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Designing Code: Secondary Notation, Syntax & Structure by Coleman Collins

Recorded June 02, 2015 at ChicagoRuby Downtown

There’s a second user interface on every project, one we’re not paying enough attention to: the interface we use to write code. Why does our conversation around this part of development that’s central to success end at favorite color scheme? In this presentation, we’ll discuss how visual communication and UX principles like color, typography, consistency and information architecture can impact your ability (or inability) to write clean, maintainable code. Expect to cover such topics as: How every developer secretly has strong opinions about typography; How syntax highlighting could be way more powerful than it currently is; How programming languages are themselves an ‘interface, ‘and can be ‘designed’ as such; and why any of this matters at all.

About Coleman Collins

Coleman Collins is a user experience and product design consultant currently peddling his trade at ThoughtWorks. He has worn many hats while helping clients build world-class products and experiences, including product designer, usability researcher and front-end dev. He believes “the internet is for everyone” shouldn’t just be a nice idea, and recently did a front flip off a sand dune.

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