Four short links: 12 October 2011

Google Platforms, Securing Software, Interactive Design, and Building Proverbs

  1. Steve Yegge’s Google Platforms Rant — epic. Read it. (updated with new link)
  2. Guidelines for Securing Open Source Software (EFF) — advice from the team that audited some commonly-used open source libraries. Avoid giving the user options that could compromise security, in the form of modes, dialogs, preferences, or tweaks of any sort. As security expert Ian Grigg puts it, there is “only one Mode, and it is Secure.” Ask yourself if that checkbox to toggle secure connections is really necessary? When would a user really want to weaken security? To the extent you must allow such user preferences, make sure that the default is always secure. (via BoingBoing)
  3. Ladder of Abstraction — a visual and interactive exploration of design that will delight as well as inform. (via Sacha Judd)
  4. On “Build It And They Will Come”I wasn’t saying “build it and they will come”—I was saying “don’t build it and they can’t come”. Wonderfully captures the idea that success can’t be guaranteed, but failure is easy to ensure. (via Ed Yong)

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