A growing number of online companies are ambushing competitors through software that puts ads where marketers want them most--in front of customers visiting rival Web sites.
Salon not only lives, they are heading toward profitability. whew.
Salon's Newfound Financing Has a 14-Person Price TagNew Money Keeps Lights On At Salon
The online retailer lays off nearly half of its staff, leaving a 'skeleton crew' to maintain the site for parent Kmart.
Dutch Firms Struggle as Labor Gets Scarce
Offering hope that a rapid rise in diabetes in the United States can be reversed, a large clinical study has found that even modest lifestyle changes cut the incidence of the disease by more than half among those most at risk.
The Science and Art of Effective Web Design
"Winning Web sites are those that balance user performance and visual appeal. This seminar draws on thousands of research studies on user behavior, and on the principles of successful visual design. You will learn to create sites that make sense to users while providing an enjoyable and compelling experience."
Thursday, June 21, 2001
7:00 PM
Informal Tools for Designing Anywhere,
Anytime, Anydevice User Interfaces
by James Landay
230 Bechtel, Sibley Auditorium
University of California, Berkeley
http://www.baychi.org/bof/events/east/e200106.html
Why do we have to fight so hard to convince clients (and that can include bosses and/or coworkers) that we should think about the problem before we start designing the solution? And that we should test out solution while it's still in a cheap and easy-to-change form (say, paper prototypes) before spending a ton of time and money building the wrong thing?
Reading through Jeff Rubin's terrific Conceptual Design: Cornerstone of Usability I kept going, "Well, of course. Well, yes, of course." Sometimes because I've been doing user-centered design for a while now and I'm familiar with the techniques, but too often because he was
saying one needs to fight for the right to research the problem, sketch out a few solutions, test a prototype and then start building the product.
Is this a shocking protocol?
1. Study the problem, including the competitors' solutions.
2. Sketch out a couple of different solutions.
3. Test a rough protype of your solutions with the people who will use the product to see if you have a good solution.
4. Revise the solution based on what you learned.
5. Build a prototype that is close to the finished thing.
6. Test with the people who will use it.
7. Make fixes based on what you learned.
8. Ship the product. Include a feedback devise so you can make the next version even better.
Can anyone read that and find it a revelation? Do we really need to proselytize common sense?
Don't answer that...
My husband sent me a series of links to GIS systems. Why do you care? There may be inspiration here in a way to visualize data in a meanful way. I'm exploring it...
Geographic Information Systems
Some freeware and an image gallery.
Esri, the company that makes Arcview and Arcinfo, two of the big GIS software programs.
Massachusetts
The Information Design certificate program and Bentley’s Design and Usability center are pleased to offer the Usability Boot Camp, an intensive five-day experience with leading authorities on usability and user experience, July 9 through 13, 2001. Reserve the dates as registration is limited. Check back for details.
also check out their information design program
~~~
Seattle
Don't go to WebDesign World to see Zeldman, Veen or Spool! Go to see me yap yap yap about user-centered design processes. (okay, you can catch them talking too...)
Informal Tools for Designing Anywhere, Anytime, Anydevice User Interfaces
James Landay
230 Bechtel, Sibley Auditorium
University of California, Berkeley
Thursday, June 21st @ 7.00 p.m.
Talk Abstract
We are now entering the era of pervasive computing, an era where people
will access information and services anywhere, anytime, and from a wide
variety of devices. The challenge for researchers and practitioners is how
to support the design of user interfaces that will empower people to
engage in these interactions easily and efficiently. Our work has been in
creating design tool that support the best practices of user-centered
design. Such practices include the informal techniques used during the
early stages of design, such as sketching and "faking" interactions using
Wizard of Oz techniques to test early designs.
http://www.baychi.org/bof/east/
OPENING THANG
Hey kiddos-- Still in France, and will be until June 6th, after which expect the usual 4 a.m. postings to EH and Gleanings, as jetlag sets in. I'm ensconced deep in French farmcountry, as Noel said earlier, and don't have much connectivity to speak of, which is pleasent and weird both. I simply hike up to the main house to download my mail. It's proving to be a productive time, and though I miss my meanders online I've replaced them with meanders into the local village.
http://www.nothing-new.com/travel/France/may01/chaumejean
I just wanted to send a petite bonjour to the readers, and thank the guest gleaners-- they've done a terific job! I really enjoy the world through other's eyes and voices. Speaking of voices, Noel's writing up a storm on the Carbon Log; be sure to swing by. http://www.carboniq.com/log
and gleanings is completely built from email, so no guarentees on the
quality of my linkage...
IA MATTERS
Peter Metholtz has written a long "thoughtwander" on the futility of new
interfaces and the map as interface. It's chock full of tasty links that I only wish I could follow...
Which reminds me to say again if you are an IA, you need to get "Mapping
Websites: Digital Media Design" by Paul Kahn and Krzysztof Lenk. It offers many ways to create "website planning documents" as they call them, and well as some interesting insights
intot he relationship of realworld maps to web maps. I don't have the link available (working offline), but I've got it on my blog
http://www.eleganthack.com/blog
which inspired Paul to post this yummy link to a course on maps!
http://www.dynamicdiagrams.com/seminars/mapping/maptoc.htm
>From the SIGIA list
Navigation resources
http://www.sitenavigation.net/snguide.html
http://usableweb.com/topics/000689-0-0.html
USABILITY MATTERS
Talking to Computers (Scientific America) -- "Any notion that we can
replace keyboards with pen-based computing is wildly misguided. The
fastest you can go with a pen is about a third the speed that you can
type. It's a single channel output compared to multiple channel outputs
when you type, and that's the same limitation you have with voice as well.
Those technologies just have a basic fundamental human limitation that
usually gets overlooked." via webword.com
>> http://sciam.com/explorations/2001/052101compu/
NEWS & COMENTARY
As a travel junkie and a web junkie, I can't help but be intrigued by
orbitz...
Groups Seek To Block Orbitz Launch
http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20010525S0004
Analysts: Orbitz (Kind of) Rocks
http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article/0,,4_772531,00.html
NUA's take on the recent hoaxes
"In the past two weeks, two deaths have shocked parts of the Internet
community. The deaths, both of young women who had a host of online
friends, became all the more shocking when it was discovered in both
cases that neither of the women had ever actually existed in the
'real' world.
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/analysis/weekly_editorial.html "
Cahners In-Stat Group: Web appliances to be hugely popular (via nua.ie)
"Consumer demand for Internet-enabled appliances is set to grow by a
compound rate of 101 percent annually until 2005, according to Cahners
In-Stat."
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905356799&rel=true
The Industry Standard: European firms remain optimistic (via nua.ie)
"A new survey of senior company executives in Europe has found that
93 percent of large European companies intend to maintain or
increase their IT spending in the next year. Sixty percent of those
polled said they were confident about the medium term future of the
European economy."
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905356796&rel=true
How Amazon Is Beating the Costs of Shipping
"The e-retailing giant has quietly established its Worldwide Digital
Group, which offers music, e-book and software downloads."
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,26715,00.html?nl=dnt
APROPOS OF NOTHING
>From creativegood.com,
"Interior Desecrators shows the horrors of 1970s interior decorating. One of
the more entertaining sites I've seen recently. "
http://www.lileks.com/institute/interiors/bhg/index.html
Who's got real problems, and who's just pissing and moaning?
The Stress Test
http://www.thespark.com/stresstest/
cool FAQ's
http://www.voght.com/cgi-bin/pywiki?KmFaq
via stylewithsubstance.com
"funny new use for the palm"
http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/stories/info/0,,40964,.html
"A Date Which Will Live in Falsity"
How on earth will Disney market "Pearl Harbor" to Japan's moviegoers?
With a poster like this one:
http://www.modernhumorist.com/mh/0105/pearl/
this type of humor is always much funnier when I'm abroad...
"The Foreigner's Guide to America: Chapter Two"
http://www.modernhumorist.com/mh/0105/guide02/
and if you missed the first...
http://www.modernhumorist.com/mh/0105/guide/
Finally thanks Lane, for making me a trusted friend!
Has anyone writen up ettiquette to deal with Amazon's friends and family
circles yet? Do I write a thank you note, or simply send flowers?
originally sent 6/4/01
So Chrisina splits the country...could her sister be the next best thing? You make the call. Alyssa sits in the Gleanings Chair for this episode, which I'm again serving up from vacation in Rochester, New York (where the most notable user experience is a trip to Wegmans, the Bellagio Las Vegas of grocery stores). Email her at alyssa@stylewithsubstance.com with your fan mail. -- Noel
INTRO
I'm Alyssa, Christina's sister and one of the people she asked to do a gleanings while she's gone. Christina and I share an apartment, at least until her hubby makes it through the INS process. It's kind of nice to rattle around here alone, though it gets a little creepy sometimes. I try not to hear footsteps in the attic or imagine noises at the back door. Mostly I sit at C's computer for hours at a time, mentally blocking out the dishes and laundry that need to be done.
Since she left I've spent much of my free time dismantling the smoke alarms. One of them started beeping and there are so many damned smoke alarms in this long apartment and the sound is so weird in here, I haven't been able to figure out which one is beeping. Admittedly, it took me about 4 or 5 days to bother to drag the ladder out to deal with the problem. Every time I think I've gotten the right smoke detector, I hear another beep. I've dismantled every smoke detector in the house and still I hear beeping. I'm beginning to wonder if it's some strange form of tinnitus.
I suppose C asked me to write one of these because I do spend a lot of time surfing, mostly while doing twelve other things at work. Multi-tasking is my middle name. No, really, Alyssa Multi-tasking Wodtke--my parents were ahead of their time. Don't let anyone tell you kids don't live up to their names.
Anyway, here's some cool stuff I've seen lately:
APROPOS OF NOTHING
"New observations with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Paranal in northern Chile give weight to current computer models of the early universe: it is "spongy", with galaxies forming along filaments, like droplets along the strands of a spider's web." Although I love the thought of the universe as spongy (it reminds me of Pinky from Animaniacs saying he liked the word obsequious because it sounded "squishy"), even better is the fact that astronomers got together and couldn't think of a better name than "Very Large Telescope (VLT)."
<http://europe.cnn.com/TECH/space/specials/scenes/index.html>
I was not really a science fan in school. Now I devour every story I find. I never knew space was so entertaining...
"May 16 - In a feat that has scientists baffled, a hungry young star more than 2,000 light years away, appears to be belching perfectly spherical bubbles of gas and dust."
How cool is this--"May 30 - The recipient of the first successful larynx transplant three years ago now speaks - and sings - with a perfectly normal voice. His surgeon says he is ready to perform the operation again." I learned something new--the larynx affects taste and smell. The body is a weird thing.
<http://www.msnbc.com/news/580348.asp>
I love this site. I'm not sure why. It's not big on design, not high tech, but I think it's creative and fun. It makes me want to draw my food.
DESIGN MATTERS?
I know I shouldn't be plugging a superpower's website, but I visited the Sony Metreon's website for the first time today and thought it was nicely done. But what do I know, I'm just a movie junkie...
I wouldn't be me if I didn't throw in a shoe site. Anyone who knows me knows my deep affection bordering on dangerous obsession with Kenneth Cole's shoes. And I also think his site is really nice. It uses restrained colors and has a very laid back, respectable look. It's got a lot of movement, there's plenty of visual interest, and it's super easy to navigate. I'm no architect like sis but this site works for me.
And for another shoe site at the opposite end of the spectrum--Bruno Magli's site is an exercise in glorious excess. The rich colors, the disinterested models, and the unusual "curtain" design complement the designer's shoes perfectly. It's not as easy to use as Ken's site, but it's pretty to look at.
SHAMELESS PLUG
If you liked any of this, or if you're curious about me (I'm comfortable being a curiosity), you can check out my site at: <http://www.stylewithsubstance.com> I'm not a professional but I have a lot to say. Thanks.
Is one Gleanings ever enough? Live from the Days Inn in Rochester, New York (home of the white hot dog) it's the fifth installment of the guest-culled Gleanings. Today's a double-dose; we hear from Paul Natress and Chad Thorton. Enjoy their work. Enjoy your weekend. -- Noel
+ + + + PAUL'S GLEAN
OPENING THANG
I was just thinking about what makes the Web so great. I thought long and hard about it and was going to say that the free (and freely available) information on the Web is what makes it great. While this is true to a certain extent, this information is useless if nobody reads it. To find good information about your particular topic of interest is hard - I know, I've tried to find good solid information about creative writing, web design, IA, usability etc. The best source for this information is from the communities which have built up on the Web - groups of professionals and amateurs alike, each with their own web sites linking to each other, commenting on each
others articles, thoughts and opinions.
This is what makes the Web great.
Gleanings is a part of our global IA community. Christina - thanks for making our Web great.
GETTING TESTY
<http://www.aptest.com/resources.html>
While nothing beats a good, live testing team it's useful to have some testing software around, especially for the more mundane tasks such as checking for alt tags.
Why does "access all areas" usually apply to an elite minority?
Macromedia offers an accessibility starter pack which includes some testing tools -
The check page for accessibility extension is very useful for finding images with no alt tags. British IAs - take note of the US accessibility legislation - who knows when we will adopt it.
Create Online accessibility debate -
<http://www.createonline.co.uk/magazine/bigissue.asp>
Listen to Julie - she's from the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) and they do their homework - <http://www.rnib.org.uk/digital/hints.htm>
Writing for the Web (or should we call this screenwriting?)
Peter links to a good site with info about style guides -
<http://www.edit-work.com/index.html>
WEBBY NEWS
Earlier in May Oxford University announced they were opening a new Institute to study the effects of the Internet on society -
<http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/po/010504.htm>
and the BBC story at -
Oh, what we could learn...)
Sun Microsystems staff are banned from the Internet in the run up to their annual reports...
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/19277.html>
A worrying sign - how many of us Glean whilst at work?
APROPOS OF SOMETHING
About 99% of Flash on the Web is bad (or so it seems) so it's very rare to find someone like Andy Foulds who uses it to create the most elegant and
wonderful interfaces I've seen. This is the 1% which we should be taking notice of.
<http://www.foulds2000.freeserve.co.uk/port_index.htm>
Finally - take a look at Vincent's "interface for a news publishing application" and give him some feedback. Gonna have a play myself in the next few days... <http://www.mersault.com/thinking/interface/newsintro.htm>
Did I say finally? Sorry, forgot the gratuitous plug -
<http://www.ia-uk.co.uk>. My pointless ramblings...
+ + + + CHAD'S GLEAN
OPENING THANG
Greetings from San Francisco. I was fully prepared to say that it's always 60 and foggy here, but we've hit a heat wave and it's 95 and I'm in shorts. I'm Chad, proprietor of Brightly Colored Food. Please, stop by, check it out, make yourself at home, drop me a line, we,ll have drinks, it'll be great
DESIGN MATTERS
GUI and Web Standards and Guidelines
It's mostly UI standards, but it's a nice list for a quick little refresher. Quick -- when is it appropriate to use radio buttons? How about check boxes? What about drop-down combo list boxes?
<http://www.weinschenk.com/guidelinesdemo/default.html>
IA/UX MATTERS
Patterns of Hypertext
While we worry about wayfinding and orientation, others make an art of it. I dig Mark Bernstein of Eastgate Systems, and I'd go to eNarrative 3 (http://www.enarrative.org/) in a second if only the boss-man would foot the bill. For those of us who can't go, we'll just have to read this.
<http://www.eastgate.com/patterns/Print.html>
CHI2001 Notes
For those of us who couldn't go to this, either.
<http://joel.westside.com/wsContentPublisher/story.view?RowId=11>
The Hypermedia Design Patterns Repository
"HPR is an initiative of ACM-SIGWEB in collaboration with the University of Italian Switzerland.
Its goal is to allow a larger community to reuse design experience gathered by other designers of hypermedia and Web applications and systems, by providing useful Design Patterns.?
Victor linked to information on Christopher Alexander's new opus, so I had to follow up with this.
<http://www.designpattern.lu.unisi.ch/index.htm>
USABILITY MATTERS
The IBM EZ Sort Card Sorting and Cluster Analysis program is a great example of such a tool.
<http://www-3.ibm.com/ibm/easy/eou_ext.nsf/publish/1876>
I'm working on a flash-based frontend for the cluster analysis part of EZ Sort, with the goal of running card sorts remotely (the current setup doesn't allow this). I'd love a hand, especially if you're good with ActionScripting. The hope is to extend the existing tool and release the flash code to the ux community-at-large. Drop me a line~chad_thornton@intuit.com/soapbox
Speaking of tools, usability testing tools will become increasingly important as user experience folk figure out which data is really worth analyzing. Here are some relevant links:
Mining Web Logs to Improve Website Organization
Given that links are so opaque, I continually test link names, location, and grouping. This tool supposedly aids in identifying which pages are visited but aren't useful ("not useful? is inferred by browsing behavior: use of the back button ^ a decent metric, though definitely not infallible).
<http://www10.org/cdrom/papers/345/index.html>
WebQuilt: A Framework for Capturing and Visualizing the Web Experience
<http://www10.org/cdrom/papers/602/index.html>
Information Scent as a Driver of Web Behavior Graphs: Results of a Protocol Analysis Method for Web Usability [.pdf file]
Tape Measures For Site Usability
We can't be everywhere all the time. Hearing about automated and/or remote approaches to usability both fills my heart with dread and gives me a bit of hope. This article is an overview of a couple of tools for usability analysis.
<http://www.PlanetIT.com/docs/PIT20010222S0006>
WRITING MATTERS
Blogging as a Form of Journalism
Unlike the spate of generic "what is weblogging?? articles, this one does a good job of covering how some professionals actually make use of blogging as part of their work.
<http://ojr.usc.edu/content/story.cfm?request=585>
A nice companion article to the one above:
"A knowledge worker is someone whose job entails having really interesting conversations at work?
<http://www.contenu.nu/article.htm?id=1152>
COMMUNITY MATTERS
Social Translucence: An Approach to Designing Systems that Support Social Processes
"We are interested in designing systems that support communication and collaboration among large groups of people over computer networks. We begin by asking what properties of the physical world support graceful human-human communication in face to face situations, and argue that it is possible to design digital systems that support coherent behavior by making participants and their activities visible to one another. We call such systems "socially translucent systems" and suggest that they have three characteristics -- visibility, awareness, and accountability -- which enable people to draw upon their social experience and expertise to structure their interactions with one another
<http://www.pliant.org/personal/Tom_Erickson/st_TOCHI.html>
ART MATTERS
MONO*crafts 3.0. Yugo Nakamura rocks the snow-filled glass globe of my existence.
NEWS & COMMENTARY
What If Napster Were Based in China?
Might this be the end of proprietary intellectual property as we know it?
If you're a fan of cyberpunk, you already know that Bruce Sterling covered this beat years ago (well, 1998) in his novel Distraction. It,s worth a read for those who get sick of the usual P2P pundits carrying on about the same old stuff..
APROPOS OF NOTHING
I was trying to make some misguided point about artists and craftsman and thankfully it totally fell apart, but I did find this page. It's nice to see a community other than our own struggling with its identity.
Thanks for listening, hope to see you soon.
Welcome George! Today's is the fourth in a series of guest-composed Gleanings. Christina returns in mid-June. -- Noel
OPENING THANG
Dude, welcome from Los Angeles where, yes as a matter of fact, it _is_
always 72 degrees and sunny -- and home to the ultimate designed user
experience: Disneyland. So get in the convertible, put the top down and
we'll cruise down Imperial Highway (big nasty redhead at our side), taking
in a tour of some user experience-related sights. Just remember, the
natives can be playful at the tourists' expense, so if the directions you
just got don't seem to be making sense, just keep heading southwest and
eventually you'll run into the beach -- which is probably more fun than
than where ever you were headed anyway.
And if you're ever actually in town, stop by to the IA/UI cocktail hour
<http://www.interactionbydesign.com/cocktailhour/>
BIG THOUGHTS MATTERS
"Digital Renaissance: Convergence? I Diverge."
<http://www.techreview.com/magazine/jun01/jenkins.asp> Henry Jenkins,
director of the Program in Comparative Media Studies at MIT, argues that
the confusion over digitial "convergence" is because there are actually
five trends at work.
Since the issue of certification seems to be raising its ugly head in the
IA field (just as it has in graphic design and software engineering) Tom
DeMarco (of the software-engineering-project-management-gurus Atlantic
Systems Guild) raises an interesting idea: the real issue is about who gets
_de-certified_.
<more>
Art Center over in Pasadena is currently hosting an exhibit exploring
artists' use of the global telecommunications network. An online exhibit is
at <http://telematic.walkerart.org> The physical show will be stopping
elsewhere in the U.S.
UX (user experience) MATTERS
As IAs move more and more into requirements development, wouldn't it be
nice if there was a comprehensive list of issues to make sure are covered?
There is. James and Suzanne Robertson of (more Atlantic Systems Guild-ians)
have come up with a comprehensive list that includes not only the usual
technical stuff but also thinks about things like corporate politics and
legal liabilities -- the Volare Requirements Specification Template The main
weakness is that the Robertsons come from the enterprise software
development world, so they don't deal with content issues. When you first
look at Volare it may be a little overwhelming because the Robertsons have
included lots of commentary about how to use it, but it can be stripped
down into a useful checklist. And definitely check out their "requirements
shell",
which is a nice way of collecting essential requirements info on a 3x5 card.
And while we're thinking about requirements, ran across two useful
resources for a related step: putting together functional specs
<http://joel.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$212> and
<http://www.mojofat.com/tutorial/>.
>From functional specs, we move on to a nice concise overview to the joys of
prototyping
<http://infocentre.frontend.com/servlet/Infocentre?page=article&id=154> Not
a lot of depth, although there are links to related articles, but it's a
nicely done summary that's useful for the inevitable PowerPoint
presentation.
Ever needed a quick translation of IA/UI/UX jargon
<http://www.usabilityfirst.com/glossary/main.cgi?> has got 'em...
Always respected his opinions since the days of NeXTStep, Simson Garfinkel
wonders why humans should conform to the way online shopping carts work rather than vice versa. <http://www.techreview.com/magazine/jun01/garfinkel.asp> While it's
familiar ground, it's nice to hear it from a programmer who gets it.
DESIGN MATTERS
<http://www.coolhomepages.com/> is what it says it is. Interesting place to
hunt for experimental stuff.
<http://www.threeoh.com/> Digital Design Journal -- not much there yet, but
looks promising...
USABILITY MATTERS
OK, I hear you saying not another Jakob article.... Well yes, but I
included it because it's written for the larger business community and it's
useful to see how the user experience = usability argument is being seen
from the outside.
"User Advocate Or Enemy Of Creativity?: Jakob Nielsen defines the
boundaries of art and functionality in designing site"
<here>
BUSINESS MATTERS
The Havard Business Review <http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbr/> used to be dull academic papers. But no more. Apparently they overhauled it a year or
two ago and now it's a valuable collection of thoughtful and well-written
white papers. And interestingly, in the two issues I've seen so far, has
had articles touching on user experience. In the May issues (still may be
on newsstands), one article walks through how "customer scenarios" can
guide web and business strategies (sound familiar?). The April issue had a
fascinating article by a building architect who's been studying how
business can integrate their online and brick-and-mortar efforts. But aside
from user experience specific articles (even if they're not labeled as
such), HBR offers a good way to keep up on current trends in business
thinking (helpful if you've got to sell UX to managers or clients), as well
as a good way to learn more about management skills and general business
skills. No it's not cheap, but it's definitely worthwhile.
Thinking of Tom DeMarco (see above), I'm in the middle of reading his
excellent "Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork and the Myth of Total
Efficiency," The book asks a key question about our time: Why are we all so
damned busy? And it suggests that all this infernal busy-ness is not
entirely healthy, either for the organizations we work for or for their
beleaguered workers. It's especially relevant now that "internet time" has
been proven _not_ to be a good way to develop things. You can download a
preview [pdf file]
<here>
MARKETING MATTERS
Was going to mention Jim Sterne's excellent newsletter
<http://www.targeting.com/fullsterne.html>, but Ralph Brandi beat me to it.
So I'll just say, check it out.
Harry Beckwith's "Selling the Invisible"
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446520942/> is essential reading for anyone who's got to market
_services_ rather than products -- such as IAs, UIs and UXs. While Beckwith
doesn't touch on it himself, reading his book made me realize that
interactive products (web sites, software, whatever) are really more like
services than products. That's to say, when it comes to user satisfaction,
_how_ something gets done is often as important (and sometimes more
important) than what gets done. It's the difference between the DMV and
Nordstroms.
WRITING MATTERS
The ever-snarky The Register holds the first annual Email Disclaimer Awards
2001. Judged in six categories: Longest Disclaimer, Most Incomprehensible
Disclaimer, Most PC Disclaimer, Best Bi-lingual Disclaimer, Best Spoof
Disclaimer, Special Award for Best WWW Disclaimer. I'm just glad they
didn't publish the acceptance speeches.
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/35/19057.html>
APROPOS OF NOTHING
Own a piece of dot-com history... I wasn't sure if I should laugh when I
looked at this:
<http://www.scripophily.net/dotcoms.html> although they probably should
work out a joint marketing deal with the Museum of E-Failure
<http://www.disobey.com/ghostsites/>, who's stated goal "is not to laugh at
the fallen, but to preserve their last image, before all traces of these
sites' existence are deleted from history's view." Yeah right....
You've probably seen "The Gettysburg PowerPoint Presentation," now hear the
inside story...
<http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/making.html>
"He-Mails, She-Mails: Where Sender Meets Gender"
[registration-required]
Ever wonder what it's really like living in Los Angeles? Steve Martin's
isn't a comedy, it's a training film... at least for some of us...
SHAMELESS SELF-PROMO MATTERS
Finally, just wanted to mention that I'm in the middle launching my own
site devote to thinking about user experience design:
thumbnails, which will feature yet
another UX blog, book reviews, links to resources and the occasional white
paper. I'm currently debugging the blog, which should up within a few days
at most, and the book reviews will follow shortly.
Ciao babe, have your people call my people and we'll do lunch....
Another sunny, warm Monday breaks loose in San Francisco. And is our Glean Queen Christina is around to enjoy it with us? Noo, she's off in France, "ensconced on Philippe's father's farm," and has left today's Gleanings in the capable hands of Victor Lombardi, he of Noise Between Stations. And Victor done good.
Today's is the third in a series of guest-composed Gleanings. Christina returns in Mid-May. -- Noel
+ + + +
Sing
Breaking the Sound Barrier: Designing Auditory Displays for Global Usability
Beatnik - Principles of Sonification Design. Some very rational and complete guidelines for using audio in the user interface
Reassure
'Trust and security in interactive spaces do not depend on technical security measures alone. Our limited research suggests that the feeling of security experienced by a user of an interactive system is determined by the user's feeling of control of the interactive system.'
Think
Overview of Christopher Alexander's new opus, "The Nature of Order" <http://www.patternlanguage.com/natureoforder/overview.htm>
Stretch
Principles of Graphic Design:
<http://www.mundidesign.com/presentation/index2.html>
Lurk
aiga-advance mailing list
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aiga-advance/messages/>
Exercise
<http://www.keepyourbrainalive.com/exercise.html>
Appreciate
+ + + +
More of what's going on inside Victor's head: <http://www.noisebetweenstations.com/personal/weblogs/>
Today the Ernie Kovacs-lovin' (God love 'em for it!) Ralph Brandi writes the second in a series of guest-created Gleanings. Happy surfing.
-- Noel
OPENING THANG
>From deep in the heart of Jersey (New Jersey, that is), it's the Gates
Brown memorial edition of Gleanings. In this edition, Gleanings is about the
nature of community on the net, prompted by the recent revelations of a
net.hoax, a marketeer who gets it, then a little levity (not on levity.com,
though), followed by some links about a personal hero of mine, and closing
with the usual unrelated but neat stuff.
Is it still Gleanings if I don't use the same headers as Christina?
COMMUNITY MATTERS
Erin Malone muses about the nature of community on the web and what makes a
site a community. A few of us pile on.
<emdezine>
When I read this, I was reminded of a paper that Teresa Roberts presented
at CHI 98 called "Are Newsgroups Virtual Communities?" She postulated that
communities have six defining characteristics:
* Cohesion
* Effectiveness
* Help
* Relationships
* Language
* Self-regulation
She concluded that newsgroups can indeed be communities.
<read it here> (1.1 MB PDF file)
Julian Dibble has a chapter from his book "My Tiny Life" that explores the consequences of severely anti-social behavior and deception online, specifically about one particular incident that took place in LambdaMOO, a MOO/MUD run by researchers at Xerox:
Katie Hafner's article about The Well from Wired back when it was still
marginally worth reading is an interesting exploration of function and
dysfunction in one of the earliest net.communities:
MARKETING MATTERS
I first saw Jim Sterne speak at Internet World in Boston some years back
(and they haven't held it in Boston in a long time, so it was quite a while
ago, probably around 1995 or 96). He's a marketing guy who really groks the
web. In his talk back then, he earned my everlasting admiration for ripping
apart the web site of my then-employer. I went up afterwards and thanked
him for giving me ammunition for my running battle with the artists I
worked with, who, incidentally, had designed the site he had spent 15
minutes dissecting.
Jim's Full Sterne Ahead newsletter comes out monthly and is filled with stories of marketers who get it and, more amusingly, marketers who don't.
USABILITY MATTERS
Usability!
<http://www.cybercandy.co.uk/ntk/>
(Thanks PeterMe)
ERNIE KOVACS
I've long felt that the web is just waiting for our very own Ernie Kovacs to finally show us how this all should be done. Who's Ernie Kovacs, you ask? Basically, he was the first person to make television as television, rather than as radio with pictures or plays in front of cameras. He was a comic genius, and invented much of the visual vocabulary of television that we take for granted today. His "Eugene", a half-hour completely without dialog, was absolutely amazing, and the sight gags he invented to take advantage of the medium are still being recycled to this day.
The best page I've found about Kovacs' mad inventiveness with the medium is a transcript of an interview he gave the Canadian Broadcasting Company in 1960.
That interview is part of a truly wonderful site, Kovacsville On-Line, about his whole career, from his entry into local Philadelphia television in 1950 until his untimely death in a car accident in 1962.
The Ernie Kovacs Site has a nice bio of Ernie and covers the basics.
The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia have a page devoted to Ernie and particularly his early, Philadelphia-based career, including a picture from a 1952 show, some great stories, and some insight into the tricks he used to get the effects he desired on virtually no budget. There's also a RealMedia clip of some 8 mm film footage from March, 1952, of Ernie and company clowning around in the studio.
The best photos of Kovacs (well, only two of them) are on the still-under-construction Ernie Kovacs - Nothing in Moderation site:
<http://www.erniekovacs.com/hey.htm>
Ernie also did some movies, but as he says in the CBC interview, his heart was really on the other side of the camera, and TV was his medium.
<http://us.imdb.com/Name?Kovacs,+Ernie>
I think about Ernie every time I'm faced with a problem when putting a web site together and am trying to come up with an innnovative solution. Kovacs was a visionary; I'm still waiting for one to show up on the web and provide the conventions that will seem blatantly obvious in retrospect.
"Television, a medium -- so called because it's neither rare nor well done."
--Ernie Kovacs
APROPOS OF NOTHING
The site for the movie "The Dish" is one of the few sites where I've
enjoyed the use of Flash. I think it's a clever interface, a little artsier
than I usually like, but entirely appropriate given the subject matter:
<http://thedishmovie.warnerbros.com/>
I really want to see this movie; I think anyone who grew up watching the
Apollo space program would want to. I remember going to my grandmother's
house to see the moonwalk because they had a color TV and we didn't. Of
course, the video feed from the moon was in black and white, but no matter.
I hope the movie eventually opens in a theater closer than an hour and a
half from my house....
And for good measure, here's the site with the original Australian trailer:
<http://www.workingdog.com/wdog.html>
(Ralph Brandi is a webmaster and user advocate for a really cool research
lab trapped in the body of a large telecommunications firm. He has been on
the net since 1987 and building web sites since 1993. He will rant about
the importance of the user for hours to anyone who provokes him. Gates
Brown was the best pinch hitter in the history of the American League, and
played for the Detroit Tigers for 13 years in the 1960s and 1970s. More
info on Gates at <http://www.nadiacomaneci.com/library/article135.htm>.
Really.)
--
Ralph Brandi write: gleanings at brandi.org visit: <http://www.brandi.org/>
G'morning. Christina's off in France for a few weeks, so we're taking over the Gleanings airwaves. Today's ditty, compiled by Matt Jones, is the first in a series of guest-edited Gleanings. Enjoy. And happy Monday to you.
-- Noel Franus (mail noel at carboniq.com)
OPENING THANG
Hi it's me ... hey ... over here ... past the wet thing ... yeah ... that's
right ... NO ... too far ... that's denmark ... back you come ... right ... HI!
welcome to London. I'm Matt, and i'm your host for this hideously UK-centric
edition of gleanings. Lots of good folk and good work over here which I
thought you might be interested in, and if you haven't got summer vacation
plans, or fancy a change of scenery; then some of this might inspire you to
come over to Blighty (it really ISN'T full of disease ridden animals,
honest...)
bugger... i'm on holiday... guess it's up to someone else THIS TIME...!!!
"You have one day to save humanity..."
Sun... sea... Spain... Superb music... what ELSE do you need?
8th Barcelona International Festival of
Advanced Music and Multimedia Art
14th. 15th. 16th. June.
Three days and three nights in touch with the most up-to-date developments
and featuring the most relevant national and international artists. Sonar
presents more than 250 activities: 50 concerts, more than 70 DJs, 90 titles
projected at the SonarCinema and 60 works in every multimedia format:
interacative capsules, installations, CD-Roms, Net art.
Sonar is the essential meeting point for an alert public, cutting-edge
artists and the most influential professionals from the sectors of music and
modern arts.
<http://www.sonar.es> (check out the flash navigation tutorial.... hoho!)
ready for some of that incestuous link-love? Well trundle over to Chad Thorton's spanking new and already content filled Usability blog. It also is blessed with a terrific name: Brightly Colored Food
OPENING THANG
Still busy, though I am occasionally sneaking off to add a blog entry here and there. I finally solved the a-list mystery, thanks to Anil. Check out the blog for the story.
Now I need something new to obsess about. I'm thinking it might be typography...
I love type. I think I feel about type the way hetmen feel about women. I don't understand it, am incredibly drawn to it, fascinated by it, can stare at lovely type for hours.... I download font after font only to choke when the time comes to use them, and I end up choosing Tahoma over and over again (no, I can't explain my weird Tahoma fetish) for print and Verdana online. I suppose it's time to look for a typography class.
Some recent type-sites I've been exploring
and netstar's freshfont
Lines & Splines http://www.linesandsplines.com/
And Chad writes:
"before I fall asleep, here is the beautiful weblog I promised:
and here are two great examinations of typography:
http://www.textism.com/writing/
http://www.textism.com/textfaces/ "
DESIGN MATTERS
tired of the 216 and need more colors? get more crayons
the return of psychedelia (via metafilter.com)
Hobo Signs (via giantant.com/antenna/)
The iconic language of the hobo
IA MATTERS
RE: Cory Doctorow. (via tomalak.org)
"The idea is that you have a folder on your desktop, you put some things in it you like, and it will fill up with things that you'll probably like. It figures out what you'll probably like by finding peers in the network who have taste similar to you and telling you what they think is good." dude!
BLOG OF THE DAY
In that "html chic" category of cool designs + lots of humorous little insights accompanying the links.
USABILITY MATTERS
Statistical Research: Pop-ups more noticeable and more annoying
"Internet users are far more likely to notice pop-up ads than banners,
but they are even more likely to be annoyed by the pop-up ads."
Business 2.0: Better Data Brings Better Sales. (via tomalak.org)
Jakob Nielsen. B-to-B sites often try to get away with approximate pricing, because of the assumption that the two companies will meet in person to negotiate. Even so, users still like detailed price information that discloses how much each feature or option will cost.
MARKETING MATTERS
Darwin Magazine: Do You Really Need a Customer Czar? (via tomalak.org)
"Some top execs can't imagine life without a CCO; skeptics contend that for many organizations, creating another seat at the boardroom table could very well be a recipe for disaster. Does your company need a CCO? Or is this a management fad you'll want to take a pass on?"
TECH MATTERS
prepackaged css layouts. via kirk (morecrayons.com)
BlueRobot's Layout Reservoir has some elegant examples of CSS layouts:
Glish.com has some cool layouts too:
As does the Noodle Incident:
Noodle is dropdead gorgeous, btw...
NEWS & COMMENTARY
Some of dot-com jobless having fun
"Valerie Hoecke, at age 28 already a weary veteran of the dot-com world, is now focusing her time and energy on something new: rock climbing." Go Val!
Spam vengeance feels oddly satisfying; a simple click costs spam software companies from a few pennies to a few dollars.
read article
CommerceNet: Most ecommerce firms outsource work
"Almost three-quarters of ecommerce-enabled companies are currently
outsourcing, or planning to outsource, parts of their work."
APROPOS OF NOTHING
thank god for geocities.
AND FINALLY
Adam of V-2 writes:
"Excellent, and I mean AMAZING, article in James Gleick's "Best American Science Writing 2000." It's not available online (believe me, I looked), but it's worth picking up the book for. (Anyway, the book also has a piece by *The Onion*, so you know you can't go wrong.)
The article in question is called "When Doctors Makes Mistakes," by Atul Gawande, and while it sounds like a FOX TV special, it is a compassionate and surprisingly deep inquiry into task and failure analysis where "failure" is literally a matter of life and death.
Gawande deals with "latent errors" built into systems which assume human infallibility, cascades of trivial errors in complex systems leading to systemic failure, critical-incident analysis, and the search for the elusive sixth sigma of quality.
It's not IA precisely, but just exactly 'cause it comes at IA-centric issues perpendicularly, it sheds some innaresting light on our concerns. It's fascinating to see, for example, how long it took relatively trivial human-factors insights to be accepted even in truly mission-critical areas like anesthesiology. And anesthesiology adopted these insights far ahead of the rest of the medical/surgical profession!
Anyway, I think it's worth a shout-out to your readers...
Plus, as you know, v-2.org has been nominated for a Chrysler Design Award, further information regarding which may be found at
http://www.chryslerdesignawards.com
I am of course near-mute with gratitude and amazement."
Congrats Adam!
OPENING THANG
Still very busy, but stole a couple hours to do some tweaks on
I worked this weekend, and how did I take breaks? By stretching and jogging into the park? No! Why would I leave my computer...
IA MATTERS
The Lost Chapter of Inmates (via equency.com)
"What we have managed to accomplish in just a couple of decades is the complete transformation of every business relationship from a natural, interpersonal, human one to one that is defined, modulated, constrained, and tainted by computer software. "
Visual Design for Instructional Content (Part II) (also via equency.com)
"The second part of the article explores the use of comics as instructional content with specific reference to the work of comics creator and theoretician Scott McCloud. "
Further Reflections on Information Architecture
"Discussed here:
What is IA?
Information Architecture != Architecture
Who Develops the Information Architecture?
Stop Whining About Marketing--Become Marketing!"
"URLs should be simple, concise, and designed to last forever - reflecting the page's content and hiding the implementation. "
Found a new IA blog
DESIGN MATTERS
Dalliance is a family of 9 fonts inspired by the elegant handwriting on an antique map depicting a battle that took place at Ostrach, southwest Germany, in 1799.
For more information, click here
Make plans to attend the third annual typography conference of the Society of Typographic Aficionados (SoTA).
USABILITY MATTERS
"No site or application has one single group of users who share the same attributes. On the contrary, there are likely to be a number of distinct user types, each of which will have differing expectations and work patterns. Good interface design will cater for as many of these groups as possible, whilst of course reflecting the different priority the business may accord them. "
APROPOS OF NOTHING
Okay, I think this trend has gone too far...
Sephora.com Givenchy Fragrance (via noisebetweenstations.com)
UK adverts complained about... naughty!
return of a classic:
OPENING THANG
Well, I don't know about you, but it has been a crazy week for me. Very busy at IQHQ. Which, in these tumultuous times is not something I'm going to complain about. I snuck in a couple of hours to get greymatter running for gleanings, and I think you'll like the results.
{{you are already here, so link removed}}
Also in a strange mood around 1 am I suddenly changed the look of the front page. If I could decide I liked it, I might propagate it through the site. But I'm puzzled-- I just broke my own process
DESIGN MATTERS
Interesting article about back-biting on ALA
Happily misspent some time downloading fonts from the lovely büro destruct . Be sure to check out the book pages.
A recent post on chi web set off a great exchange of sites with innovative
navigation (and unfortunately some rather snide commentary. everyone is so cranky
these days)
USABILITY MATTERS
Noel deconstructs an online bank on the CLog
and Peter attacks Style
NEWS
My sister (stylewithsubstance.com) sent me this article proclaiming the web is the best thing since sliced bread for small business.
Three e-business myths debunked
Dylan Tweney: Open secrets. (via tomalak.org)
These technical and market forces combine on the Internet to create an environment where information of the most private nature can quickly be disseminated worldwide, in seconds. In other words, "Information wants to be public."
and even if it doesn't want to be...
3 Charged With Giving Lucent Secrets to China
(Registration required.)
ebay is following Yahoo's lead in banning all hate-related memorabilia
Ebay to Ban All Hate-Related Items
"The online auction site extends its policy as it makes an aggressive
push into international markets."
read article
Razorfish Founders Quit Top Management Positions
"Mr. Maheu, who once oversaw North American operations and corporate development at Razorfish, called Mr. Dachis and Mr. Kanarick "industry pioneers and visionaries" and said the company's goal was to "return to profitable operations and positive cash flow while successfully serving the expectations of our clients, shareholders and employees."
read article
my commentary
http://www.eleganthack.com/blog/archives/00000038.html
Why I'll never use Blogger (via webword.com)
"For those unfamiliar with security, the FTP protocol transmits usernames and passwords in clear text modes which, means anyone on the Blogger network can easily sniff out a username and password to log into your webserver, plain and simple. I'm not saying anyone at Blogger would do so, at least I would hope not, but who's to say that someone won't compromise Blogger's network in the future? Are you willing to take that chance?"
read article
I've heard similar things about greymatter....
APROPOS OF NOTHING
I've decided I don't care if this is an urban legend or not.
"Oh my !!! Nice Kitty!!"
Put simply, Snowball is no ordinary cat, she measures 69 inches from nose to tail and weighs in at 87 lbs.
MORE...
From: Gleanings
To: thinkers
Subject: Gleanings: a buzzing bee....
OPENING THANG
been busy. very busy.
recent projects:
keeping http://www.carboniq.com/log entertaining (along with clever noel)
getting http://www.carboniq.com/events/cocktailhour/april live
making http://www.tracystroder.com for a friend's upcoming art show
Oh, and that billable work thing....
but I haven't forgotten you, dear gleanees. here is a nibble to keep you
going until I can emerge again...
IA MATTERS
Don Norman points to this as a potential innovation in navigation. Worth playing with, for sure.
http://www.primavera2001.org
~~~
Researching web sites - paul nattress
Describes a technique on researching your competitors web sites to help you design your own.
researching_web_sites_pn
~~~
Scents and sensibility (via giantant.com/antenna/)
IF WEBSITES are built without bricks or mortar, why does navigating around them so often feel like bashing your head against a wall?
and the original xerox parc scent study
~~~
big hairy pile of cog-psi papers, (via peterme.com). yum-o.
DESIGN MATTERS
Have you had your superbad today?
~~~
reboot
.threeoh.
USABILITY MATTERS
Internet World: Is Usability Really Worth Anything? (via tomalak.org)
Jakob Nielsen. Is usability really that bad for business? Basically, all
usability does is generate more sales, more traffic, and more loyal users. If
you lose money on every order you ship or every page view you serve, then
increasing the volume will indeed result in a flood of red ink.
~~~
IBM developerWorks: The usability world according to Tog.
"Effective interfaces are visually apparent and forgiving, instilling in their users a sense of control. Users quickly see the breadth of their options, grasp how to achieve their goals, and do their work."
"Effective interfaces do not concern the user with the inner workings of the system. Work is carefully and continuously saved, with full option for the user to undo any activity at any time."
"Effective applications and services perform a maximum of work, while requiring a minimum of information from users."
read article
~~~
New AskTog!
Is the Internet Really Collapsing?
"Fear is in the air. A lot of us have lost a lot of money in the past year. It seems like the downward spiral will never end, but it will, and then things are going to get a whole lot better. "
read article
NEWS & COMMENTARY
The Web Grows Up
A dip in Net surfing last December raises the question of whether the Web, like other media, is showing signs of seasonality.
read article
~~~
Napster Tones Down the Downloads
The number of songs traded on the service dips by more than a third during its first month of blocking copyrighted music, a report says.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/1,1902,24127,00.html?nl=met
I think it's true-- despite attempts at misspelling, I couldn't find a single live soul coughing song (I've bought all the albums, and I need more!!!)
APROPOS OF NOTHING
H4x0r Economist
(via captaincursor.com)
read article
~~~
Okay you have to be a web geek *and* a car geek *and* read a little french:
click several times on the car.
read article
From: Gleanings
To: flashaholics
Subject: Gleanings: I lied
OPENING THANG
Okay, I wasn't going to glean today, but it was link-mania yesterday: the universe was conspiring to share interesting stuff with me, and how could I not share back with you-all?
IA & DESIGN MATTERS
Human Factors International Articles
ones I'm excited to read include: Managing Your Defense Against GUI's from Hell, Pull Down Menus: Out of Sight, Out of Mind, Key Tips for User-Centered GUI Design and Icons: Much Ado about Something
~~~
Like to critique other people's work?
~~~
Information Architecture, an electronic web guide
"How many times have you gone to a web site looking for specific information and you weren't able to find it? Organizing informational content on a web site can be a very difficult and complicated endeavor, and most web developers lack the skills necessary to perform such tasks. Luckily, a new discipline is emerging in the web world that is tackling this very problem.It's called Information Architecture. "
~~~
How Architects Think
"The purpose of the experiment was to study the role and potential of mental
imagery in the architectural design process."
LEARNING MATTERS
Good site for learning the basics of web design and webmastering. Simple and friendly.
~~~
Barnes&Nobel University"It's FREE - join today! Enter an online classroom now and learn everything you wish they'd taught in school. Live instructors and students are online now! "
USABILITY MATTERS
The Non-Verbal Web
"In preparation for a class I'm teaching this quarter on Interface Design, I re-read Norman's The Design of Everyday Things (aka POET), which I am using as one of three pillars of the class.
I was struck (again) by the concept of perceived affordance. My communications background causes me to think of this as "the non-verbal language of objects" -- it's how I perceive the object's mode of interaction. Whether my perception matches the design reality will determine my satisfaction. "
~~~
Helping and Hindering User Involvement - A Tale of Everday Design
"This case study provides a detailed account of the obstacles and facilitators to user involvement that were identified during the design of a computer application. The factors that affected user involvement included contracting design services, selecting users, motivating users, facilitating and mediating meetings and offering points of focus for user contributions. "
~~~
Bad Human Factors Designs
"A scrapbook of illustrated examples of things that are hard to use because they do not follow human factors principles. "
my favorite
NEWS
Greenfield Online: Consumers don't want Net-enabled cars
"Consumers are far less interested in having email or music downloading
facilities in their cars than they are in having built-in systems to
deter thieves and sensors to alert them to hazards on the road."
~~~
IDG.net: Unproductive email like "being killed by friendly fire"
"While lawmakers and company bosses are increasingly concerned about
the levels of spam email, a new study says that unproductive internal
emails take up 30 percent of employees' time spent reading email."
~~~
Netcraft: Domain name registration slumps
"New data from Netcraft shows that there has been a dramatic reduction
in new domain name registrations."
~~~
SBC: DSL users just love their high-speed Net
Internet users with high-speed DSL connections at home say their DSL
link is an important household technology and would rather sacrifice
other media before they gave up their DSL.
~~~
MSNBC: Gadgets offering 'convergence' show whole can be less than sum of
parts. (via tomalak.org)
It is an old story that keeps getting retold. Bewitched by the promise of "convergence" -- the blending of communications, entertainment and computing -- and galvanized by the Internet, engineers and marketers are dreaming up a new class of high-tech Swiss Army knives.
~~~
Guru: Engineers Won't Design Next-Gen Systems
"It's not you guys" who will build equipment and systems that are easy to use, said Norman, of the Nielsen Norman consultancy. "You're the wrong people." Instead, future systems will be designed "by psychologists and social scientists working in combination with engineers and technologists," he said he predicted.
APROPOS OF NOTHING
why are we glad flash exists? today's apropos of nothing should prove the joy of the medium:
Kung-fu, stick figure style. it was just like the tavern scene in "crouching tiger, lousy title" except everyone is a stick figure.
this arrived with the subject heading"The latest demonstration of the power of the Internet..."
http://user.tninet.se/~prv247p/hatt/hatten.swf
and in that same category of "because we can, we will"
http://member.iquest.net/~derecho/pika.swf
I cannot recommend these two short flash works too highly. my jaw dropped onto the floor (esp.. the second) turn up the sound and enjoy.
~~~
kate points at the very goofy swedish fjallfil
she says "Have you run across www.fjallfil.com in your travels? It seemed timely in light of a recent chi-web discussion about drag-n-drop interfaces (but since I'm fairly new to the list I felt a wee bit shy about submitting such a very silly site). enjoy. "
no one should ever have anything against silly! (oh, and you can click over to English at the bottom)
From: Gleanings
To: workerbees
Subject: Gleanings: light and fluffy
OPENING THANG
To soften the blow of monday, check out apropos of nothing-- ton of stuff there.
As if you don't get enough out of gleanings, I added a bunch of links to the articles collection.
http://eleganthack.com/articles/index.html
New rant on personal sites in the blog
http://eleganthack.com/blog/index.html
IA & DESIGN MATTERS
A while ago george wrote this interesting piece for A List Apart:
http://www.alistapart.com/stories/failure/
it's been up long enough now to engender some interesting debate.
http://www.alistapart.com/discuss/list.cfm?forum=64&collapse=1
I especially enjoyed the first one, though it showed to me that I'm not sure designers and usability people can ever communicate (or designers and coders, actually). The world views of these folks were just so radically different.
The Narrative Web
"Crafting a narrative web:To succeed profoundly, Bernstein says, websites must go beyond usability and design, deeply engaging readers by turning their journeys through the site into rich, memorable, narrative experiences. His thought-provoking comments make a lot of sense to us. "
http://www.alistapart.com/stories/narrative/
Das Bot: To Boldly Go Where Everyone Else Will Probably End Up...Eventually
"Our human search engine explores the margins of web design "
http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/0,1819,3708,00.html
"MORE THAN LEGIBLE: on links that readers don't want to follow " (via noisebetweenstations.com)
http://www.markbernstein.org/talks/HT00.html
A Clash Between Game and Narrative (via hypertextkitchen.com)
Juul writes that:
"The thesis presents a strong position on the relation between games and narratives; that they are extremely different phenomena that do not mix well. It also features:
-Discussion on the possible use of narratology and hypertext theory for examining games.
-An examination of the relation between the player and game
-Readings of Witness, Doom II, Myst, and The Last Express.
http://www.jesperjuul.dk/thesis/
USABILITY MATTERS
Interface Usability in Flash
"Merien's tutorial shows how to use Flash as a tool for creating straightforward, serviceable, functioning Web sites."
http://www.iboost.com/build/software/flash/10046.htm
NEWS & COMMENTARY
"It's really unfair that after we artificially inflated the economy, ran most of the arts organizations out of town and put our trust in a sock puppet we didn't even get rich.
Perhaps it's just the tone of the article, but to hold a dot-com pity party in the middle of the Mission seems just a wee bit on the distasteful side. " from biggerhand.com
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/in_depth/sci_tech/2000/dot_life/newsid_1280000/1280073.stm
relentlessly curious and cheerful, she has an interesting collection of links and commentary...
http://www.dynagirl.com/blog.shtml
APROPOS OF NOTHING
matt sends
"it's a toaster that accesses the net to get a weather report then toasts the weather symbols into your daily bread!!!!"
http://www.brunel.ac.uk/~dt97rrs/dev_viva.html
an interesting interview with director of Memento
http://freshair.npr.org/dayFA.cfm?display=day&todayDate=03%2F29%2F2001
mark points to this. many f9lks have told me it's hte scariest book they've ever read.
http://www.houseofleaves.co.uk/
haughy points at this. it's wonderful
http://www.brushstroke.tv/jasmine.html
ev points at this:
"Just a few years ago, American condom manufacturers were trying to sell condoms like parachutes: You wouldn't jump out of a plane without one, would you? (Trojan print ad, circa 1996) Only recently have condom manufacturers begun to realize a key fact that had been previously overlooked: Condoms are about sex and sex is supposed to feel good..."
http://www.condomania.com/
I spent a half hour yesterday just reading about people's hobbies when they were kids. Thanks kottke...
http://www.kottke.org/notes/0104.html#010417
Ever wonder how to make a Big mac at home? or a Taco Bell Mexican Pizza?
http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/recipes.htm
geek code.
http://www.geekcode.com/.codes/geek3.1.html
From: Gleanings
To: miniyou
Subject: Gleanigns: snack sized glean
OPENING THANG
The Carbon IQ crew has started a group blog. On it find Noel's rant on customer service, my adventure setting up greymatter and Noel teasing me. And Gabe's beautiful design.
http://www.carboniq.com/log
USABILITY MATTERS
I haven't been here for quite a while, and dang it's great! Worth it for the glossary alone.
http://www.usabilityfirst.com/
Kayla Block posts her ideas on evangelizing user interface throughout a organization
http://interfacing.blogspot.com
DESIGN MATTERS
Lovely portfolio and personal site.
http://sabine.cc/frames.html
TECH MATTERS
mattjones sends this
"Writing code, he explains, is like writing poetry: every word, each placement counts. Except that software is harder, because digital poems can have millions of lines which are all somehow interconnected. Try fixing programming errors, known as bugs, and you often introduce new ones. So far, he laments, nobody has found a silver bullet to kill the beast of complexity"
http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?Story_id=568249&CFID=1765964&CFTOKEN=83880030
APROPOS OF NOTHING
from Kottke.org
"Ok, this is the best thing ever! Ever! All those other times that I told you about the best thing ever? I was lying! Go see Extreme Stick Death #3 right now. Now! Turn up the sound! (Note: I've had *way* too much sugar this morning....) "
http://games.sohu.com/fightgame/fight3.htm
I forgot to say, go see memento. amazing movie. form supports the story, enhances, disorients...
http://www.sfgate.com/eguide/arts/movies--030.html
From: Gleanings
To: Filters
Subject: Gleanings: all the news that I think is fit to print
OPENING THANG
Welcome to Wednesday. How did it get to be Wednesday already? Seems like just yesterday it was Tuesday. Well, I missed yesterday and I may miss tomorrow, but I've got a massive one for you today. Enjoy.
~~~
from the blog...
nadav http://giantant.com/antenna/ points at http://www.epinions.com/user-review-6F8A-7479A90-39FFAA96-prod1 which is interesting to me both as a history of a company's evolution, but also as a consequence of what happens on a site where you let your customers review products: at some point the product they review will be you.
It also makes me realize that I'm getting most of my news through a human filter (except, of course the holy two hours on Sunday morning with the newspaper and iht) and I'm happy about it. I've long doubted the existence of "journalist objectivity" and by receiving all my news through blogs and the like, every single piece of news is so very clearly slanted, I feel free-- no, obligated-- to form my own opinions on the matter. I question what I see, think, search... the "untrustworthy narrator" makes reading an interactive rather than a passive activity. feel free to disagree. http://www.eleganthack.com/blog/archives/00000018.html#comments
a short note on the exception: I have loved the International Herald Tribune for years, and have always wished I could get it in America (I buy it when I'm traveling). Their website is all the things the paper is: succinct news with a world view presented elegantly.
http://www.iht.com/frontpage.html
IA & DESIGN MATTERS
Critical thinking in design
"At the heart of design and engineering is critical thinking. The ability to separate what is worthwhile from what isn't is the hallmark of the best in many fields, from film directors to project managers, programmers to designers... "
http://www.uiweb.com/issues/issue14.htm
~~~
two of my favorite people, critiquing one of my favorite subjects: banking sites
Internet World: Deconstructing Citibank.com. (tomalak.org)
"Louis Rosenfeld and John Shiple. Lots has changed since the web exploded, but
one of the few remaining constants is that large, multifactional organizations
will play out their political tensions on their most visible and valuable real
estate, the main page."
http://www.internetworld.com/041501/04.15.01decon.jsp
~~~
Visual Arts Trends (xblog.com)
http://www.VisualArtsTrends.com/
"Visual Arts Trends is a quarterly 'state of the industry' report for the creative professional. With offices in New York, USA, and London, UK, Visual Arts Trends is an international publication focusing on graphic design, advertising art direction, photography and illustration. Each quarterly report offers a brief, business-oriented, definitive and timely overview of industry developments that affect aesthetics, pricing, salaries, working conditions and client relations."
~~~
Usor: a collection of user oriented methods (giantant.com/antenna/)
"This web site contains descriptions of different user oriented methods. These descriptions are not meant to be exhaustive descriptions that you could use right after you have visited this web site. They are rather short summaries with references to more thorough descriptions of these methods."
http://www.nada.kth.se/cid/usor/
~~~
Web Design Workflow
( Acrobat 3.0--523K)
"Web sites are becoming increasingly complex and multi-layered. Kelly Goto helps you set up a plan for concepting and storyboarding the structure of your site."
http://www.thunderlizard.com/tlp_pdfs/wd_workflow.pdf
NEWS & COMMENTARY
What is Tesco.com doing so right that Kozmo did so wrong?
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/analysis/weekly_editorial.html
~~~
Disappearing Act
"Online advertising is already hurting. Now software that zaps Web ads is about to go mainstream."
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,23640,00.html
~~~
IntelliQuest: Sixty percent of women click on banners
The results of a surprising new survey show that 60 percent of female
users of the MSN website click on banner ads.
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356651&rel=true
~~~
E-Tax Filings Miss the Mark
The latest stats show that more Americans filed their taxes online than ever before - just not quite as many as the IRS expected.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,23746,00.html?nl=mg
~~~
University Raided in MP3 Copyright Action
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/18290.html
"A multinational recording-industry front group called the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has filed suit with the Tainan District Prosecutor's Office against fourteen students at Taiwan's National Chengkung University, accusing them of illegally copying and trading MP3 music files, the Taipei Times reports. "
Yahoo to Charge for Reading E-Mail
"Yahoo! Inc., looking for ways to cash in on the popularity of its Web site, will start charging for its service that reads e-mail messages over the phone."
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Yahoo-Fees.html
(Registration required.)
~~~
DaveNet: The Web is a Writing Environment. (tomalak.org)
"The Web is at the intersection of publishing and the telephone. How many brands of phone conversation are there? Can you call Sandy to talk with Allison?"
http://davenet.userland.com/2001/04/17/theWebIsAWritingEnvironment
~~~
Comparison shopping websites are set for a shakeout, according to
Forrester. Sites that aggregate online retailer listings and products,
and hand consumers passively over to retailers, will suffer badly
while those that survive will evolve into ecommerce brokers.
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356645&rel=true
~~~
Battle for the Unseen Computer
"Windows won the war for the desktop. But there's a new struggle over operating systems embedded in everyday objects, and this time free software has the inside track."
http://www.techreview.com/magazine/may01/tristram.asp
APROPOS OF NOTHING
MetroActive Features Taxi Tales
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sfmetro/03.98/taxis1-98-3.html
~~~
in the category of "I found it before, and look, I've found it again"
the bullshit generator
http://www.dack.com/web/bullshit.html
From: Gleanings
To: Monday Robots
Subject: Gleanings: you will think what I tell you to think
OPENING THANG
Welcome to Monday. Republic.com is the book everyone is talking about. Supposedly in it (I'll cheerfully admit I haven't read it and feel no urgency to do so), the author speculates that new technologies will allow us to become ignorant about the world around us and more intolerant, because we'll be able to filter out the news we don't want. Has he ever seen a family read the newspaper? In the most archetypical scenario, mom takes the food section, dad takes sports, brother takes classified, sis take fashion and little one reads comics. In a real scenario a similar but perhaps less gender driven scenario takes place: people read the sections that interest them. Ever watch someone couch surf across the TV channels? Filters happen.
Instead the author should be grateful that email allows people to forward news articles to each other, suddenly allows a human filter to push through current events the way a newsbreak interrupts a rerun of friends.
Of course gleanings is very much a "daily me:" a human filter for your news.
Law Professor Sees Hazard in Personalized News
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/13/technology/13CYBERLAW.html
BLOG OF THE DAY
I've been really enjoying Nadav's "antenna" lately. from April 15th:
"My first reaction on seeing this navigation map of computer ethics was "feh! Why do people insist on mapping ideas onto a physical geography," but then I spent a minute with it and realized that, unlike antarctica, where there's no meaning to the geographical distribution of the data, the organization was meaningful. While both Encryption and Spamming are within the borders of Privacy, the former is near Intellectual Property, while the latter is at the juncture of Computer Abuse and Commerce. "
http://www.giantant.com/antenna/
DESIGN & IA MATTERS
The Myth of 800x600
"Developing fixed-size Web pages is a fundamentally flawed practice. Not only does it result in Web pages that remain at a constant size regardless of the user's browser size, but it fails to take advantage of the medium's flexibility. " Amen brother.
http://webreview.com/2001/03_16/webauthors/index01.shtml
Visual Architecture: The Rule of Three
"Visual architecture is applied to the new media design context and defined as the use of a particular method of building visual information and balancing communication between images and words." Funny, where I grew up this was called design. In any case, this is an excellent article-- especially for nondesingers-- on effective layout.
http://www.digital-web.com/features/feature_2001-4.shtml
also in digtalweb
Designing for Search Engines and Stars
"Great search engine placement doesn't require you to sacrifice appealing design. While "content is king" for high search engine rankings as well as overall site popularity, your imagination and creativity with designs can still reach for the stars."
http://www.digital-web.com/tutorials/
Web typography: the rookie mistakes
"Novice designers, writers, editors, and publishers who come to the medium with no background in web publishing tend to make simple mistakes that can turn an otherwise utilitarian website into a visual junk store. Their websites, consequently, are hard to look at, hard to read, and hard to navigate. "
http://www.nua.com/nkb/index.cgi?f=VA&art_type=STYLE&art_id=618
Another decadent eyecandy design studio site. and why not.
http://www.malex.it/
USABILITY MATTERS
Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox for April 15
"According to a recent critical incident analysis, users' most important
Web tasks involve collecting and comparing multiple pieces of information,
usually so they can make a choice."
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20010415.html
Audience interviews from the final leg of the User Experience World Tour:
Is the Slowing Economy Helping or Hurting Usability?
http://www.nngroup.com/worldtour/cit_se.html
Users Aren't Happy in Captivity
"Marketing columnist Blake Rohrbacher debunks the myth of stickiness. "
http://www.business2.com/content/channels/marketing/2001/04/12/29907
NEWS & COMMENTARY
More Net firms in profit than might be expected
"ActivMedia Research reports that 61 percent of mid-sized online businesses and 39 percent of large online firms are profitable. "
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905356657&rel=true
IPO Disasters Give Underwriters Reason to Blush
"Dot-com-pushing analysts have long taken the brunt of criticism for over-hyping the market, but what about the investment bankers who took those companies public? Did they know they were selling damaged goods with no refund policy? "
http://www.iht.com/articles/16977.html
A Computer Mouse Without the Trap
"Build a better mouse, and the world will beat a path to your door. At least that is what Johan Ullman, a Swedish medical doctor and ergonomics expert, is hoping. Dr. Ullman invented the pen mouse, which resembles a pen stuck into a small mouse or, viewed differently, an automobile stick shift in a gear box. "
http://www.iht.com/technology.html
The glory days of e-commerce are over
"Broke and stingy e-tailers have taken all the fun out of online shopping."
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/11/29/ecommerce/index.html
APROPOS OF NOTHING
Joey Ramone dead at 49 (biggerhand.com)
"Singer Joey Ramone, the punk rock icon whose signature yelp melded with the Ramones' three-chord thrash to launch an explosion of bands like the Clash and the Sex Pistols, died Sunday. He was 49. "
http://www.salon.com/ent/wire/2001/04/15/ramone/index.html
Suicide In The Netherlands Could Come In Easy-To-Swallow Pill Form
http://www.plastic.com/article.pl?sid=01/04/15/1846236&from=rdf
How many products can you spot in the JOSIE & THE PUSSYCATS trailer? (evhead.com)
http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=8503
In future anyone can be my DJ. or at least dack can.
http://www.dack.com/music/show/2001-04-12.html
I regret clicking this link, yet I share it with you anyhow. (camworld.com)
http://www.gpl.com.au/temp/EasterXcld.jpg
adn this one, for different reasons
http://www.crackerfactory.org/crouching_robot_hidden_kitten.jpg
From: Gleanings
To: Hungery Hungry Clickers
Subject: Gleanings: A Picnic Basket Full of Links
OPENING THANG
Lance Arthur inspires us all-- "Take Five" looks back at five years of a personal website.
http://www.glassdog.com
Meanwhile on the blog I've been puzzling over the roles of Information Architects, and their relationship with usability and the rest of the team
http://eleganthack.com/blog/index.html
Have a nice weekend: I've packed you a nice big gleanings to keep you busy in case it rains.
IA & DESIGN MATTERS
nadav drove down to baychi (and i got to ride along!) and we saw a terrific talk on modeling user experience. I haven't gotten my act together to get my notes up, but he has
http://www.giantant.com/antenna/archive/2001_04_08_index.shtml#3161262
I now worship meta. their schematics belong in MOMA.
http://www.metadesign.com/main.htm
~~~
In other news I was nosing around acia as I am wont to do and looked at this for the third time
Software for Information Architects
http://argus-acia.com/strange_connections/strange011.html
Why is there no decent software for ia's to make their cute little sitemaps and wireframes?
~~~
kottke's collecting transit maps. amazing how many different ways there are to represent what is essentially the same data.
http://www.kottke.org/notes/0104.html#010409
found Information Graphics lying around IQHQ and dragged it home. nifty stuff, almost as lovely as Wurman's Information Architects. Lots of sign systems, graphs, infographics, transit maps and the like.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0500280770/eleganthack
~~~
Ethnographic-perspective paper on the internet as cultural space.
http://skylla.wz-berlin.de/pdf/2000/ii00-101.pdf
~~~
the FAQ on FAQ's
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/faqs/about-faqs/
~~~
Measuring mental workload
"Mental workload has been defined as the "degree of processing capacity that is expended during task performance" "
http://chem.larc.nasa.gov/HumanFactors/mworkload.htm
~~~
how to make a button
http://www.logiko.com/references/button.html
~~~
Noah grey interview on waferbaby
http://www.waferbaby.com/corner/noahgrey/
USABILITY MATTERS
Business 2.0: Intranets Save Time- But for Whom? (tomalak.org)
Jakob Nielsen. "Thinking about the intranet as a productivity tool can prevent
such mishaps. For every service or application you put on the intranet,
estimate the impact on users around the company. If usability is low, then
training time goes up and productivity goes down."
http://www.business2.com/content/magazine/ebusiness/2001/04/09/29409
~~~
Interstitials in the balance
Are improving clickthrough rates and a higher selling price worth the annoyance that pop-up ads cause site visitors?
http://www.publish.com/ic_490520_6414_1-2841_1320_12.html
BUSINESS MATTERS
Boo! And the 100 Other Dumbest Moments in e-Business History
http://www.ecompany.com/edit/0,2088,11274,00.html
NEWS & COMMENTARY
Tech Industry Aims to Render MP3 Obsolete
"The industry doesn't want [MP3] pushed, and Microsoft and RealNetworks don't want it pushed. The consumer is going to eat what he's given,"
http://www.canoe.ca/MoneyWSJ/wsj2-dow.html
~~~
NY Times: Humor Is at Center of Microsoft's New Campaign. (tomalak.org)
Although the campaign is likely to be greeted warmly by many white- collar
office workers who have long grumbled about the paper clip, it has worried at
least one Microsoft researcher who is most closely credited with being the
father of the technology underlying the paper clip.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/11/technology/11ADCO.html
~~~
Amazon, Borders to Join Forces In Online Book-Selling Business
http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB986946353234468786.htm
~~~
Napster's Sad Song Falls on Deaf Ears
By Ronna Abramson
Judge Patel says the music-swapping service may need to be shut down
if the company cannot successfully block unauthorized songs.
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=126041531&i=328309&d=1306497
~~~
Germany plots cyber attacks on neo-Nazi sites
By IDG News Service
The German Interior minister contemplates the use of spam to fight
extremists
http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=126041608&i=328262&d=1305962
APROPOS OF NOTHING
How It Works: Detectors Can Find Just the Right Spot to Drive That Nail (iaslash.org)
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/technology/12HOWW.html?0412ci
~~~
figlet server (giantant.com/antenna/)
http://www.surfplaza.com/figlet/
~~~
it's so fun, i don't even care what they do
http://www.filmarts.org/festival/festival00/
~~~
noel and mattjones sent me this, so it's gotta be cool
from: http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=8659
"Apparently, if you look at the second frame of credits on the new A.I. teaser trailer, there is a credit given to Jeanine Salla, Sentient Machine Therapist," Mooncookie explains. "If you enter her name into a Google.com search, you get http://www.familiasalla-es.ro/. Exploring this site will send you on a sprawling search for clues and other sites that are somehow related to the movie. It seems as if there are some 20+ websites that are connected with this guerilla-marketing geek's wet dream, a la the X-Men stunts last summer. After poking around for about five minutes, I was blown away by the man-hours put in to all this -- and the persistence of the geeks uncovering all this stuff -- but it seems everyone likes a good intrigue." As some Plastic wit once remarked, the real amazing thing is how the film industry will pay millions of bucks to lawyers to chase down and exterminate actual fan sites while simultaneously paying millions to developers to build fake fan sites. Only on the web, folks, only on the web!
~~~
why are mondays?
http://www.glassdog.com/the_lab/index.html
~~~
How much silly putty do you need? (rebeccablood.net)
http://www.crayola.com/store/showdetl.cfm?st=0&st2=0&st3=0&Product_ID=236&DS_ID=3
From: Gleanings
To: Wafflers
Subject: Gleanings: IAlicious
OPENING THANG
I suppose you all have seen this a half-dozen times but if not
http://www.salon.com/tech/log/2001/04/07/modem_e_mail/
I can't believe you can get to be the president of a company and still can't tell "reply" from "reply all."
Of course fuckedcompany.com has the entire mails: http://www.fuckedcompany.com/extras/modem_email.cfm
It reminds me of his completely hilarious novel, "e"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452281881/eleganthack
in which the president of advertising agency company keeps having his emails forwarded to a fellow CEO in Finland. Well, it was one of those books you sit down at 6 to read,and get up at midnight having finished it and wishing there were two more just like it. Fun read.
Anyhow, things are quite busy here at IQHQ, so just a short and late glean for y'all today...
IA & DESIGN MATTERS
So, What Size and Type of Font Should I Use on My Website?
"By far the two most common types of fonts currently used on the Web are the serif font, Times New Roman (TNR) and the sans serif font, Arial. The question is, which one is more legible and at which size? "
http://wsupsy.psy.twsu.edu/surl/usabilitynews/2S/font.htm
The Curse of Information Design
http://www.alistapart.com/stories/curse/
set off some really great debate here
http://www.alistapart.com/discuss/read.cfm?forum=46&id=334&thread=97
"Consumers love shopping. Designers love Flash. You do the math. Developer Michael Cardenas shares tips to help you get started building Flash-based e-commerce sites."
http://www.alistapart.com/stories/flashbag/
The Architecture of Online
""Form follows function - that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one…"
http://www.ecomresourcecenter.com/ecom_connection/0315_2.html
Great blog on IA! Tons of good stuff...
http://www.iaslash.org/ia/
USABILITY MATTERS
Just How 'Blind' Are We to Advertising Banners on the Web?
http://wsupsy.psy.twsu.edu/surl/usabilitynews/2S/banners.htm
APROPOS OF NOTHING
Obey the waffle
http://www.hypnoticwaffles.com/
You can do anything at zombo.com (you MUST have sound turned on)
http://www.zombo.com
From: Gleanings
To: Cleanings
Subject: Gleanings: Monday after the drugs wear off
OPENING THANG
I was possessed by something this Sunday (Theraflu, most likely- caught a cold) and rambled crazily on the blog. I tried to understand the web's relationship to old medium by contemplating rock and roll, poetry and collage, and I wrote something nice about dot-coms. Okay, you've been warned, it's more off-topic than usual.
http://eleganthack.com/blog/index.html
DESIGN MATTERS
Beautiful. Beautiful fonts, interesting content, nice wrapper... not usable. but again, personal sites are not subject to such rants.
http://www.patricking.com/
Design is not a therapy session
"Web designers need to grow up, leave their
inner artist behind and embrace the challenge of usable design."
http://www.shorewalker.com/pages/design_therapy-1.html
IA MATTERS
Let me write that down: the genius of documentation
"For almost all Web developers, documentation equals dullness. Thus few Web
projects get properly documented. Which helps explain why so many fail."
http://www.shorewalker.com/pages/documentation-1.html
"Comic Books: A Case Study for Redesigning Traditional Media and Assessing Entertainment Value." (peterme.com)
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/%7Eaklein/ComicPaper.pdf
MARKETING MATTERS
HTML Versus Text: The Saga Continues
