programming - Why is C++ still a very popular language in quantitative finance?

I had to ask this question after reading the answers to What programming languages are most commonly used in quantitative finance? I understand that C++ programs can be optimized pretty well and are faster than anything else. But in this era, the performance of a program written in a language based on frameworks such as C# and Java can be pretty close to that of C++, while the maintenance cost of the program would be lower than the C++ one. But why is C++ still a very popular language in QF?

Answer

The other posters have already noted that the prevalent use of C++ appears to be due to historical reasons and unwillingness to change. Those reasons aren't the ones that people should be applying. If you want real reasons to use C++, how about the following:

• Powerful infrastructure. Take a look at Intel Parallel Studio for an example.


• Performance compared to .Net or Java (see my course on HPC). When each array element access checks the bounds and throws exceptions, you know you're leaking CPU cycles there.


• Parallelization. The C++ ecosystem has vastly superior paralellization in both 'blind' mode (OpenMP vs TPL's Parallel) and explicit mode (Intel TBB vs TPL)


• Lots of SDKs, most notably CUDA, base their development on C/C++.


• Possibility of invoking low-level CPU instructions (e.g., work with SSE intrinsics).

On the other hand, C++ is

• Extremely noisy. What with all the headers, include directives, friend class declarations, and myriads of other redundant things.


• Has hard-to-use libraries (STL, Boost) with very cryptic, global-level mechanisms. Think bind_2nd :)


• Editor support is vastly inferior compared to IDEA/ReSharper. Navigation, refactoring, analysis - all are weaker or non-existent. This is going to be improved in the near future for both VS and standalone editing.


• Compiler errors are beyond cryptic. Clang attempts to fix it to some extent, but things are still cryptic, just not as abysmally bad as they were previously.

And by the way, for the typical user, the performance difference between C++ and, say, C# won't be as pronounced.

adobe photoshop - Select background against trees / hair

I've got this image. To take it I had to up expose the photo to make the house clearer and the sky which is already very pale has disapeared. Normally I would just magic wand the white sky and replace it with an image of some blue sky. The problem I'm having is all the gaps in the trees at the top left and right.

Is there a better approach to take when cutting around treelines? I suppose the same thing would go for hair etc ..

Answer

Channels.

• Duplicate the blue channel and highlight it in the Channels Panel.


• Use Image > Adjustments > Levels and slide the left arrow to the right to bring up the white a bit.


• Slide the right arrow to the left to darken most of the grays.


• Adjust the middle arrow to further darken grays and get them as black as possible without overly effecting edges.


• Then grab a brush and paint in the building 100% black and any white areas you don't want to fill.

The resulting channel:

Command (Mac) or CTRL (win) click this new channel to load it as a selection. Create a new layer and fill with whatever you want.

Channels can be a very valuable tool when selecting difficult areas. And if those areas have a high contrast, channels are really the easiest method to use. Filling the sky red took less than 2 minutes here using Channels to first create the selection.

What's the best design pattern for splitting things in parts?

I want to design the following interaction: user buys 1 ton of sugar and 100 apples, and wants it to be shipped to him in 3 different packs:

Pack 1: 200 kg of sugar and 50 apples Pack 2: 100 kg of sugar and 30 apples Pack 3: 700 kg of sugar and 20 apples

Is there any pattern that could help me design it? It looks a bit like ADD / REMOVE features interaction in old MS Office but it didn't have to deal with amount, only single line labels.

adobe photoshop - How to make striped/dashed border for a "cut out" coupon style?

I want to make an effect like this:

How can I achieve this?

The thing I'm stuck is the striped border. I want to know how to make it in Photoshop and Illustrator.

notification - Why do error and success messages have a close button?

It seems really weird as they usually do nothing, only hide themselves. Is it a "turn a blind eye to problem in hope it goes away"?

I'm talking about inline status message like this one from Twitter's Bootstrap:

You can click the X and the status message disapears from the page entirely.

Is there any reasoning behind this?

Answer

Your inclination that this design is strange/purposeless is correct. In this particular case, the inline error message should not contain a close (x) button, as no interaction between the user and the alert is necessary. In fact, the error message shouldn't disappear until the user corrects the error.

You can see the ineffectiveness of this design here on https://secure.fleetio.com/users, (a site built with Bootstrap) by forcing an error on the sign up form.

Notice how the close (x) link invites the user to interact with the error message, while no interaction should be necessary (the error will go away on its own once the user corrects the mistake that triggered the error, and submits the form again)

Here's another example from another site built with Bootstrap:

Selecting from 2 options where it can be either or both

I have a selection criteria where something is A, or B, or both A and B. It can't be neither. I'm trying to find a simple way to construct this. For a contrived example my options might be 'starter', 'main course' or both courses. If you're ordering at the restaurant you can't have neither.

I have a few approaches in mind already.

1. 
   

   Radio buttons with three options:

   
   
   
   
   • Starter
   
   
   • Main Course
   
   
   • Starter and Main Course
   
   
   
   


2. 
   

   Two checkboxes (or yes / no buttons)

   
   
   
   
   
   • Starter [yes / no]
   
   
   • Main course [yes / no]
   
   
   
   


3. 
   

   A dropdown with three options: Starter, Main Course, Starter and Main Course.

   
   

The first only has the right answers, but the 'both' option feels clunky. The second is clearer, but 2 'taps or clicks' for the user, and needs validation to cover the no + no selection.

A dropdown of three options feels like a poor version of option 1.

I feel like there's a better approach that I'm missing. Ideally I'm looking for something consistent with iOS interface elements.

How can I handle this A or B or both choice in a way that is easiest for users?

Answer

For a simple A, B, and A + B selection you shouldn't need to get too fancy and radio buttons are a good approach:

• They are an instantly recognized widget for 1-of-N choices.


• They spell out the options clearly.


• Users need only 1 click to select any option (vs up to 2 for checkboxes). Radio buttons and checkboxes are both small controls so the added click creates some UX friction.


• They don't require the user to cognitively process a compound visual interaction (click on A then B to get A+B)

---

Notes:

• 
  

  KLM modeling may give you a quick and dirty calibration of the processing times. This article illustrates processing times for radio vs dropdown. This is likely understated, since the dropdown incurs additional cognitive load for orienting and reading hidden content.

  
  


• 
  

  @CodeMaverick provided (in comments) the following contemporary/mobile-friendly radio button illustration from 'Selecting from 2 options where it can be either or both':

  
  

website design - When (if ever) should links be opened in a new window?

I have seen a lot of discussion on this topic but it all seems to be opinion based without any research backing up the assumptions.

It seems that there are times that it is particularly relevant to open links in new windows (providing help or interrupting processes) but what about the more ambiguous actions (i.e. links to external sites)?

Does anyone know of any (preferably recent) research on the affect links opening new windows has on users?

website design - How do interstitial ads impact site UX?

(Spawned by How should Ad splash pages be handled for those with ads disabled?)

Has any data been published on the impact of interstitial (whole page ads between content) on the user's experience? Is my assumption that they're generally hated correct?

Answer

Full page ads on the internet are hated. It's one of the more universal feelings on the internet.

I think the issue that you are looking at isn't whether people like them or whether they improve the UX. Ads are used as a revenue source and a necessary evil for many sites. So you need to effectively do a cost benefit analysis (or in this case revenue harm analysis).

No research is going to be able to tell you whether they are worth it for your application as each application and each audience is going to be very different. You need to do some A/B testing on your site and then look at the results in order to decide if it is worth it for you.

I would however stress that ads like that are going to annoy many customers and others (like me) probably aren't even going to see them (AdBlock for Chrome rocks!). So your revenue won't be universal to all customers but the annoyance will be.

3d Lines effect in Illustrator/photoshop?

does anyone have an idea how these pieces were created? The designers seem to use illustrator in their other work, certainly no 3d software?

adobe photoshop - How can I draw line drawings with the pen tool but with rounded edges?

I understand how to draw shapes with sharp corners using the pen tool, but what I cannot figure out is how to draw shapes in line drawings with rounded edges.

For example here is my drawing in solid, sharp edges lines:

I would like to achieve something more like this:

Answer

You can make circles, and place them on all the corners of the shape. Then edit the original path so that the corners don't show up anymore. Here's a quick little diagram of what I mean:

I don't find this a very reliable way to do it, however. What you need to use is Illustrator, or another vector based program. This is best for drawing shapes and symbols like this.

In Illustrator, it's really easy to do this. Just go to Effect> Stylize> Round Corners.

May I use Google Fonts for creating a logo with commercial purposes?

I want to create a logo for a contest, the winner will be paid and the winning logo will be the institutional logo of an academic entity, so I need a font which can be used freely or at a cheap cost for commercial purposes.

I see that Google Fonts are delivered as "free fonts" for websites:

May I use them freely for graphic design products (a logo in particular) as well?

Answer

Yes you can.

From About Google Fonts (emphasis mine):

All of the fonts are Open Source. This means that you are free to share your favorites with friends and colleagues. You can even customize them for your own use, or collaborate with the original designer to improve them. And you can use them in every way you want, privately or commercially — in print, on your computer, or in your websites.

Note, that text has now changed on the about page...

All Google fonts are however still free and open source (mostly, possibly exclusively, licensed with either the SIL Open Font License or Apache License 2.0).

gui design - Where should form instructions or hints be placed?

I was browsing Forrst and came about a screenshot of a form designed with Twitter Bootstrap that had the label on the left, the input field on the right, and the instruction that it's required under the field itself, like this:

^{download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups}

I almost commented that it's the wrong way but decided to check Twitter itself. It appears to be that such a layout is a part of their style guide:

and here's how it appears in the live Twitter:

The same approach is used in Wufoo:

and in JotForm:

But Google Forms put the help text under the label and before the input field:

Placing the help text after the field seems to violate some of the key principles of cognition (instructions before the task) and UX (minimize back-and-forth eye movements). I've looked around but the only studies I have found relate to labels (top, right, or left of the field) and it seems there's nothing about hints and/or instructions besides the suggestion of making them inline and shown on-field focus.

So what's the "right" way to place hints/instructions/directions/etc with relationship to the field and the label? The current choices include: under the label, above the field, after the field, and next to the field as inline callouts.

novel - what is the best way to make money on the side as a beginning author?

I am a new author and as I am writing my novels, I need a little revenue. Are there sites that would pay for articles being written? Any suggestions would be great!

information - is better to use price ranges displayed with $ symbol or actual prices?

I am building a web restaurant listing, and I am concerned about the clarity of the message between the design simplicity of showing price ranges like http://www.fodors.com/world/south-america/brazil/sao-paulo/restaurants.html , and more detailed price range http://supervegan.com/find.php?by=price or medium price 25$

What is it the best way to give useful information? Give an hint about the price, or showing the price clearly?

I feel that there is a danger of putting off the user with clear price, but as the same time I prefer to be transparent. So I looked for some data on internet, and I didn't find anything useful to help me and take a final decision.

Answer

You could combine both, like Disney does for their resorts and parks. I think as a consumer, I like to see the actual price. What one consumer may think of as expensive, another may not, or one may see more value in something than the other, therefore the more information you can provide, the easier it will be for users to gauge what they perceive the value to be.

If I'm using Fodor's site and want to plan an exciting night out, I might look at a $$$$ restaurant but not realize, until I get there, that I can only afford a $$$ location. Plus, high-end restaurants (and other establishments) tend to not put prices on menus for people to see ahead of time.

Save your users the stress and anxiety, show them both, let them search and filter on both.

// No scientific research, this is simply opinion.

novel - How to know if the story is going too fast?

I have a question, part subjective, part common sense I think... The conjunction of experience of some writers can be helpful for me.

How you know if the story is balanced? ...I mean,how you know it's not too fast how the problems or obstacles hit the protagonist?

I'm writing a story about a teenager that is problem child, so my collaborator said its ok that every day of a week happens something bad to him because it's a problem child after all...

But I still thinking that is too fast, then the story calms down and the things continue happened after few days or even weeks. An abrupt change.

For one side, I'm not aiming to an 100% realistic novel, it's YA fiction and my first draft. But I don't want that the people just stop reading because it's complete unbelievable.

I'm between "They will not even notice that" and "They will laught and think what would happened next? An alien abduction before the dinner?"

If someone knows material about rhythm or pacing in writing I can read I'll be so happy.

Answer

In my view, pacing in general is less about how many events happen at once, and more about how the details are fed to the reader. It also has to do with how well we manage the reader's excitement level

If you're asking about how many events happen in a week - Trust your instincts but fiction is not real life - there will be more events in fiction than real life. Pick up a favorite book and analyze it. It's ridiculous.

If you're asking about the rate of feeding words to the reader - you can draw out a thought or a moment. Something like the below, to my mind, stretches time even though it doesn't encompass any time at all:

The air in the foyer hung like an oppressive summer afternoon, the kind of afternoon when even the simple act of lifting a finger is too much work to contemplate. Merrill and Ramon faced one another silently.

New names should be fed not too quickly, maybe a few paragraphs per character before a new one comes in (general). Each character needs their due diligence when they come onboard in the story. Same with events.

Make sure you are taking each element of your scene and giving it the time on the page that it needs to be complete.

My actual answer is that like learning to play the piano, you will develop an ear for pacing, character introduction, amount of time to give to each scene, each element, and so on. There's no shortcut but to do it, keep at it, and watch yourself improve. Rinse and repeat.

resize - Resizing rectangle in Fireworks without losing sharpness

I resized an icon from 128x128 to 40x40 pixels. The snap-to-pixel option is turned on, but the icon is still "blurry".

Original (128x128):

Resized (40x40):

How can I resize my image and retain sharpness?

Answer

This is one of those cases where it's a good idea to plan things out beforehand and do some math. There is no way to take a 128x128 image and reduce it to 40x40 such that your lines will end up as whole pixels, nor aligned with pixel boundaries. You also can't take a one-pixel line, reduce it to 40/128 (5/16ths) of its original size and still have a one-pixel line that's correctly scaled. Your individual calendar "boxes" are 31 pixels wide by 16 tall. They would have to reduce to 9.6875 pixels wide by 5 tall. That's impossible, so FW has to fudge it.

The 26-pixel top banner has to scale to 8.125 pixels, which throws off all your horizontal lines, because FW can't put them on pixel boundaries and maintain proportions. FW has no choice but to try its best to approximate, using whatever algorithm it's using to throw away pixels, the appearance of the original. It doesn't do a great job, but you're giving it an impossible task.

If you start at 160x160 and reduce that to 40x40, you have a much better chance of getting an acceptable result, but you have to work with multiples of 4 pixels to get the best product. To get a clean 40x40 icon, I would create it at that size to have pixel by pixel control over placement. Use this trick to make it easier to work with.

design patterns - Do progress bars help completion rates?

I'm expanding on a question I posed in comments on How do you indicate progress to users in a multi-step form?.

Roland made the comment "because everybody wants to reach 100% percent" when discussing his reason for a progress bar in his wizard-style form. My question is this - has anyone done any research to see if this sort of thing actually helps? Or is it even possible that it could hurt conversion rates (Get through page one and see that you're only 5% complete - do you really want to go through another 19 pages?)?

creative writing - To what extent should we fear giving offense?

Recently we have seen multiple questions on various aspects of political correctness. They have sparked some measure of disagreement, which is what I wanted to examine here.

To what extent should we fear giving offense with what we write? To what extent should we, as writers, actively seek not to give offense?

Obviously, I do not argue here that we should deliberately hurt everyone in our path. Most of us don't want to offend people - that's as it should be.

But suppose I have a story element in mind. To what extent should I make sure it doesn't offend anyone? To what extent is it my responsibility? To what extent should it even be a priority - making it inoffensive? Suppose it does offend someone - does it mean I have to change that story element? Is there some sort of balance?

I have my own answer to this, but I'm curious what others think. For one thing, I'm not sure I fully understand the topic or have the right of it. Socrates, I believe, recommended hearing opposing arguments for the purpose of finding truth.

illustration - Calculating correct line length in perspective drawing?

I have no formal technical drawing background, and I was just wondering if there was a mathematical way of determining the correct length of lines in 3D perspective, e.g., if I want to draw a cube in relation to a vanishing point, how can I get the receding lines to be the correct length? Judging by eye gets me close but I need to learn this precisely.

I assume this is fairly straightforward (for architecture, etc) but have been unable to find the answer anywhere.

Answer

I tend to first and always recommend the Francis D.K. Ching series of books, which were pivotal in my own technical drawing and later architectural education - I think the two volumes most relevant to this discussion are Design Drawing and Architectural Graphics, which I recall having a pretty in depth chapter on constructing perspectives correctly. I loved all the Francis D.K. Ching books enough that I re-purchased most of them years layer as resource books, and still have most of them to this day.

In Architectural illustration, perspective construction is not just about vanishing points, but a number of specific methods for building highly accurate perspective representations of designs whose plan, section and elevations are already worked out to a pretty significant degree, so the perspectives have to match and be dimensionally consistent with those.

Here are a few images from the Francis D.K. Ching book Architectural Graphics so you can see what I mean about why this is a phenomenal resource book, not just a textbook:

Constructing measured perspective:

Measured diagonals and horizontals:

VP for angled lines & shadows:

Paraline example of shadowcasting (various forms):

Measured shadowcasting plan to elevation:

Shadowcasting in perspective 01:

Shadowcasting in perspective 02:

Shadowcasting in perspective 03:

I think those are the techniques you are looking for.

The Francis D.K. Ching books are all available as e-books, both Kindle and E-Pub, and so can be used as ongoing references on your tablet as you apply the techniques.

If the Francis D.K. Ching books are too old-school for you, (1970's vintage, but revised every years since, as they're so widely used in architectural education) there's a more recently written book (loosely associated with ArtStation) called How to Draw by Scott Robertson which touches on many of the same techniques, but with less laser-focus on architecture - it's aimed at folks wanting to break into art direction, video game design and so on. Here's an image as example of Scott's instruction on perspective construction:

Constructing a basic perspective grid:

I am also a big fan (once you have some of the basic perspective illustrative techniques) of the Micheal E Doyle book "Colour Drawing" to learn how to take your illustrations to the next level - this is another textbook from my architecural education which I loved enough to buy as an ongoing resource book: here are a few images to show why:

Layout and perspective construction of vignette:

Basic shadowcasting and occlusion of vignette:

Exterior vignette with atmospheric perspective:

Interior perspective with carefully applied colour warmth / distance emphasis:

Exterior perspective using colour warmth to invite viewer into space:

Hope this helps.

overflow - How should large table columns be handled on a responsive design?

Related to This Question, I'm interested in what I should do with a responsive design theme where the users have control over the columns which are displayed in a tabular, data rich page. Users are able to manipulate which columns are displayed, so I can't just limit the data to a few columns, as the other question's answers suggest. A potential work-around is to have a custom "mobile" query set up with pre-defined columns which I design for, but I can't control whether the users use this view or not.

Right now, I just have each column in each row stacking on top of each other and centered. I think this is not a very good design, as it wastes space and doesn't look organized. How should I best tackle this problem?

I have a redmine server here that exemplifies my problem, and here are some screenshots:

Desktop:

Mobile View:

Answer

Good question! As always when it comes to small screen experiences you will have to focus on the core functionality. Ask yourself which columns could be removed and still present a meningful table and let the user select the additional columns that he is interested in.

This solution might help you: A Responsive Design Approach for Complex, Multicolumn Data Tables.

It essentially recommends what has already been said: use only essential columns...

...and give the user the option to decide which columns to show.

The good thing about the article is they throw in some code.

UPDATE: CSS-Tricks has published a Responsive Data Table Roundup article.

surveys - How should Likert scale options be ordered?

I was asked to give feedback after chatting with Apple support.

It seems odd that Apple would ask for feedback in this manner: High to Low (5 - 1). I would expect it to ask for feedback this way: Low to High (1 - 5).

How does the ordering of these options impact responses?

collaboration - Where can I find co-authors willing to share writing duties for a fiction novel?

Writing has turned out to be lonely profession. After a successful career of working with collaborative teams on technology projects, I have just completed the story development for my first fiction novel and it is time to start writing. I would prefer to collaborate and co-author with a like minded (and skilled) writer. I am not looking for a ghost writer. I can get this done on my own if needed. I feel that co-authoring would be great fun. Perhaps I am wrong?

How can I best explore this avenue? Should I even attempt to co-author? Are there other like minded individuals out there or am I showing my complete ignorance of the writing and publishing process? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

sketch app - What is the purpose of having outside gutters on a responsive grid?

Sketch has the option to add outside gutters to the grid. What are these for and what would be an example of a situation where these are useful?

usability - Whats the best way to present a time duration to user?

We're trying to implement the most effective method of displaying duration it takes for user to complete a puzzle.
Looking for simplicity and accuracy.
I've added two examples that we've been working on, what do you think is the best way to present this data? New suggestions welcome!

Answer

Look at how times are shown in other stopwatch applications as an indication, as they have been refined over years. The typical way that it is shown is simply as HH:MM:SS.

If you're only looking for time to an accuracy of seconds and you want more than just numbers, then something like 2h 23m 12s seems clear enough without taking up lots of space. You could even add decimal places to the seconds if you need to.

Is a common approach to calibration reasonable?

"Model Calibration" article in Encyclopedia of Quantitative Finance states that

. . . a common approach for selecting a pricing measure $\mathbb{Q}$ is to choose, given a set of liquidly traded derivatives with (discounted) terminal payoffs $(H^i)_{i \in I}$ and market prices $(C_i)_{i \in I}$, a pricing measure $\mathbb{Q}$ compatible with the observed market prices

where $\mathbb{Q}$ denotes

a probability measure on the set $\Omega$ of possible trajectories $(S_t)_{ t \in [0,T ]}$ of the underlying asset such that the asset price $\frac{S_t}{N_t}$ discounted by the numeraire $N_t$ is a martingale.

But we know that market prices $(C_i)_{i \in I}$ are generated by fallible human beings! Each of them has rather limited knowledge about "possible trajectories $(S_t)_{ t \in [0,T ]}$ of the underlying asset". Otherwise they wouldn't need the model we are trying to calibrate, would they?

So The Calibration Process receives some prices $(C_i)_{i \in I}$, some arbitrarily choosen mathematical model (i.e. Heston) and produces as an output the calibrated model which supposedly able to give us predictions about the future $(S_t)_{ t \in [0,T ]}$

Why do we believe that The Calibration Process is different from GIGO process?

fiction - How much humour can you afford to have before losing a serious atmosphere?

Background

When I first tried writing fantasy - a long long time ago - I wrote a book that was meant to be really serious and intense. However, I wrote it in a way where the characters joked around, and had more fun than they should have been having in a really dire situation. The whole thing turned into more of a comedic piece rather than being serious fantasy, and lost the atmosphere.

My new masterpiece trilogy is an epic. I've kept it super serious and to the point, and it's gone really really really really well. I'm infinitely happy. However, upon beginning book two, which I started 4 days ago, I have started slipping back into old habits. The characters keep making jokes, and generally enjoying themselves even despite the fact that their home has just been destroyed. I've gone through and edited some of the the humour out and have kept a bit more of the atmosphere of loss and mourning, but I came up with this question while doing it.

Question

Let's get right to it:

How much humour can you have before you lose the serious, intense atmosphere?

Is it right to include humour when something absolutely grievous is going on in the character's lives?

I feel as if I've got a good grip of it at the minute. I know what is silly and I should edit out, and what I should keep. However, this question does intrigue me!

Answer

Any creature that can foresee its own death must learn to laugh or go mad.

In other words, it is a mistake to think that humor is the opposite of seriousness. Humor is the way humans deal with the essential grimness of our lives and their inevitable ends. A serious work that is lacking humor is in some sense missing this essential component of how humans react in serious situations to keep themselves sane.

The opposite of serious is light. You can be light without being humorous. Lightness is essentially the simple avoidance of the grimness of life. It is a way of dealing with the sadness of things by simply refusing to look at them. It is, in many ways, easier to be light if you avoid humor, because humor is always about the absurd, and human absurdity is in some way always about how we pretend we are not all going to grow old, get sick, and die.

It is also possible to be light in dealing with death. This is what the cosy mystery, the Murder She Wrote kind of show does. They present death merely as a puzzle to be solved, separate from its awfulness, it's heartbreak, and its waste.

Humor can be grim. Much of the best humor is very grim. The key is that when you use humor in a serious story, it be serious humor.

Writing seriously is hard -- mentally and emotionally hard as well as artistically difficult. It is possible that you are catching yourself writing something light because that is easier and less traumatizing. In which case, cutting the jokes is not going to make it serious. You will need to rethink the whole piece in a more serious vein.

It is also possible that you are throwing in light jokes in a serious piece, in which case the fix would be to make the jokes serious rather than light (meaning the the joke accepts and acknowledges the grimness and absurdity of human life rather than avoiding it).

Difference between "Expand" and "Outline Stroke" in Adobe Illustrator?

Using Adobe Illustrator, "Expand" and "Outline stroke" seem to produce the same result of converting a path to an object (correct me if i'm wrong). So I'd like to know;

1. Do both commands really perform the same action?



2. When to apply either command?

usability - What is this menu with multiple levels called and should I use it?

What is the above menu called? This menu is similar to one that appears on bookmarks for Google Chrome.

What are the pros and cons of using this pattern?

I'm planning to use this pattern in the dashboard. In my design, the levels are restricted to 3. Is this feasible to use? Is it, user-friendly in terms of usability?

Getting feedback and suggestions from users

I am rebuilding an ERP software.I want to get feedback and suggestions from users on the current software , so that I can build more user-friendly interface and functionality.Suggest me some ideas how to get ideas and feedback from them ?

Answer

You can't beat sitting in a room with the user, watching how they carry out tasks with the software and asking questions. This is the most basic, low-tec version of Usability Testing that there is, but I find it the most informative.

Do it with as many different users as possible (large sample size), using a list of tasks that cover all the functionality that you want to test. Watch for the following things:

• Are some tasks needlessly complicated to complete? Actions that are commmonly repeated should be as streamlined as possible.


• Is there anything in the UI that the user finds confusing? Make a note of why.


• What frustrates the user? Make sure you get to the bottom of this by asking more questions.


• What does the user like? It is important to take note of this so you don't accidently interfere with elements that work well for the user while fixing other usability issues.


• Anything strange? Make a note of anything that strikes you as strange during the test. Perhaps the user is using a feature in an unanticipated way?

Users familiar with the existing software will definitely have wish lists. They are just waiting for someone to ask them (perhaps they already asked for things a long time ago but gave up asking).

registration - How to handle "forgot password" when user has not confirmed email?

If you follow the pattern of allowing users access to your application without having confirmed an email (generally considered good UX), how do handle the case where they forgot their password? Very important in this particular case as the site includes personal health information.

Clearly, sending them an email with instructions to reset it is not appropriate, as their email is not yet verified. I came up with four solutions, but like none of them.

1. 
   

   Freeze a user out after, say, 1 week if they haven't confirmed their email. Then, during this one-week grace period, they cannot recover their email. (Somewhat problematic because it's a security issue to reveal whether an email address is registered during forgot password, so we'd be unable to actually communicate that password reset is unavailable to them based on not having confirmed).

   
   


2. 
   

   Add "security question" to signup. Bad for fairly obvious reasons.

   
   



3. 
   

   Just not let them use the site without confirming their email. Also bad.

   
   


4. 
   

   Just let them recover their password even without a confirmed email, but add some text in the site "if you haven't confirmed your email, someone could get access to your private health information." This would show in a banner at the top of the screen until they register, and have the option to have the email re-sent to any email address they choose. This might be the worst security case of all.

   
   

Any ideas?

effects - Preventing reverse search engines from finding the origin of your image?

I am planning to make a game, where I give the user an anime related image and they have to guess where its from.

However, most of the images, specially from popular anime are easy to use on Google reverse search to find and pin point the anime.

I've tried to see if I could make so it would not recognize the image but unhappily my tricks were not good enough.

Original image:

Grey-scale with horizontal flip:

Watermarking:

Puzzling the image with grey-scale:

Grey-scale with horizontal and vertical flip worked for this image but doesn't always work:

Also the above mentioned methods are rather easy for people to guess the anime.

I would like to know if there any good trick, that I could use on my images to make so it would not work on reverse search engines and yet not be so overcomplicated that I can implement on my program.

For example grey-scale, cropping, flipping are rather easy things to achieve in C#.

Answer

I think you were on the right track with your watermarking option, but you left too much of the original image in tact. Here are two images I tried that Google was unable to find:

Checkerboard

Reverse image search results

Mosaic

Reverse image search results

Another example

Reverse image search results

The first image returns a lot of "checkered flag" results, and the second returns lots of mosaic/collage images. Size does matter! I initially tried it with a much smaller checkerboard pattern (16px); Google was still able to identify that. These 32px squares seem to be a happy medium.

Based off of the information that DanS provided, I think this would be a dependable technique to fool Google (and easily automated!). I can only presume that someone who was able to identify this anime would still be able to do so from these images.

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^{Ironically, the images I have created will eventually be indexed by Google and lead to this post, defeating the purpose!}