visual containment

In visual/UI design, a stylistic convention whereby objects and content that belong and/or act together are visually grouped together.
Placing the edit button above the section header violates the principle of visual containment. It' s not visually obvious WHAT is being edited.
by jfkelley May 28, 2016
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barnacle script

A stand-alone software module that can be slapped onto an existing application to enhance it's function or performance.

This is typically a JavaScript file that can be linked in a vanilla web page to add -- at load time -- Rich Internet Application (RIA) behaviors to the existing UI controls.

A "pefect" barnacle would be effective without any other changes to the web page code (but would allow incremental additions of attributes to customize the behavior).
I found a smart-table barnacle script we can stick on our web page to make those tables sortable and filterable.

I wrote a calendar barnacle that automatically converts any input box with class="date" to a calendar picker field.
by jfkelley June 16, 2009
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emoticonsternation

noun: The unpleasant surprise you get when you choose a seemingly harmless emoticon from the static image palette only to see it animate into something tasteless after you've chosen it and sent it.

Alternate:
noun: An emoticon that looks harmless when viewed in the static image palette, but provides a nasty surprise when you select it and send it by animating into something tasteless.
Imagine my emoticonsternation when that smiley face I sent to my mom turned out to be a bloody horrorshow.

I got fired when I accidentally sent my boss an emoticonsternation.
by jfkelley June 15, 2009
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Determinate

Since we found out you didn't steal from petty cash, we have decide to determinate your employment.
by jfkelley May 28, 2016
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Push-Pull

The fundamental dichotomy when designing any web application: The business goals/requirements of the enterprise (the "push") vs. the needs/requirements of the end-user/customer (the "pull"). Best visualized with a simple, two-circle Venn diagram. The intersection being the "sweet" spot (no-brainer stuff to do). Some designers/researchers will add a third circle for technological constraints (context), but many effective designers prefer to make that a secondary consideration during early concepting.
This corporate mandate to increase self-service options and reduce traffic to your call centers ignores the push-pull trade-off between cost and customer satisfaction; there are certain cases where the customer really feels the need to talk to someone.
by jfkelley June 18, 2018
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