On Building Offline-Friendly Forms

Frontend developer Max Böck some time ago posted an article on how to create offline-friendly web forms Using the navigator.onLine method for checking if the user is still connected to the Internet, localStorage and service workers Max outlines a method for alleviating an annoying problem that comes with using forms on the web, particular on mobile platforms: Losing data and having to fill in a form repetitively if you lose your Internet connection before that form has been submitted. Having forms retain data in ... Read more

Creating Resuable Web Components with Stencil

Stencil is a compiler that generates Custom Elements (part of the Web Components specification) for reuse in any JavaScript web framework. Stencil was conceived by the creators of the Ionic Framework as means to build reliable framework-agnostic components. The Stencil developers put emphasis on creating progressive web apps that make use of modern browser features in a user-friendly manner. So, no matter if you use Angular, React or Vue.js for developing web applications Stencil allows you create and share reusable components that run ... Read more

The Magical Number Seven

This article by designer Jeff Davidson is an informative reminder of the well-known observation that human working memory has a capacity of 7 items (give or take 1 or 2). This observation, originally posited by cognitive psychologist George A. Miller in his paper The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two is a crucial guideline for designing user interfaces. If a user interface contains more than that number of different chunks of information it'll appear cluttered and overloaded to the user, who will ... Read more

Dimensions of Software Quality: Outcomes, Continuity, Cohesion and Coupling

IT consultant Erik Dietrich wrote this interesting article about his approach for evaluating software quality from a business perspective. He suggests these 2 questions as the main business considerations when it comes to software quality: Does the software do what it’s supposed to do? Can I easily change what the software does? In other words: Software quality is determined by both outcome and continuity (the extent to which software allows for changing circumstances, see Jeff Sussna's book Designing Delivery for more information on this matter) The ... Read more