Hillsong – Stronger
There is Love
That came for us
Humbled to a sinner’s cross
You broke my shame and sinfulness
You rose again victorious
Faithfulness none can deny
Through the storm
And through the fire
There is truth that sets me free
Jesus Christ who lives in me
You are stronger
You are stronger
Sin is broken
You have saved me
It is written
Christ is risen
Jesus You are Lord of all
No beginning and no end
You’re my hope and my defense
You came to seek and save the lost
You paid it all upon the cross
So let Your Name be lifted higher
Be lifted higher
Be lifted higher
User Interface Elements
One of the most frustrating things to happen after a web project closes is that the client still does not know how to achieve nicely styled content. Clients are not required to know HTML let alone CSS, so how can they achieve nicely styled content?
I find many times web designers don’t design all possible User Interface elements and because of that, HTML/CSS coders don’t style them and developers don’t have these styling options in the Content Management System delivered. So if they are not even present in the system, how can anyone expect clients to be able to use the Content Management System to style content nicely in the first place.
So have the project been under-delivered? I don’t blame the web designers if its not within the brief. So dear project managers, pls know what the base UI elements are required and include that within the brief.
Have a look at:
- Baselinecss.com – Typograph, Forms
- YAML – Content, Forms
- Blueprint – Typography, Forms
- Mollio – Example
- Yahoo UI
So after looking at UI pattern galleries such as Pattern Tap, UI Patterns and others, I wanted to see if there is a complete list of possible UI elements that a web designer need to think about. I think there are just too many, see the consolidated list I’ve put together below.
Display of Content / Data
- Headings & Subheadings
- Paragraphs (with and without images)
- Highlighting Content
- Lists (ordered & unordered)
- Search Results
- Tabular data (with and without sorting)
- Modal Windows and Boxes
- Autocmoplete
- Content Listing Filters
Navigation
- Main Horizontal Navigation & Vertical dropdowns
- Sub Vertical Navigation & Horizontal dropdowns
- Accordion Menu
- Carousel
- Listing (text, text with visual, thumbnails)
- Search Results Listing
- Archive Listing
- Calendar
- Tags & Tag Clouds
- Sitemaps
- Pagination
- Footer
- Drop downs
- Breadcrumbs
- Tabs
- Links
- Utiltiy Links (text resize, print, email, etc)
- Icons
- Buttons
Getting Input
- Input Boxes
- Errors
- Form & Form Elements
- Input Prompt
- Password Strength Meter
- Feedback
- Captcha
- Calendar Picker
- Wizards & Steps
- Rate & Vote
- Inline Help Box and Highlights
Tasks
- Presenting Instructions
- Registration, Sign up
- Payment
- Confirmations
I know its not a very coherent list, but you get the idea. So dear web project managers, remember to include such UI elements into your brief and also remember to cost your client for these efforts.
my 27″ iMac from Epicentre MBS
Never did I guess I would get a desktop ever again. But with my old MacBook Black in 2007 and MacBook Air in 2009, the 2011 me wanted more power with a bigger screen. I got the new 27″ iMac. FTW!
Was told by friends that the iMac is due for refresh and I waited. I waited. I waited. Apple.com announced casually that the iMac is refreshed, news spread on twitter, then Epicentre announced it on their Facebook wall on 3rd May 2011.
On 7th May I got a Facebook message from Bernard from Epicentre MBS. He asked me if I wanted to be notified when they have stock for the new iMac. Yeah sure I thought, helps me from monitoring. A week later he kept his word.
Not only did he help me reserve stock, he even helped me check if I could get complimentary carpark if I made a big purchase at MBS. With such good customer service, I had to buy it from him and I did so the very next day.
While carrying the 13.6 kg machine to my car, I asked him if he was involved in the Epicentre Facebook page. He wasn’t. He was just a salesman who was interested in his company’s Facebook Page on his off day, saw an opportunity to provide customer service and did. He closed a sale and made a customer happy.
Dear sales people all over the world, this is retail sales in 2011.
Just for my record:
- 27″ iMac (June 2011)
- S$2,748
- 27″ LED TFT 2560 x 1440
- 3.1GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
- 4GB (two 2GB) of 1333MHz DDR3 memory
- 1TB (7200 rpm) HDD
- AMD Radeon HD 6970M 1GB of GDDR5 memory
- Two Thunderbolt ports
- Wireless Keyboard
- Magic Mouse
- Wi-Fi
- 13.8kg
Say hello to productivity. ;)
The workplace
Have you ever thought to yourself, “maybe I should look for another job†or “maybe I should go work in a larger organization†or “maybe I should work in a smaller organization†or “maybe I should setup my own thingâ€. These are very common thoughts and unfortunately these thoughts seem to continue even when you have changed jobs. Why is that so?
- Is it the Work?
- Is it the Clients?
- Is it the Boss?
- Is it the Colleagues?
- Is it Yourself?
Or maybe it’s a mix of all of the above.
Morning Glory
I recently caught Morning Glory and I think it’s quite a close representation of the kind of workplace I’m in. The pace is fast, the pressure is high, work is challenging, you need to think on your feet all the time, clients and colleagues can be difficult at times and there is a constant nagging by that little voice inside myself asking is this where I want to be.
The female lead Becky Fuller played by Rachel McAdams is dedicated to her job. She is constantly throwing in 120% but still have to face many difficult situations on a daily basis. The key challenge for her on the job is this purist News Anchor Mike Pomeroy played by Harrison Ford who was forced by contract to do a Morning Show.
Long story short, she had to bring ratings up if not the show will be canned. She had limited resources and a potentially talented team, however a few in the team are making things really difficult for her. Eventually people started getting out of their comfort zone and things started to work out and the show was saved. Then at this point she was offered a dream job in her industry.
Should she go? Should she stay?
This is a feel good movie, so of cause she stayed. She stayed not because her boss counter offered. She stayed not because the dream job was not real. She stayed not because the new job had a crappy environment. She stayed because she enjoys working with the people she works with.
I personally feel, the people we work with on a regular basis would be the key reason we stay or go. We spend around 40 hours with them weekly, possibly more then with our family or friends and as a team we are constantly achieving victories together. So I think its key that we enjoy hanging out with people at work.
Anyway… go catch the show, its good.