Monthly Archives: November 2011

Spell check all text fields in Firefox

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Firefox has a built-in spell checker, but by default it only works on text fields of more than one line. However, you can make it spellcheck all fields with the following steps:

  1. Start up Firefox.
  2. Type “about:config” into the address bar in Firefox and hit enter.
  3. Click “I’ll be careful, I promise!” (if the warning appears).
  4. Type “layout.spellcheckDefault” into the Filter field.
  5. Change the value for the layout.spellcheckDefault field to “2″ instead of “1″ (default).
  6. Restart Firefox and you should be set.

If you are new to about:config in Firefox, checkout MozillaZine’s intro.

Book: The Elements of Typographic Design

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Cover of The Elements of Typographical StyleThe other day I received and unwrapped a copy of one of my favorite books: The Elements of Typographic Design. Pure joy.

I first discovered Elements from the The Elements of Typographic Design Applied to the Web so long ago that I’m not sure how I stumbled upon it. The impression it made was permanent and so some time later, earlier this year, I checked out Elements (the book) from the library. It was love at first sight. I have a great love for beautiful typography of which Elements itself is such a wonderful specimen. Bringhurst’s treatment of the history of typography is lucid and illuminating. It gives us modern-day type workers the opportunity to be connected to this centuries-old craft. He is also an authoritative guide to producing works of type with good style and taste.

If I were teaching a class this is exactly the sort of book I would use as a textbook. It’s clear, thorough, and a handy reference to return to for a quick refresher or inspiration.

Speaking of handy, did I mention the form factor: 9.3 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches? It’s tall vertical format fits comfortably in the hand and the supple binding just beg for momentary sessions. All of this while not making longer sessions uncomfortable. The paper is a heavier weight that says quality in an understated way. The book also has a ribbon to keep track as you progress.

Elements is inspiring to me for more than the sheer beauty of good typography. My angle, as one might expect, is to bring some of that beauty, that care, that craftsmanship and refined technique to the web – one letter, one word, one document at a time. If we are to publish more books and long-form writing online (and good ones at that!), then we need to be able to grok Elements and re-imagine it for the discipline of web design. Here’s to the work before us.

PS. Cheers to Richard Rutter for inspiring me more than a few years ago with his re-interpretation of Elements  for the web and leading me to this priceless resource.

Context, Content and Users – The 3 Pillars of Information Architecture

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(book cover) Information Architecture by Peter Morville & Louis RosenfeldI’ve been reading Information Architecture (3rd Ed) by Peter Morville & Louis Rosenfeld (who, by the way, is speaking at ConFab 2012). In chapter 2, they introduce context, content and users as the three pillars of information architecture. Although it might be an over-simplification, I think it’s a helpful one. It’s easy to remember, easy to bring up in meetings as user experience and site architecture is discussed. Realistically when you’re out in the wild, you need to have some guidelines and an open mind.

Here’s a snapshot of the diagram that pulls these three concepts together.

Venn Diagram: 3 circles content, context and users, intersecting equally.

As I was reading this chapter I came up with some questions that I can use to prompt our discussions about these topics at work. I have a couple projects coming up that require work in IA before jumping to the design and development phase. I think these questions might help me set the tone and approach of the project and guide our thinking as we move forward.

  • Who are our users? Identify each audience.
  • What types of content do we have?
  • What are the actions that we want users to take (for each audience)?
  • What is the most important content (for each audience) to help them complete the most important actions?
  • What is unique about our users, our content, our actions?

As a final note, I really enjoy Rosenfeld and Morville’s approach to this topic. It’s well informed, flexible and admits the human and somewhat irrational element of this type of work. Let me quote:

Web sites and intranets are not lifeless, static constructs. Rather, there is a dynamic, organic nature to both the information systems and the broader environments in which they exist. This is not the old world of yellowing cards in a library card catalog. We’re talking complex, adaptive systems with emergent qualities. We’re talking rich streams of information flowing within and beyond the borders of departments, business units, institutions, and countries. We’re talking messiness and mistakes, trial and error, survival of the fittest.