Comments on: Mind Hacks

By: Rebecca Cottrell

Rebecca Cottrell — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:23:52 +0000

A geek book-swap club is definitely a good idea! Let me know which books you’re interested in reading (’Hackers and Painters’ belongs to Future Platforms).

By: Robert Douglas

Robert Douglas — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:41:59 +0000

I like this idea of a list of books next to the bed…

Wondering if there should be a little ‘geek book-swap club’ in Brighton as well - there’s a couple books you got there I’d like to read and probably have a couple for you as well:
- Learning jQuery (Jonathon Chaffer)
- Designing for Interaction (Dan Saffer)
- Creating a World Without Poverty (Muhammad Yunus)

By: Rebecca Cottrell

Rebecca Cottrell — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:52:35 +0000

Cennydd:

It’s an experiment, more than anything, to see what I can do — just to sate my own curiosity. Not expecting it to be useful or transferable to UX any more than if I experimented with learning how to cook (a much less likely endeavour!).

Siggi:

Why?

By: Siggi

Siggi — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:45:58 +0000

Girls who know CSS scare me.

By: Cennydd

Cennydd — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:23:47 +0000

I agree that learning XHTML/CSS makes a designer far more proficient. I’ve also found it also makes our jobs substantially easier, not least because developers tend to respect us more if we know our stuff. [http://www.cennydd.co.uk/2008/pragmatism-not-idealism/] Good call on Andy’s book, it’s taught me a lot about the finer points of CSS, although I would say that obviously.

However, I must say I’m not convinced of the value of learning a full programming language. I myself have some rather antiquated C++ and Java, but I can’t say it’s helped with much, save for for a little DOM scripting. To reach a level where you can hack with glee requires a long haul through syntax and the sort of mechanically logical endeavour which I’ve not found particularly transferable to UX.

Just my $0.02.