Rad Not Sad

I recently dusted off my copy of Getting Real for a quick re-read. The book contains a collection of short essays, grouped into segments, addressing different web application development concerns. It's a terrific reference full of actionable ideas and highly recommended.

Today while browsing the table of contents in the copy I own (first edition, 2006), I discovered the following error. The listed page numbers fall behind the content by the third entry (About 37signals is actually on page 7, not the listed page 6), and are off by 16 pages by the final entry.

In the Priorities section, there is an entry titled Ignore Details Early On, which states:

How often have you found yourself stuck on a single design or code element for a whole day? How often have you realized that the progress you made today wasn't real progress? This happens when you focus on details too early in the process. There's plenty of time to be a perfectionist. Just do it later.

I've fallen into the trap of premature optimization, fixating on ways to achieve perfection prior to release, but letting go is something I've become more comfortable with over time. Because details are subject to revision as the overall product evolves, it makes sense to delay their execution until the time is appropriate.

The table of contents mistake is clearly an error in details, but it didn't stop Getting Real from becoming a best seller and evolving into Rework. I may need to flip a few additional pages to find what I'm looking for, but that's a minor usability annoyance. If the value proposition is strong enough, then I become much more willing to overlook such shortcomings. Just ask Craig Newmark, he stopped worrying about the details in 2001.

Can't roll a spliff on no MP3, sound is much better on 33. Even nicer is the 12" sound, the top is heavy and the bottom's round.

"All the guys in The Lions grew up on classic Jamaican records so since we began we have wanted to give our records that same edge and roughness that we grew up hearing on LPs by The Upsetters, Soul Syndicate, The Rockers Band and Roots Radics. The rhythm section was all recorded to tape, the Hammond buzzed a little, fuses blew and good mistakes were left in. We basically made the dusty reggae soul LP WE have been wanting to hear for years." – Dan Ubick (producer)

I like to hard wrap my copy when prepping plain-text content for email campaigns. Unfortunately, TextMate doesn't have a built-in function to hard wrap. Here's a tip (thanks John) on how to accomplish it, so you don't have to run back to BBEdit, which is sadly something I've actually done.

To hard wrap text in TextMate use Text > Filter Through Command... [⌥⌘R on a Mac], then type the following command to use your current soft wrap column count: fold -sw$TM_COLUMNS.