A Trimet App for That

Beta Tester Applications will be accepted through Sunday 4/7/2013

If you are a Portland resident than you have heard of the massive changes to Trimet that fully went into effect at the beginning of the year. These changes followed a change a few months earlier of the removal of unstamped ticket packs from the Trimet ticket machines, requiring riders to now pre-purchase packs of tickets from grocery stores or the Trimet ticket office at Pioneer Courthouse Square.

Aggravating doesn't even being to describe it.

However, finally, Trimet is doing something right. Today I read in METRO, Trimet will soon begin beta tests for a new mobile app where paper tickets will be a thing of the past. Soon all of us with smart phones will be able to buy and use trimet transfers right from our phones. I'm very excited, I've even applied to be a beta tester.

Mac Device Vectors

Put together a few vector files of an iMac, an iPhone, and an iPad. There is something so very satisfying about getting your gradients just right.

I feel like sharing, so feel free to download the .ai file here.

SQL queries vs iterating through PHP

So I was playing with code today.  A very common loop in PHP is the foreach loop, which is especially useful for iterating through arrays. However, when dealing with more complex multidimensional arrays, like those you get from an SQL query they are big and bloaty so I figured there must be a better way to get the exact information I wanted from the database in one SQL query.

Here is what I started with..

$getArray = get_results("SELECT ID FROM dbns1.field WHERE fid='3' AND field_value='true'");
$prefix = '';
foreach ($getArray as $Array){
   foreach($Array as $getID){
      $IDList .= $prefix . $getID ;
      $prefix = ', ';
      }
   }

This is only the first of three table queries. I stopped here because I would have to call another database query using the $IDList as a modifier. Than another query based on that... and so on. Silly and unnecessary. I figured there must be a better way so I spent about two hours researching the interwebs. Here is the solution I found that gets me all my database tables in one beautiful query.

SELECT *
FROM pictures
JOIN gallery ON (pictures.id = gallery.previewpic)
JOIN field ON (gallery.id = field.pid)
WHERE field.fid = '3' AND field.field_value='true'

Join & Inner Join commands make SQL queries a lot easier to handle. In my research I also learned about subquries which I also want to learn more about as well.

Interactive Comic

So I have finally made the first draft of a documentation video for the Interactive Comic I created for my senior exhibition in 2008. This is not a final version. I am still learning how to use the video and audio equipment and how to edit them. For a first timer however, I'm not dissatisfied. 

A note on the video content itself. This video was taken with the application using a very buggy version of the WiiFlash server for Mac. I am currently working on a new version which uses OSCulator and Oscar to allow an Actionscript file to use data from connected Wii-motes.

Type

You should care about type. Whatever your job, if you are working in a field where you are sharing content with others, you should care about type.

Why? Type can be one of the most unobtrusive design choices you make on a project, or one of the most distinctive. Either way, it will define your work whether you and your audience are thinking about it or not.  In fact there is a whole psychology to it all.

If you don't already have a love affair with type, this can be a fairly intimidating proposition. I know it has been difficult for me. Type has a very steep learning curve and those who are already deeply involved with it can speak of it with a passion that can be overwhelming.

But not to fear! This is the internet and easy resources are available.

KernType - This kerning game is not only fun, its educational and lets you have practice in playing with letter spacing is a supportive environment.

GoogleFonts - offers a number of free fonts that you can use not only in your documents (watch out some don't print well) but on your web pages as well.

Lynda.com - While there is a small monthly fee for access to these tutorials it reflects their quality and I highly recommend them.

For additional resources check out 1stWebDesigners article on learning type.

If you are more the book type I would recommend starting with The Non-Designer's Design and Type Books, Deluxe Edition