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Pimp my ‘clipse - a list of must-have Eclipse plug-ins for Flex/Flash Development

Mims Wright — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 16:00:18 +0000

FlexBuilder may have its ups and downs but it still remains my pick for best AS3/MXML editor on the market (with TextMate not far behind). Part of the beauty of FlexBuilder is that it’s built on the Eclipse SDK, one of the most versatile and powerful IDEs available, which is not only free and open source, but boasts a wealth of third party plug-ins for every kind of (mostly Java) development. This article will take a look at some must-have plug-ins for doing Flex development as well as some tips for tricking out your development process.

As with all of our entries, your feedback, suggestions, corrections and additions are all more than welcome.

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Good Websites have Good Content

Mims Wright — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 09:01:24 +0000

Tonight I wanted to check out some information about a video game so I turned to a site that both Roger and I worked on while at Schematic – Game Invasion. I think this site is great but I’m not here to toot my own horn. We built this with Flash 8 in under 2 months and it certainly isn’t technically perfect. However, even though this site is two years old and takes a while to load, I still really enjoy using it. I started wondering why.
The reason is simple – content (the graphic design is pretty good too). What makes this site great was not the work we did but the incredible amount of really high-quality content. There are HD videos, big crisp graphics and something new every time I visit. There are other sites that I’ve spent way more time making perfect that I’d never look at again since there’s nothing really worth seeing.
Another example is the NBC episode player. It’s buggy as hell and the ads are annoying. I much prefer the ABC player. However, I really like the show ‘Heroes’ so I pretty much forget about those things in the end.
What I’m trying to say here is that technical brilliance and good design are great but what will keep people coming back to your site is some really great content so if you’re making a website make that your focus.

Napkintop web design for maximum impact

Mims Wright — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 23:11:08 +0000

This link is an oldie but a goodie. It has helped me remember to KISS countless times and to focus on the needs of users when designing sites. Check it out.

An Introduction to Using Patterns in Web Design [37 Signals]

Fashion Preview Hooks

Mims Wright — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:23:59 +0000

My newest efforts in ultimate closet optimization are what I call “Fashion Preview Hooks™” (pat. pend.). I installed mine last night!

The installation is simple. Just attach 2 hooks of any kind at approximately eye and belly-button level and aligned vertically. That’s it. Now you have Fashion Preview Hooks!

These hooks have a couple of uses. If you’re trying to put an outfit together you can preview it by hanging your shirt on the top hook and pants on the bottom hook and swap them out quickly without having to try each one on. Also, when you go to bed at night you can throw your outfit for the next day on the wall.

Wardrobe Optimization

Mims Wright — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 22:30:14 +0000

Here’s a simple trick for optimizing your closet. Each time you get clean laundry load it in on the left side pushing the clothes you haven’t worn to the right.

(click on the illustrations to enlarge)

The clothes you wear the most stay on the left. The ones you wear the least stay on the right. This allows you to do a few things :

Your favourite shirt should always be one of the first you see on the left.
If you want to wear clothes you haven’t worn in a while, take something from the right.
After a few months, you can get rid of the clothes from the far right since you never wear them. Alternatively, when seasons change, you can just flip and start going right to left instead.

Laugh all you want, it works!