Unsung
@unsung.aresluna.org
Links to new posts at Unsung, a blog about software craft and quality. Comments/replies are welcome!
https://unsung.aresluna.org
https://unsung.aresluna.org
“Insert your favorite nursery rhyme.”
Make Some Noise is one of many fantastic improv comedy shows on Dropout. I noticed one of the ongoing themes is “tech gone bad,” so I compiled a short list…
Make Some Noise is one of many fantastic improv comedy shows on Dropout. I noticed one of the ongoing themes is “tech gone bad,” so I compiled a short list…
“Insert your favorite nursery rhyme.” – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 17, 2026 at 4:07 PM
“Insert your favorite nursery rhyme.”
Make Some Noise is one of many fantastic improv comedy shows on Dropout. I noticed one of the ongoing themes is “tech gone bad,” so I compiled a short list…
Make Some Noise is one of many fantastic improv comedy shows on Dropout. I noticed one of the ongoing themes is “tech gone bad,” so I compiled a short list…
“59.94Hz is standard on televisions in North America.”
A big screen carries with it different UI expectations, and how that manifests itself in Apple TV’s Settings app, is that there’s always room for an additional hint about the…
A big screen carries with it different UI expectations, and how that manifests itself in Apple TV’s Settings app, is that there’s always room for an additional hint about the…
“59.94Hz is standard on televisions in North America.” – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 16, 2026 at 6:43 PM
“59.94Hz is standard on televisions in North America.”
A big screen carries with it different UI expectations, and how that manifests itself in Apple TV’s Settings app, is that there’s always room for an additional hint about the…
A big screen carries with it different UI expectations, and how that manifests itself in Apple TV’s Settings app, is that there’s always room for an additional hint about the…
Not everything needs to be a round rect
For the many early years of its existence, Chrome sported a pretty distinctive – perhaps even iconic? – look to its tabs…
For the many early years of its existence, Chrome sported a pretty distinctive – perhaps even iconic? – look to its tabs…
Not everything needs to be a round rect – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 15, 2026 at 8:14 PM
Not everything needs to be a round rect
For the many early years of its existence, Chrome sported a pretty distinctive – perhaps even iconic? – look to its tabs…
For the many early years of its existence, Chrome sported a pretty distinctive – perhaps even iconic? – look to its tabs…
“But, as we all know, the individual light bulbs are not moving.”
I linked to palette cycling before, and I was just reminded of palette cycling art by Mark Ferrari, who back in the 1990s made 30+ landscapes that looked like this…
I linked to palette cycling before, and I was just reminded of palette cycling art by Mark Ferrari, who back in the 1990s made 30+ landscapes that looked like this…
“But, as we all know, the individual light bulbs are not moving.” – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 15, 2026 at 4:15 PM
“But, as we all know, the individual light bulbs are not moving.”
I linked to palette cycling before, and I was just reminded of palette cycling art by Mark Ferrari, who back in the 1990s made 30+ landscapes that looked like this…
I linked to palette cycling before, and I was just reminded of palette cycling art by Mark Ferrari, who back in the 1990s made 30+ landscapes that looked like this…
“Tuned to the particular typing mistakes to which Teitelman was prone”
Recently, I asked on social media, “Is there a UX design equivalent to this?”, and attached this photo…
Recently, I asked on social media, “Is there a UX design equivalent to this?”, and attached this photo…
“Tuned to the particular typing mistakes to which Teitelman was prone” – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 15, 2026 at 3:40 AM
“Tuned to the particular typing mistakes to which Teitelman was prone”
Recently, I asked on social media, “Is there a UX design equivalent to this?”, and attached this photo…
Recently, I asked on social media, “Is there a UX design equivalent to this?”, and attached this photo…
“Redesigned callouts to be less visually chaotic.”
Three nice moments in Buttondown’s (pretty comprehensive) release notes…
Three nice moments in Buttondown’s (pretty comprehensive) release notes…
“Redesigned callouts to be less visually chaotic.” – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 14, 2026 at 2:31 PM
“Redesigned callouts to be less visually chaotic.”
Three nice moments in Buttondown’s (pretty comprehensive) release notes…
Three nice moments in Buttondown’s (pretty comprehensive) release notes…
“Act now, apologize later”
Fighting games require rather precise timing: the action is frenetic, the inputs rapid, and the outcomes can be determined by what players do down to – sometimes – individual one-sixtieth-of-a-second…
Fighting games require rather precise timing: the action is frenetic, the inputs rapid, and the outcomes can be determined by what players do down to – sometimes – individual one-sixtieth-of-a-second…
“Act now, apologize later” – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 13, 2026 at 8:12 PM
“Act now, apologize later”
Fighting games require rather precise timing: the action is frenetic, the inputs rapid, and the outcomes can be determined by what players do down to – sometimes – individual one-sixtieth-of-a-second…
Fighting games require rather precise timing: the action is frenetic, the inputs rapid, and the outcomes can be determined by what players do down to – sometimes – individual one-sixtieth-of-a-second…
Nova’s menu wayfinding
From its earliest days, Macs established an interesting convention – whenever you press a keyboard shortcut to an action that’s somewhere in the app menu, the matching top menu label…
From its earliest days, Macs established an interesting convention – whenever you press a keyboard shortcut to an action that’s somewhere in the app menu, the matching top menu label…
Nova’s menu wayfinding – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 12, 2026 at 10:34 PM
Nova’s menu wayfinding
From its earliest days, Macs established an interesting convention – whenever you press a keyboard shortcut to an action that’s somewhere in the app menu, the matching top menu label…
From its earliest days, Macs established an interesting convention – whenever you press a keyboard shortcut to an action that’s somewhere in the app menu, the matching top menu label…
“Sweet, a whole website of video game menus”
The Game UI Database is a website that covers the interfaces of almost 2,000 via over 75,000 screenshots…
The Game UI Database is a website that covers the interfaces of almost 2,000 via over 75,000 screenshots…
“Sweet, a whole website of video game menus” – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 12, 2026 at 3:13 PM
“Sweet, a whole website of video game menus”
The Game UI Database is a website that covers the interfaces of almost 2,000 via over 75,000 screenshots…
The Game UI Database is a website that covers the interfaces of almost 2,000 via over 75,000 screenshots…
Key symbols we lost to time, pt. 1: The PC side
Various old computers had their keyboards adorned with unique symbols. Companies like Commodore, Atari, Amiga, or even – in its previous life – Apple chose to put their company logos…
Various old computers had their keyboards adorned with unique symbols. Companies like Commodore, Atari, Amiga, or even – in its previous life – Apple chose to put their company logos…
Key symbols we lost to time, pt. 1: The PC side – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 11, 2026 at 3:54 PM
Key symbols we lost to time, pt. 1: The PC side
Various old computers had their keyboards adorned with unique symbols. Companies like Commodore, Atari, Amiga, or even – in its previous life – Apple chose to put their company logos…
Various old computers had their keyboards adorned with unique symbols. Companies like Commodore, Atari, Amiga, or even – in its previous life – Apple chose to put their company logos…
Fingers don’t look around
Buttondown, a newsletter publisher, has a pretty standard CSS editor in its web app. You can edit the code and whenever you make any change, you can then press the…
Buttondown, a newsletter publisher, has a pretty standard CSS editor in its web app. You can edit the code and whenever you make any change, you can then press the…
Fingers don’t look around – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 11, 2026 at 3:38 PM
Fingers don’t look around
Buttondown, a newsletter publisher, has a pretty standard CSS editor in its web app. You can edit the code and whenever you make any change, you can then press the…
Buttondown, a newsletter publisher, has a pretty standard CSS editor in its web app. You can edit the code and whenever you make any change, you can then press the…
“A great look at the destructive power of an uncaught Infinity value”
There are two distinct flavors of speedrunning…
There are two distinct flavors of speedrunning…
“A great look at the destructive power of an uncaught Infinity value” – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 10, 2026 at 3:53 AM
“A great look at the destructive power of an uncaught Infinity value”
There are two distinct flavors of speedrunning…
There are two distinct flavors of speedrunning…
Anthony Hobday’s design references
Anthony Hobday is a product designer and I like his approach of cataloging and sharing references on his website. Here are some choice pages…
Anthony Hobday is a product designer and I like his approach of cataloging and sharing references on his website. Here are some choice pages…
Anthony Hobday’s design references – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 8, 2026 at 5:28 PM
Anthony Hobday’s design references
Anthony Hobday is a product designer and I like his approach of cataloging and sharing references on his website. Here are some choice pages…
Anthony Hobday is a product designer and I like his approach of cataloging and sharing references on his website. Here are some choice pages…
DaisyDisk’s onboarding
Any Mac app that has to ask for system permissions has its work cut out for it. In a previous post I showed “the MacCharlie method,” which looked like this…
Any Mac app that has to ask for system permissions has its work cut out for it. In a previous post I showed “the MacCharlie method,” which looked like this…
DaisyDisk’s onboarding – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 8, 2026 at 2:24 PM
DaisyDisk’s onboarding
Any Mac app that has to ask for system permissions has its work cut out for it. In a previous post I showed “the MacCharlie method,” which looked like this…
Any Mac app that has to ask for system permissions has its work cut out for it. In a previous post I showed “the MacCharlie method,” which looked like this…
Unsung Heroes: Super Sprint
I know, I know. I’m supposed to say iPod’s click wheel, or the Western Electric 500 rotary dial, or maybe the first Nest…
I know, I know. I’m supposed to say iPod’s click wheel, or the Western Electric 500 rotary dial, or maybe the first Nest…
Unsung Heroes: Super Sprint – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 7, 2026 at 3:23 PM
Unsung Heroes: Super Sprint
I know, I know. I’m supposed to say iPod’s click wheel, or the Western Electric 500 rotary dial, or maybe the first Nest…
I know, I know. I’m supposed to say iPod’s click wheel, or the Western Electric 500 rotary dial, or maybe the first Nest…
“…and at that point it stops being a system.”
A few nice moments that caught my attention in Marek Minor’s case study of designing icons for Cursor…
A few nice moments that caught my attention in Marek Minor’s case study of designing icons for Cursor…
“…and at that point it stops being a system.” – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 6, 2026 at 4:37 PM
“…and at that point it stops being a system.”
A few nice moments that caught my attention in Marek Minor’s case study of designing icons for Cursor…
A few nice moments that caught my attention in Marek Minor’s case study of designing icons for Cursor…
Ivory’s account switching
Ivory is a Mastodon client, and their account switcher has a few interesting mechanics…
Ivory is a Mastodon client, and their account switcher has a few interesting mechanics…
Ivory’s account switching – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 6, 2026 at 4:21 PM
Ivory’s account switching
Ivory is a Mastodon client, and their account switcher has a few interesting mechanics…
Ivory is a Mastodon client, and their account switcher has a few interesting mechanics…
Responsive text and code
Many years ago, I put together a quick proposal of what I called “responsive text” for social proof…
Many years ago, I put together a quick proposal of what I called “responsive text” for social proof…
Responsive text and code – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 5, 2026 at 6:44 PM
Responsive text and code
Many years ago, I put together a quick proposal of what I called “responsive text” for social proof…
Many years ago, I put together a quick proposal of what I called “responsive text” for social proof…
Don’t show again (Taylor’s version)
An interesting take from a screen annotation app ScreenBrush – instead of a standard “don’t show again” checkbox modifying a button, it shows two buttons as a fork in a…
An interesting take from a screen annotation app ScreenBrush – instead of a standard “don’t show again” checkbox modifying a button, it shows two buttons as a fork in a…
Don’t show again (Taylor’s version) – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 5, 2026 at 6:12 PM
Don’t show again (Taylor’s version)
An interesting take from a screen annotation app ScreenBrush – instead of a standard “don’t show again” checkbox modifying a button, it shows two buttons as a fork in a…
An interesting take from a screen annotation app ScreenBrush – instead of a standard “don’t show again” checkbox modifying a button, it shows two buttons as a fork in a…
Got your back, pt. 8
A nice moment in iOS – even if you delete an app, you might still be on the hook for its subscription, so the operating system shows this right after…
A nice moment in iOS – even if you delete an app, you might still be on the hook for its subscription, so the operating system shows this right after…
Got your back, pt. 8 – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 5, 2026 at 6:10 PM
Got your back, pt. 8
A nice moment in iOS – even if you delete an app, you might still be on the hook for its subscription, so the operating system shows this right after…
A nice moment in iOS – even if you delete an app, you might still be on the hook for its subscription, so the operating system shows this right after…
Unsung @ 500: Behind the scenes
A few people recently asked about my writing and publication process, so this post is for anyone who’s interested in that…
A few people recently asked about my writing and publication process, so this post is for anyone who’s interested in that…
Unsung @ 500: Behind the scenes – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 4, 2026 at 4:11 PM
Unsung @ 500: Behind the scenes
A few people recently asked about my writing and publication process, so this post is for anyone who’s interested in that…
A few people recently asked about my writing and publication process, so this post is for anyone who’s interested in that…
Unsung @ 500: Nine design details
Clicking or tapping on Newsletter or About links just above reveals the options in small drawers underneath, hopefully making it easier to engage without having to deal with new page…
Clicking or tapping on Newsletter or About links just above reveals the options in small drawers underneath, hopefully making it easier to engage without having to deal with new page…
Unsung @ 500: Nine design details – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 4, 2026 at 3:23 PM
Unsung @ 500: Nine design details
Clicking or tapping on Newsletter or About links just above reveals the options in small drawers underneath, hopefully making it easier to engage without having to deal with new page…
Clicking or tapping on Newsletter or About links just above reveals the options in small drawers underneath, hopefully making it easier to engage without having to deal with new page…
Unsung @ 500: The new design
Unless you’re reading via RSS, welcome to Unsung’s new livery!
Unless you’re reading via RSS, welcome to Unsung’s new livery!
Unsung @ 500: The new design – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 4, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Unsung @ 500: The new design
Unless you’re reading via RSS, welcome to Unsung’s new livery!
Unless you’re reading via RSS, welcome to Unsung’s new livery!
“I would be very happy to see all kinds of text editors adopt this.”
Speaking of cut in File Explorer, Will McGugan, creator of the writing editor Ishmael, proposes doing the same thing for text editing – that is, leaving ghost text behind…
Speaking of cut in File Explorer, Will McGugan, creator of the writing editor Ishmael, proposes doing the same thing for text editing – that is, leaving ghost text behind…
“I would be very happy to see all kinds of text editors adopt this.” – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 3, 2026 at 2:58 PM
“I would be very happy to see all kinds of text editors adopt this.”
Speaking of cut in File Explorer, Will McGugan, creator of the writing editor Ishmael, proposes doing the same thing for text editing – that is, leaving ghost text behind…
Speaking of cut in File Explorer, Will McGugan, creator of the writing editor Ishmael, proposes doing the same thing for text editing – that is, leaving ghost text behind…
Windows does it better, pt. 3: Cut in File Explorer
Dragging and dropping files with your mouse in the Finder is nice, but there are many moments you wanna reach for the keyboard instead. Finder supports that. You dragged the…
Dragging and dropping files with your mouse in the Finder is nice, but there are many moments you wanna reach for the keyboard instead. Finder supports that. You dragged the…
Windows does it better, pt. 3: Cut in File Explorer – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
unsung.aresluna.org
September 3, 2026 at 2:17 PM
Windows does it better, pt. 3: Cut in File Explorer
Dragging and dropping files with your mouse in the Finder is nice, but there are many moments you wanna reach for the keyboard instead. Finder supports that. You dragged the…
Dragging and dropping files with your mouse in the Finder is nice, but there are many moments you wanna reach for the keyboard instead. Finder supports that. You dragged the…