Your probabaly here if you found this post on search because you may be puzzled as to why your Roboto font looks different on screen ?
Well thats because on Jan 14th it actually did change and was updated worldwide.
Here is a statement from Google.
Updated January 14 2015: Christian Robertson and the Material Design team unveiled the latest version of Roboto at Google I/O last year, and it is now available from Google Fonts. Existing websites using Roboto via Google Fonts will start using the latest version automatically. If you have installed the fonts on your computer, please download them again and re-install.
Do i like it ? Not really!
I noticed this change immediately in my Gmail as i have it customised to use Roboto as the font. You can find my Stylish Theme for Google Here if you want to transform for you Gmail interface into something wonderful.
Roboto used to look like this
(sorry for the lame screenshot, its the only one i had of my gmail of how it used to look like)
and now looks like this
What i noticed is different about the new Roboto font
When you take a look at both side by side or if you keep switching between the screenshots above, is that the old roboto was more narrow which seemed normal back then but compared to the new Roboto it seems as though it used to be condensed and now is more of a extended version.
It also looks more ‘chunky’ or ‘squashed’ compared to the old one.
Above you can see a blown up version of the old and new the new being up the top and the old being on the bottom, i could not find a generator that did not make the old font look bold, but you can see get the idea of the changes, especially around the R and the E. From what i see the R used to have a bit of a Serif look to it and top part of the ‘e’ used to be a bit higher.
Here is the same text above but not blown up. They say that Roboto used to be a Serif font but i don’t feel that anymore, its more of a Sans Serif now.
Maybe i need some time to to get used to it? But i feel that i still wished i had the chance to use the old version, not to mention don’t you just love how Google made this change and probably affected hundreds of thousands of websites across the world without warning. LOL
Like many people in my industry i would presume would see the value in the tool they probably use the most in their day to day job. It is probably also the tool that is overlooked the most as well.
I am on the lookout for a new mouse, something with a much higher sensor than that of the mouse i’m using now. Currently i own a Logitech MX950, its good and have some great things about it but it also suffers greatly in some aspects.
In this article/review i’m going to discuss my opinions on whether a steelseries sensei mouse for web designers is a good option or not, what to look out for and who it is most suited for.
I will not be going into features, how many millions of colors it can the lcd can be customized to or anything like that, there are plenty of reviews out there that can give you this information.
Now i’m a big believer in ergonomic’s. Have you used an ambidextrous mouse before ? The Sensi mouse is infact just that. So what does it mean ? It is a fancy word used to basically say you can use it in your left hand or right hand.
The problem here is if you are used to an ergonomic mouse you will be sorely disappointed it is in now way more comfortable than an ergonomic mouse. PERIOD, no matter what other reviews say.
I did my research before i purchased this many reviews state that its comfortable to use. Now that i have purchased this and used it myself i couldn’t disagree more with them.
Any ambidextrous mouse will not be comfortable to use because it will not contour to your hands. If you’re planning on using a mouse for extended hours or for work purposes then you should not be looking at any ambidextrous mouse.
Another thing to note is that most if not all ambidextrous mice will have the same buttons on the left and the right hand side so in my case the back and forward buttons i use on the left side are also on the right side, and of course because i’m right handed they right side buttons interfere with my ‘pinky’ finger making accidental touches on the mice very common. 🙁
If your planning on using a mouse for extended hours or for work purposes then you should not be looking at any ambidextrous mouse.
Sensi mouse performance
The Sensi mouse does not fall short in performance, it is probably the best mouse i have used to date in terms of accuracy, precision.
The Sensi mouse of course was built for gamers but accuracy and precision is somthing designers, web designers, graphic designers need also.
What i found important and really liked about this mouse is the level of control you have using the software bundled with it, which mind you really does shit all over the Logitech setpoint software. I managed to tweak my settings to a beautiful level that allowed me to move my mouse slowly with the highest accuracy, no lag i ever saw.
Test this for yourself move the mouse real slow, you will see jitters to some extend and depending on how good your mouse is will depend on how much it will show these jitters.
Accuracy test
Here is a video showing the jitters with my Logitech MX950 vs the Sensei mouse. Please note that i could not record higher than 15fps, so the video itself is not really displaying exactly what i saw, but at least you will get some indication of a comparison between the two.
The thing to look out for is that the you will notice the Sensi mouse cursor when moved in a diagonal motion you will see less ‘stepping’ motion compared to the Logitech mouse. I recommend you watch it on Youtube in HD to get a better idea.
Logitech MX950 Accuracy Test
Steelseries Sensi Accuracy Test
I really did enjoy the smoothness of the mouse cursor moving from object to object on screen and especially when using something like Photoshop, Fireworks for design it really comes into its elements when you need pixel perfection.
Ambidextrous mouse for Web designers ?
So getting back to this left/right handed mouse thing. The fact is if your web designer who is right handed you are better of looking at a right handed mouse and if you’re left handed well i don’t think there is much option these days, i have not seen any left handed mice before, so this type of mouse is your best bet.
If you are a left handed designer, developer, web designer then there is no doubt i can recommend this mouse to you.
Options for right handed Web designers ?
Well, personally for now i have had to go back to the stylish and ergonomic feel of my Logitech MX950 mouse purely because i could simply not get used to the feel of the Sensi mouse, considering i would minimum 8 hours a day on the box it is not really an option to sacrifice a comfortable feel over performance.
I am now actively on the lookout for another performance gamer grade right handed mouse and some options are probably the Steelseries Rival (right handed mouse) or i could go for a Razer mouse maybe something like the Death Added. I may purchase both and give them a whirl and compare them.
*** I discontinued development on this theme but instead continued development on a new one based on this one, the only difference is that it supports Google Apps products not just Gmail interface, So far Google Calendar is complete and Drive is in the works, find it here ***
So my business partner who jumped onto Google Apps and ditched Outlook in favor for browser based Gmail interface introduced me to Stylish extension for Chrome.
Till now i have held back from making the switch because bluntly the themes provided by Gmail sux real hard, the only bearable one is Dark theme.
So im on the lookout for a new pair of desktop speakers, but i wanted a specific pair that had features i was looking for. Primarily the following.
Bluetooth connectivity
Good quality all round sound
Enough bass to support the type of music i like listening to
No cables (or minimum cables) for a clean desktop environment
So far i have tested 2 pairs of speakers the Edifier s25 and these speakers the z600 speakers.
There are a few reviews around that give some positive reviews on these speakers, each to their own, thats the beauty of leaving a review you will get an idea of what people think about them personally and then you make a choice on what choice you want to make.
My goal: My goal was to simply rip a bunch of data discs to iso format for archival purpose.
Rig tested on: Dell Alienware r14xr2 Laptop running Windows 8.1
No doubt this has to be one of the most annoying factors when it comes to ripping discs. Don’t you hate it you need to make a copy of a disc and then you find that half way it bombs out with an error ?
Well it could be because of low quality media, it could be the drive your ripping from (some drives have better reading capabilities than others) but in most cases its also the software at fault and how it handles error reading.
I have recently had to rip a whole bunch of data discs but i came across a few that simple would bomb out with errors, this really frustrated me and so i went on a search on alternative burning apps that would copy the disc for me.
This guide is particularly geared towards Australian model released i9505. The following was dont on the Telstra 4g phone, however this should work fine for any i9505 from any Australian carrier.
Do you hate your Samsung Galaxy s4 ? So did i… well it a shame because it is only until you root and install a custom rom that you will truly see it’s potential in more ways than one.
