Design Thoughts
- For reasons, I’ll touch on later, this is mostly about desktop browsers.
- In terms of privacy and security, I’m approaching this from a reality where 65% of people use Chrome. So in this context, vastly improving the privacy from that, is more interesting than saying someone is a gullible idiot if they don’t use a Tor browser. š So while I’m not saying those things shouldn’t be part of the discussion at all, I’d like to talk more about user experience and features than hardening if you catch my drift. 1
- Why do you use the one you use now?
- What are your favourite (large or small) features? Please be very specific!
- I’m 1.75 m tall, and my legs and arms aren’t especially long - so clothes are usually too long.
- Related, I like watches, bracelets, shoes and socks - and cuffing shows them off.
- I often think it makes the clothes themselves look better.
Anyone Else Feel Like They Should Use Firefox
… but Still Struggle With It?
This post was originally (and still is) a forum post on the MPU forums. I have two concrete question blocks I’d love feedback on, which I will present during the post. I would love to hear from you, either over at MPU, as a comment to this post on Micro.blog, via Mastodon, or email. š
I’d like to talk about browsers! And people are of course welcome to comment whatever they want ā but some notes on what my intentions for this discussion are:
OK, let’s go!
Ethics are always difficult to discuss. Because while I think everyone should be mindful of the small things we should do to improve things, people have different priorities and possibilities. And where should we draw the line while consumers in a problematic system? Like, I should probably use a Fairphone over an iPhone even though it’s worse, right? How much worse should I accept? How hard should I pull away from things like Facebook or X?
Still, I’m at least trying to try ā and as the browser is perhaps the most used app, the choice of it is among the things I’m thinking about.
And here’s why I feel like I should use Firefox:
Input wanted!
In principle, I think I should use Firefox… So I’m digging deep to see if I can make it not-bad! š
So, my question to those of you who use a (desktop) browser:
A Way To Get a Fancy Link Hover Effect
Jarrod, of (the great blog) HeyDingus.net, wanted to do something about the way his links appear on his website. He asked:
Since the first design of my site, Iāve stuck with blue text for my hyperlinks because that always seemed canonical with the web. Links = blue text, blue underline. But Iāve grown less certain with its readability with all that blue text interspersed. Iām considering a change. What do yāall think?
One thing he didn’t mention there, is that he also has a nice hover effect, that changes the underline to a gradient (that matches his logo and more) on hover.
My first idea for how to solve it sacrificed the gradient ā but that just wouldn’t do. But I think I found a pretty good solution in the end!
The solution and how to implement it
I Just Want a Nice Browser!
Two sad browser stories
Iāve followed the Spicy Takesā¢ļø surrounding the Arc Browser recently, that started in the Ruminate podcast and went on to the MacStories Weekly Issue 408.
And I agree with most of what John Voorhees is saying, and also Matt Birchler, who said: Ā«The Browser Company feels gross to me right nowĀ».
Much of it is about ethics and AI. In general I agree with them, but this subject wonāt be the focus of this post. (Iāve written more about AI here and here.)
Instead Iāll tell my browser story, and explain why both Arc and Firefox makes me sad.
Why do so many apps have weird margins?
There are tons of services, apps and clients for text based social media. But why are almost all of them wrong about timeline margins?
To show what Iām talking about, hereās Threads as an example:
I get that you want to start the text quite close to the username, and that avatars are taller than usernames on some services. But I still think that left-margin is a sin! It wastes space, and makes the entire screen lopsided.
I went through many apps checking - and many of the apps are good and well-designed in general! Many of them are Mastodon clients, because that service has a fantastic 3rd party ecosystem. Also, theyāre all iOS apps, because thatās what I have. Would be interested to hear about the situation on Android!
OK, here are some more offenders:
Pedal tuners and product design
Firstly, sorry about caring a bit too much about guitar tuners. You see, as a side gig, I help people with their pedalboards (especially people using multiple guitars on stage), and I often recommend that they get a new tuner. But no tuners are exactly like I want!
While this post is mostly hard core nerd out on pedal tuners, there are also some comments on product design in general. Letās go!
What makes a good cuff?
Ok, so this is by far the most niche thing I’ve ever written. But after getting a great jacket (that I’ll write about some other time!) that only had one problem, I wanted to gather my thoughts on this tiny subject. The “problem” was: It doesn’t cuff perfectly.
What’s the deal with cuffing anyway??
Cuffing is when you fold the sleeves of a shirt, jacket, sweater etc. It’s also commonly used when you do the same to leg opening of pants or shorts. And I’m an avid cuffer! The three reasons are: