data d'Pender

I'm currently working on a project to bring an old publication to new life on the web. We want it to be a dynamic, structured and integrated version of the paper copy publication. To have maximum value for researchers, it should be modern and user friendly. Web Design So, I've been diving into modern web design. The beautiful, easy-to-read and clean looking sites you see these days can be distilled into a surprisingly few number of principles. Fonts, centering, spacing, and images all have huge impact. Jeremy Thomas  took me on a 4 minute journey into the world of design. Thanks Jeremy! The look and feel of a modern webpage can be distilled into the following set of [paraphrased] rules: Focus on content Use clear readable text Utilize text colour for emphasis Add bold images Of course, the world of web design seems to be as fickle as fashion. Trends come and go, things become outdated and need refreshing. I believe the above principles, however, sho...

Recently, I stumbled upon the answer to a question I didn't realize I had. Why do so many programming languages exist?  Programmers develop human-readable languages to more easily instruct the computer. Eventually, programming languages evolve. They are expanded, re-purposed, adopted by others, and proliferate. This leads to an accumulation of idiosyncrasies over time, making it difficult for newcomers to adopt the language as the learning curve grows and new versions arise (e.g., PHP). Hence, the need for modern languages. Built from scratch, they can be more approachable, and adapted to modern purposes. After all, the problems programmers need to solve change as rapidly as technology itself. The way I see it, the only language that will never change are the 0's and 1's themselves 😊