THE WEB CAN BE A BETTER PLACE TO SURF AND DO BUSINESS !
Last Updated: October 30, 2004
[June 30, 2004]
Thinking About Interaction Design for Online News Delivery: "Productive interaction changes the role of the designer, shifting the balance from remote, one-way communicator who is represented by fixed linear presentations, towards present, two-way impresario and facilitator, who is represented by a context that initiates collaboration with the user."
[June 27, 2004]
Cory Doctorow: Microsoft Research DRM talk: "Here are the two most important things to know about computers and the Internet:
- A computer is a machine for rearranging bits
- The Internet is a machine for moving bits from one place to another very cheaply and quickly"
[June 26, 2004]
Slate: "Instead of learning about computers, we rely on the software industry to save us from ourselves by deploying ever more layers of code: spam filters, virus detectors, spyware removers. Although these tools certainly help, they don't tackle the central problem of computer illiteracy."
[June 23, 2004]
Jeffrey Zeldman: "Which design did the client buy? The design that reinvented the wheel? Or the design that sold the site's content? [...] Design and usability are not enemies. They are really two parts of the same art and science. We separate them because we are a specialist culture, and in so doing, we promote limited thinking, deep misunderstandings, and pointless antagonism between people who should be allies. On the web, graphic design, site architecture, and usability should be understood as component parts of a single thing - I call it web design, you may call it user experience or who knows what."
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908 - 1973), December 13, 1963 - "We can draw lessons from the past, but we cannot live in it."
[June 21, 2004]
The Shopping Cart Blues: Reckless Abandonment?: "Provide shipping timeframes and costs early in the process -- during the browsing phase, not the checkout phase. Many studies peg frustrations with shipping (costs and times) as a leading reason for cart abandonment. One Jupiter survey showed that as many as 63 percent of U.S. online shoppers failed to complete transactions as a result of their distrust of shipping and handling charges."
[June 20, 2004]
O'Reilly Network: "As the innovation continues and Linux is furthered and developed, it is inspiring to see that the important issues are gaining more and more importance. Usability is a subject that I have faith in to varying levels, and it is great to see that usability is a core concern with many software projects. As we continue to get easier and more accessible, the usability angle will not only rise in importance to imitate the ease of use of other systems, but we must ensure that we explore new and different areas too make our systems even easier to use. [...] For Linux to win we need to innovate. Innovation is not imitation but new thinking backed up by developers who actually care about their software. We have the enthusiasm, talent and potential, we just need to ensure that we all head forward instead of backwards."
[June 16, 2004]
Bruce Schneier: "The security of your computer and your network depends on two things: what you do to secure your computer and network, and what everyone else does to secure their computers and networks. [...] SP2 is an important security upgrade to Windows XP, and I hope it is widely installed among licensed XP users. I also hope it is quickly pirated, so unlicensed XP users can also install it. In order for me to remain secure on the Internet, I need everyone to become more secure. And the more people who install SP2, the more we all benefit."
[June 15, 2004]
The Register: "Sir Tony Hoare - British computing pioneer and senior scientist at Microsoft Research - believes the computer industry needs a 'grand challenge' to inspire it. [...] By 2020, Hoare predicts, the world will contain 100 times as many computers as it does now, each with 100 times as much power and memory, all interconnected. And to best understand this world, he says, we should not think of it as containing many discrete computing devices, but as a global ubiquitous computer (GUC). He argues that in this world, the classical theory of computation, based on Turing's description of a single, localised machine sequentially executing a deterministic program to completion, no longer applies."
Mark Bernstein: "Bad personal sites bore us by telling us about trivial events and casual encounters about which we have no reason to care. Don't tell us what happened: tell us why it matters. Don't tell us your opinion: tell us why the question is important. If you don't really care, don't write."
[June 14, 2004]
GrokDoc: "Our goal is to create a useful manual on basic tasks that new users will find simple and clear and easy to follow, using what we learn from our study. In order to accomplish that goal, we are requesting that you sit down with a Windows-using friend or family member and observe them as they try any GNU/Linux distro, watching and noting what they find difficult, so we will know what needs to be explained more clearly. The research results will be collected here, and we will then write up the manual explaining how to do the basic tasks we have studied."
[June 13, 2004]
Ergonomics Today: "Cognitive ergonomics, focuses on the fit between human cognitive abilities and limitations and the machine, task, environment, etc. [...] Cognitive ergonomics is especially important in the design of complex, high-tech, or automated systems. A poorly designed cellular phone user-interface may not cause an accident, but it may well cause great frustration on the part of the consumer and result in a marketplace driven business failure. A poor interface design on industrial automated equipment, though, may result in decreased production and quality, or even a life threatening accident."
CyberJournalist.net: "101 ways to improve your news site"
[June 11, 2004]
Wired News: "VisitorVille employs a graphical, urban metaphor to present information about customers' real-time Web-traffic flow. A company's entire Web presence is seen as an urban or suburban neighborhood, with each individual Web page presented as a building. The more visitors on a site, the taller the buildings, and the brighter the lights on each floor. Continuing the metaphor, visitors who have found a site using popular search engines arrive in the 'city' on virtual buses emblazoned with their logos. And each visitor is represented by a small avatar that, when clicked, presents a passport that offers several pieces of information about the user, such as her or his IP address, where that person came from and more. [...] You want to see how many people are converting to your goals. Two of the things that people are really trying to push in this industry are ease of use and general usability: finding the information you want, really quickly, without having to analyze a lot of data."
Genome News Network: "If you're middle aged, there's a good reason why you can't beat your child at games like 'Memory' and 'Concentration.' Scientists report that after age 40, brain tissue shows genetic changes that may contribute to the aging process, including cognitive decline."
Cameron Barrett: "Blogs have given us a voice. In short, blogs are the natural iteration of the personal home page."
[June 10, 2004]
BBC News: "Japanese researchers have come up with a system that lets you 'pick and drop' files between computers."
[June 09, 2004]
Intranet Journal: "Underappreciated though they may be, extranets are playing an increasingly important role in connecting companies with their customers, partners, vendors, and suppliers. Yet there's still confusion about what extranets are, the purposes they serve, and how they are most effectively deployed."
[June 08, 2004]
Adam Greenfield: "Experience cannot be designed; you can, at best, suggest what sort of experience you'd like to offer your users. Accept partiality, incompletion, and inattention - and understand that nobody will ever care quite as much about the detailed effort you put into your designs as you do."
Daniel Burka: Favourite Favicons
Chinese Proverb - "Tell me and I'll forget, Show me and I may remember, Involve me and I'll understand."
[June 07, 2004]
eWEEK.com: Opera 7.5 Is a Worthy Browser Upgrade: "Some of the most compelling new features in this release are in the Opera mail client. Probably the most newsworthy is the ability to subscribe to and read RSS (Resource Description Framework Site Summary) news feeds from the mail client. We've always preferred reading news feeds in a mail client to a stand-alone reader application, and the Opera feature worked well, with feeds automatically added when we clicked on their links."
Ty Wilson - contemporary, figurative, poster artist.
[June 05, 2004]
Luke Wroblewski: "Windows empowers organizations. Apple empowers the individual."
Dana Blankenhorn: "The Internet is a worldwide network. For any enforcement mechanism to have a chance it must be based on a worldwide standard, or else everyone runs to where crime pays. In the case of spam, crime pays in the USA. Until Americans become angry enough over this to do something about it, over the objections of the so-called 'e-mail marketing industry,' everyone's inboxes will remain hostage to it."
Andrew Skwish - illustrator/designer
[June 03, 2004]
OS News: Opinion: Linux In 2004 - Usability Needs A Facelift - "Using Linux primarily now, I see more and more that I think could use improvement. First and foremost, usability. Mind you, I am a geek, so I am able to use Linux regardless, no matter if I have to compile from source or search for an RPM on Google. My point is, I shouldn't have to. Installing packages is my biggest gripe about Linux. Sure, I could use Apt-get to install everything, but what happens if I forget to pay my internet bill? I can't install anything, then. One of the things that makes Windows so popular is that if you download a setup program and activate it, it installs your new software without a hitch, providing the developer made it compatible with your system."
[June 02, 2004]
BBC News: Online newspapers tempt readers - "Timothy Balding, director general of World Association of Newspapers said web audiences for newspapers have grown by 350% over the last five years. [...] The rapid growth of broadband in many countries means people are spending less of their leisure time watching television, preferring to surf the web instead. This led to more visits to newspaper web sites, according to research by the World Association of Newspapers and ZenithOptimedia presented at the Istanbul gathering. The migration of classified advertising from the print media to the web continues slowly. Currently, just over 2% of newspaper ad revenues comes from the web."
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eWEEK: "When it comes to blocking intrusive Internet software, Yahoo Inc.'s new Anti-Spy gives adware the benefit of the doubt."
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