In defense of QR codes

In Sweden we have a broad movement of people bashing the QR technique. I kind of understand some of the criticism, but since I'm allergic to sheeple behavior I felt the need to write a short piece on QR codes, and when they are actually good to use.

Offline / Online coupling
Often when QR codes are used, the company puts up a QR code pointing at their web's start page. That is not making good use of a QR code, unless you have a really shitty domain name. However, with a QR code you can "easily" share a long and complicated url. Let's say for example, that I'm car shopping. Then every object I look at should have its own unique web page with information. Here it's likely that the url will be long and hard to enter, and hence the QR code would be a better solution.
The same goes for a lot of shopping. People are using the internet to gather information about stuff they purchase offline, and hence it is easy for the store to provide you with the information of their choice instead of that of Google or another online Shopping mall. QR code to the rescue. A good implementation of a QR-code uses a unique forwarding url with a final destination that can be changed at any time, be unique or semi-unique for every piece of goods you look at, giving the seller the possibility for in depth statistics and super local offers.

Screen-to-mobile
Laptop to mobile sharing of links still aren't as easy as it should be. There are times when you want your visitor to do something on their mobile device, and a QR code is then a pretty easy way to accomplish that.
A QR code is also self explainatory and a call to action in itself. When you show the QR code for your visitor, they know what you want them to do.

Branding
One aspect that people seem to forget when talking about QR codes in ads is the branding factor. As with everything else, that you are using this specific technique is a part of the marketing message. I would guess that the usage of QR codes is meant to show that the company is up-to-date with todays technology.
And for those of us who have worked with offline marketing people, it tells us that the company has actually integrated offline/online marketing. :)

Learning
Coupling offline to online is hard but crucial in sales and marketing. QR-code usage is one way of doing this, and lessons learned doing so is likely to be useful in the future.

Responsive Navigation Patterns for mobile devices

Brad Frost has written a terrific piece on responsive navigation patterns for mobile devices. He covers the design patterns that I have seen in the wild with a brief description, examples and a pro/con list for each design pattern. A must read for every ui developer, and something to give to your old school designer.

http://bradfrostweb.com/blog/web/responsive-nav-patterns/

(Found on Attervall's blog)

A short wish list for Javascript based MVC frameworks

Compared to five years ago, the portion of a web site that is client side Javascript has increased a lot. But whereas server side web development nowadays are pretty neatly built, with frameworks as Zend Framework for PHP, and ASP.Net MVC, client side scripting is often rather messy.

And as we all know, messy code is hard to maintain and buggy. This leads leads us to the conclusion that we should try and find a model for creating nice, maintainable, reliable client side code.

As I've already stated I think that MVC has a good structure for server side development, and I think that it is quite likely that a MVC-based structure could be functional for client side scripting as well.

I know that there are a few MVC-based frameworks for Javascript around (heck, I've even built one myself a couple of years ago), but while reading up on them I've created a short wish list for a Javascript based MVC framework for client side scripting.

Views should be based on templates

HTML-tag based editing has proved itself efficient for design implementation. Apart from wysiwyg editors I haven't seen anything easier to work with, especially not DOM-object based design buiding. Whereas html tags gives you a simple overview of your design, the DOM-based counterpart gives you no help at all. So everything that is possible to do with html tags should be done with them. 

Controller handling the link between views and models, not automatic updates

It's nice when it's easy to sync data to views, but views should not update a model without a controller. That is an important principle in MVC: You know that model changes are handled by controller actions.

Logic should reside in controllers, not in the view, unless it is pure ui logic

Views should handle ui and not business logic, or you will get code that is harder to maintain and debug. Sounds obvious, but it isn't.

Clear separation between code and tags in views

UI code should not be scattered around in the html-code. Inline code is even worse than inline css, as it is hard to maintain and debug.

One file per object in development

This is important for maintainability. That way it is easy to get an overview of the project as well as easy to find the right place to edit your code. Since this will create a huge amount of files, it is probably best to use some kind of Javascript minimizer, so that the number of server request can be kept as low as possible. 

Never inline html in javascript strings

Ok, there are times when inline html in javascript is ok, but most of the time you should keep code and design separated.

Ok, so those are the points on my wish list for the perfect Javascript based MVC framework.

Do you agree? Please let me know! :)

The real reason dinosaurs became extinct - The Simpsons S23E06

As an old The Far Side-fan, I couldn't be happier than when I realized that Gary Larson's The Far side made an appearance in episode six, season 23. 2:23 into the epise, after chasing a women dressed as a dinosaur, Homer and Lisa runs past a locker room where three dinosaurs are secretly smoking. Have a look at the pictures below:

What can I say! I really love Simpson and The Far Side! :)

#sundaseptember - Programförklaring

#sundaseptember är ett kontrakt som du sluter med dig själv och som innebär att du kommer att leva lite sundare under resten av september. Det finns två programförklaringar, den lilla och den stora.
Den lilla lyder som följer:

• Småät inte
• Ät inget godis
• Ät ingen glass
• Ät inget fikabröd
• Drick inte alkohol
• Minska kaffedrickandet
• Peppa andra som kör #sundaseptember

Den utökade är min personliga, och omfattar förutom givetvis den lilla programförklaringen följande:

• Ersätt allt ätande mellan måltider med vatten
• Meditera varje dag kl 23:30
• Ät måttligt vid frukost, lunch, mellanmål och middag
• Löpträna minst tre gånger varje vecka
• Drick inte kaffe efter kl 15.

Tanken med #sundaseptember är givetvis att få en månad där du rensar kroppen från skräp, bygger beteenden som är varaktigt sunda och som gör dig friskare. Att göra en egen programförklaring är vettigt, men programmet måste kännas som en riktig utmaning.

Skicka en tweet om du hänger på!

[Bild av Osbock]

Slideshow för att förklara funktionalitet

Den senaste tiden har vi jobbat väldigt hårt på Shoppinggatan. Själv har jag rättat fel, lagt till funktioner och gjort mitt bästa för att sajten ska bli så bra som möjligt.

Vi har också ägnat mycket tid åt att gå igenom och hantera vårt stora utbud av kläder, möbler och inredning, då det ibland kan hända att produkter blir felkategoriserade eller helt enkelt uteblir från en viktig kategori. Vi kikar givetvis också kontinuerligt på våra varumärken; Våra besökare gillar verkligen alla fina kläder från Odd Molly, och då gäller det att se till att Odd Molly-produkterna presenteras på bästa sätt.

En annan sak som vi också har jobbat mycket med är hjälpfunktionerna. Vi har en utförlig hjälp som förklarar det mesta på Shoppinggatan, men vi har också börjat använda oss av steg- för steg-guider, som den om hur du gör fina collage. Allt för att sajten ska bli så trevlig och inspirerande som möjligt att använda.

Mycket händer

Just nu utvecklar vi Shoppinggatan i ett rasande tempo. Vi lägger till, modifierar, rättar buggar, allt för att vara säkra på att vi har Sveriges bästa sociala shoppingsökmotor! :)



Jag ber om ursäkt för att uppdateringarna här på min blogg är högst sporadiska, men jag håller mig väldigt sysselsatt med utveckling för närvarande.