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Posted by Richard Ziade on July 30, 2005, 05:50PMBlog Neighborhoods
I’m always looking around for new blogs to track and I noticed something as I was flipping through a bunch today. Bloggers – especially the technically inclined – sort of create their own neighborhoods where they track and contribute to one another’s blogs.
This is sort of logical if you think about it in terms of technologies that are often the subject of discussion. Microsoft folks are going to talk about .Net, XAML and the like; Macromedia folks are going to blog about Flash, Coldfusion and Flex; and the list goes on. Then
While it makes a lot of sense, I think it’s unfortunate that ideas – many of which are platform or technology neutral – never leave these blogging neighborhoods. Many technologies today like XML, RSS, ReST and others have little to do with platform.
For example, I track Dare Obasanjo’s blog. Dare is an XML guru at Microsoft and his writings about RSS, ReST and XML in general are always intelligent, well-thought out and often insightful. Here’s an example: Misunderstanding REST: A look at the Bloglines, del.icio.us and Flickr APIs.
My point here (and yes, there’s a point to this post) is that, as readers and contributers, we shouldn’t be afraid to venture out into other blogging neighborhoods. There’s lots of good stuff out there.
Posted by Richard Ziade on July 29, 2005, 07:20PMWhat the Frick is a "Tag"?
Recently, I made the argument to a client that, while tags are great for flexible organization and folksnomies, the typical user simply wouldn’t get it. I argued that folders – a clear and well-established metaphor for organizing information assets – was a far simpler concept for typical users to grasp.
Just recently, the My Jeeves team was faced with a similar dilemma: how do you get users going on tagging without running into a sharp learning curve. Their solution came down to labelling – they toyed around with “topics,” but that didn’t fly and eventually settled on “Virtual Folders.” Though after playing with their interface, it looks more like a mixture of folders and tags (in my opinion, just as confusing).
This issue raises some important questions and should serve as a lesson to product managers and designers: don’t lose sight of the prerequisite knowledge of the typical user. There are few things that have a more immediate negative impact on a user’s first experience than a concept or a feature that they don’t get quickly. It’s our job to try to step inside their skin and take a good, educated guess of what they already understand and how we can leverage that.
Sites like Yahoo’s Web 2.0 and My Jeeves have the biggest challenge because their audience base is so wide and varied. For most of us, if we look carefully enough, we can often draw a fairly decent picture of the typical user’s mindset and work from there.
In my opinion, while there are some great experiments happening on the Internet – RSS, tagging, etc. – none have been nailed down such that the rest of the world can take them and run. This is not a technology challenge, it’s an experience design challenge.
˛Recently, I made the argument
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Recently, I made the argument to a client that, while tags are great for flexible organization and folksnomies, the typical user simply wouldn’t get it. I argued that folders – a clear and well-established metaphor for organizing information assets – was a far simpler concept for typical users to grasp.
Just recently, the My Jeeves team was faced with a similar dilemma: how do you get users going on tagging without running into a sharp learning curve. Their solution came down to labelling – they toyed around with “topics,” but that didn’t fly and eventually settled on “Virtual Folders.” Though after playing with their interface, it looks more like a mixture of folders and tags (in my opinion, just as confusing).
This issue raises some important questions and should serve as a lesson to product managers and designers: don’t lose sight of the prerequisite knowledge of the typical user. There are few things that have a more immediate negative impact on a user’s first experience than a concept or a feature that they don’t get quickly. It’s our job to try to step inside their skin and take a good, educated guess of what they already understand and how we can leverage that.
Sites like Yahoo’s Web 2.0 and My Jeeves have the biggest challenge because their audience base is so wide and varied. For most of us, if we look carefully enough, we can often draw a fairly decent picture of the typical user’s mindset and work from there.
In my opinion, while there are some great experiments happening on the Internet – RSS, tagging, etc. – none have been nailed down such that the rest of the world can take them and run. This is not a technology challenge,
IBM: how to write cross-browser HTML
IBM has put out a pretty comprehensive article on how to properly code across Internet Explorer and Mozilla. Pretty useful.
Posted by Richard Ziade on July 28, 2005, 07:37PMFeedDemon 1.6 Beta 2 Released
I’m starting to feel like I’m part of the newswire for FeedDemon releases. Then again, it is my feed reader of choice (and I’ve messed with a bunch of them – in my opinion, it’s the best).
FeedDemon 1.6 Beta 2 is out. You can also find the release notes here. I’ve got to say, syncing the state of my RSS world with NewsGator is damn cool.
Learning To Ignore Google Adwords
I visit a lot of sites on any given day. My feedreader is tracking over 200 and I may click on 40–50 per day. One of the habits I’ve acquired is the ability to subconsciously block out those annoying blocks of ad links.
Of course, I sort of see them. Sort of. They have that predictable pattern to them and are often relegated to boxes. I don’t really need to read them to know that they’re useless to me. In a split second, they’re relegated to peripheral vision and never dealt with again.
I would categorize myself a savvy web user. I think (and I fear) that over time, others will also become immune to these ads such that the search engines will feel compelled to start to, how shall I say, mix it up a bit: Images. Varied layouts. Etc. I think the goal today is to make money on advertising without reverting back to the time of balloons flying across a web page via Flash.
Despite my ability to mentally block them out, as a designer, I must say that I hate them. They really destroy any sense of cohesiveness or consistency of a page’s design (if a page was designed with some thought to begin with). I understand they’re not mandatory by any means, but ads like this (unlike the occasional usefulness of ads alongside search results) are just plain annoying.
Foxylicious
A natural marriage: Firefox + delicious = foxylicious.
Posted by Richard Ziade on July 25, 2005, 01:26PMThe Great Browser Escape!
I’ve blogged in the past about how applications will eventually “break out” of the browser. While web apps are becoming richer and more interactive, they are still relegated to the boundaries of the browser window.
This is going to change. There are a host of technologies out there - available now or soon to be available - that will start to blur the line between the desktop and rich applications that still have the Internet’s reach. The result is a better more tailored experience that introduces interfaces that are more neatly tailored to the information we want nearby. The days of visiting a big, bulky portal page just to see today’s weather are numbered.
Today, Yahoo! announced that they’re acquiring Konfabulator, a maker of desktop “widgets.” This allows Yahoo! to deliver their vast menu of services a la carte, thus breaking out of the browser. From a design perspective, this is pretty exciting stuff. The “playground” is no longer the browser page, but rather the entire desktop. In my opinion, this is the first baby step in a trend that will not only deliver information to users, but strategically inject that information into key touch points of the entire desktop experience. The ability to tie information to workflow - to how people use computers - is very exciting.
Yahoo! is not alone in recognizing this trend:
- Microsoft’s XAML/Avalon engine is a key foundation of their future operating system, Microsoft Vista.
- Macromedia’s Central application allows Flash applications to exist outside the browser. Central has been out for over a year, but has failed to gain any sort of traction.
- Apple introduced Dashboard Widgets with the latest upgrade of their operating system.
- Mozilla’s XUL enables manipulation of the browser chrome and application functionality. A whole slew of extensions exist based on XUL.
In my opinion, the real killer here is Microsoft’s XAML technology. Few would argue that while most other implementations are effectively “bolt-on”, XAML will stand out in how intimately it will be tied to the operating system’s capabilities. Let’s just hope that, unlike in the past, Microsoft doesn’t over engineer the thing such that the barrier of entry is too high and/or highly dependent on their own clunky IDE tools. Many of the implementations today piggyback technologies like CSS, XML and Javascript. This is smart because you’re leveraging what people already understand.
In any respect, the trend is clear and very exciting for technology designers like myself. The world of possibilities just got (and will continue to get) a lot bigger.
Posted by Richard Ziade on July 23, 2005, 05:10PM
Google Maps Introduces Hybrid View
Google keeps on truckin’ (or something). They’ve created a third “hybrid” view that marks up the satellite images with map information. Very cool.
Posted by Richard Ziade on July 22, 2005, 06:38PMMicrosoft Long...I mean...Vista
You knew it wasn’t going to last. Microsoft woke up yesterday and realized they aren’t in the chewing tobacco business. So out goes Longhorn, in comes Vista.
Posted by Richard Ziade on July 21, 2005, 06:26PMYahoo! Toolbar for Firefox Released
Get’em while they’re hot.
Or maybe you prefer Google’s.
Bulletin: FeedDemon 1.6 Beta Released; Still Feels Like Outlook
My feed reader of choice – Bradsoft’s (now Newsgator’s) FeedDemon – has gone to beta yet again. This time, the big feature is syncing with Newsgator’s web services so your stuff stays in sync wherever you log in. The beta is only available for registered users.
I’ve installed it on my end. It’s a slick little tool. For me, the real story with feed syndication interfaces is how best to present large amounts of information in an easily digestable way. I think the great majority of feed reader interfaces, in both web and client applications, miss the point about where we’re trying to go with RSS.
In short, RSS is not email. If I see one more damn layout that is based on the email client interface design pattern, I’m going to barf. The layout of folders on the left, entries in the midddle, full entry on the right (a la Outlook) simply falls short for RSS. In an upcoming post, I’m going to throw around some ideas of how we can approach the information/interaction design of feeds more effectively. I think Nick is onto something with how his “newspapers” (essentially XSL templates for viewing feeds) allow users to lay out feeds.
Posted by Richard Ziade on July 19, 2005, 12:54AMDynamic Ajax Tables
The tasty Ajax stuff just keeps on comin’. Here’s a nice implementation of editable table cells via Ajax.
Architecting CSS
Digital Web Magazine has a good article by Garret Dimon on architecting CSS. He explores the various methods of organizing styles in a CSS. A worthwhile read if you deal with CSS at all.
Posted by Richard Ziade on July 16, 2005, 10:16AMInform IT Article On The "New Internet"
Here : Wikis, Weblogs and RSS: What Does the New Internet Mean for Business?
Posted by Richard Ziade on July 12, 2005, 02:41PMFlash Player 8 Beta Is Out
Macromedia has just released a beta version of their new Flash player. Without some fancy demos, it's sort of hard to see the difference. Nevertheless, here it is.
There’s a whole slew of improvements/features with this release. Colin Moock has a bunch of links to a movie demo that showcases it’s new capabilities.
Contributing to Macromedia's XML News Aggregator
I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before. This blog contributes to the Technology category of Macromedia’s XML News Aggregator (MXNA).
I’ve always been a big fan of Macromedia’s products – especially their Coldfusion, Flash and Flex technologies. Their focus on user experience has always attracted me to their message. Let’s hope that the Adobe merger keeps that vibe going.
Posted by Richard Ziade on July 8, 2005, 04:10PMRICO : An Open Source Library For Ajax
The bad boys at Sabre Airline Solutions’ User Experience Team have put out an open source javascript library that whips together some neat interface controls. Demos and explanations are all available at Openrico.org. Good stuff.
Yahoo Testing RSS Search
The freaks at Feedster better watch their backs. Yahoo is testing an RSS search capability. It's down right now but Steve Rubel grabbed a screenshot while the gettin' was good.
Eventually, I think general search and RSS search will converge, such that the distinction will be blurred. You can already see hints of this at Google. Results will show blog entries posted very recently. I’m not even sure if siloing it out as a separate capability is worthwhile.
Google Toolbar for Firefox Released
Google has put out it’s fancy-shmancy toolbar for Firefox. While they were at it, they also released an integrated Google Suggest and a tool to send text messages to phones from the browser. All three extensions are here.
I think we’re going to see a lot more from Google for Firefox in the future.
Posted by Richard Ziade on July 3, 2005, 02:10PMPlease Excuse Our Appearance
Movable Type shit the bed on me (again). I've used this opportunity to introduce an new style to basement.org.
Unfortunately, the transition isn't entirely complete. So until then, please excuse our appearance.