BASEMENT.ORG
Posted by Richard Ziade on March 28, 2008, 09:37AMDigg Is Just A Dude : The False Illusion Of Pluralism And Democracy In Social News Sites
I like Digg. I can't say I'm an overly active user, but I genuinely enjoy perusing through the top links every so often. The comments, most often comprised of witty banter, are often as entertaining as the link itself.
Digging around through Digg last night though, I noticed how the Digg user base pretty much represents this single collective personality with a fairly predictable set of views. If we call Digg...umm..."Dougg" for a brief moment, a particular character with very clear ideas, beliefs and interests materializes.
So what's Dougg like? Well, I'd venture to say:
- He is clearly a guy (probably between 18 and 25 years old).
- He's politically far left.
- He's against the war in Iraq.
- He's either an atheist or agnostic.
- He's voting for Obama.
- He detests Microsoft and loves Apple.
- He's generally anti-establishment and anti-status quo.
- He plays a whole lot of video games.
- He's far too impressed with HDR photos.
So in short, Dougg is pretty predictable and not very diverse. It wouldn't be a stretch to conclude that Dougg doesn't like country music or say, Ronald Reagan's legacy. What's interesting about this characterization of Digg is that highlights the tendency of mobs to eventually settle into a recognizable identity that reinforces itself and as a result, doesn't really evolve over time. While Digg does allow anyone to post virtually anything, the stuff that's going to rise to the top and get "published" for the world to see is fairly easy to predict.
In other words, Dougg is pretty set in his ways. Digg isn't a megaphone that presents wildly divergent views and ideas. It's really no different than pegging The FillInTheBlank Tribune as a "beacon of liberal thinking" or a "conservative rag." While publications may actually go to great lengths to put forth some level of objectiveness, Dougg makes no such apologies. He doesn't have to. He has the luxury of hiding behind his supposedly democratic flavor of editing and publishing.
Who knew that this experiment in pluralism and community would end up so lop-sided?
Posted by Richard Ziade on March 25, 2008, 11:28AMArc90 Lab : The RESTService Flex Library
Over at the ol' Arc90 ranch, we love our rest. No not the usual kind of rest that involves afternoon naps and taking off your shoes. I'm talking about some good ol' Representational State Transfer. We like the simplicity and human-friendliness of REST and XML.
We're also big fans of Adobe's Flash and Flex platforms. Unfortunately, AS3 isn't exactly REST-friendly out of the box. There's some HTTP support, but we needed more robust support for REST. To remedy this, we've built our own AS3 library: RESTService. It's a "class that makes fully aware HTTP service calls. Fault and Result events contain all response headers and status messages, as well as the response body." It even supports HTTPS by leveraging the AS3 Crypto Framework.
This is a great library if your application or org leverages REST-stye services. Our very own Andy Lewisohn gave birth to this bad boy. If you're liking it, be sure to give him a virtual hug (or something).
Posted by Richard Ziade on March 24, 2008, 09:39AMSearchme : Cover Flow Meets Search (Yay?)
The folks at Searchme were kind enough to send me a beta invite into their visual search tool. Searchme presents search results in a cover flow style interface. After playing around with it a bit, I sent them a note:
I'm honestly dumbfounded with this. Beyond the "oh neat" initial impression - how is this useful? The cover flow style of perusing assets makes sense for large, easily-recognizable assets. For search results, I just don't see how it makes sense.
I'll admit that my impression is colored by the major backing that Searchme is enjoying - which I assume comes part-and-parcel with validation from some smart people. If a couple of guys had done this with Flash, I would have a very different impression. But I'm guessing that Searchme is a venture that seeks to become a full-fledged business. If Searchme does take off, it'll be an important lesson for me to learn about how an application penetrates a market and ulitmately succeeds. Because right now, I just don't see.
Soon after, Searchme responded back. Here's the entire response verbatim:
Hi Rich:
You certainly are entitled to your opinion. We have heard it before and we think that for some people, looking at text just makes more sense. You are one of those people, for sure!
But there are people out there for whom a visual representation is preferable. They want to recognize a page by it’s look (oh, its a wikipedia page, etc.) not it’s title. Information wise, pictures are much richer than text, and we have heard hundreds of users who tell us that the like the alternative of looking and choosing pictures over words.
The wonderful thing about this world is that everyone is different and we embrace that, so please go ahead and post your view, you are entitled and encouraged to do so - thank you for telling us first. We really appreciate your integrity.
Best,
Searchme Team
A day later, I got another response, I'm guessing from a different group or person within Searchme:
Hi, Rich-
We show pictures of web pages to help searchers “look before they leap.” with a traditional text-only list view, searchers fall into a rhythm of “click, back… click, back…”, as they review search results. this takes time. Enabling users to quickly see pictures of the pages in the results helps them in two ways. First, they can quickly scan the pictures and identify features like images, headlines, and brands that catch their interest. no more “click, back… click, back.” you know it when you see it. Second, searchers can also visually ~reject~ pages, pages that don’t look useful or relevant. A visual image provides users with additional data than can be useful in evaluating both individual search results, and also a set of search results.
Also, helping people narrow their search by category, as kara mentioned in the article, is another way to make results more aligned with the intent of the user. If we can disambiguate a query and capture user intent, we can serve pages only about the category that they want to see. and, just as importantly, we can omit the pages they don’t want to see.
Thanks so much for the feedback. We'll make sure to pass it on to the appropriate people. We're working really hard to make Searchme fun and easy to use. Stay tuned for some cool new features, and don't forget to tell your friends to sign up for a beta invitation!
Thanks for trying out Searchme!
The Searchme Team
I've played with Searchme for about fifteen minutes so far. You could easily argue that I haven't given it a chance. Still, I'm failing to see how illegible snapshots of web pages will prove to be superior to seeing a snippet of text just below a search result. Cover flow works well if you're sifting through images (Piclens does an incredible job of displaying image search results).
As for Apple's implementation of it in iTunes, it makes sense there because you're leveraging an association that a user has already created between an album and its visual "icon." Perusing search results is another matter altogether. To quickly weigh the value of a result, you need to know a little more about it and the great majority of destinations on the Web convey themselves through textual content.
In the end, it's about how it feels in a real-world scenario. I hit Google probably 30-50 times a day. I'm going to try to block out some time and use it instead of Google and report back. My guess is I'll grow annoyed within the first few searches and abandon it. But who knows. Check back soon!
Posted by Richard Ziade on March 18, 2008, 09:02AMArc90 Lab : Flex Collapsible Panel Component
Here's some more Arc90 love for you (I'll stop after this post, I swear). We've put out a handy little collapsible panel Flex component. It's pretty slick and dead simple to implement in your Flex or Air applications.
Look out for more Flex and Air components and libraries on the Arc90 Lab & Blog.
Until then, start collapsing (and expanding)!
Posted by Richard Ziade on March 17, 2008, 02:34PMGrab Some Tasty Treats From Arc90's Blog And Lab
The Arc90 blog and lab are all abuzz with activity these days. This is partly due to a flurry of "Quick Tips" that the kids at Arc90 are sharing with the world these days. Tips on a whole slew of technologies including PHP, JQuery, Flex, Coldfusion, Unix...and many others, are making their way onto the blog in lovely, snack-sized portions. Be sure to catch'em by either visiting the blog or subscribing to the blog and lab RSS feeds.
So don't be shy, feel free to partake in the gifts of knowledge (and chunks of code) that the wizards at Arc90 are sharing with you. It's like a technology all-you-can-eat buffet (sort of).
Posted by Richard Ziade on March 14, 2008, 09:03AMMicrosoft-Centered Design
And you wonder why Microsoft gets on people's nerves...
So I'm perusing the various blog posts that have streamed out of the MIX 08 conference and some interesting talks are available online. So I head on over to the MIX 08 site to view some sessions and I run into this:
Yep, I need to download Real Player, I mean Silverlight to watch these videos. Silverlight, for the less enlightened, is Microsoft's foray into streaming video, rich media and rich apps on the Web (aka Microsoft's Flash).
Putting aside general observations about industry trends and such, the move is just downright selfish. Here's why: Flash video works well and Flash is installed. I can respect Microsoft's desire to compete, but don't do it at the expense of end users. Silverlight is bringing nothing new to the table here except distraction, disruption and what amounts to a dead end on a web page.
In the spirit of constructive criticism, I'd offer this to the Silverlight team: sit in a room with a whiteboard and think up some actual things that will compel users to install Silverlight with a fevered passion. In other words: invent something we don't already have. We all know what user-centered design is all about. This is Microsoft-centered design. The users? They're taken by the ear and forced to follow along. We're force-fed Microsoft's strategy.
I for one, am convinced that if Microsoft re-channeled their energy to delivering new and creative inventions that we don't already have, we'd be pleasantly surprised.
This post shouldn't be read as a wholesale condemnation of Microsoft. Microsoft's sphere of influence is vast, and many good things have come from them. Office 2007/2008 is a beautifully designed experience in my opinion, and the features in the new Internet Explorer 8 show some out-of-the-box thinking. Such examples further emphasize my point.
C'mon Redmond, you can do better than this.
Posted by Richard Ziade on March 13, 2008, 03:10PM9 of the Best Web-Based Rich Text Editors
Web Distortion has taken to the time to review and summarize 9 of the Best Web-Based Rich Text Editors. Well worth marking if you're interested in that sort of thing.
Posted by Richard Ziade on March 12, 2008, 02:08PMA Lesson From Apple : How To Make Your Users Fall In Love With You
As part of the iPhone SDK, Apple included a gem for anyone interested in creating effective user experiences: The iPhone Human Interface Guidelines for Web Applications is a nicely-written set of guidelines to help developers build usable, intuitive applications for the iPhone. Looking past the iPhone however, you'll find great advice that applies generally.
A couple of things struck me about the document. First, it's incredibly well-written. It seems to intentionally avoid tech-speak or unnecessary jargon. It's written in an almost dumbed-down, non-technical manner.
The other theme that permeates the entire paper is the enormous care and concern for users. The document can be read as a series of warnings to developers and designers. It constantly reminds the reader to "pay attention to" and "be mindful of" how user's think, work and interact. It's a glimpse into Apple's design-dominated culture.
People wonder why people love their Macs and iPods. It's because Apple is thoughtful and sympathetic. Unlike most other technology company cultures, technology takes a back seat.
Below are some choice snippets that I found especially useful:
- [U]nderstanding your users, is a cornerstone of user experience and user interface design, whether you are designing a webpage, an iPhone application, or a computer application.
- [Y]ou must be prepared for the probability that users will not be giving their undivided attention to your content, at least not for long.
- [O]ne of the ways to achieve simplicity is to avoid the clutter of too many visual elements that compete for the user’s attention. In a webpage, you might do this by reducing the number of ads, images, and links.
- Avoid clutter, unused blank space, and busy backgrounds.
- Express essential information succinctly.
- Avoid unnecessary interactivity.
- You can’t assume that users have the time (or can spare the attention) to figure out how your content works. Therefore, you should strive to make your web content instantly understandable to users.
- A webpage that is cluttered with many different sizes and styles of elements, different sizes and colors of text, and gratuitous images presents an unpleasant user experience.
- Avoid technical jargon in the user interface. Use what you know about your users to determine whether the words and phrases you plan to use are appropriate.
- Consistency across user interfaces allows users to apply knowledge they’ve gained from other webpages and applications to new content.
How To Design A Logotype
Here's a nice succinct article on designing logotypes. Great logotypes probably don't come out of tutorials but great designers. Still, the post gives some nice guidance.
Posted by Richard Ziade on March 11, 2008, 09:16AM124 Photoshop Actions
Actions are Photoshop's pre-recorded macros that can do all kinds of snazzy things to your images. Visual Blast Media put out 124 Photoshop actions to help give your stuff that extra umph (or is it "humph"?).
Posted by Richard Ziade on March 10, 2008, 12:01PMMicrosoft Is Having Trouble Indexing Itself
Somebody should pass this along to the kids at Microsoft:
When you put out a product or service, check your search results to make sure that your brands end up higher up in your search engine's results than your competitors.
A few weeks ago, Microsoft introduced Windows Live Sky Drive to the world. It's a web-based storage locker for your files. A few days ago, I decided to give it a whirl...so I searched for it. As of this post, here's a snap of the Google results:
And here's Microsoft's Live Search results:
The first result on Microsoft's own search engine? A UK-based distributor of aircraft engines (side note: this result doesn't come up within the first 50 results on Google).
Maybe someone at Microsoft should send Google a Thank You note?
Posted by Richard Ziade on March 6, 2008, 09:32AMGoogle Calendar Sync
As an Outlook user that uses Google Apps to handle the back end, I'm sure others share my pain of syncing/coordinating/making sense of Outlook Calendar and Google Calendar. Google apparently had pity on us. They've just released Google Calendar Sync. Haven't tried it yet, but it looks promising.
Posted by Richard Ziade on March 4, 2008, 11:22AMA Response To The Digital Rights And Righteousness Post
Christopher Fahey, the blogger behind Graphpaper gives a thoughtful response to my post on stealing (or not stealing, depending on your position) music. It's a reply beneath that post, reprinted here because I think it makes some key points regarding digital rights.
I have an answer, of sorts: The very idea that you can even call a piece of music your own, as if you "own" it, is flawed and unnatural. Ownership of music is a phenomenon that didn't exist a century ago, and is about to return to that condition. Ownership of music is a phenomenon tied inextricably to the now-dead 20th century industry of mass-producing physical objects on which music was recorded. The only reason we (both consumers and artists) even think that "owning" music is rational is because we've spent our lives under the influence of that weird industry.
When you write "Did we buy vinyl and CD's all these years because we didn't have other, cheaper means to gain "ownership?"", I think you put your finger right on it. The place to focus, then, is on how musicians can exist without selling recorded music. The answer lies, in part, in pre-20th century history, before music could be bought and sold.
It's time to figure out how to charge for something else besides charging for the music itself. This is what Kelly's article is really about.
Taking possession of someone else's creative work and calling it your own is wrong.
I would agree with this only insofar as (a) taking credit as the work's creator is wrong, and (b) using the music to sell your own product or service without the creator's permission is wrong. Enjoying the product as an individual consumer, on your own terms without paying the creator money, however, is not wrong. The "deal" that you fear you are violating by downloading copyrighted music (the deal that the artist and the label owns the music and is selling not just the physical ability to listen to it, but the very right to listen to it was a false deal to begin with. All they were selling was the hard copy, not the intellectual property.
If an artist really wants to have strict economic control over their music, they must refuse to release it digitally or physically and must exclusively perform it live for audiences willing to pay for it. This is, of course, ridiculous if you interpret it literally. But for many artists, this is virtually how they survive, using their recorded music as a promotional tool for where the real money lies: live gigs, t-shirts and souvenirs, endorsements, appearances, and licensing of their music for other products and venues.
I've addressed this on my own blog, I hope you can check it out: http://tinyurl.com/2do3dg.
Posted by Richard Ziade on March 3, 2008, 05:32PMMarkup Generator
For all the lazy bastards among us, Markup Generator takes in some simple shorthand and generates all that fancy XHTML code - id's, classes and styles in all - in a spiffy. Looks useful.