Abstract: “Creativity may be a trait, a state or just a process defined by its products. It can be contrasted with certain cognitive activities that are not ordinarily creative, such as problem-solving, deduction, induction, learning, imitation, trial-and-error, heuristics and ‘abduction,’ however, all of these can be done creatively too. There are four kinds of theories, attributing creativity respectively to (1) method, (2) ‘memory’ (innate structure), (3) magic or (4) mutation. These theories variously emphasize the role of an unconscious mind, innate constraints, analogy, aesthetics, anomalies, formal constraints, serendipity, mental analogs, heuristic strategies, improvisatory performance and cumulative collaboration. There is some virtue in each, but the best model is still the one implicit in Pasteur’s dictum: ‘Chance favors the prepared mind.’ And because the exercise and even the definition of creativity requires constraints, it is unlikely

eativity training’ or an emphasis on freedom in education can play a productive role in this preparation.”

Jef Raskin: “When crashing around the Web, I ran into the 22 Feb 2000 interview with Alan Cooper. Nodding my head in agreement as I went along, I came to an abrupt stop when this icon of design said, ‘We believe that good design is self-evident.’ If you believe that, then you are stuck in a rut, because the value of deep improvements are rarely self-evident, and even when a better design — if unfamiliar — is shown to developers or experienced users, they tend to reject it.”

“Batik is a Java based toolkit for applications that want to use images in the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format for various purposes, such as viewing, generation or manipulation. The project’s ambition is to give developers a set of core modules which can be used together or individually to support specific SVG solutions… With Batik, you can manipulate SVG documents anywhere Java is available.”

“Error messages, if they’re posted at all, should convey helpful information and advice — not only for the user, but also for tech support and maintenance programmers. Here are a few things to think about when coding your error-handling routines and designing your error messages.”

“Batik is a Java based toolkit for applications that want to use images in the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format for various purposes, such as viewing, generation or manipulation. The project’s ambition is to give developers a set of core modules which can be used together or individually to support specific SVG solutions… With Batik, you can manipulate SVG documents anywhere Java is available.”

Jef Raskin: “When crashing around the Web, I ran into the 22 Feb 2000 interview with Alan Cooper. Nodding my head in agreement as I went along, I came to an abrupt stop when this icon of design said, ‘We believe that good design is self-evident.’ If you believe that, then you are stuck in a rut, because the value of deep improvements are rarely self-evident, and even when a better design — if unfamiliar — is shown to developers or experienced users, they tend to reject it.”