Point of View

Posted on April 25th, 2012 by Ean

Why are desks and chairs designed so poorly?

Don’t get me wrong. They’re typically comfortable enough in all of the obvious ways, but I have yet to find a desk & chair combo that doesn’t force you to look downward at your screen.

Maybe I just have a long torso. I’m fairly average in height. (172cm ~ 5’7″)

I’d like to be able to lower the average chair by about 6″ or raise my monitors. I think I’ll start putting my monitors on something so I can sit up straight while I work.

Alternately, I could purchase an ergonomic solution.

Light Box – clarity as an IDE concept

Posted on April 23rd, 2012 by Ean

“Light Table is based on a very simple idea: we need a real work surface to code on, not just an editor and a project explorer. We need to be able to move things around, keep clutter down, and bring information to the foreground in the places we need it most.”

This Kickstarter project is amazing. It’s a very nice IDE concept and I’d like to see it become a reality.

PHP: a fractal of bad design – fuzzy notepad

Posted on April 10th, 2012 by Ean

An acquaintance from IRC has written a fairly thorough run-down of the reasons why PHP really isn’t the answer to your server-side problems. I’ve heard some of my friends say the same things over the years, and I think his thoughts are worth some consideration.

PHP: a fractal of bad design – fuzzy notepad.

Many defend and apologize for PHP’s shortcomings, when the reality is that with a minimal amount of initial effort, there are options out there.