gui design - How to show a very important notification on the button itself which opens it?

I have 3 cases about the messages:

1. 
   

   No messages by Mr. X

   
   


2. 
   

   Some previous messages by Mr. X

   
   


3. 
   

   A new Message by Mr. X

   
   

I wanted to show these notifications on the button itself something like:

Case 1: No messages at all:

Case 2: Show previous messages:

Case 3: A new message:

I have no experience at UI. I'm a backend developer. Is this an acceptable design? Or is something better needed?

PS: This is a mobile application.

Answer

The label on the button must not change. This will confuse users. What you can do is keep the label constant and enhance the button with additional info accordingly. You may change the color, add additional graphics, but do not change the label.

I recommend the following :

Display a red circle on the button when new messages exists. In the circle put the number of new messages.

If it is very important to know the sender of the message then display the sender name of the first message.

I do not find the information "No previous messages" important so I recommend you to omit it. But if you must show the "no message state" then disable the button.

Should a multinational website background color be a conscious choice?

We know that colors represent different things in different cultures, and selecting the wrong color can have unexpected and unwanted effect on how we present our organization. Gaming sites such as Steam, EA Games and Ubisoft have chosen black as their background color. The meaning of black in western cultures is authority, death, eternity, evil and mourning. These words sums up what we (in the western world) expect from violent gaming. In China black means celebration and to Native American and Asian cultures black means self-cultivation, which may not be what emotions gaming sites intended to convey to its users.

United Nation, World Trade Organization and World Health Organization uses combinations of gray, blue and white background colors. White represents heaven, luxury and marriage in the western world but death in Chinese and Hindu cultures. Most of the cultures consider white to represent purity and truce.

Gray is a respectful color in western cultures and in Japan gray represents modesty and reliable. Blue is freedom, loyalty, rationality and unhappiness in the western cultures and virtue and wisdom in Eastern Europe.

Choosing gray and blue background colors seams safe but black and white seams culturally unsafe to use on multinational websites, at least if you follow the chart strict. Or does it really matter? Should a multinational website background color be a conscious choice?

Reference: What Colors Mean in Different Cultures

Answer

I would say yes. To quote this research article

Different colors mean different things to people in different cultures. For example, Ricks et al(1974) give an example of a company with packaging having green label was not well received by some Malay- sians, because to them green symbolized the jungle with its dangers and diseases. However, green is a color of fertility in Egypt, a color symbolizing safety in U.S and a color that indicates criminality in France (Barber and Badre, 1998). Similarly in western cultures white is the color for the bride’s gown, while in India widows wear white. Thus use of specific colors on the websites has to be congruent with the needs and expectations of a spe-cific country.

Here is a tabular representation of how colors are precieved in different cultures taken from this article color and culture.

The center for Intercultural learning has this to say about the use of colors in websites from a common perspective and what colors are safe from an international perspective

Within the cultural colour usage study, we investigated colours chosen for the Webpage background, table background, graphics, text, imaging, as well as overall usage of colour in the visual Web interface design. The underlying assumption was that the Internet, as a medium of communication, presents an opportunity for designers to truly express their colour choices since the choice of colours for Webpage is not constrained by cost or technical limitations that are frequently imposed when working with print media. Interestingly enough, in our colour usage study we found that a palette of about ten colours is commonly and preferentially used across all countries studied. These colours include white, black, shades of grey, shades of blue, and a light yellow colour. We named this colour palette the "international colours palette." We believe that colours from this palette could be used by designers to develop "international" user interfaces by choosing design colours that will be appropriate for a multitude of cultures. For example, this approach could be applicable in designing Web-based e-learning applications for a broad audience of international learners. When localization is required, other country-specific colour palettes that we discovered could be utilised to design an interface that will be attractive and culturally appropriate for the local audience.

With regards to an example of a well known brand which customizes its websites color schemes to respect local customs, Mcdonalds is a very good example.

Mcdonalds has different website design patterns for different countries depending upon how the color red is precieved in that country. For example in India, the color red is used as an example of purity and hence McDonald's follows a color scheme which is very reddish in color as shown by this screenshot

However if you look at the Eastern countries Red is denoted as dangerous or evil and Mcdonald's reduces the red tone in the color just keeping enough for the branding

The screenshot above is the screen shot of the English page of Mcdonalds of Kuwait

However Mcdonalds to give them credit not only looks at it from a color perspective but also from the perspective of how users in those specific countries prefer information to be presented to them. To quote the article What McDonald’s can show us about global internet marketing

For example, Scandinavian and northern European cultures tend to prefer more minimalist, text-based designs. In contrast, in China and India, websites tend to be brighter, bolder and contain more banners, pop-ups and videos.

Another factor to think about in global internet marketing is the amount of information and graphics on a page. This Chinese site might appear “crowded” to Western viewers. In fact, a study by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology found Chinese and Korean users tended to take in more information than American users when scanning a webpage in 25 seconds. They also registered more "areas of interest" and were less likely to use a sequential viewing pattern.

Another good example comes from this article

EuroDisney made a booboo when it created a multimillion dollar advertising campaign with tons of purple. For the Catholics of Western Europe, purple signifies the crucifixion, and it's a color of mourning rather than a happy place as Disney sites are known to be. The result? EuroDisney flopped.

I strongly recommend reading this excellent article ​​​​​Brands and Localization - Drive Global Brand engagement as it gives an excellent overview of localization from a Brand perspective

This is a good article about how different colors contribute to different color moods

Some other links to look at:

Tips on creating websites for International Audiences

Web designs that communicate across cultures

Cultural sensitivity in business

Culturability: The Merging of Culture and Usability

how to change the workspace color window from RGB to CMYK mode in Illustrator CS5.1?

I'm using Illustrator CS5.1 and started a new document in RGB mode. When I change the color mode to CMYK under File > Document Color Mode > CMYK Color, the Color window in my workspace doesn't change from RGB to CMYK mode. I can change the RGB levels using the Color window but I want to change CMYK levels.

Answer

Open the flyout menu in the Color panel and click on CMYK. The Color panel stays in whatever mode it started in, or is switched to. This doesn't affect the color mode of the document or the color; it's just a different way of describing the color.

If you used RGB swatches in your document, you'll find that double-clicking on a swatch after switching to CMYK mode will bring up a CMYK dialog automatically, but even here you can choose any of the color modes to work in for that particular swatch.

mobile - Should I ask users to rate my app with pop-up window?

I have recently noticed some "high-profile" apps like facebook and twitter randomly displaying pop-up windows to get me to rate their app. Seems to be a fairly new trend...good idea?

Answer

Interrupting users is typically not good UX, something to keep in mind when you are asking them to rate your app. Having said that, I am typically OK with a one-time popup as a reminder. But if it shows up again I will mention it in my review.

Another idea to consider is an easy to remove banner at the top of the screen. That would encourage users to rate the app without preventing them from using it.

pseudonym - Writing different genres

I like to write many different genres in my fiction writing but I think that this would be confusing as an author's name becomes somewhat of a brand. Is it therefore a good idea to invent pen names where genres don't really gel so that the audiences aren't thrown off if they pick one of the books under a different genre they expected? Or is it possible to generate sub-brands for an author so that the readership are clear on which genre a book is under?

What other methods are there for achieving this separation?

shipping - Why do address forms ask for the US state?

Inspired by Why do credit card forms ask for Visa, MasterCard, etc.? -

Why is it standard for web sites in the United States to ask for ZIP code and state?

• 
  

  Asking for the state is redundant. The ZIP code already provides an unambiguous identification of the address.

  
  


• 
  
  

  Asking for the state is inconvenient. It's usually a drop-down with 50 entries, and is often not caught by the browser's autofill feature (at least not in Chrome).

  
  


• 
  

  True, the state is basic required information when shipping with the USPS. Also, it may be relevant for tax and other regulations.

  
  

  However, it would be easy to fill in automatically based on the ZIP code the user entered, e.g. using USPS' API, or plain old Google Maps.

  
  

Why does everybody and their dog still force you to enter a state?

pagination - Best way to add items to a paginated list

I have a long list of items sorted by date that is pageable. When a user adds an item it is shown and highlighted in the list. The problem I have is that the date entered affects where it ends up in the list. Most of the time it gets added to the top in plain view but it could end up on a different page than the user is currently on.

Would it be more confusing to take the user to that page or more confusing to keep them on their current page without seeing the new item they entered? Or is there a better way I haven't thought of?

Answer

You could display the new item below/above the currently displayed list, but separated so it's clear the item doesn't belong on this page.

 1. Make a to-do list       Today
 2. New year's resolution   Jan 1
 3. Join the gym            Jan 2
 4. Answer a UI.SE question Jan 2
^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^
17. Stop procrastinating    Apr 1 

Page [1] 2 3 4 5

originality - Is my story too similar to an existing published work?

This is meant to be a canonical question, to which particular cases can be referred. We've had several particular instances of this question in the past - "is my story too similar to specific story X". The older ones got answered, the newer ones got closed as off-topic. These questions however never get closed as duplicates of each other, being different in their particulars. The purpose of this question is thus that all similar questions in the future may find an answer here.

---

My story shares some similarities with an existing work: a major plot element is the same, or an overarching concept is the same.

For example, I have a regular child suddenly realising he can do magic, and start learning it (Harry Potter, Kaytek the Wizard). Or, there are people flying on dragons, and those constitute an aerial force used in battle (Dragonriders of Pern, Temeraire).

How do I know if my work is OK / original enough, or if it is too similar to another work, derivative and constitutes a copyright infringement?

fiction - What is the most important characteristic of New Weird as a genre?

Recently I've stumbled across China Miéville's novels. Apparently, they fit in a genre called Weird Fiction, or to be even more specific New Weird, where the "new" is used to distinguish new writers from literary sources as Lovecraft.

Yet, in my opinion, a book like Perdido Street Station could be defined as a crossbreed between fantasy and steampunk. In short, I'm having trouble understanding what the "New Weird" as a genre entails.

On the Wikipedia page a bunch of definitions can be found:

... according to Jeff VanderMeer and Ann VanderMeer, in their introduction to the anthology The New Weird, the genre is "a type of urban, secondary-world fiction that subverts the romanticized ideas about place found in traditional fantasy, largely by choosing realistic, complex real-world models as the jumping-off point for creation of settings that may combine elements of both science fiction and fantasy"

However,

Robin Anne Reid notes that while the definition of the new weird is disputed, "a general consensus uses the term" to describe fictions that "subvert cliches of the fantastic in order to put them to discomfiting, rather than consoling ends". 1 Reid also notes the genre tends to break down the barriers between fantasy, science fiction and supernatural horror.

And then again, from a more historic point of view:

Part of this genre's roots derive from pulp horror authors, whose stories were sometimes described as "weird fiction".

My point here being that there is no specific consensus about this. So, a new author wanting to write a Weird Fiction novel will either find himself expanding the definition, or missing it completely.
After all, other genres can be seen as a breaking of barriers between fantasy and science-fiction (as steampunk, maybe) or fantasy and horror (dark fantasy or grimdark).

So, what would be the most important characteristic, the one that you absolutely cannot miss, when writing New Weird?

Answer

Genre should be seen largely as a way of connecting a writer with the audience most likely to enjoy his or her book based on elements shared with other books. It isn't an exact science, and for this, a hybrid subgenre, you'll be looking for a signature combination of traits, rather than a single defining one.

I'm not previously familiar with the label "New Weird," but it seems quite clear, and I can readily identify work I've encountered that would arguably fall in that (non-exclusive) category (Dreams of Shreds and Tatters, House of Leaves, Coyote Kings of the Space Aged Bachelor Pad, Sandman, Black Mirror, Kafka on the Shore)*. If I had to redefine it, I'd call it

Contemporary magical realism, but with a horror-influenced sensibility.

It needs to feel fresh and new, not old and musty. It needs to have supernatural or science fiction elements, but it needs to combine those with a semi-realist setting, not a wholly fantastic one --even if set in an invented setting, it needs to give the sense of strange things intruding into the real world in which we live, rather than presenting an escapist fantasy. Finally, it needs a mood that is dark, eerie, disturbing, cautionary or horrific, not one that is twee, playful, childlike, mythic, wish-fulfilling or reassuring.

* Note, I'm not much for horror, so my examples are probably on the lighter end of this spectrum.

inkscape - Filling drawing

I'm having a little trouble I hope it's easily solvable in Inkscape... Sorry if it's something simple I'm missing, I'm relatively new to it, and google/searching here hasn't done quite the trick.

I have a couple of drawings saved up that I'd like to do several different versions. This one is the most simple, but what works for it should work for the rest.

Is there any fast way to auto join everything to make the fill option work? Some parts even give me "not a closed area" when I try to use bucket fill on it... I've gone as far as to export it as bitmap so I could vectorize it, but I still need to use bucket fill on top of that since auto-vectorization creates 2 line-less paths filled with black as a "line".

Thanks for your time!

Answer

Unfortunately you'll have to rethink how your drawings connect in order to solve this problem. This means taking a look at what you're trying to represent and then understanding how vector graphics draw connecting lines that form fillable shapes.

Most vector apps do this in a kind of similar way, but it's very confusing (at first) because your preconceived notions of how drawing software might (or could or should) work are going to be different from the way they actually do.

Unfortunately this problem is for everyone coming to vector illustration from a creative perspective because it's essentially a collection of mathematical equations that define these curves, rather than some consideration for how end users actually think of lines.

There are a couple of applications that think more along the lines of end users illustration (real world) techniques, but InkScape is not one of them.

Inkscape uses what's considered the classical vector style of "drawing" in which lines are essentially just primitive exposure to the underlying mathematics that defines where those lines go, how they curve and who and what they're connected to.

In order to best understand this, I'd strongly suggest taking the time to watch a few videos on vector drawing in Inkscape so you can thoroughly perceive the nature of vector illustration in this "classic" methodology. It's kind of clunky, and will seem very odd, at first, and won't be anything like how you imagined drawing on a compute might actually be.

This guy doesn't mess around, and gets right to the meat and potatoes, watch his two videos and you should be almost set:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAgWhnf_p3k

Then, if you really don't like that approach, have a look at this, and feel sad, because this wonderful app has been abandoned:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYENrzdpIF0

However its inferior cousin lives on:

http://www.autodesk.com/products/sketchbook-pro/features/all/gallery-view

regulation - PRIIPs Stress Scenario

Let me ask you about the following rationale regarding stress scenario (IV Annex 10 (c)):

" Identify for each sub interval of length w the historical lognormal returns rt, where t=t0, t1, t2, …, tN. "

I find myself wondering what the t0,...,tN are: in fact, given that RTS only mentions for historical data of up to 5 years, I interprete the above as saying that t0,...,tN should be the 5 years data used in the rest performance scenarios as well. Otherwise the RTS should be more specific of how and where exactly these "new data" come from.

Would you agree to that interpretation or are you of the opinion that for stress purposes one needs to get more historical data?

Thank you very much in advance for your answer!

Answer

I interpreted it as the rolling standard deviation in 21 or 63 day Windows for the whole five years (less 21 or 63 days respectively) depending on whether you are doing one year or longer stress scenarios. I believe some think that the one year stress scenario means you only go back one year with the 21 day rolling window but this would surely be inconsistent with the other scenarios where regardless of the RHP you still use the maximum amount of historic returns.

branching narrative - Where can I find online resources about writing a visual novel?

I have read/played quite a few visual novels and am interested in the process of creating one.

Where can I find (preferrably free) online resources, such as How-To-Write or styleguide articles and blogs, about writing a visual novel?

The main reason for asking specifically about a visual novel is that I am having problems with the idea of creating a branched storyline and would like to see what common ways are for creating such a story.

Furthermore the way of presenting the story has always reminded me of theater and I would like to see whether visual novel authors use different formatting or descriptions when writing than text-only novel authors.

The fact that players can choose a path and that I have seen different ways of presenting these options is also fascinating, because some visual novels were giving the complete text a character would say while others would summarize the main content and I am not sure whether there are guidelines for what way should be preferred.

adobe photoshop - Darker shade of a given color

What does it mean and how do I get a darker shade of a given color. For example if I have the color

R = 53, G = 140, B = 205

or

H = 204, S = 74, B = 80, 

or

#358CCD

What value do I change in Adobe Illustrator CS5 or Above Photoshop so that I get a more darker/solid/bold look of the same color?

Answer

For the RGB spectrum, black is 0,0,0 and white is 255,255,255. So if R = 53, G = 140, B = 205, then a darker version would be R = 33, G = 120, B = 185 and a lighter version is R = 73, G = 160, B = 225. Your mileage may vary. You'll have to play with the values to see what gives you the colors you want.

Hex is the same as RGB, just done in a different way. Hex breaks out into three pairs of base-16 digits. If you're not familiar with base 16, it's counting to 10 using 16 digits instead of 10. Thus, you'd count like this: 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F 10. FF in base 16 = 255 in base 10. For #358CCD, 35 is the red value, 8C is the green value, and CD is the blue value. #000000 is black, and #FFFFFF is white, so decreasing or increasing each color value gets you darker and lighter, respectively.

adobe photoshop - How do I partially break a clipping mask border?

I’m looking for a non-destructive way of allowing an image to be partially "clipped" by a clipping mask, like so:

I view the above image as having three parts…

• a Person (top layer; being clipped)


• a Pattern (background layer; being clipped)


• a Shape (bottom layer; does the clipping)

The Person and Pattern represent the crux of the matter, since the pattern should be clipped entirely, whereas the person is only partially clipped.

Here’s an example of how I achieved this (in an undesired manner):

#1

Here is my Shape, accompanied by the Pattern and Person that will eventually be "clipped" by said Circle:

(This is where my process becomes convoluted)

#2

First, I create a Duplicate Layer of my Person and horizontally align this layer with my Shape. Like so:

#3

Next, I use the magic wand to select my Circle.

#4

After which, I use the Magnetic lasso tool to add the top of my duplicate Person to the same selection.

#5

I then use this selection to create a Layer Mask for my Person.

#6

Finally, I merge these two layers into one shape. Here is what I have thus far:

(From here on it becomes simple)

#7

I used my (now rasterized) shape to as a clipping mask for Pattern…

#8

and finally my original Person…

(Fin)

Is there straightforward way to allowing my Person to "escape" my clipping mask and move around freely without Steps #2 through #6, which is limiting due to obvious disadvantages.

For example: If I decided I wanted to offset my Person, after my "clipping" shape had already been rasterized, I would have to start from the beginning since it would look like this…

Thanks for reading this far.

Answer

It would be slightly simpler with Layer mask, but I prefer using Clipping mask if the edge of two layers meet.

Some clarifications to the paragraph above.. I edited this in later because I was reading this question again after a long time and it took me a second to get what I was saying.

What I meant here is that if we take this exact situation, the end result is going to have the bottom of the person layer meeting the edge of the circle layer at the bottom. Because you have 2 layers stacked up and because of anti-aliasing, if you use a Layer mask on the person layer, its edge is going to pass through some of the circle layer color. If you use a clipping mask, this won't happen. Long ago I made this image to explain this a bit more Check it out here.

Key points of the example images below:

• The person layer is put into Smart object and duplicated.
  
  
  
  
  • This way you can just edit the smart object contents once and both images update.
  
  
  
  


• The first person layer is put in a Clipping mask with the circle.


• The second person layer has it's own Layer mask that masks out everything starting from the eyes.
  
  
  
  • Essentially the goal is to mask out the shoulders that would otherwise stick out, in this case anyways.
  
  
  
  



• Both person layers are linked, so that they are easy to move, rotate and resize.

Example images below:

_{Every layer showing}

_{Second person layer hidden}

_{Every layer except the second person layer hidden}

---

^{I cut out a part of the circle, cause my person over here had his torso cut too short.}

user behavior - Does ellipsis button work on left or right of table row?

The problem here is that the ellipsis button in this table is placed to the left. I inherited this pattern, but I am not sure if it's correct, practical, or normal. From other things I've seen, the convention of putting an ellipsis to the right is most common. Thoughts?

Answer

Terminology

Luke Wrebowski calls this menu choice the meatballs menu.

Note that your buttons don't look like ellipses (•••); They look more like square dots (▪▪▪). I would fix this to ensure that users who have seen this pattern before can immediately get it.

Placement

You should take a look at this question for some ideas on how to think of placement of controls. But the short answer is to place it where the user reading the row would expect to find it. I have a strong urge to see this menu aligned to the right as you do. Firstly, it would group the Action and Menu controls, thereby keeping data separate from controls. Secondly, it aligns with left-to-right reading, so users would get to the controls after they have read the data in the row.

As a counter-example, below is a data-table from the webapp for the Deezer music streaming service. Each row has four controls including the meatballs menu and they are positioned on the sides of the row as well as within the row. I use this UI daily and I think it works.

Add perspective to Bitmap in Inkscape

I have a 3D monitor drawn in Inkscape and I'd like to add a screenshot into the region. I have tried to skew, but the shape is too irregular. I have also tried to apply an envelope (Extensions -> Modify Path -> Envelope), but it seems not to work with Bitmaps.

How can I get the screenshot to appear like drawn on the screen?

Answer

Perspective or envelope deformation of embedded bitmaps objects is not (yet) defined in the SVG specifications. Therefore we can not do this with Inkscape.

To overcome this we have two options only.

1. 
   

   Deform the bitmap to appropriate geometry prior to embedding using an external bitmap graphics tool.

   
   


2. 
   

   Tracing the bitmap to vector to then be able to use envelope or perspecitive path deformation.

   
   

   These are the steps involved for using the envelope tool:

   
   
   
   
   
   • Embed bitmap image and select it.
   
   
   • Path > Trace bitmap using sensible settings for acceptable results.
   
   
   • Object > ungroup the traced vectors.
   
   
   • Transform both, the destination, and the traced bitmap to paths with Path > Object to Path.
   
   
   • Select source objects, then destination object.
   
   
   • Switch to Edit Path by nodes mode F2.
   
   
   • Apply Extensions > Modify Path > Envelope (or Perspective for rectangles).
   
   
   • wait...
   
   
   
   

   After that we have a traced bitmap with correct perspective view embedded in our destination object:

   
   
   

As we can see this is a quite time consuming, computer memory, and processor demanding task. We may be better off to perform the deformation of the bitmap outside of Inkscape prior to embedding.

calibration - How to calibrate a volatility surface using SVI

I've read the following paper by Gatheral and Jacquier and have several question regarding the calibration of a volatility surface in a arbitrage free way and some theoretical aspects. Let me first introduce some notation. They define the log strike as

$$k:=\log{\frac{K}{F}}$$

where $F$ denotes the forward. Moreover, $\sigma_{BS}(k,t)$ denotes the implied Black-Scholes volatility with strike $k$ and maturity $t$ and

$$w(k,t):=\sigma_{BS}^2(k,t)t$$

the so called total implied variance. With $\theta_t:=\sigma_{BS}^2(0,t)t$ we denote the at the money implied total variance. What follows they present different parametrization of a single slice in the surface, i.e. not depending on $t$. My first question:

1. Question: Why do they authors use the total implied variance instead of the directly observable $\sigma_{BS}(k,t)$ for the parametrization? Is there any advantage / meaning of that? Naturally, I would fit a model to the implied volatility

There are three parametrizations of a single surface slide:

• raw SVI: For a parameter set $\xi_R:=\{a,b,\rho,m,\sigma\}$ the raw parametrization is given by: $$ w(k,\xi_R):=a+b\left(\rho(k-m)+\sqrt{(k-m)^2+\sigma^2}\right)$$


• natural SVI: For a parameter set $\xi_N:=\{\Delta,\mu,\rho,\omega,\zeta\}$ the natural parametrization is given by: $$ w(k,\xi_N):=\Delta+\frac{\omega}{2}\left(1+\zeta\rho(k-\mu)+\sqrt{(\zeta(k-\mu)+\rho)^2+(1-\rho^2)}\right)$$


• SVI Jump Wings (SVI_JW): For a given time to expiry $t >0$ and a parameter set $\xi_J:=\{v_t,\psi_t,p_t,c_t,\tilde{v_t}\}$ the SVI-JW parametrization is given in raw SVI parameters: $$\begin{align} v_t &= \frac{a+b\left(-\rho m+\sqrt{m^2+\sigma^2}\right)}{t}\\ \psi_t &=\frac{b}{2\sqrt{w_t}}\left(-\frac{m}{\sqrt{m^2+\sigma^2}}+\rho\right)\\ p_t &= \frac{b}{\sqrt{w_t}}(1-\rho)\\ c_t &= \frac{b}{\sqrt{w_t}}(1+\rho)\\ \tilde{v_t} &= \frac{1}{t}\left(a+b\sigma\sqrt{1-\rho^2}\right)\\ \end{align}$$ where $w_t:=v_tt$.

2. Question: Why is it an advantage of having a dependency on time to expiration $t$ in the SVI-JW parametrization? As far as I see, you still fit the model to a given slice in all of the above parametrization, that is: You fix time to expiry and fit the model to the observed quotes. So that you could also introduce a time to expiry parameter in the raw/natural SVI.

The authors introduce now a new parametrization for a complete surface, the SSVI.

• SSVI: For a smooth function $\phi$ (with some additional properties) the SSVI parameterization is given by: $$ w(k,\theta_t):=\frac{\theta_t}{2}\left(1+\rho\phi(\theta_t)k+\sqrt{(\phi(\theta_t)k+\rho)^2+(1-\rho^2)}\right)$$ a common choice is $\phi(\theta) = \frac{\eta}{\theta^\gamma(1+\theta)^{1-\gamma}}$

They are translations how to convert one parametrization to another.

3. Question: Is it correct that the SSVI tries to fit a whole surface not just a single slice at once?

My last question is more about the actual calibration. For the raw and natural parametrization you would try to find optimal parameters so that $$\sum_{i=1}^n(w(k_i,\xi_R)-w(k_i)_{market})^2$$ is minimized, where $w(k_i)_{market}$ are observed market quotes (calculated from $\sigma_{BS}$) for strike $k_1,\dots,k_n$ for a fixed time to expiry $t$.

Now for the SSVI, if its really about fitting the whole surface, what function are you minimizing?

$$\sum_{t_i}\left(\sum_{i=1}^n(w(k_i,\theta_{t_i})-w(k_i,t_i)_{market})^2\right)$$ where you also sum over the maturities?

4. Question: How does the minimization function for the SSVI look like? It seems that the authors are using still for a fixed time to expiry $t_i$ a slice parametrization and then compare it with previous / next slice, run additional calibration if needed to avoid calendar spread arbitrage. See page 21 "An example SVI calibration recipe".

Svg file size more than a png image

I have two files with same dimensions and I want to save my vector file to web SVG. Problem is that this file size is more than generate the same file to PNG for web.

I think that I'm exporting settings of the SVG correctly.

The PNG file have this dimensions: 700x500px:

The SVG file have similar dimensions: 755,245x485,663px:

I´m saving the SVG files with this settings (only spanish, sorry):

Why the SVG file size is more than PNG file size?

LINK TO PNG FILE: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wmncderyprnablk/sample.png?dl=0

LINK TO SVG FILE: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bfp5mpjgyuwibf7/sample.svg?dl=0

Answer

Can you post the original SVG image and link it here? Really it seems that you've done everything right in the SVG, all your shapes have anchor points.

PNGs are not necessarily larger than SVG!

It could also be the case that the PNG export actually has a lesser file size than SVG. Its really not that uncommon!

Case in point from here -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:India-locator-map-blank.svg

SVG File = 421KB

PNG File = 51 KB

SVG File size depends on paths / points.

When the number of paths / anchor points increase, the mathematical information to store them also increases! In these cases a bitmapped version of the file can be more suited for a lesser file size.

For example Try live tracing a photograph and export it as JPEG and then as SVG. The SVG will be far far far larger than the JPEG.

Having said that...

Make sure you have no bitmaps in your SVG, and that complex paths are reduced in size. If you can link the original file, and there is an issue with the export options, I'll edit this answer.

EDIT

After looking at your files,

It is indeed a case of complex SVG instructions. By looking at the shapes and their nature, It seems you've used live trace of Adobe Illustrator to create these vectors. Live Trace can be inefficient, and tweaking the controls can give better results.

Eg: Compare the anchor points on an r in one of your logos and an r I've made myself.

Though the font is not same, you can the one below needs far less amount of anchor points to be constructed than the above.

There are also certain characters that have squiggly lines when zoomed really in when they should actually be straight!

If you want to reduce filesize

You have 2 options:

1. 
   

   Go through the entire document, remove Anchor Points you don't need and modify the ones you do so you can delete other points.

   
   


2. 
   

   Re vectorize the bitmaps you used. Either trace it manually (recommended) or tweak the Live Trace Options.

   
   

Of course you could just go with the PNG :)

forms - Which is the best design practice for edit data in RIA?

Which is the best design practice for edit data in RIA, for example in Flex or Silverlight?

I would like to show customer's details, but there will be an edit window, than the datas of customer will be editable.

I would like to show a new form where the data can be edited. What is the simplest way to show this form. I can make my ui tabbed, so I can open the form in a new tab, or I can open the form in a popup/modal dialog (Save-cancel). Maybe I can use in line editing.

What is the most user friendly solution in a Silverlight or Flex GUI? What is your opinion?

Tile vs Table/List view: Do they need to display exactly the same information?

I am currently working on a design (for a school/teacher app) that displays information about students. Two different views are offered to the user: tile and table view.

The argument among people on the design review team (management people mostly) is that both these views should fundamentally provide the user with the same exact information.

My understanding in providing different views to a user is not only to just have a different view of them but to also make best use of each view. As such, I am inclined to not necessarily show exactly the same info in both views.

The tile view would show more descriptive info about the student while the table view would be displaying mainly the high level info given that you are able to view more students at a time on the screen. So, the table view would be mostly used as a high level comparison of all the students, where the tile view would enable to teacher to focus on one student at a time.

What are your views on this? Are there any reference for these kind of situations? Any opinions?

Added a screenshot as an example. (Don't mind the visual, that's in progress). So the table presents a more summarized information for the alert column while the tile view gives some more description. Both the tile and table row are clickable to drill into more details about the student.

website design - Am I using too much gray on my webapp?

I'm creating a mobile app that will be used by maturer people, 40 to 60 yo, so I've been searching for sober colors and I came to gray, the problem is, How much gray is too much gray? What colors should I try instead of gray?

Any advice is appreciated.

This is my mobile app:

These are all my gray stuff:

Gradient colors from top-bottom:

for the menu and search box I'm using #7f7f7f on the top to #b2b2b2 on the bottom;

the square around the codes: #e5e5e5 to #aaa

footer: #e5e5e5 to #F2F2F2

One color only:

menu buttons: #808080

footer buttons: #c1c1c1

"beam me up Scotty!"

Answer

Your issue isn't "use gray or not". Rather, there are several issues you need to think about and likely spend time tweaking before you even dive back into the issue of color:

• 
  

  contrast. your list? good contrast. The buttons at the bottom? Terrible contrast.

  
  


• 
  

  emphasis. Do you really want 'Save' and 'Delete' buttons to have the same emphasis (or in this case, lack thereof?)

  
  


• 
  

  white space. the app could be improved by considering adding white space. Give elements room to breath. This is especially important on mobile where 'hit targets' need to be larger. It's majorly important if your demographic is pushing 60 years old as dexterity can begin to suffer.

  
  
  


• 
  

  layout. I'm not seeing a lot of logic to the relation of elements on the page. Why is status to the right and below the time, for example?

  
  


• 
  

  accessibility. There are some accessibility issues here. Namely the font size is very small, and you are using only colors to indicate status (which won't work for anyone that is color blind).

  
  


• 
  

  "chart junk". There appears to be design elements that aren't necessary. Do you need all the gradients? Do you need the bold zebra stripes on the table? Rethink those. I think you can simplify the look even more.

  
  

I'd suggest you go back to the drawing board. Really play with some different ideas and layouts. Don't worry about color yet. Nail the layout first.

viewpoint - Sympathetic portrayal of devout, rule-abiding characters

I'm having trouble portraying religious, devout characters as protagonists or viewpoint characters. When I try, I get the sense that the reader - not sharing the characters' beliefs - will have trouble accepting the characters' non-rational beliefs and obligations. More crucially, even if he accepts that, "yes, OK, the character believes in this stuff," I think a reader would have trouble ascribing importance to those beliefs in the way that the character himself would.

To put this as bluntly as possible, I want to write about characters who are firmly committed to obeying a set of rules. They don't need to like all the rules. They don't have to find reasons the rules are worthwhile. They certainly don't need or attempt to convince the readers of anything - and probably share their opinion that some of the rules are pointless, or even horrible. But they follow the rules, or try to; they see the rules as being axiomatically important; upholding the rules is a value in and of itself - not just a value among many, but one of the very highest.

I find that this type of character naturally clashes with the reader's expectations of what a character should be doing. And while there are plenty of fictional characters who act in ways most readers would find unwise or outright abhorrent, a good author usually manages to get across the viewpoint, personality, and motivation that explain why the character acts this way - essentially, what is important enough to him to elicit so radical and unusual a reaction.

I haven't seen this done with religiously observant characters. And I don't know how to do it without sounding as though I'm preaching.

Some examples I'd have difficulty with:

• A person who gives up on the chance for a romantic relationship with somebody whose religion is different than his own.


• An Orthodox Jew who can't join his friends for meals because their food isn't kosher.


• A fantasy story focusing on a religious ceremony which is purely ceremonial, and yet is also truly, genuinely important to the character.

I feel as if in all these cases, the reader's own values and beliefs will keep him from feeling invested in the things which are important to the character. (I may be wrong on this! But that's my instinctive response.) If the readers come out feeling the protagonist should get over his beliefs, and focus on "the important things," then I haven't immersed them in the character and what's important to him.

Contrast with viewers wanting to see Rachel and Ross together even if they don't particularly like Rachel and/or Ross, or accepting Dexter's need to murder despite the fact that it's an irrational, arbitrary urge. Usually, when something is important to a character, we can get readers to accept that. We may criticize the character for his priorities and choices, but we'll still care about what's important to him. For some reason, I feel that this doesn't work with a religious character - that the (arguably) arbitrary and immutable nature of his beliefs makes them difficult to accept as significant or worth attention.

How, then, can I portray such a character sympathetically? Examples and examinations of such portrayals are very welcome.

HEAVILY EDITED 7/3/11 for improved focus.

Answer

While you might personally have issues with the three items you listed, calling religious belief arguably arbitrary and irrational and letting that viewpoint seep into your writing is going to make your task very difficult. You yourself need to learn to sympathize with a religious viewpoint first. You don't need to accept it, but you need to believe that someone can be fully using their mental, emotional, physical, and other capacities and still believe in God/gods/reincarnation/the spirit world/what have you. If you can't get yourself past this issue, you should reconsider the character.

I'll walk through the three situations that you listed as difficult and describe how I write the character:

A person who gives up on the chance for a romantic relationship with somebody whose religion is different than his own.

First of all, don't make this an easy, obvious choice. You could write this character many ways. Take a conservative Christian character, perhaps, who winds up in a romantic relationship with a committed agnostic who, while not opposed to her beliefs, is confident that he will never share them. The Christian might remember days in her self-assured youth where she could never imagine herself dating (or, to be very conservative, courting) anyone but someone who shared her views on God and Christ. Then she might remember being totally bowled over by the experience of this guy - all the amazing things about him. Make the decision agony. At the same time, you have to make God and her belief in him compelling. Show what she loves about her faith - the fact, perhaps, that she can rest in God working all circumstances for good in her life and his unconditional acceptance of her. If you were to write such a conservative Christian character, you would need to find out what Christians love about their God, or at least their church. You can certainly put in pressure from a legalistic family or church, but while that's realistic it's far less likely to be sympathetic than a young woman who cannot imagine going against what she believes God has told her.

An Orthodox Jew who can't join his friends for meals because their food isn't kosher.

Think about the character Danny in The Chosen. We readers initially see Danny through the unsympathetic viewpoint of Reuven. However as Reuven gets to know Danny, he finds out things that make this character sympathetic - the coldness of Danny's father, the voracious mind Danny has, etc. Reuven even comes to respect Danny's cold, extremely conservative father Reb because of the congregants great love for Reb and the sense that Danny's cold father really loves his son. Chaim Potok, the author, does an excellent job of bringing us inside motivations and showing the cost of following one's beliefs.

So in the case of an Orthodox Jew keeping kosher, make kosher matter. Associate it with good memories of family, tradition, and G-d (to use the Jewish form of respect). Also explain the friendship and make it matter, perhaps more to the Orthodox Jew than to his friends who won't eat kosher for a night to allow him to join in. You can even make this character noble, someone who is true to his values and deserves respect. Make him upright in all areas of his life.

A fantasy story focusing on a religious ceremony which is purely ceremonial, and yet is also truly, genuinely important to the character.

I'm not sure what a purely ceremonial ceremony is as opposed to a regular religious ceremony. Still, let's take an example of Passover. Passover represents G-d's rescue of the children of Israel from Egypt long, long ago. Dig into what it means to the Jewish people and you should be able to make it matter to your readers, as long as you can see why it would matter to a character. Or what about the example of Christian baptism of an adult convert to the faith? Dunking in water or being sprinkled by it doesn't really seem like much on the surface. You have to understand what's behind baptism - the symbolism of dying to self and doing wrong and coming up into new life in Christ where one strives to serve God because he is great and worthy of honor and do right to other people because it's what we ought to do. Baptism represents a very serious milepost in the life of Christians and understanding it will help you significantly.

TL;DR - first you have to be sympathetic with the characters and see both the value of their faith to them and the ways that it motivates them in the world, then you can write them in a sympathetic way.

Example books to read:

probability - $mathbb{P}$ vs $mathbb{Q}$ Probabilities - Transitioning Between Measures

I'd like this question to definitively guide a practitioner to using both $\mathbb{P}$ vs $\mathbb{Q}$ probabilities in trading and research.

Let's take only one fact as given: if I have a risk-neutral probability distribution I can price and hedge any option.

1. Is the distinction more philosophical or practical? Does it have real impact on trading desks P/L? For example, is it a construct to remind us we're not in the "real world" when modeling?


2. This question says it is the difference in using $\mu$ vs $r$ when solving the S.D.E... which seems to say if I definitively knew $\mu$ and $r$ I would be able to transition with absolutely no loss of information. What edge would this provide me in the market?


3. This good paper and this good answer seems to divide them on the approach of their research. $\mathbb{P}$-quants vs $\mathbb{Q}$-quants... in this sense it seems to be that $\mathbb{P}$-Quants are concerned with modeling the future using historical data sets. Projection. $\mathbb{Q}$-quants are concered with relative valuation and making sure that their pricing shemes are consistent with exchange traded products that are observed in the market. Extrapolation. I see that these job functions are different, but I do not see why one could not apply $\mathbb{P}$ methods to the $\mathbb{Q}$ world (their effectiveness seems less important to me - it doesn't seem like a scientific violation).


4. Girsanov's Theorem shows its possible to switch between the two. Now I know I CAN draw conclusions from each other, but the method is not clear.

Is there a way on paper to move from $\mathbb{P}$ to $\mathbb{Q}$ and vice-versa if I have a closed form-solution or a parameterized model of either $\mathbb{P}$ or $\mathbb{Q}$? If my returns under $\mathbb{Q}$ is $X \sim \mathcal{N}(r,\,\sigma^{2})\,$. From here, how can I get to $\mathbb{P}$.

I'd prefer to stay out of a model-framework completely and let all results be in general. From what I've found I believe the connection is in putting a price on the market risk premium, but I have not found empirical estimations of this or attempts to use its estimation for moving between $\mathbb{P}$ and $\mathbb{Q}$. Any papers on $\lambda$ estimation or extraction would be appreciated.

I wanted to add this quote from Gary Hatfield:

Recall that the whole point of risk neutral pricing is to recover the price of traded options in a way that avoids arbitrage. As such, the probabilities of various paths are implied from the prices of various traded securities whose payoffs depend on those paths. Since investors are in aggregate risk averse, these prices imply higher probabilities to bad scenarios than they do to good scenarios. Hence, while everyone (almost!) agrees that stocks have a higher expected return than risk free bonds, the prices of stock and stock options imply the only difference between stocks and risk free bonds is that stocks are more volatile. Put another way, a risk neutral scenario set has many more really bad scenarios than a real world scenario set precisely because investors fear these scenarios. They therefore overweigh their probability when deciding how much a security is worth.

This provides intuitive context to the difference, but makes it seem impossible to every replicate the $\mathbb{P}$ world.

correlation - Principle Component Analysis vs. Cholesky Decomposition for MonteCarlo

Let's assume we have a portfolio containing large number (~500) of risk factors. We want to simulate the portfolio dynamics. PCA based simulation would be faster as we can reduce the dimensionality. Are there any other advantages of PCA-based approach Monte Carlo over Monte Carlo using Cholesky Decomposition (e.g. stability, more realistic dynamics)? I've seen papers dealing with seasonality effect in commodity forward curves, application to yield curves and an article here. However, I'm looking for some more in depth on the topic. Any references or practical experience is welcome.

Answer

Apart from numerical stability errors, Cholesky and PCA (without dim reduction) shall produce exactly the same distribution, they are two symmetric decomposition of the same covariance matrix and thus are equivalent for transforming a standard normal vector. Of course when doing different things with PCA components, such as in dim reduction or quasi Monte Carlo sampling or related variance reduction methods, the equivalence is lost by definition, but it is there for standard sampling. One advantage of Cholesky might be that storing and multiplying a triangular matrix requires less resources than a full square one. Pivoting is used for Cholesky if the covariance matrix is not PD (see this paper by Higham).

One source of confusion in the links might be the lack of clear separation between estimation and sampling. After estimation you shall have a PSD matrix and the decomposition used for sampling has nothing to do with it. (Methods for estimation can also be better than a naive sample covariance, there is a huge literature on this.)

Note that in the second link posted the procedure to "clean" non PSD matrices to get a correlation matrix forgets one step after zeroing negative eigenvalues: you must also scale rows&columns so as to recover ones on the diagonal. And there are also better methods to do that cleaning, this is not returning the nearest PSD correlation matrix. Also that page is poorly written and confusing imho, if not ripe with errors, look for something else, e.g. Glasserman's Monte Carlo book.

copyright - Can I mention any famous name etc in my work?

When writing a book, can I mention famous person or something copyrighted?

Like, for instance:

And as I was walking down the road, I saw Stephen King..

or:

This book is even better than Murakami's 1Q84..

Do I need to inform the person that has copyrighted these books (or the person whose name I'm mentioning) ?

Answer

In theory you should be able to use the names of famous people in fiction, but there is nothing to stop those real people from suing you if they choose to. Even if they don't expect to win, they can make your life miserable, and they probably have a lot more money than you to pay legal fees.

In terms of your legal rights, the key thing is whether you are slandering them or not. If you are simply mentioning their name, as in "I was walking down the road, I saw Stephen King and I was so surprised I nearly fell into a ditch," it would be hard to argue that you are damaging his personal name in any way. However, if you said "I saw Stephen King beating an old lady with a steel rod" then you might be in danger of legal action. Of course, if you really did see him beating an old lady with a steel rod then you could potentially win a court case because it really happened. (You would be really inviting a court case though, and would waste a lot of time you could have spent writing your novel.)

When it comes down to it, it might not be worth it to risk legal action, and you can only really be safe if you have written permission from the person named. If an editor wants to publish your book they will advise you to change anything that might get you in trouble, so maybe just write what you want, with that in mind.

creative writing - Researching sensitive subjects

How do you research subjects for a novel that might be sensitive? Both cultural and jurisdictional.

Example: I usually try to "research" the setting and characters for my texts from real life. When I wrote a story about a priest I visited a lot of old churches and graveyards just to get a "feeling" for the place.

Now I'm planning to write a story where the main character is a 12-13 year old girl. Since it's a long time that I was in that age myself I wanted to get a feeling for what you look like at that age, some vocabulary and so on. Therefore I sat down with my friend Google and typed in a search string looking for girls around 12 years.

Just before hitting the enter button I was struck by what I was doing. Oh-no this looked so wrong in so many ways even though my intentions where honorable.

So how do you do it?

fiction - Is the Concept of "Machine of Death" Copyrighted?

I am a fan of the book "Machine of Death"; http://machineofdeath.net/pdf/MachineofDeath_FINAL.pdf

PDF Page 452 of the above link details the copyright for the material contained within the book. However I cannot determine if the actual concept of a "Machine of Death", that determines your cause of death from a drop of blood, is copyrighted.

So basically can someone create a "Machine of Death" story that is completely original to the stories within the book except that a "Machine of Death" as described above is within the book (and indeed is a major plot device)?

Answer

Concepts are not copyrightable. However, unusual similarities in story, characters, plotline, accidental or otherwise, can form the basis for a copyright infringement claim. This usually only comes up when the claimant can demonstrate economic harm or is protecting valuable IP.

legal - Copyright ownership: paid by hour vs. paid by project

I am a freelance web designer. I am working out a contract with a client to revamp an existing site and freshen the design.

In my contract I have some language which I adapted from the AIGA boilerplate about copyright. The gist is this:

• I am developing a design for Client. I will create three comp designs. Client chooses one and we revise it until Client is happy with it. Three rounds of revisions are included; anything after that is paid by the hour on top of the original estimate.


• I own the copyright to all the designs. When Client submits the final payment for the entire website, Client owns the copyright to the finished site and its design.


• If Client cancels the project before it's finished, I retain the copyright to the unfinished, revised chosen design, unless we specifically agree that I will sell it to him.


• I estimate the site will cost $X. I submit invoices at various milestones in the project. I keep track of my work hourly, and Client pays for the work I've done (that is, if I estimate the job will cost $X because it will take me Y hours, and it takes me Y + 3, I will charge for three more hours of my time; if it takes Y - three, I will charge for three hours less).

The client came back with revisions about copyright, saying he thinks that he owns the copyright to all the comps "because it's my site."

I asked a non-designer friend who's a reasonably high corporate muckety-muck, and he thinks that the copyright hinges on how I'm being paid:

If I'm setting up the contract as hourly, then it is "work-for-hire" (even though I don't have that anywhere in the contract) and Client owns all the copyright to all three comps. If I'm setting up the contract as "work for project" (Client pays $X for finished website, however many hours it takes), then I would own the comp copyrights.

This doesn't make sense to me. Why would Client get the rights to two (or more) designs which he isn't using? If we agreed that he was going to pay for all three designs, that's fine, but two of them he didn't like. Why should he get to keep them and use them with some other designer?

Does basing my fee on hours worked somehow make this job "work for hire"? Does "hourly work for hire" somehow change copyright?

(ETA Client and I are both in the U.S.)

Answer

I don't really understand. If the contract states you retain copyright to all preliminary designs, sketches, and mock-ups It doesn't matter how you invoice. The contract states what the client does and does not (or will and will not) own.

It's traditional for freelance designers to retain all rights to preliminary work unless it's otherwise stated in the contract. Pay me in seashells every 20 minutes... the contract still states what is being transferred.

In the strictest sense of the term, all freelance is work-for-hire. Primarily because the work would not be instigated without the client. Where the difference really lies is WHERE the work is completed - On your equipment with your personal tools or at their place of business with their tools. If you use their tools, they do traditionally own everything.

Edited to add a couple supporting links:

FindLaw.com Not specific to this situation, but a great article about general guidelines.

AIGA-SF This is avery good Q&A about this issue

About.com eh.. it's About.com.. take it with a grain of salt but it does support the traditional view of ownership.

naming - Is it OK to refer to some characters by first name and to others by last name?

I'm writing the outline for my first novel, which has three main characters. I'm very happy with their names, however I recently noticed that I was naturally referring to the first two by first name, but to the third one by his last name. I think it is because 1) I like that last name, which is a very strong and rare one, and 2) it is the name of someone I've known for long and who I've always addressed as "Mr Last-Name."

The story is a thriller involving two members of the mafia and one old tired french cop, if it has any relevance to the question.

Answer

Here's a set of guidelines I really like:

• You can refer to each character by the moniker most appropriate to him, so long as you use the same one consistently. Readers will happily accept any name that seems appropriate; the important thing is not to confuse them by referring to one individual by a dozen different tags.


• You can have different characters refer to an individual by different monikers, so long as they do so consistently. This is a natural detail in relationships - "Captain Jon Smith" is "Jon" to his friends, "Smith" to his boss, "Captain Smith" when he's introduced in polite society, and either "Captain" or "Ol' Waxwhiskers" to his subordinates, depending whether or not he's in earshot. But again - each character is consistent in their own name for this individual.



• For this purpose, narration is a point-of-view, so when you're referring to him in narrative (rather than a character mentioning him in dialogue), the name should be consistent, and probably should be the name you'd most like the reader to associate with the character, for whatever reasons or preferences of your own.


• If a single character is going to be addressed by several different names over the course of the story, then it's a good idea to introduce the character by his full name (and title, nicknames, etc.) the first time we read about him. e.g.: Today was Captain Jon Smith's first day aboard the _H.M.S. Ratatouille_. Then you can slip right in to your chosen moniker ("What a great ship," Smith thought to himself, when he was interrupted - a kid was running towards him, yelling, "Captain! Captain! Come quick!"), confident that from then on, the reader will be able to identify the character from any of a variety of references. (Without that, your references could be choppy and confusing - consider: "So, first day onboard, eh, Jon?" said Bob. It was a nice ship, Smith had to admit - but just then, a kid burst out of nowhere, running towards him and yelling, "Captain! Captain!").

In conclusion, there's no problem referring to the third character differently then the other two, particularly since you like the name better and (it seems) feel that it suits the character well. Just be consistent in how he's referred to, and you're good to go.

vector - Possible to use fill tool in grid cells?

I would like to reconstruct a simple bitmap to vector, so I have put a grid and a layer on top of it.

Is it possible to e.g. use the fill tool, to just fill out one of the grid squares at a time?

Or is there a better way?

Answer

Grid is not a vector object, therefore you can't fill it.

The best way to do what you want is drawing the shape you want to fill using the Bezier line tool with "snap to grid" option on. (As I can see on your screenshot this option is enabled for you).

Then your drawing will fit the grid as you place points.

The final step: fill your shape with the color you want, if necessary remove stroke.

> Demo Image

creative writing - Structuring a novel like a television or graphic novel series

I have spent a lot of time reading graphic-novels and watching television series, most of which were anime. Now that I have reached the point where I'm ready to begin writing, I feel drawn to the format of the media that I have consumed.

Which leads me to want write each chapter as it's own short-story, having a distinct beginning, middle, and end. Each chapter would be akin to a single episode of a television series or an issue of a graphic-novel.

What is some general guidance on how this might be done? What are the prominent difficulties of this format for a novel and how can they be handled? What are the potential strengths of the format and how can they be exploited?

Examples of this having been done would also be helpful.

Answer

While I have never published anything like this, I have plotted and written something based along the same premise of a TV series. Therefore, I'm speaking from the viewpoint of the writer and plot developer only.

What is some general guidance on how this might be done?

The first thing you need to do is work out your premise - the main storyline, the tale that will transcend all of your episodes. I will be very nearly like a regular novel, though you do need to leave plenty of room for twists/revelations. You also need to determine if you want to leave it open-ended - that is, if you want a defined 'end,' or if you want to keep going for as long as you can (rather like a TV series). If you want to keep going, you will need a premise that allows you to simply stack more twists on it, rather than wrapping it up at the end of each 'season.'

Once you've developed your main premise, you're ready to start on the plots for the individual episodes or chapters. These develop the same way as a normal novel, except for the fact that they are of necessity shorter. You do not need to include part of your main premise in every episode, but be sure to have it in the background.

What are the prominent difficulties of this format for a novel and how can they be handled?

The most prominent difficulty? Keeping things connected. Since every chapter is its own story, it's very important that you keep everything connected with the main premise (a word of caution - readers will begin to see coincidences if absolutely everything is connected). Rather than making things connected through the physical (the main character is related to someone), connect them now and then through emotions or the like (this means something to the protagonist, even if it is only in a symbolic way).

What are the potential strengths of the format and how can they be exploited?

I would say one of the best strengths is the power to keep readers reading. At first, a chapter that has a beginning, middle, and end, may seem like it ties everything up with every episode, and the reader is satisfied. The reader is satisfied, but it's your job to make him keep wanting more. You do this through characterization, plotting, all the writing techniques that make readers want to read your books in the first place (it is my personal opinion that this is why it is important all of your 'episodes' concern the same protagonist - the reader is already invested in him). The readers like your writing, and they know that there are more short stories out there. Even though the protagonist seems 'wrapped up,' they know there's more to the picture, more to the main premise, and they want to read it.

As for examples, I do not know of any. I would refer to Dale Emery's reply.

Disclaimer: Remember, I have never published anything of this nature, and speak only as a writer.

Gradients - complex shape - Illustrator

Hoping someone can help as this is driving me mad.

I have an initial opaque shape, which will be filled in a light grey:

I'm using a duplication of the shape to fill with gradients to lay on top. I want to create a very subtle gradient along the edge of the shape all the way round using a slightly darker grey, to create a subtle depth to the shape.

I've tried using multiple linear gradients on the same shape using the appearance panel. As follows, this is what happens which doesn't look right as the gradient doesn't follow the shape edge:

I've tried playing around with the freeform gradient tool, using both points and lines. Lines doesn't work because it only curves (a lot?!) and won't follow the outer edge of the shape. Plus the gradient would run along the line from opaque to grey which wouldn't create the subtle rounded cylindrical tube shape look I am after:

I can't see a way in which to use the 'points' option on the freeform gradient tool, as this means assigning each 'point' to the darker grey colour, but I can't see how to make the middle of the shape transparent (I'm planning on having text running along the first opaque shape that shows through the transparent middle of the duplicated gradient-filled shape):

The best work around i found that gets close t the look I am trying t achieve was to use the freeform gradient tool and the 'lines' option to draw lines around the edge of the shape assigned to the darker grey shaded colour, and to then create more 'lines' using the freeform gradient tool along the centre of the entire shape and assign the points to 0% for transparency. Here's this highlighted: And the finished effect:

I posted the same question on the Adobe forums but the answer that came back was to create a gradient along a path to use as a fill for the shape, which doesn't work because a path does not replicate the altering angles of its edge of the shape as it curves in different directions.

Was what I did the best/only way? It seems complicated and not very accurate or professional!

Thanks for reading and your patience.

Example for Luciano:

seo - Why are paginations starting with page 1?

I was wondering why every pagination is starting by page "1".

Obvious example:
< More Recent - ... | 2 | 3 | 4 | ... - Older >

In this case, the first page is displaying the latest results.
It also means that the first page is always displaying different results.
It's also like if you had a book finishing by page 1.

---

Now, let's say that our page 1 represents our oldest entries.

Sample:

< More Recent - 125 | 124 | 123 | ... - Older >

In this case, the page 124 will always display the same results (unless we delete an item of course).
Page 1 will also always contain the first entries made in the database.

So my stupid question is:
why are we still using the page 1 for the more recent entries?

Reversing the order might be better for SEO, better for retrieving items based on the URL, and I might forget other good points.

Concerning the cons, I see a bad readability when we reach high numbers:
< More Recent - 1253 | 1252 | 1251 | ... - Older >

/discuss?

Answer

As far as I understand, Page 1 on pagination is not always about Latest or oldest entries. Instead, it is about the most relevant entries to your query.

The results & orders will change based on your query & it's relevance. If you select to sort the result by Latest, then page 1 will hold the latest items. If you select to sort in ascending order, then page 1 will hold the oldest items.

Thus, page 1 in pagination simply means the most relevant items that matches your query irrespective of the order.

editing - Critique: Make excerpt more visual/flow better

I have this excerpt I'm not sure is fluid and visual enough:

Peter came out of the café rubbing his tummy. The chipmunk had a smile on the face and seemed content.

Not too far behind him was Ariett, flapping her wings just enough to remain airborne and humming a tune until her gaze fell onto the nearby commotion, near the village's treehouse.

Peter stopped as well, when he realised that Ariett was no more following. "Is something wrong?" When Peter looked at Ariett, he followed the direction she was pointing to and saw the little crowd near the Rescuer tree house. Furrowing his brows, he approached the group.

From where he was, Peter could not really see what was going on, nor who was speaking, but his ears twitched when he could hear the voice of the speaker more clearly. He immediately squeezed his way through the crowd and gasped when he could finally match the voice with the owner of the voice.

"Are you really sure he's trapped in the boneyard?" the voice would say.

"What's going on?" Ariett whispered to Peter.

He whispered back to the sparrow, trying to listen what was being talked about at the same time. "This... the squirrel who's talking is Chill, he's a former guild leader and something's definitely up."

By the time Peter finished, Chill was already on the way out of the village, and several others were following him. The chipmunk promptly got on all fours and followed suit. "Come! It's perhaps a new rescue mission!"

For example, I have this line, and the more I read it, the more I feel like it could be phrased better and be more visual than it is. Here's the sentence:

When Peter looked at Ariett, he followed the direction she was pointing to and saw the little crowd near the tree house.

This sentence seems perfectly fine, but I don't know, I feel like it could be edited to be better (I'm no native speaker, so I'm not sure if that might be a factor). Maybe it's the fact that I omitted that Peter actually saw her pointing a certain direction? I could split it into two sentences, like so:

Peter looked at Ariett and the latter was pointing to some direction. When he followed her finger, he saw the little crowd near the tree house.

That one sounds even worse to me as in 'there's too much to say the same thing'. ._.

My question I think is: How can I make this excerpt more visual (show vs tell) and flow better?

I believe I'm not strong with implied things and sometimes even take too much implied, or out of fear that I implied too much, I write too much to convey the same thing. I always saw those things like some sort of movie in my head, but I think I struggle to reproduce it in writing and would like to know how I'm faring, and ways to improve. I'm grateful for answers providing something constructive, but I'll be focusing mostly on making this excerpt more visual (maybe synonymous to show vs tell).

PS: I cannot add the critique tag since I currently require 9 more points...

EDIT: How about this edited version?

Peter came out of the café rubbing his tummy. The chipmunk had a smile on the face and was smacking his lips. It was a good day to start off; the sun was up and the warmth was welcoming. He would probably be able to train with the master some more today. Things had been quiet lately and he knew that some good practice would do him good.

Not too far behind him was Ariett, flapping her wings just enough to remain airborne and humming a tune until her gaze fell onto the nearby commotion, near the village's tree house.

Peter was thinking about new things he could learn today from the master when he felt something was wrong and stopped. He couldn't hear Ariett anymore, which was unusual of her. "Is something wrong?" He turned around to find that Ariett was pointing to a little crowd near the Rescuer's headquarters. Furrowing his brows, the chipmunk approached the group.

From where he was, he could not really see what was going on, nor who was speaking, but his ears twitched when he could hear the voice of the speaker more clearly. His heartbeat picking up, he immediately squeezed his way through the crowd and gasped when he could finally match the voice with its owner.

"Stop asking everyone! Just stop! We need to just get going! Gunpowder's in trouble, c'mon!" the voice said. As if he had said something forbidden, a roar of confused chatter spread among the crowd.

"Uh... But Gunpowder's a Rogue... Do we really..." someone in the crowd said.

"What's going on?" Ariett whispered to Peter.

He whispered back to the sparrow, trying to listen at the same time. "This... the squirrel who's talking is Chill, he's a former guild leader and something's definitely up."

"What does that have to do with anything!?" Chill asked. "You don't just pick and choose who needs help! Dude, that's not cool!". He brought out something like a steel feather out of a bag Peter noticed only now and seemed to set off. "Time to haul tail, guys. Now! Chex, lead the way!"

"Squeak!"

"I wonder what's that thing he pulled out... Could that be a new artifact?" Peter asked.

"Who cares about it?" Ariett said, rolling her eyes. "I don't like the sound of where it is going, but let me tell you that— Hey!"

Peter was already on his way, following the other Pokemon out of the village. As far as he knew, Gunpowder wasn't the weak type and this mission, should it be one, could very well be difficult. All the same, his determination as Rescuer wouldn't be deterred the least.

Answer

You are very concise, precise, sterile in your writing, and I see you are asking the correct question to make this text better. If your text was a dish, it would be well cooked but rather dry and in need of a good sauce.

What is missing here are more emotions. You are reporting events in a very soldier-like manner. The sentence you asked about is a good example of that.

Peter turned to Ariett, who stood motionless in the middle of the street, focused on something in the distance and ignoring all the surroundings. His own gaze followed to the source of her attention.

There was a little crowd near the tree house.

Try to lube it up by more, stronger displays of emotion, attaching meaning to the events. In your story things happen but I go by them with a shrug, "so they happened, so what now?" - give them a sense of foreboding, make them more interesting to the characters, draw the reader in. Immersion is important, and for that the world must feel more alive.

One trick I can suggest for increasing immersion: If there's a story within a story, and the inside story is at least partially immersive, the moment of ending the inner story and "resurfacing" to the upper layer leaves us very much immersed in it. This is a golden opportunity to deliver some quite enjoyable content. In your case you could try to report a major part of the speech under the tree literally, and then the "Come! It's perhaps a new rescue mission!" (or something like that, maybe rephrased to more catchy form) should ring very well, as a sweet, juicy one-liner.

oh, and you overuse names a bit. Use more pronouns. "He", "She".

modern portfolio theory - Private Equity: Direct Alpha vs Excess IRR

I'm trying to understand the advantages and disadvantages of using Direct Alpha versus Excess IRR for computing excess returns over a market index for private assets.

Wikipedia references a highly informative paper that compares the Direct Alpha against PME, PME+, mPME, and KS-PME and discusses the limitations of these as well as analyzes the correlations between them.

I'm looking for a similar resource to that compares the two in my title.

How to set keyboard shortcut to run script in Illustrator

Is there a way to setup a keyboard shortcut to run a custom script in Illustrator? So far I haven't found a way. If this is not possible to do from within Illustrator, is there a 3rd party solution for that?

Answer

3rd party solutions

---

Automator ( Mac - Native app )

Recently made a video about this.

1. Create a new Service



2. At the top: Service receives [no input] in [Adove Illustrator CC 2015.app]
   
   
   
   • If you don't specify application here, you can launch the script when any window is active, which can be useful.
   
   
   
   


3. Search and add action: Get Specified Finder Items.
   
   
   
   • Add the .jsx script here.
   
   
   
   



4. Search and add action: Open Finder Items.
   
   
   
   • Open with: "Adobe Illustrator CC 2015.app"
   
   
   
   


5. Save service: Cmd+S
   
   
   
   • Make sure you remember the name for this next step
   
   
   
   



6. Go to OSX System preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts


7. You should be able to find your script under General
   
   
   
   • Add a shortcut for it.
   
   
   
   

---

Alfred ( Mac - £17 to unlock feature required to do this )

Automator does this same thing quite well, but I always have to mention Alfred, since it has a few benefits:

• You got the workflow and the hotkey in one place.


• Store multiple shortcuts in one place. In this screenshot I'm triggering the script file with applescript, but Alfred does have a "Open file" action too.


• You can trigger scripts and do other things by using keywords.


• File Filters - Here's a Gif where I'm using a file filter to search my Photoshop scripts stored in a specific Dropbox folder. It uses a fuzzy search so you only have to remember one word in the script name in order to find it. Excellent if you got tons of scripts. Makes it a lot easier to use scripts that you don't use very often.


• It can sync workflows through Dropbox, so you can easily use the same scripts and the same shortcuts on a new computer just by installing Dropbox and Alfred.

Recently made a video about this. Not the best video quality. Forgot to record it full screen.

1. Alfred Preferences > Workflows tab



2. From the bottom left: Click the + icon and add Blank Workflow
   
   
   
   • Give it a descriptive Workflow Name: and press Create
   
   
   
   


3. From the top right: Click the + Icon and add Triggers > Hotkey
   
   
   
   • In the first tab Hotkey settings, set a hotkey combination
   
   
   • In the second tab Related Apps, drag Illustrator.app inside the window and Save
   
   
   
   
   


4. From the top right: Click the + Icon and add Actions > Open File
   
   
   
   • Drag your .jsx file to that first box on the left
   
   
   • Drag Illustrator.app to the second box on the right and Save
   
   
   
   


5. Drag a line from the right side of the Trigger to the left side of the Action to connect them.

---

Autohotkey ( Windows - Free )

1. Add this code below to a new notepad document:
   
   

---

#IfWinActive, ahk_class illustrator
^!.::Run, Illustrator.exe C:\Users\joonas\Desktop\test.jsx

---

2. Save that with an extension .ahk


3. You can open that file in the default app (ahk).
   
   
   
   • You should see it running in the System tray under a green H icon ( ).
   
   
   • You can close it from the System tray via context menu.
   
   
   
   


4. If you want the hotkey to always be accessible (and not just when you remember to open the .ahk file), just put the file in the windows startup folder.



5. Remove the first line of the code, if you want to be able to trigger the script from any application.

Note that if you don't plan your hotkeys carefully, this can block other hotkeys from Illustrator or other applications, if you decide to get rid of that first line.