Recursive Function

I can’t say it much better than the IE Blog does:

We’ve decided that IE8 will, by default, interpret web content in the most standards compliant way it can. This decision is a change from what we’ve posted previous

Previously, the IE team had wanted to require a DOCTYPE Switch in order for it to render properly coded sites the way they’re meant to be seen. In other words, every site developed with the strictest adherence to web standards was going to be punished by IE 8.

Instead, the IE team — under withering criticism — has seen the light. Now, the default will be to have IE 8 act as if your site is standards-compliant. As a company that prides itself on the standards compliance of its websites, not only does this make our jobs a little easier, it validates our techniques as being valid and correct. This couldn’t make us happier.

I applaud the IE team for this move. It shows that they are in this for the long haul and that improving the web is much better than holding it back.

We launched a fun new project this week called Tweet140. It’s a simple game targeted at Twitter users. If you follow the tweet140 account, we keep track of your tweets and score you based on how many 140 character tweets (”twooshes”) you write, and how high your average character count is.

We occasionally like to put together small projects like this to get our creative juices flowing and experiment with new technology. There’s no better way to do this than to write something that gets released to the public. We got to tinker with the Twitter API, Google Charts, and mootools, and will be taking a few lessons learned with us into new and existing projects.

It’s also been an interesting sociological experiment. We’ve been following the comments by people in the Twitter universe, and quite a few seem to love it AND hate it. That was exactly the kind of reaction we were going for, and how we all feel about it ourselves. Twee140 is a silly game, but anyone who’s ever twooshed can’t help but play.

What do you think about it?

We couldn’t help ourselves….

I was originally going to write a review of the MBO conference that Ade and I attended on Friday. I was going to discuss some of the great speakers like Douglas Karr, Pat Coyle, and Pat East but a funny thing happened Friday night when I got home. I had that post conference buzz, the kind where you are flush with knowledge and inspiration, and I quickly logged into Facebook to post a comment on the event page. I wrote about wanting more discussion on the topics that were discussed and figured that we would get a few posts and that would be it. But no, because of one post and a few others who agreed the event organizer created a second unconference for an MBO “After Hours” to take place on Dec 19th.

Now that is the power of Facebook and other communities, the ability to get quick feedback, fast turnaround and buy-in for an event, all in under 24 hours. The true value in how we interact with these social networks is still, and will probably, be evolving for some time, but I like my chances, if they continue to keep me connected with smart people who I can learn and interact with in meaningful ways.

So, if you are in the area and want to check out the “After Hours” event, check out the group page and keep in contact.

My mantra is simple: no web page is perfect, and it can always be improved. Whenever I’m working on a web page — even one that has been “stable” for some time — I always examine the page to see if it can be improved upon. I check to make sure the page is as usable as possible, that the design is pleasing without being obtrusive, and that buttons and controls are easy to use but don’t get in the way.

For the most recent rev of FormSpring, I wasn’t happy with some of the buttons, and I made a few changes.

In one particular case, I went from this: to this:

It seems like a small, rather innocuous modification, and, to be honest, most people wouldn’t care or even notice. But in my mind, it’s a very important change.

Here’s the thing: deleting information is something that should never be taken lightly. When people depend on your website, they are counting on you to keep their data intact. As a developer, one of the ways you do this is by ensuring that the user can’t delete their data too easily.

The Delete button icon that we were using before is red and catches your eye far too easily. In fact, psychologically, red draws attention to itself, and this is exactly the opposite of what you want on a webpage. By drawing your eye, the button was almost shouting “Click Me!” That’s definitely not something you want the user to feel the urge to do.

The switch to the trash can conveys the same idea — that the user is throwing their data away — but it doesn’t call attention to itself. And when the user needs to delete something, they actually need to seek the button out. This brief pause helps ensure that the user doesn’t delete their information accidentally.