default: break;

3am. bit drunk. cough. cough.

been kinda out of it lately.

changes. as they say, only constant in life is change.

left the perfect job for the not so perfect job but better paid job.

soon will figure out if better paid job indeed does pay for the headaches.

if you keep loosing sleep you're gonna be bored.

new life, new responsabilities. feeling old already... must be that 20 something age old crisis Vedder keeps talking about.

bye young me.

tiago, here you go:

[html]

[/html]

here's a quick way to better help your users while filling out a form:

1. add prototype to your app
2. add this to the bottom of your html template / layout / page / whatever

   $$('input').each(function (n) {
   Event.observe(n, 'focus', function(event) { $(n.id).addClassName('active'); });
   Event.observe(n, 'blur', function(event) { $(n.id).removeClassName('active'); });
   })
   

3. define this css class in your stylesheet:

   input.active {
   background-color: #ffc;
   }
   

4. ok done!

now your input boxes will be all yellowy when your user starts typing / doing his business on your html form.

As I digest my late dinner, laying in bed listening to Mika's Love Today, I decided that I should at least post something during this month of August.

I've gotten a few complaints that I'm not updating this blog frequently enough, so here's something to appease the hunger :)

I haven't bought any technical books since I finished my post-grad studies about a year ago. Instead, I've been reading some maths, physics, anthropology, business related stuff and the occasional novel.

I felt that it was once again time to absorb some technical knowledge, so I went for a little Amazon shopping spree:

Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction

I've been meaning to buy this book for some years now. I browsed through it at FCT-UNL's campus library and never bought it because "I would't have the time to read it". In a worst case scenario, it will look good on my bookshelf :P

Becoming a Technical Leader: An Organic Problem-solving Approach

One of my career goals is to manage a team of designers / developers in software engineering projects. This book was recommended by Coding Horror's Jeff Atwood and I hope it will hone some of the skiils needed for such a position. Also, recently I've become involved in a project where I am no longer working alone and hurdles will certainly arise that need proper management.

Domain-driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software

Software developement has evolved to a point were we can build programs using familiar terms adapted to the problem at hand. Anyone who as used Ruby on Rails has felt the power of using a domain-specific language to develop web sites. The framework captures the domain of database-backed web sites in such a way that you need only to concentrate on modeling the user-interface and the business logic. The implementation is quite straight-forward and feels natural. Also, the basis of domain-driven design is the domain model, which drives the process of model-driven engineering of software systems (see MDA).

Don't Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

I've been designing and implementing web-based solutions since the beginning of this year. I've had more experience building desktop client applications (I've always felt more in control in this environment) but you can't escape the inevitable. Even more so with such interesting RIAs sprouting about (Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight). Nonetheless, I could use some hints on Web usability...

These are already on their way over the Atlantic but if you are feeling generous, I have a few more on my wish-list so don't be shy :D

É com muito agrado que coloco online o artigo publicado este Sábado passado, dia 7 de Julho de 2007, no suplemento Digital do jornal Público, acerca do belacena.com, resultado de uma entrevista conduzida pelo Hélder Beja aos elementos da equipa do site.

Cliquem para ver a imagem:

ou descarreguem o PDF.

Mais uma vez, parabéns a todos!