Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Ultimate Mac Setup - Photographers

The Ultimate Mac Setup for Photographers (50 Apps)
Photography

The Ultimate Mac Setup for Photographers (50 Apps)

David Appleyard on June 30th

OS X is a popular platform for professional photographers, and offers a huge range of software which can help to take better photos, streamline post-processing, sell images, and publish them for others to view. Whether you're a complete amateur or a seasoned pro, this roundup will have something new to show you.

We'll be covering 50 fantastic applications for various areas of photography: organizing, post-processing, geo-tagging, panoramas, HDR images, uploading/sharing images, and more.

Organizing & Editing Photos

    aperture
  • iPhoto - The basic photo program shipped with OS X, iPhoto packs a wide range of features and integrates brilliantly with all the other software on your Mac.
  • Adobe Photoshop Lightroom - A professional photo organization tool, complete with powerful editing features. You can quickly import, process, manage, and showcase your images — from one shot to an entire shoot.
  • Aperture - Having improved a great deal in recent versions, Aperture now offers a good way to cull through shoots, enhance images, manage massive libraries, and deliver stunning photos.
  • Capture One Pro - The choice of seasoned professionals, Capture One works well for tethered shooting and offers a solid tool for a RAW workflow.
  • Picasa - Google's free photo management application, Picasa is friendly and simple to use. It lacks the innovative features found in recent versions of iPhoto.
  • Bibble - Another RAW workflow tool, useful for organizing photos with a wide range of editing functionality.
  • Shoebox - A solid solution for organizing all of your photos by content, with an interface well suited to widescreen displays.
  • JetPhoto Studio - An easy-to-use photo management app with a range of publishing features (including the automatic creation of Flash web galleries)
  • Photoshop Elements - Step-by-step editing, compositing tools, and it's built on the solid foundation of Adobe Photoshop.

Post Processing

    photoshop
  • Adobe Photoshop - The de-facto photo editing application, Photoshop has been an industry leader for many years. It's incredibly powerful, but comes at a price.
  • Pixelmator - An incredibly fast photo editing tool for OS X, which uses various speed-enhancing features of Leopard. Definitely worth taking a look at.
  • Seashore - A native application built upon the core of GIMP, offering a well-rounded, free photo editing solution.
  • Corel Painter X - Taking a slightly different angle, this app tries to simulate as accurately as possible the appearance of traditional media associated with drawing and painting.
  • Acorn - A remarkably uncluttered and simple photo editor for OS X, with a great in-built brush designer.
  • Picturesque - Useful for adding the finishing touches to a photo, such as borders, shadows, perspective, reflections etc.
  • PhotoComplete - Similar to Acorn, PhotoComplete is a basic image editor which excels on account of a simple and easy-to-understand interface.
  • Prizmo - This app allows you to easily change the perspective of a photograph, and essentially "scan" using a digital camera. Fascinating stuff.

Batch Processing

    automator
  • Automator - The built-in automation app from Apple, which can perform a range of photo manipulation actions and be easily extended with a range of plugins.
  • iMagine Photo - Another tool for automating your image processing workflow. You can scale, crop, blend images, apply filters and rotate.
  • EasyBatchPhoto - Allows you to process hundreds (or thousands) of images with a single drag-and-drop, with a simple looking interface.
  • PhotoDrop - A simple utility that allows you to create small, customized droplets that turn the tedious task of modifying a folder of images into a simple drag-and-drop operation.

HDR Photography

    hydra
  • Photomatix - A widely popular HDR app with tone mapping and exposure fusion. It works as a standalone app, or as a plugin for Photoshop or Aperture.
  • Qtpfsgui - Despite the horrendous name, this tool is completely open source and offers a free way to start a HDR workflow.
  • Hydra - A user-friendly interface, automatic matching of images and an Aperture plug-in make Hydra definitely worth a look.
  • Silverfast - Whilst starting to look at little dated, Silverfast seems to offer a fairly large set of advanced features. Not too user-friendly.
  • Bracketeer - A front-end GUI for Enfuse, which offers an auto-align feature and can supposedly create far better looking images than Photoshop. You can be the judge!
  • FDRTools - Another similar tool for combining images, tone mapping, and exporting in a variety of different formats.

Panoramas & Stitching

    panorama
  • Panorama Tools - A page crammed with technical information seems to suggest that this is a very proficient set of tools for stitching and viewing panoramas. Also available as a Photoshop plugin.
  • Double Take - A very simple, user-friendly interface make this a good choice for when you can't get far enough away to fit everything in the viewfinder.
  • PhotoWarp - Capable of producing some fascinating circular warps and panoramas, PhotoWarp is something a little different.
  • Flexify - Allows you to bend and stretch a photo into seemingly any shape, creating some really impressive effects.
  • Panorama2Flash - Support for batch conversion and Flash export make this app a full-featured alternative to those previously mentioned.

Uploading & Sharing

    iweb
  • Flickr Uploadr - A fantastically simple app for uploading your photos to Flickr and ensuring they remain organized as you'd like.
  • Facebook iPhoto Plugin - A simple plugin for uploading images straight to Facebook, supporting tagging and organization within the app itself. Far better than the web based tools.
  • iStockPhoto Aperture Plugin - If you sell images through iStockPhoto, this plugin can be a real time-saver. If you use another stock site, check around to see if a different plugin has been created (you'll probably be pleasantly surprised).
  • iWeb - Apple's basic website design app can be very useful for creating quick, good looking photo galleries and slideshows from images already contained in iPhoto or Aperture.
  • PictureSync - Offering a central app for tagging and organizing photos for upload to a wide range of different online services.
  • Smilebox - A fun and friendly service for scrap-booking, creating cards, and quickly sharing photos.

Geotagging

    geophoto
  • Geophoto - See your pictures from a new perspective and start tagging by location. It can import photos directly from iPhoto or Aperture and share them on Flickr.
  • PhotoLinker - A professional solution than can integrate with GPS tracks, attempting to automatically put your photos in precisely the right location.
  • GeoTagger - A droplet for inserting GPS coordinates into your photos that integrates with Google Earth.
  • HoudahGeo - Catering for both geotagging for archival purposes, and for publishing to Google Earth, Flickr or locr. Also capable of matching photos to a GPS track.
  • PhotoGPSEditor - An easy to use meta-data editor for photo files, plus it can match data from GPS (gpx or NMEA) files. Completely free.
  • Trails for iPhone - If you have an iPhone, Trails is a fantastic way to track exactly where you've been for later geotagging. It doesn't require an internet connection - great for when traveling.

Backup & Recovery

    compactflash
  • CameraSalvage - Retrieve your photos from corrupt or formatted flash cards or other digital camera media. It can recover data from digital camera media cards, hard drives, CD-ROM, external devices, Apple iPods, and much more.
  • Salvage - Salvage is a tool for recovering digital camera pictures from corrupt removable media.
  • ImageRecall - And another. ImageRecall will do it's best to recover any photos from a corrupt or accidentally deleted card.
  • Time Machine - The OS X Leopard backup solution. All that you require is an external hard drive, and to keep a copy of your website locally.
  • Dropbox - I use Dropbox as a means of keeping an off-site backup of important website documents and files (though it's also great at keeping multiple computers in sync!)
  • SuperDuper - If you'd like to keep a bootable backup of your Mac hard drive, SuperDuper is an excellent solution.

Conclusion

A huge selection of software is available for photographers, from direct tethered capturing right through to uploading images to a stock photography website. It's always worth trying out a few options before settling on one in particular (especially when considering major software choices such as Aperture vs Lightroom).

Which pieces of photography software could you not do without? I'm interested to read about the applications that fit into your workflow.


Sunday, June 28, 2009

5 Best Free System Restore Tools

Five Best Free System Restore Tools

Backing up data is a great way to minimize losses after a computing catastrophe. But what about restoring your actual system right away? Here are the five most popular options for our readers. Photo by Robert Scoble.

Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite free system restoration tools for saving working computer states and bringing them back to life. You responded and we rounded up the top five free system restoration tools favored by Lifehacker readers for your consideration.


Macrium Reflect Free (Windows, Free)

Macrium Reflect Free is a no-cost but capable version of the popular Macrium Reflect disk imaging tool. With it you can back up your disk to network locations, optical and removable media, and other hard drives. A built-in scheduler and CD/DVD writing software make maintenance easy, and Macrium Reflect Free supports Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy Service, allowing for real-time, multi-version disc images. One of the strong selling points of Macrium Reflect Free is its compatibility with BartPE, as well as offering a free Linux-based recovery boot disc.

DriveImageXML (Windows, Free)

DriveImageXML creates thorough hard disk images, copies them from disk to disk, and offers browsing of backed-up disk images just like regular directories. That means if there are just a few files to grab from a previous image, there's no need for whole-cloth restorations, just a quick point-and-grab operation. Like Macrium Reflect Free, DriveImageXML support Volume Shadow Copy, and is a free for personal use copy of the company's commercial software.

Paragon Drive Backup Free (Windows, Free)

Paragon Drive Backup is the free personal edition of Paragon's commercial disk imaging software, but supports a wider variety of disks and file systems than comparable backup tools. Paragon supports Microsoft Volume Shadow Services for real-time backup, and it can restore multiple partitions and disks in one shot following colossal hard drive failure. Restorations can be made from flash drives and CD/DVD created by the app. The user interface, as seen in the screenshot, is almost entirely wizard driven, making the sometimes arcane world of disk imaging more accessible to newcomers.

ImageX (Windows, Free)

ImageX was created as a tool for computer manufacturers and other large organizations with a need for imaging and deploying large numbers of computers. So it's primarily a command line tool, but because of its popularity with imaging geeks, a GUI, GImageX, was created for it seen in the screenshot here. Despite having several key limitations, most notably that it only works with modern Windows file systems, ImageX has quite a few excellent features if you're already rocking a Windows-centric house. Image sizes are smaller thanks to "single instancing," where a file appearing in multiple locations within the hard disk you're imaging is only stored once in the disk image. ImageX can also perform selective overwrites of your disk, allowing you to partially restore the contents of a disk image. The link provided above is to the information about ImageX on Microsoft Technet; to jump right to the download for ImageX use this link.

Clonezilla (Windows/Mac/Linux, Free)

Clonezilla is a powerful open-source disk imaging tool easy enough for new users to jump into. The deep-down features, though, may keep users around as their needs grow. The server edition allows for network-based bulk disk imaging, and Clonezilla itself supports over a half-dozen file systems covering Windows, Linux, and Mac-based machines. Even if you're using an obscure file system that isn't supported, you can still use Clonezilla, but you'll need to do a sector-to-sector copy instead of taking advantage of the efficiency and compression it applies when backing up a supported file system. The personal version of Clonezilla is a Live CD and customizable by the end user to meet a variety of needs in a variety of situations, with more than adequate documentation on the Clonezilla site to help you do so.


Now that you've looked over the tools your fellow readers use to image and restore their systems, it's time to vote on which tool you think is the best for system recovery.

This week's Hive Five gets two honorable mentions. Many of you use Windows Home Server and Apple's Time Machine, based on the composition of your respective home networks, to take care of your backup and system restoration needs. Both are excellent solutions, but failed to meet the "free" criteria—yet both are still worth considering in future-proofing your system against disaster.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Advice on Happiness

All the Advice on Happiness You'll Ever Need in One Post

If there's an underlying theme throughout Zen Habits, besides simplifying your life, it's finding happiness.

I've written dozens of articles on different ways to be happy, but it all boils down to one thing: be happy now — don't wait for it.

Still, for those who want more depth, I've compiled a couple dozen of my favorite happiness articles from the archives. I hope you enjoy them! (If not, you've missed the point.)

Share your favorite posts with friends and family!

And more "Best of Zen Habits" posts on different topics:

  1. Everything You Wanted to Know About Simplifying Your Life, and Way More
  2. The Unsurpassable Productivity List: A Handy Guide to Getting Important Things Done
  3. All The Best Tips on Getting In Shape, In One Handy List
  4. The Golden Money List: Hundreds of Tips for Turning Your Financial Life Around
  5. The Beginner's Guide to Zen Habits

Onion - Working @ Work Improves Productivity

Study Finds Working At Work Improves Productivity

November 5, 2007 | Issue 43•45

WASHINGTON, DC—According to a groundbreaking new study by the Department of Labor, working—the physical act of engaging in a productive job-related activity—may greatly increase the amount of work accomplished during the workday, especially when compared with the more common practices of wasting time and not working.

Office workers

Typical workplace activities, such as shooting the shit, turn out to be less productive than not wasting time.


American worker

An American worker can triple his work output by working.

"Our findings are astounding: By simply sitting down and doing work, employees can dramatically increase their output of goods and services," said Deputy Undersecretary of Labor Charlotte Ponticelli, who authored the report. "In fact, 'working' may revolutionize the way people work."

Perhaps even more shocking, the study reveals that not working significantly decreases worker productivity, sometimes even resulting in no work getting done at all. Similar findings were reported in the areas of avoiding work, putting off work, complaining about work instead of actually working, pretending to work, and fucking around.

"Fucking around is in fact detrimental to the work process," the study reads in part.

To conduct the study, researchers split the staff of a Washington-based insurance company into two groups and assigned each group a series of tasks to be completed by the end of the day. The control group engaged in normal workplace activities, such as standing around and talking, staring vacantly at the computer screen, and surfing the Internet. The other group was instructed to do work and complete its given tasks. Incredibly, the group that did not do any work failed to get any work done, while the group that did do work finished all the work.

The researchers believe that these lessons could possibly be applied to fields outside the insurance industry.

"Based on the study, we can safely conclude that if an employee's job is to process expense reports, doing a crossword puzzle will result in the successful completion of that task zero times out of 100, while processing expense reports will result in the successful completion of that task 100 times out of 100," head researcher Richard Schoemberg said.

Jon Halper, a Baltimore-area small-business owner, claims that people used to laugh whenever he told them that the key to worker productivity was not checking friends' MySpace pages for hours at a time, but rather working.

"After this study, I feel vindicated," said Halper, who believes working is so important that for years he has required all his employees to work throughout the day. "Hopefully, more companies will embrace the idea that employees working on things that they are supposed to do is practically essential."

A similar study conducted at Harvard University over a period of three years attempted to determine conclusively whether working was more productive than various different subsets of not working. The results showed across the board that working is 100 percent more productive than listening to music and checking e-mails, 100 percent more productive than meandering around the office socializing with coworkers, 100 percent more productive than playing online Sudoku, 100 percent more productive than watching YouTube videos of nostalgic childhood television programming, 100 percent more productive than reading celebrity-gossip blogs while chatting with friends on Instant Messenger, 100 percent more productive than napping, and 98.2 percent more productive than not showing up to work.

Despite the staggering new findings, many American workers say that they still do not feel comfortable working on the job.

"I love coming into work every day," Arlington, VA sales manager Bryce Davidson said. "I get to have great conversations with [office receptionist] Sandy, challenge myself with Yahoo! TextTwist, and still have time to set my fantasy-football roster. Why would I want to ruin work by working?"

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Baby Back Ribs

Baby Back Ribs

In my household both of my stepsons, Randy and Jacob, 20 and 16, will rarely if ever eat leftovers, unless the food is incredible. I cooked baby back ribs on Saturday, 3 racks – about 6 pounds, and they were gone the next day! I would have to say they were the best ribs I’ve had in a long time and we will be making them again without any real changes to the recipe. Well I might use our secret rub next time, though the rub we used was excellent.

Eating ribs brings back a lot of good memories for me, but the best were the times when I would go visit my sister and her husband in San Jose, back in the ’80s. I was in my teens, my brother-in-law Randy would BBQ the ribs and my sister would make real, fried in oil.. super yeah, French Fries… I just loved them.

I found the somewhat adapted recipe for the ribs in “How to Grill” by Steven Raichlen. If you like to grill and enjoy back back ribs, I would suggest you make them soon. I would also suggest picking up Mr. Raichlen’s books as there is a ton of good information and so far his recipes work! I know, I know, ribs seem complicated, indirect this, temperature control, adding that, spraying them, huh and what the heck is a rib rack. They are actually much easier than you think and your friends and family will be impressed.

I have been grilling lately with my gas Weber grill, but for this task I went with the Weber Kettle grill. I wanted to cook them on medium heat with wood chips and I wanted them to have some smoke… Gas misses the mark a bit on this one, but if you don’t have a charcoal grill handy, don’t let it stop you.

When shopping look for a package marked either “Baby Back Ribs” or “Lion Ribs” or “Back Ribs”. The meat between the ribs are called “finger meat”. These ribs are cut from higher up on the hog near the backbone where the chops and tenderloin come from which means more tender! Each package should weigh approximately 2 pounds. Below I will list the recipe for the rub and the ribs. It is hard to explain how to prep the ribs so take a look at the YouTube video from Weber that does a great job.

Baby Back Ribs

Ingredients:

  • 4 racks of ribs (about 6 – 8 pounds)
  • 3 cups of wood chips, hickory – Soak 1 hour in apple cider, then drain
  • 6 cups of apple cider, plus additional for spraying the ribs
  • 2 whole lemons, halved
  • 2/3 cup of Basic Barbecue Rub (see recipe below)
  • 3 cups of BBQ sauce (make your own or use a commercial brand)

Place the ribs in a large nonreactive roasting pan. Pour the cider over the ribs. Squeeze the juice from the lemons over the ribs. Turn the ribs over a few times to coat with marinade. If desired let the ribs marinate in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours, turning several times. I didn’t have time to marinate them for long, so feel free to skip or reduce the time to 10 – 15 minutes. I did, and the results were still amazing.

Drain the ribs, blot them dry with paper towels. Liberally cover both sides of the ribs with the rub, pushing it into the meat. Let the ribs sit in the fridge again for 1 to 2 hours. Oh, yeehaw, I didn’t have time for this either. My dad was patiently waiting for dinner already… I didn’t want to push it. I did let them sit on the counter for a half hour while I got the grill going.

Meanwhile set up your grill for indirect grilling and preheat to medium. You want the temp in the grill to be 350 degrees. I lit one charcoal starter full, about 40 – 50 briquettes for a large Weber. Once the coals are ready, ashed over, you will place half on each side leaving the middle empty where you can place a drip pan, which can be an aluminum half pan. Hmmm… how do I ever get things to work? I didn’t use a drip pan and didn’t have any problems with flare ups as I had no coals under the meat.

If using a gas grill it should be easy to get the temp to 350. You will most likely leave the back burner on high and turn the others off. You will want to make a smoke pouch. You can do this by placing your soaked chips on a sheet of heavy aluminum foil, cover the chips with the foil, making an enclosed pouch. Then poke holes in the top so the smoke can escape.

I used an oven thermometer, placed through the vent hole, to track the temperature in the grill, again shooting for 350. You can adjust the temperature by opening and closing the vents on the top and bottom of the grill. If you see the temperature on the grill going above 350 you can close the vents halfway on the top. If you have the top fully open and the temp starts to fall to below 300 then add another 10 more unlit coals, see below.

When ready to go, toss 1 cup of wood chips on the coals or if using gas, put your smoke pack on top of one of the burners that is producing heat. Cover the grill and cook the ribs for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Spray the ribs with apple cider every 30 minutes until done. After about an hour add 7 more fresh coals and 1/2 cup of wood chips per side.

Lightly brush the ribs with 1 cup of BBQ sauce 20 minutes before the ribs are done. When the ribs are fully cooked the meat will have shrunk back from the bones 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch and the meat will be tender enough to tear apart with you fingers. Be careful not to overcook.

Transfer the ribs to a platter, let rest for a few minutes, cut as desired and serve with BBQ sauce.

Basic Barbecue Rub

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup sweet paprika
  • 3 tablespoons of black pepper
  • 4 tablespoons of kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons of garlic powder
  • 2 teaspoons of onion powder
  • 2 teaspoons of celery seeds
  • 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

Combine with your hands. If you want more spice substitute the sweet paprika with hot paprika!

Notes: I used a rib rack that I purchased at Williams Sonoma so I could fit more ribs on the grill at one time. If you don’t have a rack I would invest in one. They are everywhere! You can pick them up online for anywhere from $16 to $40. The temperature of my grill was a fairly consistent 350 to 370 and it took exactly 1.5 hours to finish the ribs. The rub was also from “How to Grill” by Steven Raichlen. I may share the rub we use at the restaurant in the future, but I might have to fire myself if I do. Still thinking about it!

Dry Rubbed - Grilled Skirt Steak

Dry Fajita Rub from Steven Raichlen

  • 1/4 cup paprika
  • 3 tablespoons coarse salt
  • 2 tablespoons chili powder
  • 2 tablespoons cracked black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons garlic powder
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • 1 tablespoon dried coriander
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

Combine all ingredients and mix with your fingers or a fork.

Grilled Skirt Steak Fajitas (serves 4 to 6)

  • 2 large onions, peeled and cut lengthwise into 6 wedges, leaving root ends intact
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 bell peppers, cut into 2 inch strips ( I used yellow ones)
  • 2 lbs skirt steak
  • 8 flour tortillas
  • 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
  • Grated cheese, if you like
  • Sour cream, again if you like
  • Salsa
  • Metal or wood skewers

Start your grill up and warm to medium-hot. Apply rub to both sides of the skirt steak and allow to rest on your counter for 30 minutes. Meanwhile thread onions and bell peppers onto skewers, then brush with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Grill onions, turning occasionally, until tender, 16 to 20 minutes. When just cool enough to handle, cut onions into 1-inch pieces and set on a platter.

Turn grill to high and let the temperature come up a bit. Grill steak, turning once, 4 to 8 minutes total for medium-rare depending on the thickness of your steak. Mine were very thin, maybe 1/4 inch max and I grilled them for 2 minutes on each side.

Transfer to cutting board, then let stand 5 minutes before cutting diagonally into thin slices against the grain of the meat.

While steak is standing, toast tortillas directly on grill rack, turning once, until puffed slightly and browned in spots. Serve steak, onions, peppers, cilantro and salsa all wrapped in tortillas. We added cheese, salsa and sour cream ’cause we love it all so much!

BBQ Ribs - Oven or Grill?

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

10 Essential Design Innovations

10 Essential Design Innovations

Design patterns were first described in the 1960s by Christopher Alexander, an architect who noticed that many things in our lives happen according to patterns. He adapted his observations to his work and published many findings on the topic. Since then, design patterns have found their place in many areas of our lives, and can be found in the design and development of user interfaces as well.

In short, design patterns are solutions to recurring problems. By extension, UI design patterns are solutions to common user interface problems. This article goes over 10 interesting UI design patterns that you can use in your own projects. In fact, you may already be using them now without knowing it.

You may be interested in the following related posts:

1. Lazy Registration

To fully appreciate the problem of registration, we should consider an annoyance that has led to the opinion that sign-up forms must die. This certainly doesn't mean they should be completely omitted but rather that they should be only one part in the process of introducing users to a system, and should come late in the process. Such an approach is called "lazy registration" and relates to the account registration pattern.

When would you actually use lazy registration? Although it may seem like lazy registration could be used all the time, some circumstances are ideal:

  • When users are allowed to try out your website product or service before making a decision (which not every website permits, though).
  • When it is important to familiarize users with your system before they sign up, which can be a crucial step in their process of deciding whether to register.
Amazon.com shopping cart

Amazon lets you browse and add products to your shopping cart before signing up.

This pattern is meant to allow users to use your system and take action before registering. If satisfied with your service so far, users will regard this quick act of registration as just another small step in the entire process and not an obligation. The shopping cart is a good example of this pattern: users can browse and choose products and only have to register when they proceed to check out.

Picnik.com sign-up form

Picnik is another good example of lazy registration.
Users can use all of the service's functions to edit their photos online.
They are asked to register only before saving their work.

Recommended reading

2. Progressive Disclosure

This pattern is used to show only the information or features relevant to the user's current activity and to delay other information until it is requested. By hiding more complex or infrequently used features, you de-clutter the user interface; by revealing them only as they are needed, you help users perform a complex, multi-step process on a single page.

The goal is to show only essential information in the first step and then invite users to take the next step. When the user completes a step, you reveal the information in the next step, keeping all previous steps visible. By keeping previous steps visible, you allow users to change what they have entered. And the data they input in the current step can affect the behavior of the next step.

Digg.com comments

Digg uses progressive disclosure in its comments section.
Users can read a comment and, by clicking on the "Replies" link, see all of the replies to that comment.
The link also tells you how many replies will be shown.

Digg.com replies

Once the replies are revealed, users can not only read them but also reply to and rate them.
Comments below the viewing threshold are collapsed by default and are revealed by clicking "Show."

Examples of progressive disclosure are everywhere. A simple "Show more" link that reveals more information is one of the simplest forms of progressive disclosure. But it can be used for more complex cases, such as filling out Web forms. Try to open an account on Picnik (which we mentioned in the lazy registration pattern) to see how progressive disclosure can be used at a more complex level.

YouTube customize section

YouTube uses progressive disclosure when users customize the look of the video player.
When a user clicks the icon, customization features open up below.

Recommended reading

3. Forgiving Format

Search functions can offer users various options and sometimes be complex. When searching weather and street maps, for example, users can use such criteria as city name, street name and zip code. To indicate to users that they can use several criteria, interfaces tend to show multiple options and become overly complex. Instead of adding clutter to the interface, use the forgiving format pattern, which lets users enter data in various formats and leaves it to the system to parse the data.

Yahoo weather search

Yahoo weather search allows users to search by city or zip code.

To convey which formats are supported, give users hints on how to search, whether by listing all available formats, as in the example above, or by providing a link to a help page, as in the example below.

Google maps search

Google Maps allows users to search by city, street, zip code and even latitudinal and longitudinal values.

The forgiving format pattern significantly simplifies user interfaces. However, it may require a lot of work from back-end developers. The more options users have, the more difficult parsing becomes.

4. Clear Primary Actions

Simple Web forms often allow just one action ("Submit," "Save" or "Send"). The user knows exactly what their final action in filling out the form will be, because they have only one option. However, users may sometimes be faced with several options and have to distinguish between primary and secondary actions.

Clearleft contact form

Clearleft makes a distinction between primary and secondary actions with color.

What are primary and secondary actions? Primary actions lead to the completion of a form; for example, clicking "Save" or "Send." Secondary actions usually do not lead to a form's completion; these include clicking "Cancel." There are exceptions, though. Which are the primary and secondary actions when you see "Save," "Save and continue" and "Publish" buttons all in a row? When users have several options, highlighting primary actions and de-emphasizing secondary actions are good practice.

This can be done in two ways:

  • By giving primary and secondary actions different colors; for example, giving primary actions a vibrant color and secondary actions a shade of gray.
  • By styling primary actions as buttons and secondary actions as links.
Flickr upload images form

Flickr highlights the primary action by putting the secondary action in a small label below.

Both ways clearly distinguish between primary and secondary actions, relieving the user from having to think about which option to choose in order to complete their task.

Recommended reading

5. Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs show the path from the front page of the site to the current location of th users in the website's page hierarchy. They are a form of secondary navigation that helps users understand the hierarchy and structure of the website. Breadcrumbs start with the home page and end with the page currently being viewed. Each label in a breadcrumb trail is linked to its respective page or section in the hierarchy, the exception being the one for the current page, which should just be an unlinked label.

Apple breadcrumbs

Apple's breadcrumbs are graphic elements that fit the overall design of the website well.

Breadcrumbs take up minimal space and are usually positioned at the top of the page, below the header and above the content. They would serve no purpose on the home page and so should not appear there. Breadcrumbs can appear simply as text links separated by the ">" sign, or they can be graphic elements, like the breadcrumbs on Apple's website:

Recommended reading

6. Account Registration

The definition of this pattern varies from place to place, but we can say that it solves three somewhat related problems:

  • Certain content is accessible only to registered users,
  • Users need to re-enter their personal data often,
  • Users need to be able to access personalized content on a system.

The solution to allowing users to access protected content is to have them register for an account on the system and store their personal data, to be reused later. The benefits are numerous. For instance, users can be shown personalized offers, as seen on Amazon. Users could also perform tasks more efficiently if the system reused the information submitted during registration. Storing shipping details is just one example. Because filling out forms is not a favorite task of users, requiring only necessary information is important. Another important thing is to clearly highlight all of the benefits users will receive, so that they become more willing to register.

Vimeo.com sign-up form

Vimeo has a simple but attractive sign-up form.

Tumblr.com sign-up form

Tumblr requires only minimal information of the user to sign up.

Recommended reading

7. Required Field Marker

Making the user interface obvious is essential. This applies just as much to Web forms. One of the best ways to make the interface of Web forms obvious is by marking required fields. The purpose of these markers is to alert the user to information they will need to provide. This way, users won't feel they have to fill out the entire form to avoid seeing an error message.

Ideally, you should remove all optional fields and let the user type only the information that is necessary for the interaction. A rule of thumbs: the simpler and shorter a web form is, the better is the user experience. Another interesting idea is to make it possible for users to remove all optional fields – you can find more about how to implement it in practice (as well as a ready-to-be-used-script) in Andy Clarke's article Trimming Form Fields.

Haveamint.com contact form

Haveamint.com puts "Required" markers next to field labels on its contact form.

You can position required field markers in one of two places:

  • Next to labels, allowing users to scan the form quickly,
  • Next to or inside input fields; if the fields are the same width, users will be able to scan the form quickly.

When deciding on which fields to require, take into account the total number of fields in the form. If the form is complex and most of its fields are required, the user will likely see it as unnecessary clutter.

8. Steps Left

This pattern is widely implemented when users have to fill in data in multiple steps. The purpose of this pattern is to:

  • Guide users,
  • Explain the scope of the process by clearly stating how many steps are needed to complete it,
  • Show the user's current position in the process by visually highlighting the current step.
StatementStacker sign-up process

StatementStacker clearly shows the number of steps and highlights the current step.

Steps are usually displayed horizontally and connected by arrows, showing the order in which the steps will be performed. Also, each step is usually marked with a large number and very concise description of what users should do in that step. The important thing here is consistency: a progress indicator should always appear in the same position across the pages and show users where they are at.

This pattern is usually combined with the well-known "wizard" pattern to create a multi-step process, such as for registration or a shopping cart.

Delicious sign-up process

Delicious has a good-looking progress indicator that clearly defines the purpose of each step.
It also highlights the current step by displaying it in a different color.

9. Subscription plans

This pattern is suitable if the website offers one product or service that comes in different plans and requires regular payments, usually monthly payments. Each plan should be descriptive and provide the following information:

  • Name of the plan, such as "Basic" or "Professional,"
  • Price of the subscription plan and how long it is valid for,
  • List of features (the cheapest plan usually has the fewest features),
  • Sign-up button.
Wufoo subscription plans

Wufoo clearly shows its subscription plans, the prices and the differences between them.

Always show your plans in order. Plans are usually ordered from most to least expensive. You can highlight the plan you want users to buy by using a different color or size.

CrazyEgg subscription plans

Crazyegg's subscription table draws attention to the "Basic" plan.

10. Hover Controls

When a user interface has many elements in which the user can perform actions, the page can become cluttered and hard to scan. This is especially common in the administration section of Web applications, where users can change table data. A good way to handle this is to hide each element and reveal it when the user hovers over that area.

Facebook

An "Edit" link is revealed as the user hovers over each section of their Facebook profile page.

Hiding controls and revealing them on hover significantly de-clutters the user interface without taking away functionality.

10 Things NOT to do in the Big Apple - NYC - New York City

  1. Eat at Tavern on the Green

    New York City is full of historic restaurants, restaurants with great views, and restaurants with amazing food. But visitors keep on flockin' to Tavern on the Green: It's the highest-grossing restaurant in New York City, for reasons that mystify the locals. Is it the obscured views of Central Park? The overwrought, faded decor? The gift shop that looks like it was attacked by BeDazzlers? Just what is it that keeps this joint so busy? One thing we know for sure: It isn't the food. Before you tackle the overpriced, underwhelming prix fixe, we urge you to consider: If you want one splendid, special meal with a view of New York City, is this really where you want to go?

    Instead ...


    Eat at the River Café

    It is not cheap, but it's the real deal: The River Café (One Water Street, 718-522-5200) offers a creative, new American prix-fixe menu prepared by chefs who know their way around a shallot. The kitchen helped launch the careers of Charlie Palmer and Larry Forgione, among others, and is known for showcasing up-and-coming culinary talent. And the only thing better than what's on your plate is what's outside your window: The restaurant's dining room floats—literally—over the East River, with spectacular views of the Brooklyn Bridge and lower Manhattan. Oh, wait, was that a cat we just let out of that bag? Yes, Virginia, the restaurant with the best view in New York is in Brooklyn—DUMBO, to be specific—and it's worth the taxi fare across the Brooklyn Bridge. Better yet, take the $3 water taxi straight across the harbor from Pier 11 at Wall Street. — Siobhan Adcock

  2. Take a Pedi-Cab

    Pause on any street corner near Times Square or Herald Square and an insistent pedal-pusher will attempt to take your wallet for a ride—quoting as much as $25 to tow you 20 blocks. Since no self-respecting New Yorker will stand for the price-gouging, hopping aboard will flag you as a tourist faster than strapping on a fanny pack or donning a Red Sox cap. And skip the taxis, too: expensive, often terrifying, and bad for the planet.

    Instead ...


    Take the subway

    On an average weekday, straphangers take over 5 million trips on the NYC subway system. That's because it's safe, fast, easy to navigate, environmentally friendly, in operation 24/7, and cheap. Savvy visitors also know that subway cars offer better people-watching than Greenwich Village and more cultural immersion than the United Nations: Board any car and you'll be surrounded by a cross section of city dwellers, from artists to bankers to just-off-the-boat immigrants. (Just try not to stare.) Remember, too, that NYC is a great walking city. At the fast clip favored by locals, you can hoof it from Times Square to Central Park in less than 20 minutes. — Lynn Suhrie

  3. Eat anything from a hot dog cart

    Like yellow cabs and the Empire State Building, street-corner hot dog carts shaded by colorful umbrellas are iconic symbols of New York City. The vendors do a brisk business, thanks to famished tourists tempted by the promise of quick sustenance. But let's be real for a second: Limp frankfurters stewed for hours in a metal box, accompanied by cardboardlike pretzels and gristly shish kebabs�well, that just ain't lunch. Of course, not all street meat is bad news (check out our picks for New York City's best food carts), but if it's a hot dog you're after, consider your options before forking over $2 for a "dirty-water dog" and reaching for the crusty mustard bottle.

    Instead ...


    Get your gourmet dog on

    There's no better venue than Katz's Delicatessen for a classic, all-beef deli dog ($3.10), but here in the country's gastronomic capital, even the lowly hot dog gets a gourmet makeover. Located just north of Union Square, Dogmatic (26 E. 17th Street, 212-414-0600) sources grass-fed or free-range beef, chicken, pork, turkey, and lamb from sustainable regional farms, folds their handmade sausages ($4.50) into fresh-baked rolls, and tops them with sauces such as truffle Gruy�re, mint yogurt, and cheddar jalape�o. In the East Village, Crif Dogs (113 St. Marks Place, 212-614-2728) deep-fries homemade, naturally smoked wieners (giving the casing a satisfying snap) and offers a range of unorthodox toppings such as avocado, coleslaw, and cream cheese. For an even more decadent taste of NYC, make a reservation at PDT, a speakeasy accessed through a phone booth in Crif Dogs, and pair the "Good Morning," a bacon-wrapped dog crowned with melted cheese and a fried egg ($5) with a perfect Manhattan. — Lynn Suhrie

  4. Go to the top of the Empire State Building

    You know those amusement park rides where you and wailing mobs of children wait two hours and wind through four gift shops and a restaurant just to go on a four-minute ride? Visiting the Empire State Building is something—no, wait: exactly—like that. The view is great, but you'll be in no mood to see it by the time you get there. You'll wait in no fewer than five separate lines: the sidewalk line, the lobby elevator line, the ticket purchase line, the second elevator line, and the line to get off the elevator and onto the observation deck. While you wait, you'll endure aggressive up-sells for an express ticket, a lame "3-D ride over the city," and a picture of your own infuriated face superimposed on a green-screen version of the skyline. Oh, and then you'll wait in no fewer than three lines to get back downstairs, getting herded through a gift shop on your way. Hands down, one of the worst tourism experiences in any city, anywhere.

    Instead ...


    Go to the Rainbow Room

    True New Yorkers know that any experience is better with a cocktail in your hand. So take the $20 that you would have spent to see the Empire State Building, and buy yourself a Manhattan while you take in views of Manhattan 65 floors up at the Rainbow Room (30 Rockefeller Plaza, 65th floor, 212-632-5000). The bartenders are as highly trained and attentive as you'd expect in a storied New York bar, and the Art Deco glamour of the room is enjoyable eye candy in itself. Yes, it's touristy, but this is one tourist spot that even locals get sappy for. For a booze-free option, head up to the Top of the Rock (212-698-2000), the 70th-floor observation deck that towers over Rockefeller Center and has views of all those suckers over at the Empire State Building. The vantage point is just as good, but the wait times are shorter, and the whole experience infinitely more pleasant. — Doug Wright and Colleen Clark

  5. Get cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery

    Ever since its cameo appearance in an episode of Sex and the City, the tiny storefront bakery on the corner of Bleecker and West 11th streets has been overrun by Carrie wannabes and their bored boyfriends, forming lines around the block on weekends and littering the West Village neighborhood with cupcake wrappers. The truth? The cupcakes are floury and bland, with overly sweet icing; the staff is surly; and the founders sold out years ago. Magnolia cupcakes are to New York what Café du Monde beignets are to New Orleans: a cavity-inducing cliché.

    Instead ...


    Get cannolis at Rocco's

    For some real New York history, head a few blocks down to 243 Bleecker Street and pick up some excellent, authentic cannolis and an espresso at Rocco's Pastry Shop (243 Bleecker Street, 212-242-6031), one of the few vestiges of when this part of the Village was populated by Italian immigrants. If you've got your heart set on cupcakes, hail a cab to Cupcake Café (545 Ninth Avenue, 212-465-1530), which has been baking them a lot longer than Magnolia and still gets them right—moist, huge, and with real buttercream frosting. The main location on Ninth Avenue, near the Port Authority Bus Terminal, isn't too convenient, but there's an outpost nestled in the charming children's bookstore Books of Wonder (18 W. 18th Street) in Chelsea. — Peter J. Frank

  6. Take a twilight carriage ride in Central Park

    You may recall the scene in Manhattan where Woody Allen and Mariel Hemingway take a romantic, private, horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park, quipping their way through the leafy quiet. We regret to inform you that your carriage ride will be nothing like that experience. The horse will seem tired, the driver's patter will be even less entertaining than Mia Farrow's memoirs, and you'll spend the entire ride crawling along the park's main drives, staring at the back of another carriage, and enduring dirty looks from locals and animal lovers.

    Instead ...

    Get up early and walk through Central Park

    The park is at its most magical in the morning, when the crowds are thin and the green lawns are fresh, and you'll want to wander off the main roads and explore its 843 acres at your own pace. You might even want to, you know, stop and smell some flowers—or at least something more aromatic than horse poo. So get up early one morning, grab a cup of joe and a roll from a street cart, and eat your breakfast walking some of the park's woodsier byways. Enter the park from either Fifth Avenue or Central Park West in the mid-Seventies, and head toward the center: This latitude offers easy access to some of the park's best features. You can drift around the marshy shores of the lake, climb Pilgrim Hill near the Conservatory Water, or stand still with a view to the east and watch for Pale Male and Lola, the famous red-tailed hawks who use an apartment building on Fifth Avenue as a launchpad for their own Central Park explorations. — Siobhan Adcock

  7. Eat at a restaurant in Times Square

    We understand the slickster appeal of Times Square, with its gaudy neon, its aura of history, its unbridled commercialism. But we don't understand why anyone bothers to eat there. The Giuliani-era campaign to make Times Square safe for families and visitors had the side effect of attracting faceless national chains: Red Lobster, Applebee's, and Chevy's Fresh Mex hadn't set foot in New York City until they marched up 42nd Street. And guess what? The chains are exactly the same as the ones in the 'burbs—just more expensive.

    Instead ...

    Eat in Hell's Kitchen

    Two blocks west of Times Square is Hell's Kitchen, a gentrified neighborhood of former tenements now populated by young actors, writers, and other up-and-comers. These people need reliable, inexpensive places to chow down, and Ninth Avenue is lined with obliging eateries that run the ethnic gamut from Vietnamese to Puerto Rican to Greek to Italian—ideal for a quick, affordable lunch between sightseeing stops, or for a pre- or post-theater bite. Try Pam Real Thai (404 W. 49th St., 212-333-7500) for an authentic taste of Bangkok, Chimichurri Grill (606 9th Ave., 212-586-8655) for Argentine-style steak, Meskerem (468 W 47th St., 212-664-0520) for savory Ethiopian food, or Esca(402 W. 43rd St., 212-564-7272) for first-rate Italian seafood—or just walk up and down the avenue till you find something that appeals. Times Square may be called the Crossroads of the World, but the real U.N. of cooking is two avenues away. — Peter J. Frank

  8. See a Times Square comedy show

    If someone on the street asks "Do you like comedy?" your response should always be a blank stare of confusion or, for the more hardened among us, "What I'd like is for you to get out of my way." Times Square comedy clubs hire aspiring comedians to canvass the streets, luring unsuspecting visitors into not-particularly-funny stand-up shows with several-drink minimums. Equally unfunny are the crowds of people shivering in line before dawn to get standby tickets that don't even guarantee entrance into tapings of "Saturday Night Live".

    Instead ...

    See the Upright Citizens Brigade

    Save yourself the trouble (and the cash) and head downtown to the Upright Citizens Brigade (307 W. 26th St., 212-366-9176) in Chelsea. Robin Williams, Mike Myers, Will Ferrell, and Tina Fey have appeared in shows at UCB, which cost no more than $8 per ticket. Megawatt stars regularly drop in to try out new material, you can indulge in your friend-crush on UCB regular Amy Poehler (or, um, Horatio Sanz), and you can catch up-and-comers before they make their big SNL debuts. The best part? UCB has some of the cheapest beer in town: $2 bottles will make even a rare "off" night go down a little easier. — Colleen Clark

  9. Shop at Macy's

    There's no nice way to put this: Herald Square is a zoo. The whole area around 34th Street is overcrowded and uninteresting, and Macy's gets so much foot traffic that there's no way the beleaguered (or, put another way, bored) staff can keep up: The place typically looks like a merch-bomb just exploded all over the floor. The shoes, clothes, and housewares are similar to what you'll find at Macy's all over the country—except they're often on the floor instead of on a rack. Did you really come all this way to buy the same stuff they've got at home? And visiting at Christmastime to relive Miracle on 34th Street is enough of a kid-screaming, camera-clicking nightmare to make you flee to Gimbels, if it hadn't been turned into the dreadful Manhattan Mall.

    Instead ...

    Shop at Lord & Taylor

    As department stores in New York go, Lord & Taylor's flagship on Fifth Avenue at 38th Street (212-391-3344) is an elegant alternative to big-city retail madness. Its hushed, dignified interior always seems impeccably neat, the sales staff is leaps and bounds less pushy than the clerks at Bloomie's or Bergdorf's, and the cosmetics counters are well staffed and crowd-free. Even if the store is not actually full of genteel older ladies browsing for gloves and hat pins, the old-school atmosphere can make you believe that a civilized shopping experience can still be had in New York: The store sets out chairs for early-bird shoppers, and the retail day still begins every morning with a piped-in rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Locals in the know make a beeline for the dress floor (on four) whenever a wedding invitation drops. — Siobhan Adcock

  10. Have a night out in the Meatpacking District

    Once the haunt of New York's legendary tranny streetwalkers, not to mention some seriously debauched bars and clubs—we'll draw a veil over the Manhole, shall we?—the Meatpacking District now echoes with the weekend din of tottering, giggling girls; gauche bars and clubs; and drunken "dudes" in striped button-downs. In the daytime, it's another story: We're more than happy to explore the Nabe's excellent shopping thankyouverymuch (including Diane von Furstenberg's beautiful store), and we're excited to see how the High Line park will turn out. At least there's a trace of the real meat-processing industry left: An unwary step off the curb, and you could be ankle deep in the old NYC.

    Instead ...

    Head to the Lower East Side, and keep going

    The L.E.S. was once as obnoxious as the M.P.D., attracting its own share of the bridge-and-tunnel crowd. But now the neighborhood, bound by Chinatown to the south, the East Village to the north, and Soho to the West, is as upmarket (luxe Chloe 81, 81 Ludlow St., 212-677-0067) or as downmarket (dive Home Sweet Home, 131 Chrystie St., 212-226-5708) as you want it to be. For those not averse to exploring further afield, get thee to Brooklyn: Kings County has been crowned the new ruler of nightlife in this town. Grab a cab (yes, they have to take you), start on Smith Street in Boerum Hill or Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, and who knows where you might end up—eating barbecue and drinking beer at 4 a.m. in the Brooklyn Ice House (318 Van Brunt St., Red Hook, 718-222-1865) or making out with some hipster in an Art Deco nook at the K&M bar (225 N. 8th St., Williamsburg, 718-388-3088). — Nicola McCormack

How marijuana affects your driving performance

How marijuana affects your driving performance

how marijuana effect driving skills

MARIJUANA AND DRIVING

Whenever the subject of reforming marijuana laws comes up, someone always brings up the issue of driving while high, which makes sense. It's an established fact that alcohol increases a drivers accident risk – but does that same risk apply to marijuana? The scientific research out there shows that cannabis is rarely a factor in car accidents, and has much less of an impact on the psychomotor skills needed for driving than alcohol does.

In fact, when it comes to speed and focus, high and drunk drivers actually have the exact opposite reactions. Drivers under the influence of marijuana are aware of their impairment and compensate for it by slowing down and over-compensating their focus, while drunk drivers tend to drive in a more risky manner proportional to their intoxication.

There's a large amount of research out there on the effects of marijuana on driving, and the results are fairly consistent: Marijuana has a measurable yet relatively mild effect on psychomotor skills, yet it does not appear to play a significant role in vehicle crashes, particularly when compared to alcohol. Check out the conclusions from the US Department of Transportation study:

* Current users of marijuana prefer THC doses of about 300 ug/kg to achieve their desired "high".

* It is possible to safely study the effects of marijuana on driving on highways or city streets in the presence of other traffic.

* Marijuana smoking impairs fundamental road tracking ability with the degree if impairment increasing as a function of the consumed THC dose.

* Marijuana smoking which delivers THC up to a 300 ug/kg dose slightly impairs the ability to maintain a constant headway while following another car.

* A low THC dose (100 ug/kg) does not impair driving ability in urban traffic to the same extent as a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.04g%.

* Drivers under the influence of marijuana tend to over-estimate the adverse effects of the drug on their driving quality and compensate when they can; e.g. by increasing effort to accomplish the task, increasing headway or slowing down, or a combination of these.

* Drivers under the influence of alcohol tend to under-estimate the adverse effects of the drug on their driving quality and do not invest compensatory effort.

* The maximum road tracking impairment after the highest THC dose (300 ug/kg) was within a range of effects produced by many commonly used medicinal drugs and less than that associated with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08g% in previous studies employing the same test.

* It is not possible to conclude anything about a driver's impairment on the basis of his/her plasma concentrations of THC and THC-COOH determined in a single sample.

So stoners are safer because they're paranoid?

Sunday, June 21, 2009

All About Cooking Oils

All About Cooking Oils

 Oils to avoid for better health

While all oils are pure fat, not all fats are created equal. I won't get into details here, but saturated and trans-fatty acids seem to be the culprits if you have health concerns.  Margarine or Trans Fat Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils contain TRANS fatty acids. Read your food labels, if it says, "partially hydrogenated," try to avoid them. They are present in all commercially made doughnuts, crackers, cookies, pastries, deep-fat fried foods (including those from all major "fast-food" chains), potato and corn chips, imitation cheeses, and confectionery fats found in frosting and candies. All of them have unsaturated fats which can be damaged at high temperature and converted to a trans fat. Look for fats labeled super-unsaturated (like flax seed) or monounsaturated (like olive and canola oil).  Polyunsaturated oils are also healthy choices.

Cooking Oil:
How to choose a good one

Written by Gloria Tsang, RD
Published In June 2005; Updated in May 2007

best cooking oilAll manufacturers claim their own cooking oil is the best! Canola oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, butter, margarine and even virgin coconut oil each has its supporters. Before we conclude the best cooking oil(s), let's look at the essential - Fats 101. We classified the following fats as "good fats" and "bad fats" based on their heart-smart values: their ability to raise or lower total and LDL cholesterol.

The Bad Fats
Saturated Fats Saturated fats raise total blood cholesterol as well as LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol).
Trans Fats Trans fats raise LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) and lower HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol).
The Good Fats
Monounsaturated Fats Monounsaturated fats lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) and increase the HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol).
Polyunsaturated Fats Polyunsaturated fats also lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol.Omega 3 fatty acids belong to this group.

Therefore, based on the above classification, the "ideal" cooking oil should contain higher amount of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and with minimal or no saturated fats and trans fats.

best cooking oilThe Verdict? As long as you're using fats and oils sparingly in your cooking and preparation, it would be fine to use any one of the following "good" oils. All of the following oils are low in saturated fats and trans fats. Some have high concentration of monounsaturated fats such as olive oil. Choose corn oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, soy oil or canola oil if you wish to fry foods as these oils have higher smoke point. It is best not to fry with olive oil as its smoke point is only about 190C/375F.

  • Good Cooking Oils:
    • canola oil
    • flax seed oil
    • peanut oil
    • olive oil
    • non-hydrogenated soft margarine
    • safflower oil
    • sunflower oil
    • corn oil

The following "bad" oils contain high percentage of trans fat or saturated fats. Some, such as coconut oil, even contain more saturated fats than animal products!


What Is The Smoke Point

Smoke point is the temperature to which an oil can be heated before it smokes and discolors—indications of decomposition. If you are cooking with oil and it begins to smoke, you have reached its smoke point. At the smoke point, the oil begins to emit unpleasant odors and impart unsavory flavors to your meal. Watch out for the smoke point signs as it means you are getting close to the flash point, which is when the oil can erupt into flames. Knowing the smoke point warn you about the flash point and fire points. At the flash point, there are tiny wisps of flame; at the fire point a fire is blazing. The best oils for cooking and frying are those that have a high smoking point – that is, they can be heated to high temperatures before burning.

A number of factors will decrease the smoke point of any fat:

  • Combination of vegetable oils in products
  • Presence of foreign properties (batter)
  • Temperature to which oil is heated
  • Presence of salt
  • Number of times oil is used
  • Length of time oil is heated
  • Storage of oil (exposure to oxygen, light, temperature)

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"Flash" And "Fire" Points

Other heat points for fats include "flash" and "fire" points at 600 and 700 degrees, respectively. Do not put out an oil fire with water, the water will splatter the burning oil and spread it more quickly. Smother the fire with a tight-fitting lid. If the fire has spread outside the pan, suffocate it with baking soda or a fire extinguisher formulated for oil fires.

Cooking oil that has reached boiling point (bubbling) is very dangerous. If the oil starts to boil, remove it from the heat source immediately. Simply turning off the heat source may not be enough to reduce the heat immediately for electric appliances, or cook tops because they retain heat even after they are turned off. An oil reaches its flash point at about 600°F. when tiny wisps of fire begin to leap from its surface. If the oil is heated to its fire point 700° F. for most oils, its surface will start vaporising and spontaneously ignite, surging up and out almost instantly.   

 

The most accurate method of testing the temperature of oil for deep-frying is a deep-fat thermometer.  Make sure the bulb of your thermometer is completely immersed in the oil, but not touching the bottom of the pan. Otherwise, the reading could be affected. If you don't have one, use the age-old method of dropping a square of bread into the hot oil; if it rises to the surface crackling and frying, the oil's hot enough. If it browns uniformly in:

  • 60 seconds, the temperature is 350 to 365°F
  • 40 seconds, the temperature is about 365 to 382°F
  • 20 seconds, the temperature is about 382 to 390°F

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 Oils for Frying

 The oil or fat you use for deep-frying should have a high smoke point — the temperature to which it can be heated without smoking. Butter and margarine have low smoke points, so they aren't good for frying but work for light sauteing. The best oils for deep-frying and high temperatures are refined safflower and sunflower oils, peanut, safflower and soy oils. Refined almond, avocado and cottonseed oil are also great if you can find and afford them, and canola oil is usually not a problem either.

Remove food particles from used deep-frying oil by straining it through a coffee filter, or a sieve or funnel lined with a double layer of cheesecloth. Cover, tightly seal and refrigerate strained oil; it can then be used one more time.

The temperature of the fat is all-important if the fat isn't hot enough, food will absorb fat and be greasy, oils that can't take the heat will get too hot, and burn. The normal temperature range for frying is 325°F to 375°F, however, it'd quite likely that higher temperatures of 375°F to 400°F also are used. Most foods cook rapidly in the 325°F to 375°F range and develop a golden color, crisp texture and good flavor. High-temperature frying leads to thinner crusts and less oil absorption. Foods fried in this normal temperature range absorb 8 to 25 percent oil. Frying time is longer at lower temperatures. Frying at lower temperatures results in lighter color, less flavor development and increased oil absorption.

Refined Cooking Oils

Refined Oils are extracted from clean oilseed / oil cakes by solvent extraction for further refining to produce clear oil, free from rancidity and foreign matter. These oils are used as medium cooking oils (225°F - 350°F), high cooking oils (350°F - 450°F), and deep-frying oils (greater than 450°F).

If the oil you buy is bland and pale, you can be certain that it has been fully refined, bleached, and deodorized. In essence, refined oils have negligible flavor and aroma which can be useful in delicately flavored dishes. Use for baking and sautéing, stir-fry and wok-fry, and oven cooking; to sear, brown, deep fry, fry and for tempura.

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Name

Description/Uses for Refined Oils

Type of Fat2

Smoke
Point 1

Almond

Nut oils are best used in cold dishes; heat destroys their delicate flavor.

 

495°F

Avocado

This rather unusual light, slightly nutty tasting oil is considered primarily to be a novelty. To add a different twist to salad dressings, try using avocado oil in place of the oil you would normally use. This oil is often made from damaged and cosmetically inferior avocados. It is low in saturated fatty acids and high in polyunsaturates.

 

520°F

Butter, whole or clarified

This the preferred fat for baking as it adds the most flavour. It's not idea for frying since it will burn at a lower temperature than most oils, but can be used for sauteing. Try adding butter to oil for the flavor benefit of butter and the higher temperature range of oil.

 

350°F

Canola (A US marketing name for rapeseed oil)

A light, golden-colored oil, similar to safflower oil. Low in saturated fat. Extracted from the seeds of a plant in the turnip family (the same plant as the vegetable broccoli rabe). Used in salads and cooking, mostly in the Mediterranean region and India; also used in margarine and blended vegetable oils. It has a mild flavor and aroma. It is most commonly available in a refined form. Its mild flavor and relatively high smoke point make refined canola oil a good all-purpose oil. Of all the oils, it has the least amount of saturated fat and is one of the least expensive.

mono

400°F

Corn oil

Made from the germ of the corn kernel. Corn oil is almost tasteless and is excellent for cooking because it can withstand high temperatures without smoking. It is high in polyunsaturated fat and is used to make margarine, salad dressings and mayonnaise.

poly

450° F

Grape Seed

This light, medium-yellow, aromatic oil is a by-product of wine making. It is used in salads and some cooking and in the manufacture of margarine.

 

400°F

Lard

Baking,

 

361-401°F

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Olive

A monosaturated oil extracted from tree-ripened olives. Olive oils range from light amber to green in color and bland to extremely strong in flavor. Olive oil is graded according to its degree of acidity and the process used to extract the oil.

mono

Unrefined 320°F;
Extra Virgin 406°F; Virgin** 420°F;  Extra Light* 468°F

Peanut

Made from pressed, steam-cooked peanuts. Peanut oil has a bland flavor and is good for cooking because it doesn't absorb or transfer flavors.. Its smoking point is slightly lower than corn or safflower oil

mono

450°F

Safflower, High Oleic

A clear, almost flavorless oil made from the seeds of safflowers. Safflower oil is a favorite for salads because it doesn't solidify when chilled. Sunflower oil is pale yellow and has a bland flavor. It is a good all-purpose oil low in saturated fat and high in polyunsaturated fat.

mono

450°F

Safflower, Regular

A clear, almost flavorless oil made from the seeds of safflowers. Safflower oil is a favorite for salads because it doesn't solidify when chilled. Sunflower oil is pale yellow and has a bland flavor. It is a good all-purpose oil.

poly

450°F

Sesame

Made from pressed sesame seeds. Sesame oil comes in two varieties: light (made with untoasted sesames) and dark (made with toasted sesames). Light sesame oil has a nutty flavor and is especially good for frying. Dark sesame oil (Asian) has a stronger flavor and should only be used in small quantities for flavoring foods -- not cooking. Both varieties are high in polyunsaturated fat.

poly

410°F

Shortening, vegetable

Baking, frying,

 

356-370°F

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Soybean

Highly refined soy oil is reasonably priced, very mild and versatile, accounting for over 80% of all oil used in commercial food production in the U.S. Almost any product that lists vegetable oil as an ingredient probably contains refined soy oil. This is a good all-purpose oil that is also used in cakes and pastries

 

450°F

Sunflower, High Oleic

Made from sunflower seeds. Sunflower oil is pale yellow and has a bland flavor. It is a good all-purpose oil

mono

450°F

Sunflower, Regular

A light, odorless and nearly flavorless oil pressed from sunflower seeds. Pale yellow and versatile.

poly

450°F

Vegetable Oil

Made by blending several different refined oils. Designed to have a mild flavor and a high smoke point.

 

 

Unrefined Cooking Oils

Unrefined cooking oils: These oils are typically called salad oils and are used for salad dressings, marinades, and sauces or light cooking oils (light sautes and low heat baking). As a general rule, they should not be cooked at high temperatures. Use for light sautéing, low-heat baking, pressure cooking, sauces and salads. However, safflower oil is the one unrefined oil that can become hot enough to reach the temperature necessary for deep-frying. Unrefined oil contains a full range of bioactive components that not only have healthful benefits and provide full-bodied flavor, but also make the oil more prone to oxidation. Using unrefined oils at temperatures above 320°F accelerates the oxidation of these oils.

Unrefined oils are processed by cold-pressed and expeller-pressed methods. Unrefined oils carry with them the true bouquet of olives, corn, sesame seeds, peanuts, soybeans, safflower, or whatever plant was the oil's original home. The strong flavors of unrefined oils can dominate whatever dish or baked good is made with them. Of course, strong flavor is not always a drawback; in some cases unrefined oils are used as flavoring agents. And, typically, where there is strong natural flavor and aroma, there is a higher amount of nutritional value. Best for medium heat temperature range: 212°F – 320°F.

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Name

Description/Uses Unrefined Oils

Type of Fat

Smoke Point 3

Corn

 

poly

320°F or less
for all

Coconut Oil

A heavy, nearly colorless oil extracted from fresh coconuts. Used primarily in blended oils and shortenings. Used primarily in prepared, processed, packaged foods.

 

Grape Seed

This light, medium-yellow, aromatic oil is a by-product of wine making. It is used in salads and some cooking and in the manufacture of margarine.

 

Nut (walnut, hazelnut)

This fragrant full-flavored oil is pressed from hazelnuts and takes on the flavor of roasted nuts. The nuts are often toasted for a browner color and better flavor. The nuts are never blanched. Used in salad dressings, sauces, baked goods, and for sautéing.

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Olive 4

sauteing, stir-frying. A monosaturated oil extracted from tree-ripened olives. Olive oils range from light amber to green in color and bland to extremely strong in flavor. Olive oil is graded according to its degree of acidity and the process used to extract the oil. Oil labeled "virgin" is cold pressed, a process using no heat or chemicals and contains low levels of acidity. Oil labeled "pure" uses heat and chemicals to process olive residue from subsequent pressings. Oil varies in weight and may be pale-yellow to deep-green depending on fruit used and processing. Cold-pressed olive oil, is superior in flavor to refined. Oil from the first pressing, called "virgin" olive oil is the most flavorful. Also classified according to acidity: extra virgin, superfine, fine, virgin, and pure, in ascending degree of acidity. "Pure" olive oil, and that labeled just "olive oil" may be a combination of cold-pressed and refined oil; suitable for cooking.

mon

Peanut

Made from pressed, steam-cooked peanuts. Peanut oil has a bland flavor and is good for cooking because it doesn't absorb or transfer flavors.. Its smoking point is slightly lower than corn or safflower oil.

mono

Pumpkin Seed

 

 

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Safflower, High Oleic

Sunflower oil is an excellent all-purpose oil; however, some people find its flavor too strong for baked goods and salads. It stores well and may be used instead of sesame or corn oil. This oil has a high resistance to rancidity.

mono

Safflower, Regular

 

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Sesame

There are two types of sesame oil. The oil that is made from roasted sesame seeds has a strong, distinctive flavor. It is called dark sesame or toasted sesame oil and has a intensely rich, smoky, sesame aroma; nutty taste; dark, brown color; thick consistency; and cloudy appearance. It is used a great deal in Chinese and Indian cooking. Just a few drops of this oil can add an outrageously delicious flavor that enhances many foods. Dark sesame oil is ideal for stir-fries, baking, sauces, and spreads.

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Soybean

Soybeans contain oil that is inefficient to extract in a natural manner; therefore, unrefined expeller-pressed soy oil is rather expensive. Unrefined soy oil has a strong, distinctive flavor and aroma -- some like it, some don't. It has a dark yellow color with a faint green tint. Unrefined soy oil is more susceptible to oxidation and rancidity than sesame, olive, or corn oil.

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Sunflower, High Oleic

Made from sunflower seeds. Sunflower oil is pale yellow and has a bland flavor. It is a good all-purpose oil

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Sunflower, Regular

 

 

Vegetable (soybean)

An inexpensive and all-purpose blend of oils made from plant sources such as vegetables, nuts and seeds. Most vegetable oils are made from soybeans.

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