You are not a fraud.

Posted on by Ofazomi!

Lately, the grand Ofazomi has been in touch with a few demoralized peers, friends, and former students. Regardless of sub-discipline, the same self critical comments keep popping up. Let’s dispense with these, shall we?

1. You are NOT a fraud.You are NOT hiding in plain sight. It was NOT a mistake.

2. You are a motivated autodidact. What you want to know, you learn. What you have learned you are always improving through practice.

3. YES, you are insanely creative. YES, even if they hate your ideas. YES, even if your ideas suck. That is what thumbnails, maps, comps and refactoring are for anyway- to get the flunky ideas out and wipe the scummy layer off of those capable of shining. (And don’t forget that only 7/10 of your ideas truly suck. 2/10 are ok and 1/10 are really worth making. Your ideas are only 70% sucky. And YES, you are insanely creative.)

4. You ARE hardworking! How many times have I kicked your bum out of the studio / lab/ cubical and told you to go take a walk and get some food? Stop comparing yourself to people working 100 hour weeks, year in and out, who never see their spouse/kids/dead-plants. They are not hardworking. There are not that many truly unavoidable deadlines in a year. They are running from something.

5. Finally, it has been an honor to have worked with you. Seriously- an honor. Let’s do it again some time. Until then, I will name-drop you at professional events for my own benefit. You are THAT good.

 

(Confidential to K: I loved your postcard and am so proud to say I know you.)

Posted in Editorial, Mad Props, Vocation & Profession

Don’t Ask Someone If They Need Help

Posted on by Ofazomi!

Sales Tip: If there is someone in your store, physical or web, they think they may need what you are selling. They wouldn’t be in a store if they weren’t shopping. There is no reason to ask “Can I help you?” or “How can I help you?” or “Are you looking for something in particular?” Dive right in! “Are you looking at product A or B today?” And, if you are a one-person startup, consider breaking your offering into at least two price and service points. There are a ton of good marketing reasons to offer 3 versions of your service. At minimum, though, there should be two just so that you can dive right into that conversation.

Read more about this concept: here.

Posted in Business, Vocation & Profession

The Role of the Team Lead

Posted on by Ofazomi!

If it feels, looks or sounds like the picture below, you are DOING IT WRONG. (Click here for some helpful comments re: your new team leader job.)

 

TeamLead

 

Posted in Business

Design For Accessibilty- It’s The Law

Posted on by Ofazomi!

Excellent Overview of Section 508: Here  (sample below)

Section 508 has three main requirements to meet:

  1. Technical – these requirements make sure the coding of a website, software, operating systems, etc. is compatible with assistive technologies.
  2. Functional – these requirements ensure that in addition to the technical coding, the entire system is usable by someone with a disability.
  3. Support – these requirements make sure that support documents and alternative information is also accessible by people with disabilities.

If a project doesn’t meet all three of these requirements, then it is not legally compliant.

The official Section 508 compliance guidelines is available for you to reference if needed. In addition, the following are some excellent resources for quickly learning how to make your document 508 Compliant, including sites that test your work to make sure your project meets requirements:

  • United States Access Board – The Section 508 Standards of this site provides an excellent detailed explanation of the three different requirements we discussed above. The Guide to Section 508 Standards on this site allows you to choose the specific type of technology you are designing and gives detailed explanations and examples of the standards.
  • JimThatcher.com – This site provides an excellent, free course for learning what it means to make website designs 508 compliant. Lots of excellent real life examples are included and explanations are easy to understand.
  • Webucator.com – This site is an excellent source for low cost but thorough training for web accessibility and Section 508. However, they also offer a free tutorial on Section 508 for those who want to learn on their own.
  • SSB Bart Group – Another option for excellent training and classes on accessibility is available through this group, but you can also test your site for accessibility, including if it meets Section 508 standards, for free. They also provide a good explanation of Section 508.
  • HowTo.Gov – For scores of excellent information, visit the HowTo.Gov website, which includes basic overviews as well as tutorials and resources on making sure everything from a website to multimedia is 508 Compliant. You may also want to check out this video on No Fail Accessibility Testing.
  • WebAIM – This site provides a good 508 compliant checklist for HTML, Scripts, Plug-ins, Java, and more. The checklist includes links to further explanation of certain standards.
  • Viget.com – For a basic overview of accessibility and 508 compliance in web design, Viget offers an easy to understand article on the subject. This is an excellent place to start, since it clears up common misconceptions.
  • U.S. HHS – The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services gives an excellent overview of Section 508 as well as step-by-step tutorials and testing.

Go read the whole thing: Here

Posted in Accessibility, Amusement, Design Ethics, Actions & Impact

Write Your Own Language, Sort Of

Posted on by Ofazomi!

real_book

Go read these:

http://gnuu.org/2009/09/18/writing-your-own-toy-compiler/

http://createyourproglang.com/

Posted in Amusement, Craftiness, Fiddling & Time Wasters, Technical Geekery, Useful Code