@stew_sims@mastodon.social
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

stew_sims

@stew_sims@mastodon.social

Coder, and occasional fixer of cars.

Learning and practising user-centred design skills.

#SoftwareEngineering #ClassicCars #UserExperience (#UX) #WeirdCarMastodon

https://blog.ssims.co.uk [personal blog]

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stew_sims, to random
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

I'm not looking for a new job, but occasionally stuff pops up and I look at it. What is with job descriptions like:

"We need someone who is happy to embrace our culture - finding ways to say “yes”!"

I think they added three letters too many to the word 'culture' there.

stew_sims, to random
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

Coffee nerds of Mastodon: I'm looking for a cheap(ish) electric coffee grinder. Any recommendations?

I don't drink loads as too much caffeine isn't great for me, so use a small hand grinder currently. Ideally something small with a timer or setting for coarseness would be great and a half decent design / quality. So many different products with different price points and mixed reviews!?

joelanman, to random
@joelanman@hachyderm.io avatar

Oh Figma desktop doesn't work at all offline, that's a shame

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@joelanman wow that's a significant flaw! So are there any real benefits or use cases for the desktop app?

Daojoan, to random
@Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar

We are told that success means doing more, achieving more, and being more efficient.

But this shitty sidequest, this hamster wheel, this relentless pursuit of productivity is making us less human. It’s making us less happy.

And it’s making us less…well, us.

https://joanwestenberg.medium.com/fuck-the-cult-of-productivity-49617d18ffaf

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@Daojoan I think there is even a wider, perhaps tangential, thing going on in the modern world that is part of this. It's the illusion or cult of 'progress'. A great example of this is people's behaviour around travel / transport.

Many times people will choose to drive, quite often at times and on routes that have significant traffic. They do not consider the time they spend in the car (which is whole weeks, sometimes months in a year) and if alternative options will better serve their needs...

stew_sims, to random
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

Friday frivolity: Messing around with the GOV.UK design system.

Not sure if this is what @joelanman had in mind when he shared the following link😁
https://design-system.service.gov.uk/

A video of a UK Government (GDS) design system based web page. The heading says 'Check to see if there are aliens in the universe'. The body text says 'You can use this service to determine if there are aliens in the known universe at any given time'. Click the button below to check: The button says 'Check now'. The button is pressed. A warning appears saying 'Yes there are aliens in the universe'.

joelanman, to webdev
@joelanman@hachyderm.io avatar

The GOV.UK Design System is all vanilla HTML, CSS and JavaScript, using progressive enhancement, no frameworks required. It is possible, it's robust, flexible and works well

https://design-system.service.gov.uk

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@joelanman is there a way to use it without involving Node, like a basic template or repository that is just some HTML, CSS and JS files that work in isolation?

joelanman, to UX
@joelanman@hachyderm.io avatar

Things we learnt designing Register to vote

https://designnotes.blog.gov.uk/2014/07/14/things-we-learnt-designing-register-to-vote/

(this one had lots of Americans saying I spelt learnt wrong)

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@joelanman thanks for sharing. Did you find there was any resistance to the copy "Most people vote in person at a polling station"?

Obviously it's a perfectly valid and relevant fact. But I can see how some might interpret that as making the question that follows leading, or possibly people feeling their marginalised by not wanting to vote in person.

I guess the main thing is testing with users and getting their feedback, basing all decisions on sound data / evidence.

MarvinFreeman, to random
@MarvinFreeman@mastodon.online avatar

Volkswagen will reintroduce buttons to dashboards because everyone hates the touch controls
https://boingboing.net/2023/12/19/volkswagen-will-reintroduce-buttons-to-dashboards-because-everyone-hates-the-touch-controls.html

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@MarvinFreeman this has been the one complaint I have about our new car after a couple of thousand miles. It does at least have toggle switches to turn the temperature up and down but it takes two or three taps on the touchscreen to change where the air is directed. A hill I will gladly die on is that a rotary dial that you could turn without taking your eyes off the road was the pinnacle of design for HVAC controls in vehicles.

Gargron, to random
@Gargron@mastodon.social avatar

I have to admit this year has been destructively stressful for me. I wish I could feel some sense of accomplishment about work done, but it's just not there, just this sense of a million other things that are urgently overdue and another million I'm forgetting.

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@Gargron take care of yourself in whatever way you can. Most of us do something useful every day. Even if it's just reply to an email, talk to a colleague about something or take the dog for a walk. You may never get to the bottom of the to-do list. But life isn't a to-do list it's just 'existing' at the end of the day. Seems like you've done a lot already. Hope you find a way to mitigate or reduce the stress and feel better about it soon. Also please ask for help if you can if needed.

baldur, to random
@baldur@toot.cafe avatar

You all will, perhaps, forgive me for having a bit of fun with this one.

I just published “Bad Business AI: Channel 1” over on the blog.

All about a tech industry staple: grand business ventures by people who genuinely don’t have a clue about what they’re doing. https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/2023/bad-business-ai-channel-1/

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@baldur I know it's painful to write or talk about AI at the moment so thanks for taking the time to put some words down on this. Not enough people are talking about how many of these AI grifts are terrible business ideas. In some cases there is literally nothing there: People are trying to conjure up products that have no target market actually willing to pay for them.

If nothing else kills over-hyped AI, eventually the fact that money talks will.

gerrymcgovern, to random
@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green avatar

Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics and hangs as an invisible mist wherever cars are driven. A traditional petrol / diesel car's four tires will pollute 1 trillion toxic nano particles for every kilometer driven. There are about 1.4 billion cars in the world. Let’s assume they drive and average 20,000 km per year. That means that every year some 28 septillion of these toxic particles pollute air, soil and water. That’s 28,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@simon_brooke @ariaflame @gerrymcgovern the problem is SUVs now dominate the market so much the cheapest new cars in most classes are SUVs. So yes people who don't like SUVs, don't want an SUV will probably end up buying an SUV because it's what most other people bought and now that's all that is available.

SUV has become a somewhat meaningless term. Many EVs are SUVs. I think we need to move beyond arguing about who drives what and look at bringing all usage and consumption down.

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@simon_brooke @ariaflame @gerrymcgovern that would be a good start definitely

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@simon_brooke @ariaflame @gerrymcgovern We also seriously need to look at the regulations around child seats too. Most cars despite being bigger than they ever were you cannot sit 3 children in due to the child seats required. The guidance in the UK even discourages people from using second hand child seats. The requirements to reduce waste and emissions and the regulations around safety need to be better aligned.

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@emkingma @simon_brooke @ariaflame @gerrymcgovern Yes I understand perfectly. What I'm suggesting is we look at whether there are ways in which we can align the risk and regulations around safety and environmental concerns.

You can't guarantee the structure of an entire vehicle is sound or the airbags are working either beyond a certain point. Risk is all relative and maybe we should consider if given advances in vehicle safety overall we can adjust the rules and guidance.

bitprophet, to random
@bitprophet@social.coop avatar

Just trimmed the rest of my ~1-story-tall viburnum bushes and I am a) already in a lot of pain and b) probably going to be near-immobile tomorrow 😨

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@bitprophet moved about half a tonne of soil from back to front garden and broke up a fence panel today so I feel your pain. That's on top of digging a good chunk of that out and laying some gravel over the last few days. The depressing thing is it doesn't even look like that much!

matthiasott, to random
@matthiasott@mastodon.social avatar

If you have a personal website: what platform, CMS, SSG, tech stack, or service are you using for it? Would you pick it again? How much technical expertise did it require to set up and make it your own? And do you have to do a lot of maintenance?

Once more – you guessed it – I’m asking for my subscribers. 😉
RT = 🎉

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@matthiasott I use 'Pico CMS' on a cPanel web host. Pretty straightforward to use. Just unpack the files and start writing in Markdown.

Privacymatters, to random
@Privacymatters@mastodon.social avatar

Troubling. Little more than surveillance wrapped up as analytics & adtech.

“We know this sounds like something from the future, but we are there! We can customize your campaign to listen for any keywords/targets relevant to your business.”

“Listening
Active Listening begins and is analyzed via AI to detect pertinent conversations via smartphones, smart tvs and other devices.”

https://www.cmglocalsolutions.com/cmg-active-listening

video/mp4

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@Privacymatters Sickening really. This is clearly aimed at someone that's already decided to smash their moral compass to pieces in pursuit of what data they can 'legally' harvest. And the sheer boldness to state (quite wrongly) that 'consumers usually give consent when accepting T&Cs', implying users willingly consent to surveillance is appalling.

aral, to github
@aral@mastodon.ar.al avatar
  1. Read this:

“Just as GitHub was founded on Git, today we are re-founded on Copilot.”

https://github.blog/2023-11-08-universe-2023-copilot-transforms-github-into-the-ai-powered-developer-platform/

  1. Go here:

https://codeberg.org/

#git #gitHub #codeberg #enshittification #BigTech #cooperative #dev

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@aral I find the examples of what it can do pretty lame.

Surely, if we're going to entertain the idea of AI massively increasing productivity in software development, we need to consider the creative aspect of coding.

For example on a macro level suggestions for the steps to modify a codebase to implement a particular feature. Or automating away laborious code changes across an entire codebase.

Beyond a basic level of creativity, 'generative' AI usually fails.

stew_sims, to random
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

This seems a shame... local adult learning centre offering creative courses to be closed. A microcosmic example of the persistent failure of politics at every level in this country.

https://mastodon.social/@EveningNews/111346201173713538

joelanman, to webdev
@joelanman@hachyderm.io avatar

Ok so www.klinik.co.uk, as used by the NHS and my GP will lose all the data you entered if you refresh or press back. It also uses placeholder text for field descriptions. Hooray for crappy SPAs, JavaScript frameworks and suppliers putting vulnerable people at risk

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@joelanman don't worry Palantir are getting half a billion soon to fix everything😬

localzuk, to UKpolitics
@localzuk@ohai.social avatar

The only reason the government are so upset about the 4 day week, even when it is proving to be cost effective and efficient, is that their paymasters are worried that it could become a demand from workers that could spread to business.

Can't have the proles enjoying too much of their time, can you? They might get ideas above their station.

Government says four-day working weeks should 'cease immediately' - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-67232583.amp

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@localzuk at a time when councils are struggling to hire because they don't have the budget to give people a pay rise in line with inflation, it seems a no-brainer that one of the ways out of this mess is a 4 day week. It might just tempt people back to the public sector and it doesn't increase their costs. But nevermind, novel ideas are far too drastic for politicians (I'm not convinced Labour would even support it at scale if they won the next election either).

stephaniewalter, to Typography
@stephaniewalter@front-end.social avatar

8 more micro tips for remarkably better typography (10min) a great introduction to help you improve small areas of your site right away, by Matej Latin
https://uxdesign.cc/8-more-micro-tips-for-remarkably-better-typography-82bf65fb2043


https://uxdesign.cc/8-more-micro-tips-for-remarkably-better-typography-82bf65fb2043

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@stephaniewalter very easy to follow for a design novice like me. In fact I just applied one of the tips to my entire website / blog and it's made a big difference, thanks👍

thomasfuchs, to random
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io avatar

I occasionally check if Google has cured itself from AI-brain rot, alas this is a screenshot from just now

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@thomasfuchs wow, we should all keep posting the garbage like this that comes out of AI systems. I must admit I didn't realise the rot was so ingrained, thanks for the reminder. Surely with it being this crap the AI bubble is about to burst (again)?

searls, to random

Ever since the LLM boom started, I've been saying that AI code generation's biggest impact will be to increase the burden on highly-skilled programmers to wade through the mountains of code created by less-skilled programmers.

The fact that I had to struggle mightily to write code when I was less skilled is how I gained the skill I have. Feels like AI code generation is stunting the development of the next generation of programmers. https://justin.searls.co/shots/2023-10-17-08h04m28s/

stew_sims,
@stew_sims@mastodon.social avatar

@searls a concern I also have. I guess the answer is similar to how use of any other tools (e.g. StackOverflow, libraries / frameworks etc.) should be approached - with critical thinking. So far the main use I've found for it is in automating certain tasks - e.g. as an intelligent 'find and replace' tool that can generate regular expressions to transform code or data. In terms of writing code beyond very basic applications it's not particularly effective or efficient.

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