My next experience with Macs was on some random 7^th grade school field trip to a museum, where I got to use a Powerbook G4 for the first time. While I was supposed to be using it for educational purpose, I was struck by how nice the hardware looked and felt. The operating system was clean and sleek-looking, a far cry from the clunky Windows XP that was standard at the time. Years later, during the summer after my freshman year of high school, I was looking to buy a new laptop. I was considering a Mac, but my parents tried to discourage me, citing its cost as prohibitively expensive and wasteful. Stubborn as I am, I ignored them and continued saving up, until I finally bought my MacBook Pro in March of 2008. It cost me my entire life savings, but I didn’t care. Flip forward over three years later, and I’m still using that same computer. It’s still better looking than any Windows laptop, and runs better than most new ones too.

Why do I love Macs so much?

To fully answer this question, I’m splitting the answer up into two parts:

The hardware

If you’ve ever seen a Macbook Pro, iMac, or Mac Pro in real life, you know what I’m talking about. They look solid, well thought-out, and simple. No unnecessary stickers, lights, buttons, or protrusions. They’re very durable- I’ve dropped my MacBook Pro numerous times onto concrete, stone flooring, and tile. Aside from some superficial dents, it’s still very much intact and fully functional.

The software

This one is a topic of much debate and flaming, so I’ll try and phrase it carefully. Mac OS X is my preferred operating system. I like how it looks, as I’m a very visual person. As a designer, I take pride in using a system that feels like it had a significant amount of thought put into the design. Of course, it also doesn’t get nearly as many viruses (note how I said nearly, viruses do exist for Mac, I’m just smart enough not to get them.), and has a way better uptime. I fully restart my MacBook Pro every month or two, and that’s usually for some system update, rather than needing to. Mac OS X doesn’t bog down after long periods of use. Plus, a lot of great software is Mac-only, such as Coda, Transmit, Aperture, and Logic Pro.

In the end, it is all up to personal preference. Some will choose Windows for the vast software and game library, while others will choose Linux for the customization and geek cred.

For me, a mobile office allows more productivity, as on the go there are way less distractions than at home. My location of choice is my local public library. It has power outlets, free wi-fi, water fountains, bathrooms, and is quite close to a commercial area with food. It’s almost perfect, except for the hard wooden seats. At least they keep me awake and focused, haha…

The library’s about a 25 minute walk from my house, which is nice. It’s a short enough walk to not be annoying, but long enough to wake me up from my morning sleepiness. I usually always go to the basement of it, which has a socially-enforced quiet room. Socially enforced meaning that if you’re loud, you’ll get glared at by other people until you shut up. I still get cell phone service down there, so I’m quite happy with it.

Gear

Here I’ll give a rundown of all the stuff I carry in my mobile office.

Laptop

Obvious one is obvious. This is the most crucial part of my mobile office, what with me being a web designer and all. It’s an early 2008 15-inch MacBook Pro. It’s getting a bit old, but I recently upgraded its RAM to 4gb which keeps it chugging along pretty fast. The battery life is still quite good, and the hard drive still has plenty of room, so I don’t see myself replacing it any time soon. It’s survived quite a few falls as well, with nothing but cosmetic dents to show for it. I consider it $2000 very well spent.

Moleskine

Insert pretentious artist comment right here. As cliche as it may be, I still love using my Moleskine, it’s really sturdy and compact, perfect for sketching down rough drafts of designs and such. Plus I didn’t even have to pay for mine since I got a $25 gift card from my high school upon graduating.

Cell Phone/MP3 Player

I have my Blackberry Pearl and iPod Nano with me to keep me entertained while working. Both will soon be replaced by the T-Mobile G2. When I’m working, I usually find post-hardcore, popcore, and metalcore to be the most productive music for me. As much as I love death metal and the like, I can’t work to it as easily.

Headphones

Now while the Spyre Studios article insists on expensive in-ears, my preferences are `different. Firstly, in-ears irritate my ears and I hate not being able to hear ambient noise, like cars coming towards me, or a mugger walking up to me. I like knowing what’s going on in the real world too. I have two pairs of headphones, a really cheap brand that I buy at a deli, and my Sennheisers. Neither are expensive at all, the deli ones costing $4 on average, and the Sennheisers costing around $25. I’ve tried more expensive headphones, but they all break just as quickly because I’m pretty rough with my stuff. I usually just use the cheap deli ones, as they’re light and don’t take much room. The Sennheisers I mostly use at home. The sound quality is average from the deli ones, and superb from the Sennheisers.

Bag

My main bag of choice is a Lowepro Camera/Laptop bag. I got it for Christmas in 2009, and it’s the most durable bag I’ve ever used, easily handling big loads and being thrown around carelessly. If you need a bag that can fit a laptop, a DSLR, and a ton of other stuff, this is your bag. It cost around $90, but it was well worth it. The straps are thick and well-padded, which makes carrying my usual 20+ pound load easy on my shoulders. I’ve gone on picnics with it, taken it on vacations, and I just generally never leave home without it. It has a water bottle holder, tons of pockets, a padded laptop compartment, a padded camera compartment with removable dividers, and a comfortable mesh back. I really cannot recommend this little guy enough, especially if you’re a pack-rat like me that needs to have everything at any given moment.

Miscellaneous

• Soda/Water Bottle: when I’m on my creative flow I don’t want to be interrupted to go get something to drink.
• Candy: I like to have a nice stock of it in my bag, to keep me going between meals. Plus, sugar is always great for designing.
• Several pens/pencils: because I cannot stand being that guy who doesn’t have a pen.
• Ibuprofen: For those annoying productivity-killing headaches. Pop two of these suckers and you’re good to go.
• Tissues: You never know when a mess might happen.
• Retractable iPod USB cable: For charging/syncing my iPod on the go.
• Microphone/Guitar Picks: For band practices. I used to leave them at home on the days I didn’t have practice, but I kept forgetting them, so I just leave them in all the time.

That’s the basic rundown of the stuff I carry with me every day. It’s not a very light load, but I like having all these things with me at all times. So yeah, that’s my mobile office.

1. Download the freeware utility Pref Setter.

2. Launch it and type “mouse” into the field labeled “Search Domains” and hit return.

3. “com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.mouse.plist” should appear. Double-click it, and a new window should pop up.

4. In the new window, click the Actions button and select “Add New Key.”

5. In the newly created key, change the name to “MouseMomentumScroll” Change the class to a Boolean, and give it a value of true.

6. Quit Pref Setter and restart your Mac.

7. That’s it! If everything worked out fine, you should now be able to use that wonderful momentum scrolling.

Several others have tried this method (in addition to myself) with Leopard on both Intel and PowerPC based systems with success. However since this method involves editing system files, I’m going to have to include a disclaimer: I am not responsible for any damage you may cause by following this method. 

From a web developer’s/designer’s perspective:

1) It doesn’t render properly. IE 6 can mess up just about any layout, whether it’s complex or not. One of the reasons is the way IE renders CSS differently, and in some cases, doesn’t support some CSS at all. IE 6′s mistakes range from pixel gaps to complete layout destruction. Fixing this problem often requires alternate IE-only stylesheets.

2) It doesn’t support transparent PNG’s. Transparent PNG’s can save designers a lot of work and make complex, multilayer backgrounds easy. Of course, IE 6 doesn’t support transparent PNG’s either. There are ways of getting around this, such as using hacks to force IE 6 into submission, but they can be tricky to use if you want your XHTML/CSS to validate.

3) Javascript doesn’t always work in IE 6. Some scripts manage to crash IE 6 completely. Others cause it to lag unbearably. Smooth “ajax-ey” effects appear choppy in IE 6. There’s no real solution for this problem, though.

4) IE 6 causes problems when using Java or Flash embedded in a page. You must first click on the applet(s) to “activate” them. This can be rather tedious for users, especially with Flash navbars (which you should avoid anyway).

From an average user’s perspective:

1) IE renders pages much slower, meaning websites will load slower. Especially if they have a lot of scripts.

2) IE 6 crashes quite often, and until version 8, has no crash-recovery to restore the pages you were browsing before the crash.

3) IE 6′s download manager is unintuitive. For each download a new window must be opened, whereas other browsers put them into one, easy-to-find location.

4) IE 6 has bad style support, meaning webpages will not look as good as they would in other browsers.

5) By using IE 6, you are indirectly killing web designers/developers.

Please help to kill IE by downloading and installing an alternative browser, such as Firefox or Safari. 

1) Make it usable. This comes above all. The user must be able to use the UI without any help. If your UI is gorgeous and the user can’t use it, then the UI fails. When it comes to UI, put function over form. It doesn’t have to be pretty, as long as it gets the job done.

2) Make it cross-browser compatible. People will hate you if your UI only works in one particular browser. One obvious offender of this rule is MySpace (there’s so much wrong with that site, but that’s for another article). You can’t use the profile editor or the advanced features blog unless you’re using IE 6. Bad. You as a UI designer have to realise that people have different browser/OS preferences, and you have to work towards satisfying everyone.

3) Make it legible. Do not put very light gray fonts on a white/gray background, and don’t use red fonts on a dark background. The basic rule of thumb here is to not make anybody’s eyes bleed. If your retinas are immune to horrible colours, ask a few normally-sighted people to test/review your UI. Fonts should contrast against the background, and they should be simple fonts. No script fonts or anything like that.

4) Make it light. Unless you’re going for an “emo” look, make your UI light-colored. Notice that most programs and sites out there have light-colored UI’s, and that’s because they work well.

5) Use neutral colors. Don’t use super-vibrant colours for everything. A splotch or two of colour may be needed to highlight certain parts, but nobody’s going to want to use a UI that’s a bright tangerine colour. The colours (and graphics) should not be distracting. They should enhance the content, not distract from it. It’s best to stay away from super-bright colours in a UI if you don’t know whether to use them or not.

6) Don’t use fancy new-age coding/techniques in the UI. The UI should work in any browser on any system. Use proven techniques and code until the new-age techniques become ubiquitous. An example is CSS3. You shouldn’t rely on it. Rounded corners in CSS3 are okay to use, but don’t use obscure CSS3 and expect it to work everywhere.

7) User feedback is key. This means two things. The first is that you have to make the UI feel less static. Buttons and links should change color or something like that to show the user that they are in fact buttons and links. The second part of it is literal user feedback. On new or reworked UI’s, you should include ways for the user to give their opinion/thoughts on the UI. Usually it’s a contact form.

Links should be links. While yes, you can style links however you want, it’s best to stay with a tried-and-true underlined links. Underlined links instantly tell the user that they are in fact, links. The link color should stand out, and should remain legible even when rolled over. Also, don’t forget to style visited links!

9) Don’t rely on Javascript too much. While a completely Ajax-ed UI is nice to look at, not all browsers have Javascript, and not all people turn on Javascript in their browser. While you may be tempted to use the smooth little “slide” effects, keep them to a minimum. When used in excess, effects can be distracting, and sometimes annoying.

I’ll add on more stuff as needed. If you have any suggestions, contact me.