I’ve always thought of it this way: a good writer reads a lot of books. They see how other writers solve problems. They pay attention to what’s happening now as much as they pay attention to the classics. Good writers are readers first, but eagle-eyed, careful readers.

I think good developers are the same: they look at other apps. They “read” those apps, the problems they have and how they solve them. They notice trends, they notice new solutions, they notice when things work and when they don’t.

Not every developer does that. Some do, but pretty much limit themselves to Apple apps, which means they’re missing some interesting things. And some developers try but haven’t yet developed the close eye it takes. (It just takes practice.)

There may still be some developers who say there’s no place for style and fashion in UI, that usability is usability and that’s that. They’re mistaken, because part of human nature is to get tired of things and want fresh things, and UI is where the computer meets human nature. Human nature is not going to change on this matter. And I’m glad about that.

When you click the reload button, it is replaced with an integrated ‘Loading’ indicator that also contains a stop button. It’s a nice touch. Even nicer, the loading indicator fades to a lighter gray (not shown) once the page has mostly loaded and is ready for you to interact with it.

Still, the reload button feels like a small target. I miss having a nice big reload button. Here’s how I think Apple should treat the reload button, borrowing from the Add Bookmark button on the left side of the address field.

Ah, now that’s a reload button. Cmon, Apple, what say ye?

Posted via email from pascalpp’s posterous

But this leads me to wonder about something. The investor class has historically favored Republican candidates for President, at least in terms of campaign contributions. (I should find a source for this, but for the sake of argument, lets assume that statement is true.) Do you think, given the above information, investors are likely to change their ways and throw more of their campaign dollars behind Democratic candidates in the future? I tend to think not.

I wonder if this might stem from the pervasive sense of exceptionalism that Americans hold about themselves. American exceptionalism is often a force for good; we tend to believe we can achieve our goals even when the odds are against us, and sometimes our determination helps us beat those odds. But I think exceptionalism causes us to act foolishly as well. On the macro level, for example, there is our heavy-handed foreigh policy. But sticking to the micro level, the level of the invidual, I think a sense of exceptionalism leads many to participate in the lottery even though they know it is a losing proposition. They somehow hope that they can be the one, the lucky one. Lotteries would have zero participation were it not for exceptionalism.

Perhaps investors are a victim of this exceptionalist thinking as well. I don’t have a source for this either, but it seems to be accepted fact that the very wealthy do better under Republican administrations than under Democratic ones, when it comes to tax policy and billion-dollar military contracts and such. But the charts above refute the idea that all investors do better under Republican rule. Perhaps the bulk of investors give their campaign dollars to Republicans in hopes that they, too, can win the lottery.

(Via Daring Fireball)

John McCain:

Courtesy of http://wordle.net/create

Posted by email from pascalpp’s posterous

Posted by email from pascalpp’s posterous

“The campaigns already had agreed to suspend television advertising critical of each other on Sept. 11. The McCain campaign has said it will air no ads that day.”

I guess that’s only kind of advertising McCain has…

Posted by email from pascalpp’s posterous

I wonder how they decided what order to show them in? Maybe McCain has to be in bed by 8:30.

Posted by email from pascalpp’s posterous

Posted by email from pascalpp’s posterous

And how delicious is that, exactly?

Posted by email from pascalpp’s posterous

Posted by email from pascalpp’s posterous

Here’s the things I hope they’ll add or improve with future updates:

• Bluetooth pairing with Address book for sending and receiving SMS messages from my main computer (like I did with my old phone)
• Ability to save photos from an email into the built-in photo library
• Ability to customize the sounds, volume, and vibration used for various alerts (new text messages or emails, calendar events, etc)
• iChat!
• Weather icon on home screen should reflect the weather for the first configured weather locale, similar to how the Calendar icon shows the current day and date
• Lock screen should display an alert when new mail messages come in, similar to how new text messages are treated

I’ll add more to this list as things come to mind.