Wednesday, April 22, 2009

HTML td cells not respecting the attribute width

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#results {
width: 24em;
table-layout: fixed;
}

table-layout: fixed will resolve the problem.

Sounds straighforward, but have been struggling with this for years until I found this article about 5 rarely used CSS properties on SitePoint.

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Sunday, April 19, 2009

Google Web Tool Kit

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I have been involved more in project management than development lately, but had the opportunity to look into GWT (Google web tool kit), and seriously considering using this framework much more systematically when we develop web applications, or simply administration panels.

1) Ability to program in Java
The beauty of this "framework" is that you use Java to generate your Javascript. You don't have to worry about the browser, or the actual HTML, the framework will generate everything for you.

This allows you to develop UIs very fast, and include this into a SCRUM process easily - and you don't need to invlove "front-end" designers at this stage, unless you define "front-end designers" as "programmers" responsible for the front-end.


2) Compatible with other Javascript frameworks
Javascript frameworks such as JQuery are great to achieve nice rendering effects, or get access to the DOM quickly, to achieve things that sometimes you wish CSS would allow you to do (such as selectors, which is unfortunately not supported by lazy browsers).

These libraries are typically used by front-end designers.

Conclusion
GWT makes the prototyping process much easier to manage.
- build your prototype using GWT, which will generate the general JS scripts responsible for the rendering / ajax interaction

- refine then your design / UI with JQuery

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Testing :: in phases

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Was reading Matt's blog at Aroxo, and found an interesting little summary of how testing should be conducted before releasing a site live:

Test type

Description

How many people

Over-the-shoulder The main sticking points in the system. Where the system confuses users.
Start when functional testing at 80% readiness. Earlier with mock-ups also possible.
10-15
Task-driven testing How well the system stands up on its own.
Start when the major usability holes uncovered in OTS testing have been fixed.
Start with 20-30 keep growing invites to 100 or so
Goal-driven testing End-to-end flaws across the system.
Start when functional testing at 95% system readiness with a slick UI.
150-200
Beta testing The marketing points for the site, highlights future developments. If there are enough users it may also reveal performance issues
Start when the system is 99% ready.
250+ including members of the public

More information there >>

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