How to fake 3D and more with CSS3 box-shadow
Box-shadow is a powerful property in CSS3. It’s more than just for drop-shadows. Think of it as a multi-purpose 3D styling tool. That’s because you can stack multiple drop shadows.
Today I’m going to show you how to make, out of a simple DIV, this:
3 questions you need to ask at any job interview
My friend Lauren contacted me this morning, very excited. She’s got a promising interview this afternoon, so I offered her my time-tested magic interview questions. And then I thought I might as well share this with everyone.
Anytime I interview, I always bring along a list of questions to ask the interviewer. These are mostly based on my research of the job, the company, and the industry, but there are three that are always there, no matter what. They are the questions that get you hired.
Fun with CSS text-shadow
I’ve been playing with the text-shadow property in CSS3, and having a lot of fun with it. Did you know that modern browsers allow you to stack multiple drop shadows? Used creatively, this allows for all sorts of pure-css fun.
Here’s what we’re going to build today:
How was your weekend?
I hope you had a nice weekend, but I bet you mine was better.
I took part in Startup Weekend Denver, as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week. The gist: Dozens of people pitch their startup ideas on Friday night, a half-dozen are upvoted, and participants form teams. Each team builds a business before Sunday night, when they present it to a panel of judges.
Ah, but the view!
Interesting tidbit about Steve Jobs’ conversation with his friend Larry Elison about not buying Apple, and about the price of integrity:
In 95, Ellison wanted to buy Apple, so he could walk Steve back in as the new owner, and they could both make lots of money. Steve convinced him otherwise. Here’s the money quote from the Business Insider article:
Ellison thought it was stupid that some “fund manager at Fidelity” would make more money on Apple’s success than he or Jobs.
Jobs responded by saying, “I think if I went back to Apple and didn’t own any of Apple, and you didn’t own any of Apple, I’d have the moral high ground.”
Ellison’s response: “Steve, that’s really expensive real estate, this moral high ground.”
Most people overestimate the value of money. The wise know to give up a little money, or even a lot, for the infinite returns of not having to compromise.
It’s a luxury, it has a price, but it’s worth it. I’ve once walked away from a years’ salary with my integrity intact… And that has earned me goodwill and trust from some long-term business partners.
Have you ever paid the price of the moral high ground? Was it expensive? And how’s the view from up there?
Putting our phones together
I propose a little gesture as a sign of friendship.
When having a meal or coffee with a friend or family, put your phones on vibrate, and put them together. Lay them atop one another on the table, to the side.
Our phones are wonderful devices that allow us to reach farther. But they can make it harder to reach closeness.
While I’m engaging with you, my friend, there is a line reaching from my pocket to the outside world. I’m not fully present with you, and you’re not fully present with me, because at any moment either one of us can be pulled back into our personal space, into a different conversation.
Putting our phones together marks that the moment is for togetherness. It makes it so that if either of us gets a call, or a text, it will interrupt both of us. We won’t know which phone it is.
The communication line from the outside world becomes a shared line. If somebody calls, they’ll call “our phones,” not mine or yours.
The next time we meet, I’d like us to do this. Because I want to be present with you, and I want you to be present with me.
If you like the idea, let me know!
The end of science-fiction
I’m currently engaged in writing a science-fiction novel with my father. It’s a fun thing to do together when you live eight time zones apart.
As part of the process, I’m educating my father on the latest happenings in science, and futurism… It’s an interesting time for certain.
Omnigraffle Pro Wireframe Kit by Whale UX
I offer for your consideration this wireframe stencil for OmniGraffle Professional. I’ve been using it and finding it useful for the last few months. Download it here:
Whale Wireframes.gstencil (881Kb .zip)
Compassionate user experience
Compassion is quite the eye-opener.
There is often bitterness in software development. It is not hard to see the tense relationships between developers and marketing, between users and customer support, between business and IT. When I entered the UX field nine years ago, I put myself in the interesting and strange position of being the intermediary, the emissary, in a protracted cold war.
By itself, UX is hard. There are many threads woven into the fabric of what we call User Experience. Information Architecture, derived from library sciences; Usability Engineering, which comes from the archetypal white-lab-coat scientific approach; Interaction Design, which borrows from anthropology; and Graphic Design, with its vibrant connection to culture and creativity. And the merging of these approaches brings with it some discomfort, as practitioners try to embrace tools and techniques from disciplines that have very different origins, and sometimes conflicting worldview.
A Visual Guide to Cognitive Biases
Check out this priceless visual study guide by the Royal Society of Account Planning. This is akin to the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path for rationalists:
I’d say more about it, but I’m biased.