For monocle.io I wanted to ensure that the list of posts is always kept up to date. This is especially a problem when the computer wakes up from a sleep, as the top posts are often way out of date!

It turns out there is no JavaScript wake event. There is an online event, but it doesn’t seem to trigger whenever the computer is sent to sleep and re-awoken.

The only sure fire way I could work out to achieve this, was to run a interval and check that the it was invoked at the expected times. Any delay in an interval invocation indicates that the computer has just slept.

var TIMEOUT = 20000;
    var lastTime = (new Date()).getTime();
    
    setInterval(function() {
      var currentTime = (new Date()).getTime();
      if (currentTime > (lastTime + TIMEOUT + 2000)) {
        // Wake!
      }
      lastTime = currentTime;
    }, TIMEOUT);
    

You can find the full jQuery plugin here. It triggers a custom wake event on document.

$(document).on('wake', function(){ /* ... */ });
    

The last piece of advice I have, for both the online and wake events is that the network connection may not be available. You’d think you’d be able to access remote endpoints when the online event is triggered - but unfortunately that’s not the case.

You’ll need to keep polling the network until the request succeeds. Here’s an excerpt from monocle.io

Post.refresh = function(){
      var request = $.get('/posts');
    
      request.error(function(){
        setTimeout(this.refresh, 4000);
      }.bind(this));
    
      request.success(function(){
        // ...
      });
    };
    

You did it. You’ve passed the qualifying exams and got admitted to that university abroad. You have your paper work all sorted out. You know how it works.

Now you’re in a strange land. You’re conversational with the country’s language but you’re not yet that fluent.  With all the adjustments you’ll have to make, what are the things you can do to ensure success? Here are some of the secrets of successful international students.

Make the Most out of Lectures

When attending lectures, it’s tempting to try to take note of everything the lecturer is saying. Listen carefully to the lecturer and take note only of the most important points. Don’t try to write down everything.

Find a study partner. We’re only human after all and we tend to forget a good part of a lecture. You can review the lecture with a partner or two and compare your notes over coffee. You can schedule this regularly after lectures to help your retention.

Use shorthand. Ideas are better understood when they are visualized. You can use mind maps or flow charts to better understand the lecture. This also facilitates better recall. Rewriting the lecture using your own words or summarizing it will also help you remember the important points of the lecture.

Listen for cues. Lecturers will use signpost words such as “we’ll begin with”, “next . . .”, “to summarize”, and others. Those are cues that an important point is coming up. That’s your cue to take note.

Talk with your instructors. It’s okay to ask the instructor to slow down a bit if you can’t keep up. Just remember to always be polite. Alternatively, you can record the lecture and review later with your study partner or group.

Don’t hesitate to talk to your instructors after class if there are some points that you don’t understand. Obviously, they are there to help you. They will also be extra helpful to international students like you.

Keep Your Goals in Mind

You went through all the trouble of getting admitted in a university or college in another country because you have goals. Perhaps you want a more rewarding career. Or maybe you want to learn skills that you can take back with you to your home country. Whatever your goals are, always keep them in mind.

It is particularly challenging if you have to juggle study and work. Stephen Covey has an excellent guideline on time management that everyone could benefit from. Basically, it tells you to make a list of all the things that must be done, rank them, and prioritize them according to your goals. Particularly useful is the The Quadrant Four model that categorizes tasks. A task can be 1) urgent and important, 2) not urgent but important, 3) urgent but not important, and 4) not urgent and not important. Covey advised to concentrate on the second quadrant and ignore quadrants 3 and 4.

Reward Your Self

Studying abroad is hard work. To keep on going, you need to recharge form time to time. Reward yourself and celebrate your small successes. They don’t have to be expensive rewards. Set clear study goals and reward yourself once you accomplish those goals.

By following these tips, you greatly increase your chances of success as an international student.

Author Bio

Stephanie Casidy is the managing director at Chambers Institute, an ESL school in Sydney, Australia. She studied Juris Doctor at Monash University and holds an MA degree in Biblical Studies.

As designers part of our job is keeping up to date with what’s happening in the industry, one aspect of which involves keeping an eye on the latest trends. Although it should be noted that ‘keeping an eye on’ and ‘being part of’ are two very different things.

The popularity of things like Dribbble rebounds just goes to show how inspirational we all find other people’s work. But there’s inspiration, and then there’s derivation.

Have you flirted a little too closely with trends? Here’s 12 signs that you’re a trendy designer:

1. You made a spoof of the ‘Keep Calm’ poster

2. Your go-to font is Proxima Nova

3. On Dribbble, you post angled photographs of your user interface designs rather than screenshots

4. You recently started adding long shadows to everything

5. You’ve written a blog post about flat design

6. You’ve made your own series of minimal movie posters

7. Your personal logo features interlocking letters…

8. …or a crossed “X”.

9. You’ve released your own icon set

10. You’ve designed your own to-do app…

11. …or your own weather app

12. You’ve ‘redesigned’ iOS7

How many of these are you guilty of? Are there any other trends that are being abused? Let us know in the comments.

Mini Font Bundle: 3 Fonts for only $9!

by Robert H. Deluty

Let’s face it: Web copy isn’t sexy.

Writing lacks the visual flair of the latest CSS techniques, it doesn’t make your application deploy in a few easy steps, and it won’t make your code read like poetry. However, its importance is on par with picking the perfect color scheme or designing a beautiful logo, because it’s an opportunity to communicate to people plainly and directly.

Web copy is web design.

I could bore you with English language fundamentals, but I’d rather give you a few simple tips that are easy to remember and utilize. With some practice, your web copy will improve. Let’s get to the goods.

1. Read Your Writing Out Loud

Web copy should feel conversational, so a good litmus test is to read your copy out loud. Many bits of copy will read like sentence fragments, particularly in complex interfaces with lots of interactive widgets.

You don’t need an audience. Just say your copy out loud to yourself. – Photo by Flickr user visual.dichotomy

However, with these exceptions in mind, speaking your text out loud will help you uncover words that you would never use in real life. It will also help you find more errors in general, because when your brain translates written text into spoken language, it’s more difficult to speed read. This will force you to slow down and give some consideration to each individual word. Iterate, make corrections, and read it again.

2. Embrace Brevity

We live in the age of TL;DR and 140 character tweets. Unless you’re Steve Jobs (which is very unlikely) nobody is visiting your website to read your life story. Leave the epic tale of you and your web app for a blog post or the about page. Also, learn how to omit needless flowery language and express the same meaning with fewer words. Mark Twain said it best:

“Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”

- Mark Twain

That’s some very good advice. Do the reader a favor and get to the point.

3. Pepper in Familiar Language

One way to be brief and reduce the volume of your language is to increase the density of expression. When used sparingly, a simile, analogy, or idiom can be more impactful than language you write on your own.

Every Apple product page is littered with colloquial language that’s informative and friendly.

For example, an entrepreneur friend of mine told me about a new product idea recently, but he was having difficulty coming up with a good elevator pitch that positions what the product does and how you can benefit from it. I suggested playing with the phrase “[Product] is like a X for your Y” with X and Y being the interchangeable parts. A simple analogy allows you to leverage the meaning of the original subject. If you’re able to tap into the wealth of experiences already stored in the reader’s long term memory, the new idea is more likely to fit into the established mental framework… like a puzzle piece. Hey look, it’s a simile!

When using colloquial language, you do need to think carefully about the nationality of your audience. As a citizen of the USA it’s easy for me to make the mistake of using ethnocentric idiomatic expressions. For example, the phrase “elevator pitch” describes a brief overview of a product or service that could be expressed within the duration of an elevator ride. But in the UK, I know that an elevator is more typically referred to as a lift, so maybe this phrase doesn’t translate well. Or, maybe they use the phrase “lift pitch.” I don’t really know. Of course, the best thing to do is Google for the answer and find out; I’m just writing this so that you can understand the thought process.

Excellent written communication is an essential skill for any web professional. Quality writing can improve your website and, as a bonus, it can increase your employability. Customers and employers like people that are able to present themselves well and easily collaborate with others.

If you have any additional tips to share, I’d love to hear about them in the comments!

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