A TPE train passes through Wigan North Western at speed.
Thursday, 8 November 2018
Tuesday, 6 November 2018
Castles (7) : Bridgnorth
Not much remains of Bridgnorth Castle in Shropshire these days. The castle, which was built in 1101 by Robert de Belleme the third Earl of Shrewsbury, is situated on a cliff which overlooks the river Severn. Robert was said to be fond of a little torture so it is likely some of his castle's guests did not enjoy their stay that much.
The castle once had a great tower over twenty metres high and a bailey that encompassed the top of the cliff. The castle was a Royalist stronghold during the Civil War and was destroyed by Parliamentary forces under orders from Oliver Cromwell.
The castle tower was left as a ruin which leans at an angle of fifteen degrees. This is largely all that remains of the castle today.
The castle once had a great tower over twenty metres high and a bailey that encompassed the top of the cliff. The castle was a Royalist stronghold during the Civil War and was destroyed by Parliamentary forces under orders from Oliver Cromwell.
The castle tower was left as a ruin which leans at an angle of fifteen degrees. This is largely all that remains of the castle today.
Monday, 5 November 2018
Creating the Apple Lisa (and Mac) user interface
How exactly are graphical user interfaces (GUI) created? Obviously it involves quite a lot of advanced programming and design work but where do you start, especially back in the 1970s when there weren't many examples of GUIs to gain inspiration from? This extraordinary page on the Mac Folklore website has a series of photographs how the Apple Lisa GUI developed from the first basic graphic tests to the finished article which shipped in the early 1980s, and later carried on by the Apple Macintosh to the present day.
What is especially interesting how the Apple UI, with elements still familiar and used today such as the menu at the top, evolved. Early in the Lisa GUI development a softkey menu along the bottom of the screen was the direction the developers took before the abrupt change to a window and mouse based design. Inspired / stolen from Xerox PARC? Well various theories abound, i'm sure there was plenty of inspiration taken but some elements of the GUI are said to predate that.
It is interesting that in 1980 the Lisa had a menu on the top of windows (like Microsoft Windows later went with) instead of along the top of the screen as how the final design used.
What is especially interesting how the Apple UI, with elements still familiar and used today such as the menu at the top, evolved. Early in the Lisa GUI development a softkey menu along the bottom of the screen was the direction the developers took before the abrupt change to a window and mouse based design. Inspired / stolen from Xerox PARC? Well various theories abound, i'm sure there was plenty of inspiration taken but some elements of the GUI are said to predate that.
It is interesting that in 1980 the Lisa had a menu on the top of windows (like Microsoft Windows later went with) instead of along the top of the screen as how the final design used.
Sunday, 4 November 2018
Walking in Wigan
I went up to Wigan yesterday. I have been once before but only to change trains on my trip to St Helens last year. This time I wanted to explore the Leeds & Liverpool Canal which passes through the town. The canal in Wigan is very interesting and i explored part of the Leigh branch too. You can see my canal photos from Wigan here.
Friday, 2 November 2018
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