architecture | Back in a Bit

Handling Keyboard Shortcuts Within Modular JavaScript Application Architecture

Yesterday, when using Gmail, I started to think about keyboard shortcuts. Specifically, I started to think about how keyboard shortcuts get routed within a modular JavaScript application architecture. If I have a module that can respond to the keyboard – but, that module is not supposed to “know” about the document at large – how does it listen for key-based events? I can think of two ways: 1) Either the application listens for keys and then directly invokes methods on encapsulated modules; or 2) the application listens for keys and then announces key events using an intermediary sandbox. While my gut tells me the former is more effective, I’ve never really used a sandbox bridge; as such, I thought I’d experiment with the latter.

Ben Nadel: Handling Keyboard Shortcuts Within Modular JavaScript Application Architecture

RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist 2011

This year is the first time the shortlist includes practices who have all previously been shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize; and also includes two RIBA Stirling Prize winners: David Chipperfield Architects and Zaha Hadid Architects.

RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist 2011

10 things tourists should know about Milton Keynes

The much-maligned Milton Keynes is included as a host city in England’s World Cup bid for 2018, meaning foreign football fans could be visiting it in their thousands. So what do they need to know?

BBC News: 10 things tourists should know about Milton Keynes

Abandoned

From my really happy childhood I developed a liking for any rusty metal constructions, cement blocks and for the silence of the wind which walks through this. I like them because there is an infinite life that stays there throughout the years… Most abandoned buildings, plants and areas appeared in the Soviet Russia (’70-’80) because they belonged to the “state” (meaning nobody) and afterwards (’90) as a result of the economic crisis. But each place has its own story (in which I, to be honest, do not have much interest).

I think we are all not indifferent to abandoned things. The Abandoned have some sort of a strong and complicated connection with our souls; some people get scared and try to escape their impressions, some fight with them and try to destroy or rebuild or just leave their own footprint on the abandoned site to prove that they’re stronger than this world. And some do not try to do anything – they just look and listen to the Abandoned, enjoying those impressions, feeling the real meaning of time. I am one of them.

Abandoned