you should write your own text. No matter how rough the text, you’ll see design issues that may not be found right away with lorem ipsum.

Flat Design vs. Material Design: How Are They Different?

Design styles change. New ideas on design can become popular quickly. Some are just fads that disappear. Anna Lisnyakn describes the difference between Flat and Material design. She gives you the pros and cons of each design style and helps you to decide which one works for your project.

What do you need to think like an app designer?

You want to work on mobile apps. How do you approach the design of mobile apps? Thinking like an app designer helps you to change your design thinking. To build mobile apps, you have to learn and unlearn new ways of designing. What works on a website, won’t work when designing a mobile app.

Summary

The more you design problems you solve the better you get at design. These tips help to learn what design rules you can break, why you need to design with real text and how to think like an app designer. What other design tips do you use?

How to write usable error messages

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On March 31, 2015

In Programming, Web Development

Have you ever come across a bad error message? If you have used a computer or any piece of technology, you may have seen them. What makes an error message bad? A bad error message is an error or dialog box that only makes sense to the person who wrote it in the first place. It doesn’t tell you what the error is, what caused it or how to approach solving it.
How To Write Usable Error Messages

How do you write good or usable error messages?

A good error message has three parts: what is the error, what caused the problem and how the user can fix it.

What is the error

Be Descriptive. Your error message should answer the five w’s: Who, What, Why, When and Where. An error message like “Invalid Entry” doesn’t answer the 5 w’s. A better message is “Your email address is empty. Please enter your email address.” It tells you what the error is, where the problem is located and how to fix it.

Make sure your error message focuses on the user. It should use simple and jargon-less words to describe the problem Your error message should be short and direct. No extra words. If you think it has too many words, cut out the extra ones.

What Caused the Problem

You want to explain what caused the problem. Was it a data entry error? Did they forget to fill something out? Was it something beyond their control like a lost database connection? Let them know in simple and easy to understand terms.

How can the user can fix it

Your error message should also have a way to fix the problem. If they forgot the fill out a field, tell them which field. Make it easy to figure out the problem.

Additionally, your error message should also be visible. Your error message should be displayed prominently so the user can see it and know that an error has occurred.

Summary

Why do you want to do this? Remember, you are not writing error messages for yourself. You are writing for the person who may be annoyed, doesn’t understand the code and just wants to get a task done. That person may be you.

Need more tips on writing usable error messages? Check out these 7 tips on writing friendly error messages.

Practical UX Methods

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On February 28, 2015

In Design, UX, Web Development

Patrick McNeil share his practical, bite-size UX Methods: First Click Tests, SUS Questionnaire, Nano-Usabality Tests and Integrated Tests.

Have you used any of these methods?

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