morningstorms

The Story

From the back of the book:

A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Five years and more than 100,000 copies after it was first published, it’s hard to imagine anyone working in Web design who hasn’t read Steve Krug’s “instant classic” on Web usability, but people are still discovering it every day. In this second edition, Steve adds three new chapters in the same style as the original: wry and entertaining, yet loaded with insights and practical advice for novice and veteran alike. Don’t be surprised if it completely changes the way you think about Web design.

The Response

This is one of those “essential reading” books for those in the web design and development industry. And even though I’ve read a good number of design books, and even though I had heard a lot about this one, I didn’t pick it up until a short time ago, when one of my coworkers lent it to me.

In what could amount to a one-sitting read, Krug covers many points on the topics of usability, accessibility and user experience. While there is a lot of information in the book, it’s not overwhelmingly presented, and is communicated in a very no-nonsense, upfront, clear and concise manner. In fact, it’s probably one of the best written graphic/web design/development books that I’ve read. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to grasp every single thing that Krug presented… and how well he was able to weave personality and humour into the book as well.

The third edition to this book is going to be published early next year, and I would certainly be interested in seeing how it differs from the second edition – the second edition apparently had 2 chapters added and some information removed in order to make it answer more of what people were wondering when it comes to usability. I am wondering if all of this information is kept (even the chapters that talk about the up and coming awesomeness of CSS, back before CSS was widely adopted), and what will be added for the new edition.

One thing about this, as with any book about technology used on or for the Internet, was that a lot of the technology itself was a little out of date. Same went with the examples, which were apparently out of date when the second edition was published. Krug made note of that in his introduction, saying that he purposely did this… but it could have been more beneficial to look at how the concepts apply to newer technologies. In fact… now that I think about it, I’d be interested to see what Krug has to say about HTML5 and how/if it affects accessibility and user experience. So apparently I’m definitely going to need to purchase up the 3rd edition.

Usability is something that gets a lot of coverage in the design world, so a lot of these concepts weren’t new to me. But it was a good opportunity to go back to a usability expert and read his thoughts and opinions on some things that have been debated and talked about a lot. This book also provided some good solid takeaways, like how to talk to do some usability testing with only one or two people at a time. Definitely something that I’d like to start implementing.

The Bottom Line

While some of the content is a little dated, and while I wish I had read the newer editions, this was quite informative and I would highly recommend it to people who are working designing websites, software, mobile applications, etc.

Originally published at Once Upon A Bookshelf. Please leave any comments there.

The first time I had a really bad run in with my anxiety and depression, I was in the first semester of my second year of university. My first panic attack happened during the middle of a midterm exam; all of a sudden everything started closing in on me and I had a hard time breathing. I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible, and felt like a terrified caged animal. I had no idea what was going on, but forced myself to stay until that moment when they first allow people to leave exams, then got out of there as quickly as possible.

At this point in time, I lived in a house with a group of friends; it soon got to the point where my depression and anxiety were so bad that if I could hear anyone else in the house, I wouldn’t leave my room – not even to eat or use the bathroom. I slept every opportunity that I could, missed a lot of classes, and isolated myself from everyone. I missed work. I wanted life to end.

Certain parties didn’t understand what I was going through, and that made everything so much worse. I remember one of the university profs telling me that the only reason I was depressed was because I had broken up with a boyfriend. It was frustrating and enraging and heartbreaking to realize that some people didn’t believe that my mental illness was real.

It wasn’t long afterwards that my doctor took me out of school for the rest of the semester and the following one. (I never went back there – ended up going to college instead.) This was a tough period for me. I couldn’t go into public without bursting in tears of complete and utter terror, and if I had my way I don’t think I would have ever left the house again. I would never have been able to recover from this on my own; if it wasn’t for the help that I received from my doctor, the nurses, a therapist, my family and my friends, I wouldn’t have gone back to school, I wouldn’t have been able to start working, I would still be hiding in my parents’ house.

Unless you’ve been through it yourself, or know someone who has, you may not realize how much someone who is suffering from a mental illness may benefit and change from a little bit of understanding.

Have you seen the campaign for promoting awareness and understanding that the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health has created for depression, schizophrenia, alcoholism, bipolar disorder and mental illness in children? If not, you really need to – I’ve embedded their playlist of videos so you can see them all. (Warning: if you’re anything like me, you may need tissues.) What I really like about this campaign is that it shows both sides – what could happen to a person if they don’t get help, and what could happen if they do. It can be really eye opening to see the differences contrasted so starkly like this. It’s definitely worth watching.

All the feels, man! All the feels!

If you know someone who suffers from any kind of mental illness, please take some time to learn a little bit more about what they are going through. They need your help and your understanding to get through this.

Originally published at Once Upon A Bookshelf. Please leave any comments there.

The Story

From Amazon:

We are profoundly social creatures – more than we know.

In Social, renowned psychologist Matthew Lieberman explores groundbreaking research in social neuroscience revealing that our need to connect with other people is even more fundamental, more basic, than our need for food or shelter. Because of this, our brain uses its spare time to learn about the social world – other people and our relation to them. It is believed that we must commit 10,000 hours to master a skill. According to Lieberman, each of us has spent 10,000 hours learning to make sense of people and groups by the time we are ten.

Social argues that our need to reach out to and connect with others is a primary driver behind our behavior. We believe that pain and pleasure alone guide our actions. Yet, new research using fMRI – including a great deal of original research conducted by Lieberman and his UCLA lab – shows that our brains react to social pain and pleasure in much the same way as they do to physical pain and pleasure. Fortunately, the brain has evolved sophisticated mechanisms for securing our place in the social world. We have a unique ability to read other people’s minds, to figure out their hopes, fears, and motivations, allowing us to effectively coordinate our lives with one another. And our most private sense of who we are is intimately linked to the important people and groups in our lives. This wiring often leads us to restrain our selfish impulses for the greater good. These mechanisms lead to behavior that might seem irrational, but is really just the result of our deep social wiring and necessary for our success as a species.

Based on the latest cutting edge research, the findings in Social have important real-world implications. Our schools and businesses, for example, attempt to minimalize social distractions. But this is exactly the wrong thing to do to encourage engagement and learning, and literally shuts down the social brain, leaving powerful neuro-cognitive resources untapped. The insights revealed in this pioneering book suggest ways to improve learning in schools, make the workplace more productive, and improve our overall well-being.

The Response

I debated posting about this at all, but because of the subject matter really want to give it some coverage. It’s a great concept, it really is. It sounds like it should be both educational and interesting. The Preface itself was very good reading… But I couldn’t really get much more further than that.

I hate not finishing books, so it was a struggle for me to decide not to finish it. For the past 2 weeks, I have been avoiding reading in general because I felt badly about reading something other than this book – I wanted to enjoy it and felt guilty that I wasn’t.

While it sounds like this book would be great for anyone who was looking to understand more about how we, as humans, relate to other humans. But… I think that this book is probably better for those who already have at least a bit of an understand of neuroscience.

I’ll be honest. I read the first two parts of the book. That’s the first four of 12 chapters. As much as I tried to, I couldn’t push myself past that point. It presented a lot of concepts in a difficult to understand manner. It may have just been the language that was used, but a lot of what was presented was so beyond my knowledge base that I had a very difficult time comprehending what the author was talking about, and due to that, I really had no strong desire to keep pursuing this book.

From what I read, it sounds like this was all well researched. Lieberman, his wife, and some additional people, spent a lot of time researching the material that was presented in this book. Unfortunately, I don’t feel that this material was translated into a well-readable-for-the-general-public form.

The Bottom Line

While I’m certain that this would be an interesting book if you already knew neuroscience basics, I found it was too technical for me to be able to comprehend what was presented. This, unfortunately took away the enjoyment of and interesting in reading this book.

Originally published at Once Upon A Bookshelf. Please leave any comments there.

I was able to get a beta with Dunked back in April, and quickly fell in love with the website, where anyone can create a great looking portfolio – whether they know how to code or not. While it seems a little silly that a web designer would use a templating system for their own portfolio, the ease of use really won me over. That plus the existing clean templates and the ease of customization. After I had familiarized myself with Dunked, I decided to start using that as my primary portfolio instead of what I had been using previously.

I made the first update today in a while with the most recent freelance project I’ve been working on – a winter wedding invitation package. The groom is actually my kid brother, which is kind of exiting in and of itself. He and his fiancee are getting married in mid-January, and they wanted a winter theme. I was told their colours, shown a few invitations they had liked previously, and given the text. The rest of it was complete freedom to do whatever I wanted with it. And so, I designed a package for the couple that included an invitation, RSVP card, table place cards and a monogram. The monogram will be used on the cupcakes as well as on the card box.

I’m pretty happy with how things turned out – it’s not often you’re given complete creative freedom over a project, so I definitely took advantage of that. It did end up being one of the more fun projects I’ve worked on, and I have to say that seeing something in print that I’ve designed is one of the most exciting things ever.

Hey, look at me being all self promoty!

Originally published at Once Upon A Bookshelf. Please leave any comments there.

The Story

From the inside flap of the book:

When thirteen-year-old Rachel’s older brother, Jamie, returns from World War II, she is quick to realize he is not the same boy she grew up with. Traumatized by his experiences, Jamie cannot fit into the small-town mold of the son his parents expect him to be. When he contracts a devastating illness, the family is thrown into crisis and rumors about him swirl. Rachel’s parents, blindsided by complications of their own, become focused on saving their son.

Ignored, lonely, and horrified at the turn of events in her own family, Rachel finds herself seeking solace in the arms of a sympathetic but self-serving teacher. Will he save her from her shattered family or does he have other ideas? As Rachel struggles to find her place, Julie Johnston draws readers into a poignant tale of beauty, grace and forgiveness.

The Response

I loved this. Seriously loved this. It falls into the whole “fiction about WWI or WWII written by a Canadian author or taking place in Canada” category. (Pretty broad category, I know) I don’t think I’ve found a book in that category that I haven’t absolutely loved. There’s always something so raw and emotional about these books, and the characters are always facing so many struggles… It just makes for such a gripping read.

This book takes place immediately after Rachel’s brother comes home from fighting in WWII, and centres on the family’s adjustment to life again once the war is over, and how they learn to move on with life – even when the unexpected happens. And there are a lot of unexpected things that happen in this book. From leukaemia, to an unexpected pregnancy, to a paedophilic teacher… there is a lot to keep the reader engrossed in the book and rooting for Rachel and her family.

I really like how well developed the story and the characters were. By the time the last page came around, I was left feeling fully satisfied – a little melancholy, but satisfied. There weren’t really any loose ends left, and I felt like all of the characters had arrived at a place where they could handle everything that may be coming. Well, except on one front, but I like that that portion was left a little ambiguous. All in all, it was absolutely wonderful.

As much as I did love the book, there were two things that didn’t quite sit well with me. First of all, there were many times when I forgot how young Rachel was – she was written a lot older than she actually was (not through actions, but her thoughts seemed much older than what one would normally come across when reading other characters that age). When we were reminded about her age at a couple of instances, it felt rather jarring to the story.

The other thing that didn’t sit well with me was how Rachel and her friends reacted when they put together how they were being pursued by a paedophile. I would have expected that the experience would have been more upsetting to them, but a day after everything came to light they just laughed about what had been happening and got over it immediately. It didn’t feel… real.

But in the whole book those were the only two things that I didn’t particularly like about what was going on – I’d say that is definitely a good thing, right?

The Bottom Line

I’d definitely highly recommend this book. It was a beautifully written book, and I very much enjoyed it.

Originally published at Once Upon A Bookshelf. Please leave any comments there.

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I knew when I began the ‘Jack Absolute’ saga that I wanted Jack to live one of my fantasies – the frontiersman, a little like Hawkeye, a brilliant tracker and hunter. I also have always been fascinated by First Nations, and especially the Iroquois, since childhood – I am sure there was some wonderful picture book I had, full of proud strong warriors, running through forests. My theory of writing is always to write what intrigues me, and what I want to learn more about. </p>

Its also a good policy in novels to surround your main character with other strong ones. A good antagonist, of course. An alluring, powerful lover. And, if possible, a best friend.

Thus was Ate born. I love writing him, his contrasts. I think the image that sums him up best is the scene in ‘Jack Absolute’ at the Oriskany ambush. He’s waiting to fight, sitting there in his loin cloth, his massive tattooed muscles, his scalp lock, tomahawk and musket to hand, scalps of recent victims tied to his hip. He is a complete Mohawk warrior, Wolf Clan, imbued with all the traditions and culture of his tribe. Yet while he waits he reads. Its Samuel Richardson’s recent novel ‘Clarissa’. He doesn’t really like novels, prefers plays – especially, of course, ‘Hamlet’, he carries that obsession for me! But General Burgoyne lent him the volume and he feels obliged to finish it. What he is very pleased with is his recent purchase in London, a new invention in the 1770’s. Bifocal reading glasses.

That’s Ate, so called ‘savage’, cultured Enlightenment man. He is also fiercely competitive with and utterly loyal to, Jack. He is the great observer of Jack’s flaws, especially his folly with women.

It was great to go back to the beginnings of their friendship – that started in such enmity of course, in ‘The Blooding’. To see why the bond is so strong, born of hardship and the struggle for mutual survival. Ate is able to learn a different philosophy, through the learning of ‘Hamlet’, one that begins a thirst for knowledge that will take him throughout his life. And for me, to meet a Mohawk warrior at a re-enactment, and get him to teach me the Iroquois for: ‘To be or not to be.’ That was cream on the cake.

Readers love Ate. They beg for his further adventures. I love him too and hope to oblige. Maybe one day I’ll write a novel from his perspective, with Jack as the foil. Now that would be a fantasy come true!

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Originally published at Once Upon A Bookshelf. Please leave any comments there.

I went to England a couple of years ago for a holiday with my mom. Before I went, I put together a list of things I wanted to see; one of the items on that list was the Canadian War Memorial in Green Park. Unfortunately, we discovered that the memorial was under construction. That certainly didn’t deter us, however – we went anyway, and though most of the memorial itself was walled off, there were some parts that were still open to the public such as the bronze casting pictured above. It reads:

It says, “In two world wars one million Canadians came to Britain and joined the fight for freedom. From danger shared, our friendship prospers.”

To those who have fought for the freedom of the rest of us in any war, to those who have lost someone fighting for us, I want to thank you. I can’t even begin to imagine the sacrifices that you have had to make. You have done so much for us, and deserve our gratitude and most utter respect. I won’t forget.

Thank you.

Lest we forget.

Originally published at Once Upon A Bookshelf. Please leave any comments there.

John’s parents are coming down to visit us today – it’s the first time they’ve been to see our apartment since we moved here in March, so I’m feeling the pressure clean all the things. Erm.

This week, I tried to distract myself as much as possible from the whole Rob Ford debacle… I’ve included a few below that really helped me the most at avoiding the train wreck that is Toronto’s mayor.

• The Importance of Brand Consistency. Hey look, I wrote something elsewhere all about design and branding and such stuff! (Shameless self promotion!)
• Wuthering Heights Explained in GIFs. This may be the ONLY time Wuthering Heights did not make me go all “OMG RAGE SMASHY SMASH SMASH!!!”
• Original Dance Factory Preschool Tap. I don’t know when the last time I have seriously laughed this hard. Oh I want to give this girl lots of candy and see what other hijinks she comes up with.
• The Life and Times of an Aging Superhero Captured in Oil Paintings by Andreas Englund. Englund is a Swedish artist who has a series of paintings about a superhero as he gets older. Very poignant.
• Listen! Beowulf opening line misinterpreted for 200 years. We’ve apparently been translating the first line of Beowulf wrong – this is really quite interesting!
• Why ‘graphic’ is not the most important word in ‘graphic design.’ I would recommend people who work with graphic designers read this.

Originally published at Once Upon A Bookshelf. Please leave any comments there.

OMG THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS POST!

So. I am a huge fan of The Walking Dead. I’ve only read the first graphic novel, but have watched the tv show religiously. The end of this Sunday’s episode served me a severe kick in the butt.

One of the characters, Carol Peletier, has become one of my favourites over the course of the series. I am a sucker for any character with crazy awesome character development, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that she fascinates me. When we first meet Carol, she is a mere shadow of everything that she will become. By the time season 4 comes around, she’s become a person who refuses to be a victim any longer, who will fight to protect those who are weaker than herself, and who will protect those that she comes to believe are her own family.

Carol is portrayed by Melissa McBride. McBride’s done an absolutely phenomenal job at making Carol believable and likeable. I haven’t seen much of McBride’s other work, but am definitely going to be keeping my eye out for her going forward as she’s extremely talented.

When we first meet Carol, she’s in an abusive relationship, and seems very much to be afraid of her own shadow. It takes her husband turning into a walker to allow her the opportunity to grow as a character. She has been through so much throughout the series – including surviving an abusive husband, and the loss of her young daughter – and it turned her into such a strong character.

While I started out the series feeling a mixture of indifference and pity towards Carol, the past few seasons saw these feelings change and grow to the point where she became one of my favourite characters. I find her to be the most interesting character on the show; from what I have heard about the comics, her character arc is quite different in the television show, but I think the writers have developed such an extraordinary character that it pained me so much to see what happened on Sunday’s episode.

Two episodes ago, we find that she killed a couple of people in their group because they were sick – her reasoning is that they would infect or kill others in the group. At the end of this most recent episode, Rick kicked her out of the group while out on a supply run with her. The ending of the episode includes shots of her driving away on her own, and completely ripped my heart out.

The reason this upsets me so much is that Carol is really the most developed female on the show. (Yes Michonne is kick ass. But she’s a mystery and is very hard to empathize with because we don’t know enough about her.) In fact, Carol is one of the most developed characters on the whole show. Obviously those that are on the show longer will be more developed, but there are so few left from the first season that many of the current main characters haven’t had nearly enough screen time to get to the point she has. Most of those who are as developed as her are… well, for the most part dislikable or boring. (Aside from Daryl, who is absolutely dreamy!)

With her leaving, I have to wonder who I am really going to be cheering for next episode. I don’t like Rick or Carl. Maggie and Glenn are boring. I don’t understand Michonne… at least Daryl and Hershel are both still great characters that I can root for.

I really hope that this isn’t the last that we see of Carol. We don’t see her die, so she maybe could come back… I mean Merle came back. There’s always some kind of hope, right?

Originally published at Once Upon A Bookshelf. Please leave any comments there.

On Sunday morning as I was getting out of bed, John turned to me and thanked me.

“For what?” I asked.

“For eating the limbs of starving children.” He then rolled back over and started snoring.

Part of me was confused, the other part amused. This isn’t an unusual occurrence – we can often have 15 minute conversations before I realize he’s asleep. Sometimes he’s completely coherent, but sometimes (like this time) what he says makes no sense at all. It’s at these times that I can’t help but wake him up from laughing so hard.

Over the years there have been quite a few gems. My favourite ones include:

• “That’s an awesome dog riding a Segway.” This was one of the first things that I heard John say in his sleep. We couldn’t figure out what on earth he was dreaming about, but decided that ANY dog that could ride on a Segway would be automatically awesome. (Maybe more awesome than this chimpanzee?)
• “I’m not a millipede. I’m not a centipede. I’m a humanpede.” I’m not entirely sure if he was trying to say that he was a human being or a human centipede, but I certainly hope he wasn’t dreaming about being part of a human centipede. I can’t imagine that that would be a very pleasant dream at all.
• “Don’t shave your butt. I won’t shave mine. Or else you’ll have a stubble butt, stubble stubble stubble butt.” This one occurred when John had a bit of a fascination with that horrible Bubble Butt. The video was done by Eric Wareheim of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! fame (which John happens to find HILARIOUS) – this probably explains exactly why I’m not a big fan of the video.

There are many more, but these ones are by far my favourites. John’s sleep talking certainly keep me amused and gives me ammunition for counter teasing when needed.

Do you or your S.O. talk while sleeping?

Originally published at Once Upon A Bookshelf. Please leave any comments there.