I’ve been working on this for a while, but let’s make it official: I started a little Tumblr-like microblog about software craft and quality!

You can sign up via RSS or a weekly newsletter digest. There’s already almost two months of content in there, if you just want to check it out.

Hope you like it!

https://unsung.aresluna.org/

Unsung

A blog about software craft and quality

I will occasionally link to a post from the blog that I feel really good about, if you don’t mind!

From this morning, a review of the documentary Koolhaas Houselife, ostensibly having nothing to do with UX design:

https://unsung.aresluna.org/movie-review-koolhaas-houselife/

Unsung

A microblog about software craft and quality

A post about the pretty inspiring and strange software that is Strudel, sort of a command line/text editor for music. I want my CSS authoring to feel this way.

https://unsung.aresluna.org/we-can-go-deeper-by-patterning-inside-of-our-pattern/

“We can go deeper by patterning inside of our pattern” – Unsung

A blog about software craft and quality

An appreciation of one tool that does screenshotting in a really interesting way, plus the history of how ⌘⇧3 and ⌘⇧4 ended up where they are.

https://unsung.aresluna.org/how-to-shoot-a-screen-using-a-board-of-keys/

How to shoot a screen using a board of keys – Unsung

A blog about software craft and quality

I learned about this cool exhibit at ACMI in Melbourne today, and immediately had to write about it.

It simulates working at a help line for a videogame company in 1993, complete with fictitious games, and a physical 300-page binder of various documents. Amazing.

https://unsung.aresluna.org/this-sounds-completely-impractical-and-we-love-it/

“This sounds completely impractical and we love it.” – Unsung

A blog about software craft and quality

I wrote a little bit about molly guards, or UI that protects you from other UI!†

I’m very curious if you have other examples I missed.

(† Not related to the street drug.)

https://unsung.aresluna.org/molly-guard-in-reverse/

Molly guard in reverse – Unsung

A blog about software craft and quality

In which I celebrate the craft of Flickr’s original, amazing URL scheme: https://unsung.aresluna.org/unsung-heroes-flickrs-urls-scheme/
Unsung heroes: Flickr’s URLs scheme – Unsung

A blog about software craft and quality

I don’t know if this is spicy (I honestly don’t even know what “spicy” means anymore on the internet), but wrote what I learned about making a bug process work for more people than just engineers: https://unsung.aresluna.org/how-to-make-sure-a-designer-never-files-a-bug-again/
How to make sure a designer never files a bug again – Unsung

A blog about software craft and quality

For my 150th (!) post, a look back at Apple’s breathing lights: https://unsung.aresluna.org/just-a-little-detail-that-wouldnt-sell-anything/
“Just a little detail that wouldn’t sell anything” – Unsung

A blog about software craft and quality

A little post about Beagle Bros, perhaps the most fun 1980s software company. https://unsung.aresluna.org/our-programs-are-fun-to-use/
“Our programs are fun to use.” – Unsung

A blog about software craft and quality

Had fun listing all of these interfaces that are aware of the hardware’s dimensions or buttons or other physical properties, so they can do fun things with pointing to stuff.

Please send me more if you can think of them!

https://unsung.aresluna.org/software-proprioception/

Software proprioception – Unsung

A blog about software craft and quality

@mwichary Somewhat related, the ports on my MacBook are (mostly) aligned with the keycaps, so you don't need to look when you plug something in (power, two of the usb ports, HDMI). The second usb port on the left side isn’t, unfortunately - I guess the designers traded ease of use with space-saving.
@MichaelPorter I think it also would’ve looked bad from the side since the port widths are uneven.
@mwichary So you're thinking they went for consistent spacing between the ports? Looks like it. But when I’m using my computer I don't even see the sides of it. I do, on the other hand, often miss when I'm trying to plug something in to a port that isn't aligned. Those times, I wish they went for functionality over form.
@MichaelPorter Oh yeah, I’m 100% sure that’s what they did. If you survey Apple hardware, port spacing and gestalt are almost always immaculate.

@MichaelPorter I wish there was some way to indicate the ports from above, but that probably clashes with Apple’s minimalistic/stark approach.

A company like Nothing could probably have fun here.

@mwichary I'm thinking they have to make their phones a little smaller 😄