Wayne has convinced me to stop using underscores in my code. From now on, it’s all dashes.
Grab a nice clean logo for PowerPoint
Being one of the guys that âdoes graphicsâ? at Navigator, Iâm often asked to help find or fix client logos for our PowerPoint or Word documents. Most folks find a logo on the clientâs website, copy it to the clipboard, and then paste it on a PowerPoint page. Often the logo is smaller than they would like. When they drag the corner to make it larger, it gets jagged looking, blurry, or both.
The vast majority of the graphics found on the web are GIF or JPG files. Both of these file formats are ârasterâ? images, meaning they interpret pictures as a grid of pixels. GIF and JPG files store this information in different ways (see the Wikipedia Graphics file format summary for specifics) but they are still presenting the final pictures the same way, as a grid of different colored pixels.
Raster images usually scale downwards ok, because PowerPoint and Word do a decent job at removing information to provide less detail. But they donât do as nice a job scaling images up because itâs difficult to tell how to interpolate the images as they get bigger.
In order to get a graphic to look good at the custom size we would like, we need to start with the largest, cleanest image possible. The easiest way is to find a vector-based version of the client logo instead of the bitmap logos presented on webpages.
Hereâs a simple way to try:
Search for a PDF that uses the vector logo. Most companies do not post vector versions of their logos online for people to download and use. They do, however, use vector logos in the PDFs that they publish. You can use Google to search only within one specific website by entering the search terms you’re looking for, followed by the word “site” and a colon followed by the domain name. So to find all the PDFs on Legoâs site, you could use PDF site:lego.com
.
Open each PDF you see listed until you find a nice, clean vector logo. You can tell the difference when you zoom in (use the icon that looks like a magnifying glass). A bitmap logo will look pixilated and boxy, like this:
This wonât work well for a clean display and print from PowerPoint. If the only logos you can find in the PDF look like this when you zoom in, close that file and try another.
Weâre looking for a vector version that will look clean no matter how much you zoom in. The next PDF in the list has one. Compared to the same size as the one above, this one looks very clean, like this:
No matter how much we zoom in, the edges still look clear and there are no signs of over-grown pixels.
Now that weâve found a vector version of the logo, lets zoom out to the largest possible size that the screen will allow to fit the entire logo. Then use the Snapshot tool (the one that looks like a camera) to select the logo.
When you let go of the mouse button, Acrobat will inform you that âThe selected area has been copied to the clipboard.â? Now you can simply switch over to PowerPoint or Word and paste the logo onto your document. Itâs likely that the logo will paste in larger than you like so simply resize it down to the size you need. Because it was captured at a large size in a very clean format, it will scale down nicely with clean lines in both PowerPoint and Word.
That’s it. Using this technique will provide the highest possible quality logos when the orignal vector source is not available.
SVN as a Web Site Maintenence Tool
Alex King has (whom I was previously familiar for his collection of WordPress themes) posted a very interesting idea about using SVN as a web site maintenance tool. Aaron and Jeff introduced me to SVN earlier this year and we use it to manage version control on our projects at Navigator clients. But our work is almost always web applications. He describes the big idea near the end of the article thusly:
Branching and tagging are very basic and common practices in software development, but much less common in web site development. It’s hard to stress enough the benefit of having your web site under source control and being able to take advantage of all these capabilities.
I’ll have to ponder this more and discuss with the guys at work. Maybe I’ll be installing SVN on the iMac at home sometime soon.
Google Earth now available for OSX
I realize this has been out for a while now, but I have finally downloaded and installed it myself. The implementation is great and I have the last piece of the puzzle for a complete “switch” to using the iMac at home. There isn’t anything I need to get my work machine out for personal work or enjoyment now while at home.
Get Google Earth for OSX if you haven’t already.
People really do win on inBubbleWrap.com
I don’t remember which productivity or business blog I was reading when I first learned about In Bubble Wrap, but I have been visiting for the past couple of weeks.
IBW is like Woot in that they offer a single product each day in a very limited quantity. The differences are 1) all the products are business-related, 2) the “winners” are chosen at random, and 3) all the products are free. Yes, FREE! Itâs a unique way for the folks at 800-CEO-READ to promote their site and products.
Most of the daily offerings have looked intriguing, and I quickly developed the habit of checking the site and entering in the daily draw.
I entered the contest on 11/30, hoping to win a copy of Jackie Huba and Ben McConnellâs âCreating Customer Evangelists.â? Well, I must have been overachieving that day, because I won the one-of-a-kind grand prize instead, a free visit from the authors themselves. Very cool. While the details havenât yet been confirmed, Ben and Jackie are going to spend a day with all of us at Navigator sometime in Q1 or Q2 conversing about their experiences, our business, and the principles in their book. What a deal!
So…
- check out InBubbleWrap.com and see if you canât win something cool as well
- if you donât win but are still interested, buy it anyway from 800-CEO-READ
- and, although itâs too late to win a copy of âCreating Customer Evangelistsâ?, you can still learn more about the book, Jackie and Ben at their site.
Happy popping!
Fresca, the thinking man’s drink
My friend Jon got me hooked on Fresca a few years ago while we worked together on a large product. I didn’t know that it was still being produced as I only remembered it as my grandmother’s soda. Jon corrected me. “It’s a thinking man’s drink.” I tried it, and have enjoyed it ever since.
Well, Fresca now has a new “Sparkling Black Cherry Citrus’ flavor … and its great. I’ve started bringing a 12 pack with me to work.
Give it a try, Jon!
RefreshDallas December Meeting
The next Refresh Dallas meeting will be held on December 8th at the same location (see refreshdallas.org for all the details). This should be a good one. Josh Williams will be speaking about online branding.
See you there!
RefreshDallas
I thoroughly enjoyed the first Refresh Dallas meeting this evening. Stephen P. Anderson and Garrett Dimon (both from Bright Corner) did a great job presenting “an introduction to Information Architecture” and “methods for communicating and documenting site design” (respectively). If they aren’t up already, the decks will be available soon at Stephen’s site, and likely in the forums at RefreshDallas.com.
The turnout was amazing. I think there were over 70 people in the room. I had no idea there were that many people in Dallas interested in UI development topics. I read about these memes on the web and in books all the time. But hearing people talk about them while being surrounded by people that were all as interested as me was very invigorating. Many of my friends at Navigator participate and lead various user groups. I felt a little jealous that I didn’t have the opportunity to find my own group of like-minded folk. Now I do. Thank you Refresh Dallas organizers.
If you’re into UI and in Dallas, come join us at the next meeting.
hi-fi prototype starter-kit
Prototyping has been a popular topic on web-design blogs this year. Many designers and developers have shared how prototypes have helped them improve the quality of their deliverables from design through implementation. The best summary and introduction to the topic I have found so far was written by Henrik Olsen at GUUUI in his article âThe promised land of prototypingâ?.
Prototype is still an ambiguous term in the web-development community. A prototype could be a very rudimentary model created on paper. âWireframesâ? are also a popular approach to prototyping. Both of these methods focus on functionality and scope while ignoring the form, look and feel.
We use many kinds of prototypes often at Navigator. Our most successful stories usually involve a prototype that represents the final application user interface designâa âhigh-fidelityâ? example of how the final application will look and behave. We represent every screen and most basic behaviors on each screen. The colors, fonts, and images all match the exact look and feel that we intend to implement.
There are numerous benefits of a high-fidelity prototype. The most obvious is an accurate representation of the final deliverable that all parties (clients, developers, project managers) can understand and use to set appropriate expectations.
While the benefits are numerous, there is a substantial cost for creating a âhigh-fidelityâ? model that paper prototypes and wireframes do not require. Developing a framework of required code takes time (usually more time that the project plan allows).
Over the next few months, Aaron and I will be working on a âstarter-kitâ? for prototyping. The basic goal is to create a library of XHTML, javascript, and css pages that will enable designers and developers to skip the up-front investment in code can get right to producing screens that the client understands. Hopefully developers inside Navigator, at our clients, and elsewhere will find such a tool useful.
Introductory articles on prototyping from other places on the web are listed on the right. More in-depth articles and tools are listed in my del.icio.us prototyping links.
To follow our progress on the hi-fi prototype starter-kit, subscribe to the RSS feed for the my prototyping category.
Anchors and Images, titles and alts
The question arose at the office last week, âis there a best practice on using the title attribute on the <a> vs. <img> tags when the link wraps the image?â? With so many attributes available it can be confusing to know which ones to use when.
The title
attribute tells you where a link is going. They will appear as a tool-tip when moused over (in modern browsers) and they can be read aloud by screen readers. They aid the user in letting them know where a link will take them. Anchors (a
) should have title
attributes as a matter of manners. As an example:
I just read <a href=”http://www.downwithwallpaper.com/tips.html” title=”DownWithWallpaper.com | How to take down wallpaper” />a great article</a> that gave me some home improvement tips.
The alt
attribute tells you what you’re looking at. Screen readers use this as the verbal description for the image.
So, the best practice for links around images would be:
<a href=”http://navigatorsystems.com” title=”NavigatorSystems.com | Home” ><img src=”logo.gif” alt=”Navigator Systems logo” /></a>
Make sense? Now I have to go clean up all my code to make sure I am using them correctly.
The first code example here was stolen from Dan Cederholmâs Web Standards Solutions: The Markup and Style Handbook. Itâs an excellent reference for such questions.