I was browsing the feeds and I've missed a SmashingMagazine "Why Design-By-Committee Should Die" article.

"A camel is a horse designed by committee" so please reflect about it.
It's very important if you are a developer or a "committee".

As a web developer I have to agree with SM, and I have to admit sometimes committees/clients/customers should let others take decisions they cannot take, just because of their incompetence.

Directions web service arrives at Google I/O

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Google I/O is always a fantastic opportunity for the Maps API team to meet face to face with some of the many Maps API developers worldwide. We believe our developer community is one of the biggest strengths of the Google Maps API, and with over 350,000 web sites actively using the Maps API, there is no shortage of skilled and helpful expertise to tap into.

However Google I/O is not the only way in which we engage with developers. The Google Maps API Google Groups are thriving communities and many of us on the Maps API team enjoy listening and engaging in discussions held on these Groups. In addition we also have the Google Maps API Issue Tracker, a tool with which any Maps API developer can report problems with the API, suggest new features that they would benefit from, or star existing issues or features.

The Google Maps API team takes the problems and ideas featured on the Issue Tracker very seriously, and although we can not always address every issue that is raised, we do consider any that attract a lot of stars. Recently one feature request in particular has been head and shoulders above the rest in terms of the number of stars it has attracted. It therefore only seems appropriate today, as we sit down with our developer community for a Fireside Chat, that we respond to that request by launching a Directions Web Service.

The Directions Web Service is a companion to the existing Geocoding and Elevation Web Services, and allows applications to obtain Driving, Bicycling, and Walking directions through an XML/JSON REST interface. All of the features of the Map API v3 Directions service are supported, including “avoid highways”, “avoid tolls”, and waypoint optimization (travelling salesman solver). For more information, check out the Directions Web Services documentation.

If you have a great idea for a new Maps API feature, please don’t hesitate to submit it to the Issue Tracker. If your idea proves to be popular, we’ll do our best to make it a reality.

Posted by Thor Mitchell, Maps API Product Manager

Email Post

great! I've starred that issue http://code.google.com/p/gmaps-api-issues/issues/detail?id=235 for the enhancement.

huuh :D

So, why? :D

Using the lang attribute makes a difference

About a year ago I posted a Quick Tip titled Specify each HTML document’s main natural language. The reason is that software like screen readers can use this info to adjust the way they speak text.

But do they really do that? Well, it depends. You need to use a screen reader that supports language switching and can speak the natural languages of the document you’re viewing. One example of when it works as expected is VoiceOver for the iPhone and for the iPod touch.

Here are a few examples of text in different languages (thank you, Wikipedia).

Svenska

Välkommen till Wikipedia, den fria encyklopedin som alla kan redigera.

Deutsch

Wikipedia ist ein Projekt zum Aufbau einer Enzyklopädie aus freien Inhalten in allen Sprachen der Welt.

Français

Bienvenue sur Wikipédia, le projet d’encyclopédie libre que vous pouvez améliorer.

Español

Bienvenidos a Wikipedia, la enciclopedia de contenido libre que todos pueden editar.

If you have an iPhone or iPod touch, try loading this page after switching VoiceOver on (in Settings > General > Accessibility > VoiceOver). Each language example should be spoken in a different voice and with correct pronunciation instead of with a heavy English accent. This obviously makes it much easier to understand what VoiceOver is saying.

So yes, specifying the natural language does make a difference.

 

Possibly related posts

• The ‘lang’ Attribute
• Specify each HTML document’s main natural language
• Beware of id and name attribute mixups when using getElementById in Internet Explorer
• The future of accesskeys

Posted on April 5, 2010 in (X)HTML, Accessibility

• Previous post: Whenever you use :hover, also use :focus

Comments are disabled for this post, but if you have spotted an error or have additional info that you think should be in this post, feel free to contact me.

via lenkendall.posterous.com

via buzzfeed.com

Ok. I won't buy an iPad. :P

The foundation of every great open source project is its community. The MooTools Team creates the base framework code but it’s all of you that take the framework and build outstanding plugins. These are just some of the new developments floating around the MooTools community.

12 Steps to MooTools Mastery

Jacob Thornton’s NetTuts article, 12 Steps to MooTools Master, is a high-level introduction to the MooTools JavaScript framework. The informative article touches on such MooTools topics as Mutators, Prototypal Inheritance, custom events, binding, and more. This tutorial probably isn’t for the complete beginner, but is a good place to start for people still relatively new to MooTools and those considering it for the first time.

http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/javascript-ajax/12-steps-to-mootools-mastery/

Meio.Autocomplete

Meio.Autocomplete is the latest plugin from MooTools Contributor Fábio M. Costa. Fábio’s class is packed full of options and events, making it one of the most flexible MooTools Autocomplete plugin available. Great work Fábio!

http://mootools.net/forge/p/meio_autocomplete

DynamicTextarea

DynamicTextarea is a MooTools class that resizes TEXTAREA elements as the user types. DynamicTextarea boasts numerous options and events for maximum control over chosen TEXTAREAs.

http://mootools.net/forge/p/dynamictextarea

Array.Math

Array.Math is an outstanding set of Math methods you can add to JavaScript’s native Array object. Need to find the sum of numbers in an array? Need to normalize elements in an array? Need to get the vector length of an array of numbers? Be sure to download Array.Math! Kudos to Arian Stolwijk for his excellent work!

http://mootools.net/forge/p/array_math

LazyLoader

LazyLoader is a unique MooTools plugin created by David Chan which allows you to defer loading of MooTools classes until they are needed. This is especially helpful when building large web applications. LazyLoader is very easy to use and implement.

http://mootools.net/forge/p/lazyloader

Locate

Locate is a Geolocation plugin authored by Christopher Beloch. Christopher’s plugin taps into the power of HTML5 and offers a few useful options and events to control the Locate instance.

http://mootools.net/forge/p/locate

Keep Up the Good Work!

These are just a few of the great MooTools plugins floating around the MooTools community recently. Keep up the good work and we look forward to featuring your plugins in future posts!

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 9:11 pm and is filed under Roundup.
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