Online Resource

Hayden Library - QH305.2.G3 S74 2019

Online Resource

Barker Library - QH581.2.E78 2019

Online Resource

Online Resource

Online Resource

Online Resource

In her PWAs, Payment Experiences and More presentation at Google Conversions 2018 in Dublin Ireland, Jenny Gove talked through the new capabilities available on the Web to build fast and engaging products. Here's my notes from her talk:

• The Web was built for desktop devices, not mobile. Native apps, in contrast, were built from the ground up for mobile. So it's no surprise that Web sites are still catching up in terms of experience. While there are great mobile Web experiences, most have a lot of work to do.
• To help incentivize people to improve mobile Web experiences, Google added the "mobile-friendly" label to search results. When 85% of results in mobile search met this criteria, the label was removed.
• Progressive Web apps bring richer experiences to the Web through a set of technologies that enable fast, installable, reliable, and engaging. They're the next step in making great Web experiences.
• Speed is critical for mobile Web sites but it takes a mobile Web page a median time of 9.3 seconds to load on 3G. Pinterest reduced their time for interactive from 23 seconds to 5.6 seconds with their PWA. This resulted in a 60% increase in engagement and a 2-3% improvement over their native app.
• You can improve speed with technical changes and design (to manage perception). Lighthouse is a tool from Google that shows time to meaningful paint and other relevant metrics for improving technical performance. You can manage user perception of speed using skeletong screens and gradual loading of content.
• PWAs allow you to add mobile Web pages to your phone's home screens. On Android these apps show up in app switchers and setting screens.
• Service workers in PWAs enable reliable experiences when there is no network or slow and intermittent network connections. Even in developed markets, slow network conditions often exist. Service workers are now available in all major Web browsers.
• PWAs make use of Web technologies at the right time and place like app permissions, push notifications, payment request APIs, and better form interactions (autocomplete, input types, etc.)
• 42% of top sites in Europe don't show the appropriate keyboard for specific input types. 27% of the top site in Europe didn't identify which form fields are optional.
• Google Search uses a PWA to enable offline queries and send results when people are back online using notifications. With a PWA they were able to use 50% fewer external JavaScript requests.
• In the Starbucks PWA, daily & monthly active users have nearly doubled (compared ot the previous Web experience) and orders placed in the PWA are growing by more than 12% week over week.
• While mobile has really driven PWA requirements, desktop devices also benefit from PWA app switching and integration. Service workers, push notifications, and other new Web technologies work on desktop as well.
• It's possible to run PWAs on the desktop in app windows which can be themed. These apps need to use responsive design to adapt from small sized windows to full-sized screens.
• What's next for PWAs? Support for Windows, macOS and Linux, Keyboard Shortcuts, Badging the launch icon, and Link capturing.
• Watch the full video of Jenny's: PWAs, Payment Experiences and More talk

In his Slow Design for an Anxious World presentation at An Event Apart in Denver, Jeffrey Zeldman espoused the benefits of design that aims to increase comprehension and intentional use. Here's my notes from his talk:

• We live in fast times and care a lot about making things faster for people. In this world, "slow" is often associated with friction. But some things are better slow.
• Fast is best for transactional customer-service designs. We optimize our checkout flows for efficiency and our code for performance. Likewise, service-oriented content must be designed for speed of relevancy. Getting to content like driving directions, return policies, and more should be quick and easy for customers.
• Slow is best for comprehension. Reading slowly helps us understand more of what we read and even transactional sites have some content that we want people to understand more deeply.
• There's lots of resources for site optimization but few for slowing people down so they appreciate and understand our content.
• Legibility means you can read what's on the page. Readability is where the art comes in. You don't need to be a graphic designer to improve readability. When focusing on readability you're focusing on absorption not conversion.
• Improving readability means putting the focus on content and removing distractions. The service Readability optimized Web pages for this by removing ads, third party widgets, and more.
• Considering different reading modes like in bed, at breakfast, on your lap, etc. can trigger ideas for layout and type for sites. For example, big fonts can help you lean back and take in content vs. leaning in and squinting.
• Big type used to be a controversial design choice on the Web but now has been adopted by a number of sites like Medium, Pro Publica, and the New Yorker.
• To be readable: use big type (16px should be your smallest size); use effective hierarchy for type; remove all extraneous elements in your layout; art direction helps you call attention to important content; make effective use of whitespace.
• Art direction can bring unique emotion and resonance to articles online. In a world of templates and scalability, distinct art direction can help people take notice of intentional high value content.
• Macro-whitespace is the bigger columns and padding around content we often associate with high-end luxury brands. Micro-whitespace is the space in between letter forms and between the lines of type. Consider both in your designs
• Ensure your content is branded so it stands out. When all content looks like the same it all appears to have equal value. Have a brand that sticks out to be more trusted.
• With all these techniques we're trying to get people to lean back and have a good "readable" experience on the Web.

A group of Indian Ocean islanders, forcibly removed from their homes 50+ years ago and deported to England, are still fighting for recognition and basic rights. By Alexi Demetriadi.

Chandan Robert Rebeiro captures a budding Bangladeshi photographer.

The guerrillas are handing weapons over to the UN, but they are in fear. Thomas Mortensen reports from Urabá.

In an effort to produce biofuel from a variety of elephant grass, Monsanto Co of Creve Coeur and Mendel Biotechnology Inc are joining hands. According to the two companies, Monsanto will lend its crop-testing, breeding and seed-production expertise to the Bioenergy Seeds & Feedstocks unit of Mendel, based in Hayward, California.

According to reports, the world's biggest energy group announced a first-quarter record profit of $10.9 billion but its oil production fell almost 10 per cent in the first three months of the year. Moreover, its refining profits also slumped. Reports said that the company's broader market rallied, but Exxon shares fell 3.6 per cent to $89.70.

Among large banks, the brokerage sees ICICI Bank's PAT declining 49 per cent QoQ to Rs 2,100 crore in Q4FY20, followed by a 68 per cent sequential decline in Axis Bank's PAT at Rs 564.6 crore.

Shares of the company were up nearly 2%, as it kept a tight lid on costs to weather the impact of the pandemic on its business

According to analysts at ICICI Securities, the Rs 8,800 crore-exposure to the telecom sector may cast shadow over the bank's asset quality.

Analysts at MOFSL believe the Mumbai-based bank's credit cost may stay elevated led by higher slippages. Besides, asset quality could witness some pressure along with modest loan growth.

To cushion against the uncertainties arising due to the outbreak of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the bank has provided for Rs 260 crore under the provisions and contigencies segment

The company's total income fell to Rs 6,327.57 crore in the quarter from Rs 8,077.89 crore in the year-ago period

The private lender's net interest income (NII) came in at Rs 6,808 crore for the period under review

the bank reported a 17 per cent increase in its operating profit at Rs 5,851 crore in the March quarter

Underwriting losses narrowed down to Rs 29.42 crore in Q4FY20, from Rs 49.70 crore a year ago

The net profit of the insurer jumped 16 per cent to Rs 531 crore in Q4FY20 from Rs 458 crore because of lower tax provision

See how easy it is to create an equal heights, responsive CSS pricing table using the power of CSS Flexbox.

Good exercises for web designers and programmers, which are at higher risk of developing carpal tunnel or RSI injuries.

jQuery script that uses CSS flexbox to create cards that when clicked on expands to show copious amount of information in a compact, manageable manner.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is creating a data-focused culture and a global machine-learning team.

New York : Springer, [2007]