Eli Burford

Young Christian fella from Adelaide. Love designing (the web) and helping people. These are my ramblings, findings, pictures, etc.

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Baby #2 = Girl! ❤️

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I realise I haven’t posted a picture of what has been keeping me busy lately (more so my wife, but still). This is Alexander Jonathan. He’s such a lovely young fella!

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Upgraded eMachines E732

Just putting this out there for people who might searching in Google for info on upgrading this particular model eMachines laptop.

So in the last few days I replaced the machine’s standard POC (piece of crap) HDD with a Crucial SSD (BX200 with 9.5mm adapter bracket) and also added an extra 2gb of Crucial memory (DDR3L-1600 SODIMM PC3L-12800).

Performance has vastly improved but battery life is still questionable—but thankfully there are options on eBay if I want to spend a few dollars more and replace the battery.

The most time-consuming part was taking the bottom plate of the laptop off and putting it back on as there are approximately 24 screws on the main plate and another 4 or so underneath the battery that need to come out.

The hardest part was removing and putting back on the bottom plate of the laptop (due to the audio jacks at the front of the laptop—you just need to pull it off and put it back on at a certain obscure angle).

So instead of spending $1,000+ on a new laptop for my wife I was able to hopefully give her current laptop a couple of years extra life for $120. She appreciates my resourcefulness (I think...hope).

I’m a Mac man myself and fear the day I have to put down $3k again on a new machine (hopefully not for a couple of years yet)! Macs are worth it though, but if you can make something else work then by all means you should go for it.

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Every detail requires deliberation. There are many details. I will spare you an enumeration. But believe me when I say, if you think about them all before you start, you will never start. The rabbit hole is deep. The truth of any craft.

Let’s talk about margins — The Message — Medium

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Most of the skills that you need, you’ll learn on the job. Really, the point of going to school is getting good at the skill of learning how to learn. Technologies change. Photoshop won’t be the tool of choice forever. Programming languages and platforms fall in and out of fashion like flannel and thick-rimmed glasses. Be curious, be diligent, and don’t be afraid to read/watch/listen and make. Learning how to learn is the meta-skill that reaps rewards forever.

My Dream Design Curriculum

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It’s easy to see passion. Look at someone’s personal work. Their passion projects. What do they do in their free time. If they haven’t done much outside of “work”, it’s not a good sign of their true passion. In startups, the best should be thinking about this stuff at all hours of the day because they can’t keep their minds off of it.

Do good work. Ask questions later. — Medium

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Listen to this all the way through. Rather lovely.

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Integrity

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Help

Don't make fun of people for not knowing something. They want to learn, and they'd love you to teach them until you make them feel stupid for not knowing already.

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Don't be afraid of getting in trouble, just try to do the right thing.

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The ones who think your work is useless or worse, disgusting don’t truly matter. Their dissension should fall on deaf ears because they’d never support you, pay you or join your secret club. When you give up trying to please everyone your work becomes much more focused and valuable to the people that matter.

Paul Jarvis

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Design isn’t merely a case of researching market demand and implementing a solution to meet it — it is about figuring out what solution you believe is right for the market, and that conception of right involves you as much as it does the market.

The User - The Usability Post

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If they choose to use broken and unsupported web browsers, then that's their choice we have to respect. They have to accept the consequences of that decision.

Goodbye IE7, IE8 and Windows XP

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Control over typography is not just a basic design necessity, knowing how to treat text as a user interface is the key factor for successful Web design.

Web Design is 95% Typography | Information Architects

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Pretty leaves n stuff @ Victor Harbor

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Achievement requires focus. And focus means saying “no” to a lot of distractions.

8 Things The World’s Most Successful People All Have in Common

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I can make pretty things, but I'd much rather make useful, enjoyable and valuable things.