Ui Dude

- the trials and tribulations of the working life of a UI Dude.

I've been in this business quite a while. Each new opportunity gives me a chance to update my skills and to try out new stuff. Learning is fun. It's not always easy, but it's fun.

All software has bugs. I see the UI / UX bugs and I file a bug in Jira and I fix them when we can squeeze them into a sprint. It's all about the priorities. Nothing is perfect. We keep trying though.

I'm out on my own as a freelancer building and styling static html, WordPress, Forums and other websites that use content management systems for individuals and small businesses. Yes, I can work on your app.

I can provide SEO services including setting up your site for SEO, providing substantial backlinks, and keeping track of traffic using Google Search Console, Analytics etc. I help local businesses compete, and get traffic.

Want to know more, or get help with your web pressence?

Installing Node.js

I have installed Node.js on a variety of Macs, Windows Machines, and Windows VMs. It has never been a slam dunk easy peasy endeavor. Nope, something always goes wrong. What do I do other than wring my hands? Well, I find the first error and I search for a solution. I keep going through the errors until they are all gone, and Npm starts like it's supposed to.

Often dependencies that NPM is looking for have mysteriously not been installed, or you forgot to type in sudo ... in the command line, and you only get a partial installation. If in doubt delete the node-module folder and try again, this time typing in Sudo if you use a Mac or Linux.

Bootstrap and other libraries

I usually work at startups and often I'm tasked to build something very fast, and I don't have the time to start from scratch and build out a grid system or style all the form elements etc. So I'll often lean on a library such os Bootstrap. They are usually fairly easy to learn quickly and to get shit done. In the end that's all that counts. I can get something up and running quick and dirty with Bootstrap, and though out of the box it'll look like 10 gazillion other websites, it's trivial to reskin into something really chewy or just different. I usually tell a Marketing person or a Product Manager to not sweat the little things. Let's just build it out quickly because whatever we do now is going to change over the next few months.

Keep Apps Simple

Complexity for the sake of complexity is stupid. Just because you can design some ridiculous user interface and make a user experience ungodly complex and convoluted doesn't mean you should. Really. Stop making people think. If there is an existing simple and straightforward UX that people have been using for ten years, does it really need to be redesigned? Or is this someone's ego that's insisting? Chew on it.

iOS - UI that gets in my way

I use my iPhone to do a lot of stuff. I'll admit that it is a bit of an addiction. So I spend a ton of time on my iPhone, and the same horrible user experiences are here after many years. I'll identify one of those experiences and ask Apple, why?

When looking at videos on some sites such as YouTube, you'll be watching along, and decide you need to change the audio volume up or down. So you click on the button on the side of your phone, or on your earbuds control thing-a-ma-bob. Up comes an opaque icon that obliterates your view of the video. Why Apple? Why isn't this icon moved to the top or the side with a simple slider? Why do you put that big assed icon in front of everything? At the very least give it a very low opacity so we can still see what is what. Grrrr. Of course taking a screen shot while viewing a video and getting the icon at full opacity is impossible. iPhone volume icon screenshot