@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

jochenwolters

@jochenwolters@mastodon.social

Explorer | Designer | Teacher

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collin, to random
@collin@ruby.social avatar

I just noticed @ivory has a feature in settings for reminding you to add alt-text to images.

Alt text reminder dialog

jochenwolters,
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

@collin @ivory @Mona does too. 👍

I wish the info blurb would explicitly refer to "alt text" or "accessibility" in some way, but the option is there. Alas, I don't recall if it's switched on by default, or not. IMHO, “on" should be the default, if only to teach users the important of image alt text.

jochenwolters, to random
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

Feature suggestion for Mastodon clients (hint, hint, @MonaApp 😏):

★ Automatic thread generation from a single new-post window ★

When writing a longer post or response on a micro-blogging platform such as Mastodon, I prefer to write the entire text before I publish it. That allows me to re-read it, fix typos, polish it a bit, etc. Unfortunately, this constraint means that creating a thread for longer posts is dreadfully tedious.

It goes like this:

1/4

jochenwolters,
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

@MonaApp - Write post, eventually realizing that, due to the post's length, a thread is needed

  • Finish the post
  • Cut the end of the text to get the first post under the character limit, iterating so as not to waste too many unused character slots in that first post
  • Add 1/n counter (total number of posts isn't known yet, of course…)
  • Create the second post without posting the first yet
  • Paste in the cut-out-from-first-post text

2/4

jochenwolters,
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

@MonaApp - Repeat the process until all text is contained in drafts below the character limit

  • Do a final reading pass, edit/re-chunk as needed
  • Replace n with total number of posts (perfectionist tendencies at work, I'm afraid…)
  • Publish first post
  • Create responses to previous post
  • Copy-and-paste respective content over into the response
  • Realize for some posts that mentions push them over the character limit again; fix this

3/4

jochenwolters,
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

@MonaApp - Iterate until all drafts have become proper thread posts

  • Tidy up All The Windows ™
  • "Done…”

Imagine if, instead, the client software would do the chunking:

  • Write the post
  • Hit Publish
  • “Done!!”

Let the software client cut up the text as needed, add m/n counters, and post it as threaded responses. That, IMHO, would be a really nifty, time- and sanity-saving feature that I’ve yet to see in a shipping application.

4/4

jochenwolters,
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

@nebyoolae In principle, I completely agree with you.

I find those seemingly never-ending threads extremely tedious to read and navigate. Just like most meetings could just be emails, most extended micro-blogging threads could just be blog post, no?

Then again, I find shorter post threads helpful sometimes, specifically when responding to someone in the same context that they posted in. Even then, though, I wish the threading process was more convenient.

collin, to random
@collin@ruby.social avatar

Catching up on WWDC videos and doing tutorials with one of my best buddies to prepare for our interviews/jobs. It's a good time.

jochenwolters,
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

Best of luck for those interviews, @collin!!🤞

jochenwolters, to random
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

@glennf Have you listened to Steven Fry’s version of the history of the printing press yet?

https://overcast.fm/+MhmGLe7vQ

I doubt that it covers any facts that you don’t already know, but the story telling is — as usual for Mr. Fry, of course — extraordinary, if not utterly delicious!

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

AI researchers claim 93% accuracy in detecting keystrokes over Zoom audio

Mitigating factors include typing style, multi-case passwords, uncommon laptops.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/type-softly-researchers-can-guess-keystrokes-by-sound-with-93-accuracy/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

jochenwolters,
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

@arstechnica Have you seen this yet, @hackerfactor? I’d be surprised if you hadn’t, but just to make sure.

pixel, to space
@pixel@social.pixels.pizza avatar

Original Apollo 11 Guidance Computer (AGC) source code for the command and lunar modules.


https://github.com/chrislgarry/Apollo-11/tree/master

jochenwolters,
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

@pixel @deirdresm The Computer History Museum honored Margaret Hamilton for her contributions to the Apollo 11 program by making her a CHM Fellow in 2017.

Here’s a short profile of this brilliant programmer:

https://computerhistory.org/blog/2017-chm-fellow-margaret-hamilton/

jochenwolters, to random
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

With so much customizability built into @MonaApp, I hope its developer(s?) will add an option for displaying any timeline in true chronological order, that is, the latest posts appear at the bottom of the viewport, not the top.

That way, you could — finally! — read a timeline like you read any other text, namely: from top to bottom! 🤞

That would also tackle the all-too-common misleading perception that, whatever happens last, deserves our focus first. 🤨

glennf, to random
@glennf@twit.social avatar

Watching an episode of University Challenge, one of the questions was about the book Thomas More wrote in the 1500s titled with a Greek word he coined, meaning “no place.” Utopia, of course.

But the clue also noted that the word could apparently be read as a positive—a pun on pronunciation. Instead of no-place, it was…

…The Good Place.

(ou-topos versus eu-topos)

jochenwolters,
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

@glennf Forgive my pedantry, Glenn, but that should say, “… read as a positive in English …”

Pronounce it properly in (Ancient) Greek, and the two words do — alas! —sound noticeably different. 🤓

collin, to random
@collin@ruby.social avatar

I am now running a -80 emulator on my MacBook Pro, since I thought may be the best way to understand the original implementation of MVC would be to try it.

The environment is interesting just by itself though. It is recognizably an ancestor of Macintosh style GUIs, while also missing some pretty basic affordances that came with the Lisa and Macintosh.

jochenwolters,
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

@collin Have you seen this yet, by any chance?

https://computerhistory.org/blog/introducing-the-smalltalk-zoo-48-years-of-smalltalk-history-at-chm/

jochenwolters,
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

@collin While you’re at it…

https://computerhistory.org/blog/a-backup-of-historical-proportions/

Man, I love the CHM. Truly puts all the computing stuff we have today, into the larger context, specifically backwards well beyond the early, somewhat too familiar, Altair, Apple, and Microsoft days. So much more to discover from that “pre-personal computer” age!

glennf, (edited ) to random
@glennf@twit.social avatar

If you’d like a copy of my letterpress book, I’m getting close to 100 remaining from the limited-edition run of about 400 and I’ll be off on a business trip in mid-July. Order by July 5 to get a copy for yourself or as a gift (otherwise a two-week wait). https://glog.glennf.com/tiny-type-museum-time-capsule-and-more/six-centuries-letterpress https://twit.social/@glennf/110278618042952176

jochenwolters,
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

@glennf That book is so beautiful that I’ve decided to actually read the ebook so as not to mar the physical book in any way. 😎

jochenwolters,
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

@glennf I kind-a saw that response coming, Glenn. 😏

jochenwolters, to accessibility
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

Although writing Alt text for images can be a bit tedious and even daunting, let’s put in that extra effort to ensure to what we share online for everyone, regardless of their abilities.

To that end, I appreciate this option in the Ivory Mastodon client, lest its users occasionally forget to include Alt text. In fact, I find this option quite thoughtful, as it's not that obvious an option to consider in the first place, no?

Kudos to the folks at @tapbots for putting this in!

jochenwolters,
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

Speaking of adding Alt text to an image, @Ivory's inconspicuous “capture text from image" button in the Media Description sheet is remarkably effective.

What a brilliant little feature for the benefit of !

The Compose window in the Ivory Mastodon client. The “Edit Media Description” window is open, showing an image with a large amount of text. The user clicks a button, and the text from the image immediately appears in the adjacent Alt text field as fully editable text.

collin, to random
@collin@ruby.social avatar

I am convinced now that pairing is amazing, at least if you're pairing with the right person. It's not a little faster than working through things solo, it's multiple times faster. It turns out this is yet another way that @joeldrapper and I are a dynamic duo 😂

jochenwolters,
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

@collin @joeldrapper That applies to interaction design, as well: It's quite absurd to see how many UX/IxD teams have designers working all by themselves, only seeing each others’ work during the weekly get-together, if that.

So: Two people, one white board, one(!) pen, and Go!!

@chrisnoessel has written some excellent articles on some time ago, such as this one:

https://christophernoessel.medium.com/design-loneliness-d9c80118d14a

Not a new concept, then, really — except to too many practitioners and their managers. 🙁

viticci, to random
@viticci@macstories.net avatar

I'm sorry everyone but we need to take back whatever we all said about Apple not doing machine learning right.

iOS 17's Photos app can now identify and explain laundry symbols in pictures and this is amazing. No more need for apps that do this; just swipe up on a photo.

jochenwolters,
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

@viticci @riotnrrd I respecfully disagree with your opening sentence, Federico: Apple is doing AI/ML just right — at least from the average users' point of view.

When it comes to AI/ML, I have the impression that most companies in this space find it essential to name-drop related technical terms at every possible opportunity.

Only after finishing lecture-like explanations of how awesome all that stuff behind the scenes is, do they casually mention that they built a useful feature with it.

1/2

film_girl, to random
@film_girl@mastodon.social avatar

Absolutely fuck Reddit. @christianselig is amazing and I cannot believe they are slandering him this way. https://reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/144f6xm/apollo_will_close_down_on_june_30th_reddits/

jochenwolters,
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

@film_girl @christianselig I wonder what Aaron Swartz would think of what Reddit — the company, the site, and the community — is like these days.

jochenwolters,
@jochenwolters@mastodon.social avatar

@film_girl @christianselig Thank you for sharing these details, as I wasn’t aware of them.

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