So I recently read an article that got quite a bit of attention in the Python community. Why are python applications being SO ugly?
Although he may be right in some cases, but for him to ask the question ‘Dear Python, Why are you so ugly?’ is quite ridiculous.
The very premise of this statement is quite foolish. The person who wrote this article seems to be severely unimpressed with the level of design put into blogs and web application built on top of python.
With that being said, just to debunk his claim I have put together a list of applications that use python and are extremely well designed.
So don’t judge me based on the layout of my HTML, but on the content of my servers.
-Mahdi Yusuf
This little company recently sold for a billion dollars. One of its factors for being so popular was being so beautiful, it makes heavy use of python.
What another pretty app? It surely can’t be written in python? Yes. Yes it is.
News websites aren’t the most innovative of designs, but this is not ugly by any definition of the word.
EveryBlock started by one of the co-creators of Django, Adrian Holovaty. Ugly? I don’t think so.
One of the biggest websites using Python these days. Mozilla is pushing the boundaries in both design and innovation.
This application is one I wrote for Django Dash with the rest of my team. Although, I can’t take any credit for the design we did take the time to plan it out.
Need I continue?
Also I think Path makes heavy use of python in its web application, which is acclaimed for design and innovation as a product.
So making the statement saying that websites written in a particular language are ugly, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The python community is vibrant with a great many aspirations and interests, beyond just making pretty things.
That being said the designers are what make these websites look beautiful and a breeze to work with not the language the backend developers code in.
If you are developer looking to learn design you might want to check out Design for Hackers: Reverse Engineering Beauty.
Discussion
Thursday, January 26, 2012
I’ve been working on a new design for the blog, as you guys all should know since you’re following me on twitter right? RIGHT? I have officially released it tonight.
Expect much more writing than you guys have been seeing as of late. I hope to be writing a lot more articles; rather than sharing random quotes and pictures, hope the design reflects that intention. So expect a big one hopefully at least once a week.
I would love to know what you think of the new design and if you can find anything broken please let me know!
I will adding the contact page back soon. Stay tuned.
Discussion
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Gridlover is the tool to establish a type system with modular scale and vertical rhythm to build upon.
(Source: decodering)
Discussion
Friday, September 23, 2011
YA DIGG?
If you want to get your own follow these instructions!
1. Log into Facebook
2. Enable developer mode, if you haven’t already. To do this, type “developer” into the Facebook search box, click the first result (it should be an app made by Facebook with a few hundred thousand users), and add the app.
3. Jump into the developer app (if Facebook doesn’t put you there automatically, it should be in your left-hand tool bar)
4. Create a new app (don’t worry — you wont actually be submitting this for anyone else to see/use). Give your shiny new app any display name and namespace you see fit. Read through and agree to the Platform Privacy agreement. This is the step you need to be verified for.
5. Ensure you’re in your new app’s main settings screen. You should see your app’s name near the top of the page
6. Look for the “Open Graph” header, and click the “Get Started using open graph” link.
Create a test action for your app, like “read” a “book”, or “eat” a “sandwich”
7. This should drop you into an action type configuration page. Change a few of the default settings (I changed the past tense of “read” to “redd” — again, only you can see this unless you try and submit your application to the public directory), and click through all three pages of settings
8. Wait 2-3 minutes
9. Go back to your Facebook homescreen. An invite to try Timeline should be waiting at the top of the page
And you’re done! We’ve seen this work quite a few times now, so it should work without a hitch for just about anyone.
Thanks to TC for the tip!
Discussion
Friday, December 10, 2010
I find it that if a person has trouble finding what they are looking for, even if they know it is there, they tend to stop looking [design fail].The website should be simple and clean, catch the readers eye and direct them to new and old content. I have been to sites with amazing content but are hard to read, riddled with ads and links to toaster inline. On the other hand I like some sites simply because they look interesting, not so much on the content end linking things like cats and weird videos, [content fail - unless its a website about cat and weird videos], but those tend to burn out quicker than ones with bad design, nothing to keep the reader engaged [unless you like cats and weird videos].
How important is design and content on a successful website?
Discussion