Archive for the 'Work' Category

A look back…

Marty February 14th, 2007

I’m currently working on a project for a hemophilia product from a major pharmaceutical company. In the midst of working on it, there is a reference to another product that triggered a memory of a past project - one that I did when I was working for Waresoft. Back then, it was a project coming up with a combination of Flash, HTML and JavaScript tools for Humate-P, made by ZLB Behring.

In this project, I was tasked to do three things:

  1. Update a flash animation comparing Humate-P and other products
  2. Create a dosing calculator that allowed a user to put in their weight and the amount of Van Willebrand factor (VWF) they wanted in the bloodstream
  3. Create handy chart for the doctors to see a complete list of comparable weight and VWF levels

Well, since I was thinking about the old project, I went to see how it was looking - and it’s up and running on their site. It works pretty well, too. You can see the different aspects of it here:

Humate-P Densitometric Analysis - click on the “Click here” link at the top of the page to launch Flash.

Dosage Calculator

Complete Dosage Chart

Granted, I only adapted and improved the first, and got a TON of help from Van in creating the JavaScript for the Dosage Calculator, but I think it turned out pretty well. I remember that trying to sync up the voice and animation in Flash was a major nightmare; ironically, knowing Flash 8 a little better now, I realize that there was a much easier way to do it than I did. Oh well, stuff happens.
Aahhh, the salad days…

Where there’s smoke…

Marty January 26th, 2007

Big excitement at work yesterday when the place started filling up with smoke. The conversation between my co-worker and I:

ME: Hmm, do you smell smoke?
Chris: Yeah … I think I do.
ME: But not an unpleasant smell - is it … is it…?
Chris: It smells like incense.
ME: Do we do that around here?
Chris: Who knows … could be.

[ chatter from outside ]

ME: Wait, are they talking about the smoke out there?
Chris: Yeah - maybe we should be concerned?

[ from outside: "it's like a fireplace at Christmas" ]

ME: She’s right. Kind of odd to be smelling here, though.
Chris: Think we should be concerned now?

[ from outside: “Hey, is that smoke coming from your office?” “Yeah, I think it is.”

ME: Yes.

Continue Reading »

Bloody Sunday

Marty January 8th, 2007

Well, this was NOT the best Sunday I’ve ever had. I wasn’t feeling well most of the weekend - some sort of ear infection that’s been intermittent for the last month or so - and we still had a LOT to do on Saturday, along with a particularly unsavory task set up for Sunday. Continue Reading »

Photoshop CS3

Marty December 28th, 2006

When my wife told me that Adobe was putting out the Adobe Photoshop CS3 beta last Friday a few weeks ago (yes, I know - she knew before me), I had a Pavlovian response. So, I kept checking all last Friday day to see when it would (finally) be ready to download. Then, late in the afternoon, it was there and I grabbed a copy. It should be noted that those without a current CS2 license can only try CS3 for 2 days, what is 30-day limit, but those with an authorized copy of CS2 get it for free until the actual release in the spring. Pretty sweet deal, actually. Continue Reading »

The Big News

Marty December 12th, 2006

Well, it’s out there now, so I guess I can post it - at least most of it.

I’ve been working at GSI Commerce for the last 9 months, the last six as a permanent employee.  It’s been a heck of a time, and I’ve learned quite a bit during my time there.  It was a good job with a great company that is going to make even more of an impact in the near future.  They’re doing a lot of interesting and good things with their designs and sites, and I think more people will hear about them soon.  It was a great job, but it was also anywhere from 1.5 - 4 hour commute per day for me.

I got an offer from another company, an offer that included a promotion, more money and a much shorter commute.  In fact, I’ll be able to take the train in most days, so even in my 20-30 ride, I’ll be able to get stuff done (reading, writing, work) while on my way - something that is decidely unpossible on the Schuykill Expressway.  And I’ll be doing some design stuff and helping set the standards that the new company (which will remain unnamed for now) will use in the future developments.  Promotion, money, short commute and direct influence  on the development standards of sites - what’s there not to like?

I hadn’t planned on leaving GSI, but this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.  Two weeks from today, I’ll be at my new job, getting myself settled in for the second time in less than a year.  I’m going to miss GSI in many ways, but I’m also excited at the prospects I’m looking at.

IjADs

Marty November 2nd, 2006

IjAD - Information (Inside joke) Architecture Document

Recently, much of my design work has been involving tools work and CMS, back-end systems, etc. I like the challenge of solving design problems and throwing in U/A standards where I can, but there’s not a whole lot of room for creativity. So, to add a small bit of humor to my designs, I started adding small ‘easter eggs’ (for a lack of a better term).

It’s always subtle things that avoid being overtly ridiculous or NSFW. Must of it has been relegated to finding better usernames: instead of J. User or John Doe, I’ve taken to A. Lien, B. Cirius and D. Lishus. Sometimes it’s a subtle joke word or phrase in the Lorem ipsum… text:

“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Nulla ligula ligula, tincidunt vel, insert nifty web twopointoh phrase here gravida ut, gravida consequat, justo. Curabitur sit amet quam ac enim viverra interdum…”

So, aside from amusing myself and the rare notice by anyone else, it’s harmless. But is it professional? I understand that it does have a childish element to it, and that it might be considered so by others, but the outlet after 8 hours of staring at Visio, Dreamweaver and Photoshop is something that I’ve enjoyed.

So, I’m wondering if there are any thoughts out there among the 4 or 5 readers I have about this? Anyone else put in hidden/secret things within their designs? Many artists have done things like this for ages, such as Shepard Fairey and his “Andre the Giant has a posse” graphic which found it’s way into other pieces of art, or the old Iron Maiden album covers by Derek Riggs, who hid his personal Riggs Logo in the drawings of Eddie, Maiden’s mascot. Programmers are notorious for their Easter Eggs, although they are usually hidden; IADs - being a visual medium - aren’t that complex.

I’m just curious how normal this is among IA’s and related design fields.

Visual vs. Usable Seminar

Marty September 15th, 2006

Last night, GSI Commerce hosted a seminar for AIGA Philadelphia and Phi Chi (the Philadelphia branch of the ACM SigCHI) members, along with Avenue A/Razorfish. The topic was The Visual vs. The Usable, and we were presenting two cases of how we managed to mesh top-notch creative with functional, usable design. Avenue A/Razorfish did the same, talking about how the two groups - often at odds - collaborated on projects to create a better end result. Continue Reading »

Jazz Coding

Marty July 14th, 2006

Jazz Coding jăz • cod’-ing(v) -

1. Interpretive and often highly improvisational code development that doesn’t match spec or supplied codebase, and usually doesn’t work.
2. Rewriting functional or base code with non-standard and/or irregular code that is better understood, regardless of its validity.

While highly entertaining if viewed correctly, unappreciated by most. Doesn’t follow standard conventions, often putting completely disparate elements into the expected structure, causing unexpected results.

WIKI addendum: Jazz Coding is often performed by less-informed developers who are unable to understand or modified newer and more compliant code structures. Rather than adhere to the level of code requested/supplied, they rewrite code to include more basic constructs that are better understood, such as <font> tags, incorrect/unmatched tags or structurally invalid code.

See Also jazz code (n); jazz coded (v, adj.), What the hell is this crap? (phrase)

Next Phase

Marty July 7th, 2006

As of July 3, I am officially an employee of GSI Commerce.  I’d been consulting with them for 3 months, and knew that they were a good place to be full-time.  Their client list is enviable and they’re one of the behind the scenes giants in e-commerce.  What’s more, they’re branching out, developing new competancies and applications. It’s great work, with the only downside being the dreaded Schuykill.

More to come in the coming weeks.

Do the Disabled Really Buy Sporting Goods?

Marty June 28th, 2006

While working on a website we are redesigning, I was seeing some minor usability/accessibility issues that I was concerned about. I brought up those issues, mentioning that the site would be significantly less functional in some cases to those with disabilities, such as the vision-impaired and physically handicapped persons for whom using a mouse is difficult. That was when someone asked, “Do blind people actually buy sporting goods?”.

In their defense, the speaker asked the question in good faith, and they were thinking of snowboards, golf clubs and footballs when they said it. It took me only a second to respond perhaps not, and to ask if they had considered sweatpants, baseball caps, knee braces and more. Suddenly, it was more pertinent, and I decided to look into the question - do the disabled really buy sporting goods, or more specifically, do they buy them online? Continue Reading »

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