“Florida found itself in another voting debacle during last week’s primary election: Tens of millions of dollars spent to abolish hanging chads and they still can’t get it right.” Lauren Weinstein —A Vote for Touch and Go Away [Florida Ballots]Wired) Similar:This morning I awoke to YouTube’s live footage of crowds circling a mosque in Mecca.…
Whiteboards vs. Blackboard: “So, on the one hand, we’ve got a classroom board that can be written on only with special pens. You can never tell when the pens will run out before they actually do so, and there’s no good way to extend the life of a pen once it finally expires. On the…
“If all you have is a hammer then everything is a nail. How else can you explain why web sites are so incredibly painful to use? If I were paranoid I’d assume there was a conspiracy to assure that the Internet is kept lame. But perhaps it is a combination of ignorance and laziness.” Bob…
“Navigating through digital texts was one of the e-book users’ biggest complaints. They found moving from page to page ‘tedious.’ They also found it difficult to find specific chapters in texts and to find particular words.” —Students Complain About Devices for Reading E-Books, Study Finds (Chronicle) Similar:This morning I awoke to YouTube’s live footage of crowds…
“A computer chat program that speaks Hindi could open up computers to India’s illiterate millions. ” —Hindi Chatbot Breaks New GroundBBC) Similar:This morning I awoke to YouTube’s live footage of crowds circling a mosque in Mecca. For m…Jesus Christ SuperstarThe Dog and the Oyster (Aesop Fable)MLA Citations: Your attention to detail establishes your credibilityMore than…
“U.S. federal Judge Colleen McMahon has dismissed a claim by British Telecom that it developed and holds a patent to the hyperlink technology used to whisk Web users from one site to another. ” Michele Delio —Judge Tosses BT Hyperlink Case (Wired) Similar:This morning I awoke to YouTube’s live footage of crowds circling a mosque in…
“Tiny text tyrannizes users by dramatically reducing task throughput. IE4 had a great design that let users easily change font sizes; let’s get this design back in the next generation of browsers.” Jakob Nielsen —Let Users Control Font SizeUseIT.com) This apparently the Week of Cute Headlines. Why not “Tiny text type terribly trashes task throughput”?…
"Several years ago, the State University of New York at Buffalo took stock of its proliferating Web sites and found more than 250,000 pages spread out across 17 different servers. Not surprisingly, students and faculty members were having a hard time finding information they needed, even though they knew it was probably online — somewhere." Florence…
“Usability expertise is mainly an issue of talent and experience rather than theory. Much of usability work requires pattern matching, which is why it’s so dependent on brain power and past experience: Once you observe slight traces of a usability issue in users’ behavior, you must deduce the underlying implications for design.” Jakob Nielsen —Becoming…
“Design matters, but which design is preferable depends upon the occasion, the context, and above all, upon my mood… Why do I own several teapots? Because I like them.” Don Norman —Emotion and Design: Attractive Things Work Better (jnd.org) Similar:This morning I awoke to YouTube’s live footage of crowds circling a mosque in Mecca. For…
"In an amazingly short time, software has become critical to almost every aspect of modern life… Yet much software simply doesn’t work reliably." Charles C. Mann —Why is Software So Bad? (MIT Tech Review) Similar:My crowd simulation handles 2000 capsule NPCs at 130fps. I’m really pushing my coding skil…More than a million people die on…
(The Economist) “…goes roughly as follows. The QWERTY design (patented by Christopher Sholes in 1868 and sold to Remington in 1873) aimed to solve a mechanical problem of early typewriters. When certain combinations of keys were struck quickly, the type bars often jammed.” But the real problem is that “economists seem to adopt bogus anecdotal…
“It’s very enjoyable to visit a website that works, where everything just clicks for you. In contrast, a user interface that doesn’t do things the way you want feels sluggish, unpleasant, and possibly even hostile, despite the designer’s no doubt sincere attempt to invoke positive emotions.” Jakob Nielsen —User Empowerment and the Fun Factor (Alertbox) Similar:My…
“Open the pod bay doors, please,” astronaut Dave implores Hal 9000. We command, the machines execute. If they fail, they do so politely: “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” W. Wayt Gibbs —Whatever You Say (Scientific American) Yeah, after they have killed our astronaut partner, but that’s not the point the author’s…
“A Writer’s Perspective on an Emerging Medium” —What’s Happening on the Web? Similar:This morning I awoke to YouTube’s live footage of crowds circling a mosque in Mecca. For m…MLA Citations: Your attention to detail establishes your credibilityMore than a million people die on roads every year. Meet the man determined to prevent the…Stapler jam during…
“A gap between how web designers and ordinary surfers think is causing frustration on the net.” —Web Design “Causes Confusion” (BBC) Nothing really new here, but it’s good to see the mainstream press covering usability issues. Similar:This morning I awoke to YouTube’s live footage of crowds circling a mosque in Mecca. For m…More than a…
Admit it. You didn’t read the f—ing manual. You didn’t read it because you’re a geek and you don’t need no stinkin’ manual. Or you didn’t because you’re not a geek, and the manual gave you brain cramps. —Read The F—ing Story, Then RTFM (Wired) Similar:MLA Citations: Your attention to detail establishes your credibilityMore than…
On a page that collected links to articles about online navigation, Allen Smith posted a short quote from Jakob Nielsen, and added links to pages that illustrated Nielsen’s points. What are the ethical implications of adding inline links to quoted text? —Website Navigationwww.allensmith.net) Similar:The Dog and the Oyster (Aesop Fable)MLA Citations: Your attention to detail…
“Some weblogs wither once the first flush of enthusiasm passes, while others go from strength to strength, attracting contributions and feedback from experts and interested Internet surfers.” Laurel A. Clyde —Weblogs and Blogging (FreePint) One of her examples looks very familiar… Similar:MLA Citations: Your attention to detail establishes your credibilityMore than a million people die…
(UseIT.com) : “A company’s homepage is its face to the world and the starting point for most user visits. Improving your homepage multiplies the entire website’s business value, so following key guidelines for homepage usability is well worth the investment.” Jakob Nielsen —Home Page Usability Guidelines Similar:This morning I awoke to YouTube’s live footage of…