How? Well, First I stick the flag in the sand, and then I…

Today’s collection of lunchtime news chum all explore the question of “How?”:

• How the Prime Meridian Changed The World? Today, we take many things for granted. Navagation. Time. Starbucks. Except for Starbucks, establishment of the prime meridian was critical in the standardization and acceptance of the concepts. So why is the prime meridian where it is? This article from National Geographic provides a good answer.
• How Did a Worlds Fair Pavillion Become a Family Cabin? The 1964 Worlds Fair in Queens NY had a number of iconic structures, many of which are still standing. Three of them (which looked a lot like the LaConcha motel office) were at the Worlds Fair marina. Two of them remain there. One, however, is now a cabin in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Here’s how that came to be.
• How Does One Bake the Earth? No, this isn’t about global warming… at least in the sense you are thinking about. A baker in Australia received a request to bake a spherical cake that mirrored the internal structure of the earth. Here’s how she did it.
• How Do You Measure Pencil Hardness? We’ve all used the ubiquitous Number 2 pencil (or, if you are a mechanical pencil person like me, the B-Soft lead). Ever wonder how those designations came about and what they mean? Wonder no more.
• How Do Child Stars Go Bad? We’ve all seen the misbehaving former-child star, from Lindsay Lohan to Amanda Bynes. Ever wonder how it happens? Mara Wilson, herself a former child-star, provides a very good explanation of the process.

 

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along The Road (on cahighways.org) as this entry by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link below; you can sign in with your LJ, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. There are currently comments on the Wordpress blog. PS: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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Skeuomorphism. Love It. Hate It.

A big word in design circles these days is Skeuomorphism. Those who design interfaces are gnashing teeth and bemoaning the skeuomorphism in today’s interfaces, and newer interfaces are supposedly going to eschew it entirely. What is skeuomorphism? According to Wikipedia, it is when “a physical ornament or design on an object made to resemble another material or technique.” In other words, it is when an application used to delete files looks like a trashcan, an icon indicating saving files looks like a floppy disk, directories look like folders, email looks like envelopes, and (in general) thinks look like their archaic real world equivalents. Apple is supposedly going to a flat design and dropping skeuomorphic icons in the next version of iOS, and Windows has already started to do it in the flat design of Windows 8.

What got me thinking about skeuomorphism was a segment of this week’s Science Friday that we listened to on the drive home. This segment talked about helping seniors to tackle new technology. It talked about how seniors could be introduced to use the iPad and the iPhone, how to teach them to use computers, how they can be set in their habits… and how one can teach new technology by relating it to older things they know.

Yup. You can put 2 and 2 together as well as I can. The move away from skeuomorphism could be an attempt to get seniors — or at least less adaptable seniors — off the new technology. If you are dealing with a senior who can’t even figure out the power button, delete files, or do any simple tasks… now try imagine explaining it when the icon to do the task is something they don’t recognize.

So what are your thoughts? Is moving away from skeuomorphic design a good idea or a bad idea? What will be its impact on seniors?

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along The Road (on cahighways.org) as this entry by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link below; you can sign in with your LJ, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. There are currently comments on the Wordpress blog. PS: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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