Hi <<First Name>>,

This is Thomas Mak with links and stuffs worth sharing. Enjoy!

What I’m working on

• I have been using my self-written online management system and writing tool for years. My own management system is a combination of knowledge base and task list. I just added a color code to my tasks from #mit (most-important-task) to #low priority.
• This week, I packed my ruby-on-rails writing web app into a tab-bar app via Xcode.
• Also, I finished the last lecture of another iOS development beginner course. I will teach a Vue and React cross-platform course next month.

Things worth sharing

1. Scroll to the future—A long post that cover every details you need to know about scrolling in web page.
2. I love the boosts idea from Basecamp. I actually implemented something similar to my workbook system. I called them micro-comments.
3. My favorite Drafts app gets version 5 update. This is my must-have in iPhone. It allows me to quick input text and transform it into mail, markdown HTML render, todo item, diary entry etc. Bad news for me: it is subscription-base now.
4. I almost forgot about the OLPC project until I read their story again.
5. Shifting from night owl to morning guy might actually hurt. As a night owl, I tried to get up earlier in the morning and failed every time.
6. The fading of menu bar. I still find menu bar in desktop app to be very useful. It groups most of the features into a bar with categories and un-fold into sub-categories. I feel panic when using a desktop app without menu bar. It seems to be a trend that touch-based interface is heavily influencing the desktop software UI.
7. I don’t wish the desktop software to be merged by mobile applications. And apparently I’m not the only one. “Users don't want iOS to merge with MacOS, Apple chief says“
8. An archive from John Gruber: “It’s the heaviness of the Mac that allows iOS to remain light.”

What’s a skills competition event?

In last email, I shared about the WorldSkills. Let me share more on that topic. What does a skill event look like?

Visual merchandising working area in Hong Kong Youth Skills.

The event is like an exhibition of professions. There are many skills in each event. web design and development is one of the skills under technology sector. There are also graphic designs, hairstyle, fashion technology, gardening and so on. There could be more than 50 skills in an event.

It usually attracts many students, families and industry partners to attend the event. The students can have a glimpse of what a particular professional do every day. The families can learn what their children are going to be if they choose a particular career path.

There are different working areas from different skills. The competitors are required to work on test projects that are designed to be similar to a real world project in the industrial.

The skills competition participants can also take the event as a platform. As a competitors, they earn friendship during the days working and completing with each others. As the experts and workshop managers, they worked together to run the competition success. They also share what they do in home country and thus a great way to learn from each others. Every time I attended the competition event, I brought back home lots of fresh ideas.

Web Design and Development in EuroSkills 2016.

Hope you enjoy my sharing. Enjoy the weekend.

Until next week,

Thomas Mak



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