Layer Comps

February 28, 2011

There have been some great articles on preparing Photoshop files (PSDs) for web development. In particular, see Dear Print Designer Doing Web Design, The Photoshop Etiquette Manifesto for Web Designers, and Handing Off PSDs That Won’t Make Your Co-Workers Hate You. Great tips in there. But what surprises me is that none of them mention Layer Comps. This simple, easy-to-use feature of Photoshop can save the designer and developer lots of time and make the communication and hand-off process much clearer. Read More »

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Simple Cache Busting for CSS and JS

November 26, 2010

If you update your site’s CSS or JS it is a good idea to force browsers to download the latest version. If you don’t then your visitor’s browser may well load a cached version of the CSS or JS which can result in broken pages. Busting the cache is also really convenient when you are pushing out changes for review (you won’t have to ask your reviewers to refresh or clear their cache to see the changes). The way I like to do this by appending a query string to the link. Read More »

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Usability Accessory for ExpressionEngine 2

November 14, 2010

I really do love ExpressionEngine, and there are some great improvments in ExpressionEngine 2, but the control panel re-design does not suit my taste. The 1.6.x control panel was snappy, clean, and clear. EE2’s control panel doesn’t have the same feel to me yet. But it can be greatly improved with two add-ons right out of the box, and I’ve made a third which addresses some minute, yet pesky details. If you like extra clarity you might want to check out this accessory. Read More »

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A Few Time Savers

July 17, 2010

These well-designed and fun-to-use apps will quickly begin to feel like essentials by gracefully automating repetitive tasks. A few of these are especially good if you are a web-worker or often work with text. Read More »

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Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

April 19, 2010

keyboard-pref.pngIf you find yourself accessing the same menu items again and again with your mouse you can save time and mousing by assigning it a keyboard shortcut. This Mac feature is also useful if you find that an existing keyboard shortcut inconvenient or if it interferes with a global keyboard shortcut. Editing keyboard shortcuts is very simple and can make using your Mac even more productive and fun. Read More »

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Sync Applications with Dropbox

April 15, 2010

DropboxThere are many uses for the very handy (and free) Dropbox. You can share, sync, back-up, and version. But one of the neatest tricks is syncing applications across two or more Macs — no MobileMe required! Some applications, such as TextExpander are now offering built in Dropbox sync. Either way, it is just a few simple steps to stay in sync. Read More »

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Improve Fluid SSB’s with Choosy

March 14, 2010

choosy.jpgIn case you haven’t tried it, Fluid is a very cool application for creating Single Site Browsers (SSB’s). If you use a web application, such as Gmail, on a routine basis you should try creating an SSB. Beside freeing up a browser tab, you get a dock icon, badges, and even growl notifications for some apps. You can customize the behavior and appearance of the SSB in lots of ways. But to get the most out of SSBs (and web browsers in general) I recommend Choosy. Read More »

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Annotate Screenshots Natively

March 14, 2010

Screenshots can be handy things. Before I made the switch to Mac I used to use Greenshot or Fireshot. But in Mac OS X its as easy as ⌘⇧4. However, sometimes a screenshot isn’t enough and you need a clarifying arrow or label to really convey your message. There are some 3rd party applications that can help, but you can do it quickly, simply, and for free using Preview. Read More »

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Managing Windows in Mac OS X

March 12, 2010

afloat.pngAlthough Expose and Spaces are nifty, they seem inefficient when compared to simply relying on a handful of native keyboard shortcuts and a few useful applications. Read More »

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Formatting Text in Basecamp

March 11, 2010

I’ve tested a lot of web-based project management applications including No Kahuna, GoPlan, Lighthouse, and ActiveCollab to name a few of the better ones. I really wanted to like one of those better than Basecamp, but the truth is Basecamp really is the cadillac of project management apps.

I’m not going to go into a long spiel about why, but I will highlight one of the subtler features that is one of the many little things that make it a pleasure to use: Textile
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