(Comments added for week ending Sun 11 Aug 2002) | View Other Weeks
| last updated:16 Aug 2002 14: 08 Webword time, or 16 Aug 2002 19:08 UK time |
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| Webword Statistics - Recent Comments (Comments added for week ending Sun 11 Aug 2002) | View Other Weeks |
| Hearing is Believing | Fri 09 Aug |
| (MSNBC) The Hyper-Sonic Sound System (HSS), as he calls it, can take an audio signal from virtually any source—home stereo, TV, computer, microphone, etc.—and convert it to an ultrasonic frequency that can be directed like a beam of light toward a target up to 100 yards away. |
| Fri 09 Aug 19:34 | Jack Schonchin | Taking bets on the first application of this technology... audio billboards. You're stuck at a red light when you hear the Coca-Cola jingle, then the bodacious babe lounging across the street sighs at you, then you hear the crack of the Coke can and the fizz just pours over you. We will be forced to wear ear plugs in public, or install sound-deflecting glass. Second topic... As the number of postings grow on WebWord, so does the need for new forum software. Moveable Type simply does not lend itself to conversations. You cannot easily check back for new messages, be notified when someone replies to your message, etc. OK, ok, how about this. Keep Moveable Type. Install secondary forum software. Then we can post our own links and follow conversations in the forum. The WebWord front page will remain John's best finds, and his best picks from what he sees in the forums. |
| Fri 09 Aug 20:13 | MadMan | John doesn't like tinkering with system configs, Jack. ;) Besides, the forum software would have to be tied into MT so that new links automatically have a thread attached to them. There are too many links posted here to do it manually. Suggestions? |
| Fri 09 Aug 20:27 | Jack Schonchin | Nonononono... MT would continue to operated as-is. The forum software would be separate, for in-depth discussions on various topics, most not directly related to John's links. Not the best solution, but better than completely scrapping MT. |
| Fri 09 Aug 20:52 | John S. Rhodes | I've thought about using some flavor of WiKi. I've thought about setting up a bulletin board. I've thought about tweaking the Movable Type configs. I've thought about switching to other blog tools. I've thought about many things, oh yes, many things... I think the best solution is the most interesting: Setting up a registration system. Now, if I could get help building this...things could get quite interesting. Quite interesting indeed. I've said different times I would like to turn this into a major news site focused on usability and related topics. Be the source of usability news. And yes, I do mean the source. I'm also talking about creating research reports, selling advertising, covering conferences in real-time, speaking at many more conferences, and even creating a usability magazine. What would it mean for WebWord to be the usability media source? It means generating money. (Money? Jack throws a chair at John. John ducks, just in time!) WebWord is getting ready to grow or die. I think we all feel it in the air. I'd rather ride the wave and make this work. Imagine a publishing company focused on usability and related topics. Seriously consider how 3-4 people (Rhodes, MadMan, Jack, and Mac?) could be the producers, writers, editors, of WebWord. A usability media company. I'm throwing this idea out there for people to see and to gasp! I've never even mentioned this outlandish idea to those guys. Ha! Still, it is an idea I think is wild and crazy. A hardcore group of 3-4 folks focused on usability. Posting news. Giving web sites a hard time. Attacking and forking all the stupid usability ideas we can find, left and right. Would people subscribe? Would they buy our reports? Would they listen to us at conferences? Would people go to WebWord conferences? Would people watch our videos and listen to our radio show? Imagine usability for the common person. A consumer reports company but with a focus on usability. Heck, maybe it would mean being the Jerry Springers of usability. We'd reach a lot of people, do a lot of good, and have a lot of fun. The trick is this...is there a market demand? By the way, there is no reason why the WebWord Usability Media Company would focus on the web. Oh no, it would attack all things that suck. We could complain, critique, improve, and enhance...any kind of product or service. Heck, I think I am almost ready to subscribe. What are your thoughts? What you say!? (Note to self: Asia = MadMan, Europe = Mac, Jack and John = Americas.) |
| Fri 09 Aug 20:53 | John S. Rhodes | Did I really just post all that? Boy, if someone can make sense of it, let me know. ;-) |
| Fri 09 Aug 21:23 | Jack Schonchin | I don't think there's a market for news. The newspapers have yet to figure this out -- the bulk of their revenue is from classifieds, right? The usability community is much smaller and there are many HCI news sources as-is. And what do you know about the journalistic background of me, MadMan and Mac? Or our HCI background? There is a need for community, ala Slashdot. I'm the only usability person where I work. I cling to WebWord because it isn't just a place where I can read news. I can post my opinion and have someone tell me I have my head up my ass. There are regulars who hang out here, and so it has a sense of place. However, selling community is a different matter. We can blog news links, tear apart web sites and such. But if we wrote reports, I wouldn't feel like anymore an expert than Zeldman. I guess that's the trick. What makes you an expert is sounding like an authority, not credentials or portfolios. If you sound good, you're gold. I think there's a market for heuristic analysis. Inexpensive web site analysis based on recognized HCI issues. No testing, just picking the brain of an expert. |
| Sat 10 Aug 00:13 | Kung Pao | You have your head up your ass, Jack. |
| Sat 10 Aug 00:48 | Jack Schonchin | I guess that makes me Jackass. But for Mac's statistical purposes, I'll remain Jack. |
| Sat 10 Aug 11:56 | Ron Zeno | The trick is this...is there a market demand? There's an obvious demand for feel-good propaganda loosely related to usability, user experience, etc. Selling to the credulous appears to work well! There are few people or organizations that take any interest in critically assessing this propaganda, so it’s just a matter of who’s the best at influencing and deluding others into giving you their business. There are a couple of notable exceptions: usability.gov (funded by US taxpayers) and a few researchers and researcher/consultants that critically assess the information they use while encouraging others to do the same (such as Bob Bailey). |
| Sun 11 Aug 09:37 | Kung Pao | Hey, Bob Bailey works for that nutty company that's trying to sell everyone a 'Certified usability specialist' piece of paper, isn't he? I don't need yet another 'certification' in an industry where half the answers are 'it depends'. Mr. Rhodes, I think your question is getting lost in this thread. Try posting it fresh. This doesn't concern sound devices. |
| Sun 11 Aug 10:02 | Ron Zeno | Bob Bailey works for that nutty company Guilty by association, 'Kung Pao'? You are quick with a poorly thought-out attack. Propaganda. What's your agenda, and why not show that you can critically assess instead? Actually, Bob has his own company. HFI ('nutty company') just markets the class. |
| Sun 11 Aug 15:11 | MadMan | HFI has a branch here in India, it seems, though I've never read of them anywhere in the news. Once, they spammed me with an offer for their services. (Well, seeing I only signed up for their newsletter, sending me a marketing message *was* spam.) I sent a mail back explaining that I was in a related business myself. So what does the Indian rep do? He turns around and sends me a mail (with huge attachments) extolling the virtues of their certification. Bah! Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Poking around the HFI site reveals that Mr. Bailey is 'Chief Scientist'. And he has his own company? |
| Sun 11 Aug 17:34 | Ron Zeno | Mr. Bailey is 'Chief Scientist'. And he has his own company? Yep, though it looks like his relationship with HFI may have changed in the past year or so. He's never allowed anyone else to teach his 'Annual User Interface Update' course (which I highly recommend. I've attended nine years or so). It probably coincides with Eric Schaffer's contributions to the newsletter (which I rarely find to be very informative). |
| If I Hear One More Word About .NET... | Fri 09 Aug |
| (News Factor) Call it the public relations faux pas of the century. It amazes me that a company could spend millions hyping a product for two years without generating enough interest among its customer base to spur them to find out what it does. |
| Fri 09 Aug 20:18 | John S. Rhodes | Read about Microsoft's Catastrophe Hedging Program -- 'In one of the most treacherous interest-rate environments in years, Microsoft earned a remarkable 9.42 percent on its cash and short-term investments in its fiscal 2001, which ended June 30, 2001.' |
| Fri 09 Aug 22:36 | Ron Zeno | FUD - Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt. |
| Sat 10 Aug 01:32 | Jack Schonchin | Huh? The .NET link leads to a WebWord login page. |
| Sat 10 Aug 12:56 | John S. Rhodes | Jack, thanks for catching that boo boo. Band aid has been applied. We're all better now. |
| Sun 11 Aug 16:53 | Mac | From article: Call it the public relations faux pas of the century. It amazes me that a company could spend millions hyping a product for two years without generating enough interest among its customer base to spur them to find out what it does. I think this article misses the point of dotNET dotNet is not a product, it is just a tag that teccy types can use when talking to their bosses. Microsoft is trying to sell dotNet to the programmers in corporations. The rest is just marketing hype. Miscrosoft are having a hard time selling this to the money men, because it doesn't actually exist as a real thing |
| Beefy Cotton T: "Nielsen" | Thu 08 Aug |
| Whos number one? Jakob Nielsen, of course! Everyones favorite usability gury gets his 15 seconds of fame with the K10k Nielsen-shirt. The front features the text bow down to the king. |
| Thu 08 Aug 10:26 | Jack Schonchin | John, if Joshua wouldn't link to that page on his blog, why would you? That's sloppy seconds. That's picking through Joshua's garbage can. That's eating Joshua's table scraps. Or, maybe, that's Joshua sucking up. That's Joshua boot licking. That's Joshua brown-nosing. That's being the teacher's pet. Which is it John? I have an attitude this morning and I demand an answer. |
| Thu 08 Aug 11:31 | John S. Rhodes | Jack, I've fallen and I can't get up! |
| Thu 08 Aug 12:55 | JB | John If that is the ad I think it is...it is the funniest thing on TV I have seen in a long, long time. |
| Thu 08 Aug 14:28 | MadMan | Been hitting the vodka a little early, Jack? |
| Thu 08 Aug 21:40 | Jack Schonchin | More importantly, John deflected the question and Joshua completely ducked it. |
| Thu 08 Aug 21:40 | Jack Schonchin | More importantly, John deflected the question and Joshua completely ducked it. |
| Thu 08 Aug 21:41 | Jack Schonchin | Oh no, the dreaded double-post. I hit the post button only once. |
| Fri 09 Aug 02:25 | MadMan | Balls! You're just trying to increase your comments count. |
| Fri 09 Aug 02:25 | MadMan | Balls! You're just trying to increase your comments count. |
| Fri 09 Aug 11:53 | Jack Schonchin | Don't be that way MadMan. Feel the love. |
| Fri 09 Aug 15:39 | JB | There are ten unrelated comments on here about the article...welcome to number 11. I will be number 1! |
| Fri 09 Aug 16:02 | Joshua Kaufman | Jack, I almost replied to your comment yesterday, but decided to duck right before I hit the post button. I wanted to see if anyone else would reply to your comment first. I submitted the link to WebWord because: 1. I wanted to support the WebWord community. 2. I thought the link was interesting/humorous enough for the WebWord audience. 3. I wanted to give the link exposure. I didn't link the page from my blog because I was satisfied with submitting it to WebWord. Or maybe I just forgot about it. Or maybe I wanted to lure Jack into giving John attitude about it. Or maybe some other reason. I simply submitted the link and didn't think twice about it. Surely there are better things to discuss than weblog semantics. |
| Fri 09 Aug 17:07 | MadMan | Ah told ya', that boy Jack is just tryin' to get his comments total up. And don't you be offerin' me any love, bucko. Ah don't need it. |
| Fri 09 Aug 21:54 | Jack Schonchin | Josh says: I didn't link the page from my blog because I was satisfied with submitting it to WebWord. Aha! The truth comes out! Josh, can I call you Josh? Anyhow, Josh submitted the link to WebWord because it wasn't good enough for his own site. That's just like you Josh. MadMan, I know you don't need love. I will end this message now, before I begin making chimp jokes. oops. |
| Sat 10 Aug 14:49 | Joshua Kaufman | Aha! The truth comes out! Josh, can I call you Josh? Sure. That's just like you Josh. If you say so, Jack. |
| Sun 11 Aug 16:35 | Mac | Sorry to sound dumb(er than usual), but the pic on the shirt looks nothing like JN. |
| 21st Century Technology Wars: Apple Vs. Microsoft | Sat 10 Aug |
| Judging from the way in which both companies often behave with respect to their customers, some analysts believe it is not a question of which company will win and which will lose. The real question is which of the two accident-prone companies will shoot itself in the foot fewer times. |
| Sat 10 Aug 20:04 | Jack Schonchin | M$'s plan to make the PC the home entertainment center is not user-focused. M$ is steering us this way, instead of the other way around. I would like to see stats on desktop sales vs. laptop sales. People I know are replacing their aging desktops with laptops - not simply because of the size and portability, but because they draw less energy. They're less expensive to operate. IMHO, the idea of a 'computer room' is also on its way out. Why segregate yourself from the rest of the household because you're using a particular device? It's not noisy. It doesn't smell. It can be easy to carry anywhere you go. So go. |
| WebWord Comment | Sat 10 Aug |
| What is the best example of bottom up design you can think of? What is the best example of top down design you can think of? Now here is the real question: Is bottom up design the polar opposite of top down design? Why or why not? |
| Sat 10 Aug 13:36 | John S. Rhodes | When I think of bottom up design I often think of ant colonies and beehives. When I think of top down design, I think of things like bridges, books, and buildings. In the first case, design seems to emerge or manifest from many small pieces of deliberate action. In the second case, I see design coming from planning and deliberation. I have a hard time thinking of the common thread. Perhaps it is intelligence. Yes, that is what I am thinking. No matter how you produce it and no matter how you slice it, design seems to be about intelligence. The moderating factor seems to be the market for the design. Put another way, the primary factor is how the design is situated in the environment. In my opinion, the success of a design is matter of how well the manifestation of intelligence survives in an environment. That's spicy! What do you think? Fire away! |
| Usability applied to life | Fri 09 Aug |
| (Zen Haiku) You might accuse me of being obsessed with usability. You might be right. At any rate, here are ways I apply usability heuristics to my life, most with the heuristic listed. |
| Fri 09 Aug 19:19 | Jack Schonchin | What is the proper protocol when you want to comment on a blog article you found by way of a link on another blog article? For example, will you post your commentary on WebWord, or Zen Haiku? Or both? If you post on WebWord it's almost as if Zen Haiku's user-supplied content has been hijacked. |
| Fri 09 Aug 19:30 | John S. Rhodes | Here are six possible options that are not mutually exclusive: 1. Post as close as you can to source material. As people find that source material, your comments will have the most value, in the most appropriate context. 2. Post where you post the most often, where people expect you to post. 3. Always post on the site that gets more traffic so that your comments get the greatest exposure. 4. Post in both places. 5. Post in one place but always link to the source material. 6. If you have your own site, post all comments there and then link to the appropriate places. |
| Fri 09 Aug 20:14 | MadMan | His own site? We don't even know his real name! |
| Fri 09 Aug 20:34 | Jack Schonchin | My real name is Chili Cheese Dog. My parents were carnies. |
| Fri 09 Aug 20:55 | John S. Rhodes | Zen Haiku = Chad Lundgren |
| Fri 09 Aug 22:35 | Chad Lundgren | I'd assumed Madman was referring to the person known as 'Jack Schonchin', who has in the past said Jack was not his real name. If not, I, Chad Lundgren, am indeed Mr. Zen Haiku. My new slogan is going to be 'The top hit for 'zen haiku' on Google since last week or so.' Not. While I'm at it, I have two Schonchinesque theories: 1.'Jack Schonchin' is a franchise, like the VC Andrews name. No one person could post that much. 2.One day, by a process best not discussed, all blog posters will be Jack Schonchin. |
| Sat 10 Aug 01:23 | Jack Schonchin | 1. That's right, I'm laughing all the way to the bank. 2. Is that like Malcovich entering his own portal? OK, you guys are on to me. There is a Jack - MadMan connection. He's my contact in India for importing chimpanzees. Mac provides the typewriters. I own a banana plantation. It takes a lot of work keeping 50,000 chimps alive. I spend all day reading their handiwork and when a relevent blurb comes along, I rush to WebWord to post it. John comes over on the weekends to help clean their poop off the walls. |
| Pardon me for being forward | Fri 09 Aug |
| (Anil Dash) I already saw it. That forward? I got it. Ive gotten it. I do not wish to keep receiving it. I was neither moved nor inspired. It was neither clever nor funny. |
| Fri 09 Aug 09:02 | Jack Schonchin | I appreciate forwarded messages. They may be substitutes for substantive communication with people you know, but life is too precious, too temporary, not to embrace this limited exchange of ideas. That person will be dead one day and then you will be miss his or her daily contacts. Tell that person today that you love them. Don't wait another minute. |
| Fri 09 Aug 10:31 | Kung Pao | Now, that's a blog entry written just so that people will send it to each other. Nice marketing trick by Dash. Pretty clever of him. Not so clever of all the suckers who forwarded it around. |
| Fri 09 Aug 10:36 | Anil | Kung Pao's on to me. :) |
| Fri 09 Aug 11:24 | John S. Rhodes | ...and Anil is on to me. Shoot. |
| Fri 09 Aug 14:50 | Lydia | I like 'My favorite color is: No' I get so tired of forwarded e-mail. I want to go and find the links myself. |
| Fri 09 Aug 16:54 | MadMan | Who are you Kung Pao? That doesn't sound like a proper Chinese name to me. |
| Fri 09 Aug 19:21 | Jack Schonchin | Would you have a problem if I, as an American, was named Chili Cheese Dog? |
| Fri 09 Aug 20:18 | MadMan | No, Jack, the name would be appropriate. |
| Fri 09 Aug 20:32 | Jack Schonchin | Ok, do you mind if I start calling you Samosa? It seems a proper Indian name, far better than MadMan. |
| Fri 09 Aug 20:57 | John S. Rhodes | Jack, Mac is gonna kick yer arse for messin' with his system. |
| 2002 Winners of the 5K Contest | Thu 08 Aug |
| The contest rewards function, aesthetics, creativity, originality and, of course, hardcore web skills. All HTML, script, image, style, and any other associated files must collectively total less than 5 kilobytes in size and be entirely self-contained (employing no server-side processing). Enjoy. |
| Fri 09 Aug 02:30 | Matt Round | I'm gutted that I forgot about this and missed the closing date. I already had a nice little 5k 3D engine with lens flare and lighting effects, I just needed to enter it, argh. |
| Fri 09 Aug 07:27 | John S. Rhodes | Matt, post it, then post a link to it here. We'll bow down before your great work. Don't let it wither into obscurity! |
| Fri 09 Aug 10:03 | Matt Round | I'll probably bung it on my server over the weekend and put a link here. Don't go getting too excited though, it's only 5k y'know... |
| Fri 09 Aug 10:10 | Mac | 5K = average day's comments on WebWord |
| Fri 09 Aug 19:55 | Matt Round | OK, I've uploaded my late entry. Requires Flash 5 or higher, and if it runs slowly try making the browser window smaller. |
| Fri 09 Aug 20:04 | John S. Rhodes | Matt, I really like the way it flows. Very smooth. Now only if I had a blaster to shoot the spheres... ;-) |
| Improving Business Through User-Centered Design | Fri 09 Aug |
| (WebWord) An Interview with UCD Innovators Scott Isensee, Carol Righi and Karel Vredenburg |
| Fri 09 Aug 09:18 | John S. Rhodes | I interviewed Kerrie Green last year... The Austin Chapter of the UPA |
| Fri 09 Aug 10:34 | Jack Schonchin | The interview would be even easier to read if the names that begin each paragraph were bolded, so that we can also read the article by person, as opposed to linear fashion. Were the interviewees given a word limit in their responses, or their answers edited? It's interesting that they share the same verbosity level. [When you see someone use the term 'verbosity,' chances are they're a Zork veteran.] |
| Fri 09 Aug 11:16 | John S. Rhodes | Jack, good comments. I considered making the names bold but I didn't. I'll change that later today. Stay tuned. Regarding the verbosity of responses, I agree. They do seem to be about the same length. Probably not due to editing. Instead, probably more like synchronization of menstrual cycle. No, seriously. The questions 'smell' the same and it seems like Carol Righi and Karel Vredenburg followed the first person to answer (Scott Isensee), so the responses became synchronized. Interesting theory, no? Response Synchronization as a Factor of Question Construction and Modeling the Alpha Response. There's a thesis topic for someone. |
| Fri 09 Aug 18:53 | John S. Rhodes | Jack, the first names are now bold, as you suggested. |
| Andrew H. Otwell | Sun 04 Aug |
| A tireless advocate for the user, I am driven by a rigorous curiosity and passion for the transformation of mere data into clear knowledge. From the study of the history of visual communication to the design of web content, I am experienced in the process of structuring information in ways that persuade, explain, and educate. |
| Mon 05 Aug 04:02 | Jack Schonchin | Almost forgot... two more categories: 1) When awards are given by a company or organization, a chief purpose is to draw attention to the entity giving away the award. Chamber of Commerce awards are a good example, to get a 'grip and grin' photo into the local newspaper. 2) Alumni awards are often given to prospective donors to get their pocket books open. |
| Mon 05 Aug 15:06 | Stefan Smagula | I know Andrew personally and professionally, and he's an award-winning guy ;-) |
| Wed 07 Aug 03:37 | Andrew | How weird to show up here... Hi Stefan. By award-winning I meant that defcom won a bunch of industry awards. They had them hanging in the bathroom. That personal statement's getting a bit rusty feeling. Maybe I should update it. |
| Fri 09 Aug 18:22 | Victor | Andrew wins my Best Information Architect in Berlin award. |
| Are 99 Percent of All Web Sites Obsolete? | Thu 08 Aug |
| What happened was pretty simple: the Web became commercial before standards were in place and before browsers supported those standards. Businesses began demanding sophisticated Web presences when there was no standard design format and no standard scripting language. We did whatever we had to do. We developed best practices that werent always for the best. |
| Thu 08 Aug 22:33 | Jack Schonchin | Coming from the guy who espouses px for font sizing. uh huh. |
| Thu 08 Aug 23:18 | Jack Schonchin | OK, ok, tomorrow I will only post happy thoughts. |
| Fri 09 Aug 11:41 | Jack Schonchin | Zeldman says obsolete. Jack says retro! |
| Fri 09 Aug 12:22 | JB | I think 99% of companies are scratching their heads thinking why they have spent so much on a web presence. Those were the years when salesperson were the kings! Bet that only comes around once in a life time :) |
| Fri 09 Aug 12:47 | Jack Schonchin | Good point. The majority of companies that have web sites or need web sites do not need database management or XML. They serve local customers and do not seek a global audience. They've invested a lot in their web presence with no payoff. They are hair dressers, restauranteurs, landscapers and florists. First and foremost their web sites are glorified brochures. In that glorious future when a majority of their customers use the Internet daily, they will expand their web sites to do little more than schedule appointments or reservations. If they need more, they'll tie into a national service - for example, florists using a national ordering system -- because an individual florist cannot afford to invest in a robust ordering system and maintain it over time. Standards pushers need to be careful that they don't continue to overhype the web. The revolution is over and we're still hungry and out of work. Now you want us to pick up arms and fight again? |
| Fri 09 Aug 13:24 | MadMan | You can't 'overhype' anything. The word 'hype' already means 'Exaggerated or extravagant claims'. Common usage error. ;) That's like saying 'adequate enough'. |
| Fri 09 Aug 13:37 | Jack Schonchin | I respectively disagree with my esteemed colleague from the auspicious city of Bangalore. The phrase 'over exaggerate' is commonly heard in the USA. While 'over hype' and 'over exaggerate' may be logically incorrect, they are accepted usage. They are the union, a fusion, of two words into a phrase that has the same meaning as the primary word, but that carries greater dramatic effect. And I, for one, believe it is common usage that defines a language, not companies that manufacture dictionaries. |
| Fri 09 Aug 15:03 | Lydia | That's the blessing and curse of the U.S.A - many words that wouldn't cross the lips of linguists (such as overhype) fall into common usage here. It makes for colorful speech, though. :) I do wish more companies would carefully consider their web presence. On several occasions, as part of researching a company I was considering doing business with, I have visited the website to find a blinking, horizontally ruled nightmare that looked like it was done by a second grader. It definitely turned me off to them. However, when I found a well done site (even a modest brochure-type of site), I felt better about them. Similarly, sites that did not need an elaborate flash introduction turned me off because they didn't seem substantive enough. I think it is important to send the right message via your web page. It would be cool if I could schedule hair appointments through a modest website, but if it has a flash intro, I know I'll be spending through the nose. |
| Fri 09 Aug 15:30 | JB | I know this is not a language thread, but my belief is that the English language is organic (well it is in the US )in that it changes and advances over time We must remember that Do'h! is now in the dictionary and that, to me, suggests you can say whatever you want as long as people get the jist of it. Viva La Revolution! |
| Fri 09 Aug 17:13 | MadMan | As Obelix would say, 'These Americans are crazy!' ;) And it seems Ebonics is common usage over there too, but you aren't going to convince me to ever use it. :p Don't get me started on 'reason why'. |
| WebWord Weblog Posting 652 | Fri 09 Aug |
| You can almost never have perfect usability for a product thats new to the market and has never been seen or used before. Wasting your time on perfect usability could be a costly mistake in terms of business. When a product is new, you can only guess at how its going to be used by regular customers and make it usable by those guesses. More usability can be built into the product as usage patterns are observed and also how the requirements change. |
| Fri 09 Aug 12:13 | Anonymous | A bit wordy. Let me try: Iterative design. |
| Fri 09 Aug 13:33 | Ron Zeno | MadMan - What definition of 'usability' are you using? How does this relate to the ROI article? |
| Fri 09 Aug 16:54 | MadMan | Ah, the folly of unthreaded discussions! I was actually continuing in the vein of the two comments preceding mine, specifically John's comment. Not directly related to the ROI article per se. Usability - efficiency, effectiveness, satisfaction? Isn't that the textbook definition? |
| WebWord Survey | Wed 07 Aug |
| How many browser windows do you have open right now? |
| Wed 07 Aug 09:02 | John S. Rhodes | What kind of distribution do you think will emerge? |
| Wed 07 Aug 10:19 | Karl | How do you account for (Mozilla) tabs? I have two browser windows open, but a total of five tabs. So is that 2 or 5 windows? |
| Wed 07 Aug 11:04 | MadMan | 15, which is much lower than the 20-25 I usually have open. I read a lot, and I like to multitask. |
| Wed 07 Aug 11:11 | Jack Schonchin | Two windows. When I visit WebWord I launch off-site links into new windows and the 'Add Your Comment' page into a new window. Because WebWord was the first site I visited today, I had no prior windows open. Because this poll topic was near the top of the page, so I had no off-site links open either. If you caught me mid-day, I'd have between 3 and 10 open. |
| Wed 07 Aug 11:28 | TimW | 5 |
| Wed 07 Aug 12:12 | JB | 2. One for my own reading/research and one for my web site. That way I can do research and whenever I get a whim, surf my site and give grief to my staff. |
| Wed 07 Aug 13:18 | Mark | At this instant, three, counting each Mozilla tab as a separate window. But other times when I visit WebWord I'll have six or seven tabs open to other sites, especially if I'm google-ing for something. |
| Wed 07 Aug 13:22 | Jack Schonchin | Let's count how many people post a number in a message and completely miss the link to the poll at ballot-box.net. I did the first time. |
| Wed 07 Aug 14:41 | JB | You know why.... I read the text first then the link. The text asked a questions and I saw responses, so I followed. I am a sheep :( |
| Wed 07 Aug 14:54 | Eric Grose | 2 |
| Wed 07 Aug 15:49 | Mac | From a usability point of view, maybe it would be better if : WebWord Survey -- How many browser windows do you have open right now? Pargh! I've got to run now, I'm late for picking my wife up from her late shift!!! |
| Wed 07 Aug 15:56 | MadMan | Even better, Mac, try this: WebWord Survey - How many browser windows do you have open right now? Vote now And you know why so many people missed it? Because by habit, whenever John starts something with 'Webword...', it's usually a comment like 'WebWord comment'. People expect a comment title, not a link. When people get used to a pattern, they tend to stick to it. |
| Wed 07 Aug 16:16 | John S. Rhodes | Actually MadMan, I like your comment but I think that what you have could even be improved a bit more. Let's compare: MadMan's Version WebWord Survey - How many browser windows do you have open right now? Vote now MadMan Version 2.0 WebWord Survey - How many browser windows do you have open right now? Vote now I feel that Version 2.0 is superior because it better fits with how I normally post news on WebWord. In other words, if we follow your advice MadMan, Verison 2.0 better matches user expectations. |
| Wed 07 Aug 16:24 | JB | Agree with both of you....I would not have gone on a typing binge if I had seen that. |
| Thu 08 Aug 00:10 | Lyle Kantrovich | I think we have to follow de facto standards, therefore I recommend: WebWord Survey - How many browser windows do you have open right now? To vote now CLICK HERE Do not shift-click here (or there I guess) or you'll open another window. Shift click here for something completely related, or here for something completely different. 11 = # of windows I had open -- about an average number for me - one louder than 10. 'These go to 11...' JB's a sheep, I'm a cow...er croc. |
| Thu 08 Aug 06:49 | Alastair Campbell | Number of windows is one thing, but I'd be much more interested in the moniter resolution compared to window size. This interest comes from doing liquid designs, and knowing that I never having a fully opened window. Basically, a web site design that is liquid and works at 800x600px, is likely to look a little spaced out at 1600+ wide. But, although I have a 1600x1200 res moniter, my window size for browsing is usually between 800 and 1024 wide. I find the reading width much easier, and at full screen, there is either lots of white-space or too much information to take in at one time. The smaller windows also help ifor multi-tasking. Does anyone run full screen at high resoloutions.? |
| Thu 08 Aug 08:33 | Stephen | I've seen people at work with 1600 x 1200 with just one mammoth window open. I still like a series of browser windows approximately 640 in width and roughly A4 shaped. |
| Thu 08 Aug 15:29 | Chad Thornton | 14 |
| Fri 09 Aug 15:19 | Lydia | I have to agree w/ Alistair. I have a large display, but my window is typically open to 1024. Extremely large browser windows are a little strange, and I get tired of reading text that wide. |
| At the Coffee Shop, It's Always a Tall Order | Thu 08 Aug |
| (Washington Post) Now when I go to a Starbucks and ask for a small as a sort of low-energy protest against increasingly massive, expensive cups of coffee Im handed a Tall. |
| Thu 08 Aug 10:12 | Kirk | Well, this guy's running into the another form of protest, that of refusing to use the ridiculous pseudo-italian 'tall' 'grande' 'veni vidi screwyou' sizes in favor of a more traditional 'small medium large'...when most people say 'small', they mean the smallest one listed on the menu. (And not putting 'short' on the menu is another issue altogether.) |
| Thu 08 Aug 10:23 | Eric Scheid | Maybe I've got the imperial to metric conversion thing wrong, but a 'short' at 8 ounces is about 1/4 litres ... which is 1 kitchen cup. Maybe it's a terminology thing, but here in Aus. a short black is a tiny thing - pure black concentrate served in an oversized thimble, maybe no larger than 1.5 inches. About 60 ml, or 2 fluid ounces. All your buzz-eyed bean-jolt in a single gulp, strong enough to give you whiplash. Some prefer a double-short black ... thick enough to eat with a fork. There's probably some fancy italian name for it. |
| Thu 08 Aug 10:30 | John S. Rhodes | Same damn thing as what the GAP has done... THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING SIZES -- 'What passed for a size 12 in 1999 is now called a size 8 - it's called 'vanity sizing,' and designers everywhere are doing it, having learned that flattery equals profits. George Simonton, a professor at FIT, says some companies now cut clothes larger to accommodate the American shoppers' ever-expanding rear ends, without adjusting the sizes on the tags.' (Although...you should balance that article with this one: Zipper Shock.) |
| Thu 08 Aug 12:48 | JB | You know this is a conspiracy by StarBucks - they have been planning this from the start. 1. Get you to drink their coffee...start to increase the sizes without telling you. 2. You start to need more coffee as your body warps to the ever increasing amounts it gets. You need more to get the same buzz - you are subconsciously upsizing all the time. 3. StarBucks make more money and sells more coffee (pleasing them and shareholders in key metrics), while you the drinker wondered what happened to the small, medium and large idea back in the late 80's. 4. You, the coffee drinker, spend your day dragging a round a ten-gallon drum of the stuff just to get your hit. |
| Thu 08 Aug 14:12 | MadMan | They call it Ristretto over here, Eric. Don't know if that's an 'authentic' name or not. When I was busy trying to launch CNET India in one month from scratch, I had to work 18 hour days for many weeks. The only thing that kept me awake was the ristretto served at the nearby cafe. It was freakin' strong and short, but damn, what a kick it gave me. |
| Thu 08 Aug 18:26 | Jack Schonchin | Via SitRip What's SitRip? Where's SitRip? Didn't see it listed as a WebWord hot site. Googling failed me. |
| Thu 08 Aug 22:17 | John S. Rhodes | You can find Frank Yu's SitRip here -- 'All Your China News Are Belong To Us.' |
| Thu 08 Aug 22:18 | John S. Rhodes | MadMan sent me this... Anyone for coffee? |
| Fri 09 Aug 15:15 | Mac | I went to a Starbucks once. I'd rather MaxPax. |
| WebWord Comment | Tue 06 Aug |
| Im wondering if we need to fill the pipes. Ive been thinking about broadband and bandwidth and I think that perhaps we need to encourage more people to create bandwidth-sucking applications and tools. Such applications should make us drool and stare in amazement. Maybe we need to to get kicked into broadband so that in turn we can kick those people that provide it. I wonder if it is time to find out how much pain people are willing to experience to get good content and applications. Napster helped us understand what people will do for music, now what about videos, cartoons, and so forth? What do you think? I suppose that this whole discussion is an old one: supply push versus demand pull. It just seems to me that if we enourage more people to create more material for fat pipes that the internet will more effectively evolve. |
| Tue 06 Aug 10:06 | Mac | Free not Fat, Free not Fat, Free not Fat It isn't just about fatter pipes and richer apps. Broadband is currently being used to control the Internet and close it off to us inefficient chatter boxes and give control back to the commmercial interest who feel that it's their god-given right to force their crap down out throats 24 hours a day. My cable company (UK) restrict access to certain file types in the name of 'efficiency', but actually they want to make sure I don't start getting my movies from anyone else. They won't let me run my own website by crippling my upload rate and not letting me have an IP address. At the moment Broadband is about control, and I would urge people to boycot boradband while there's still time. I'd prefer to stick to my 56K modem rather than accept the promise of rich content at the price of my soul. |
| Tue 06 Aug 10:09 | Daniel | Would be nice to see the internet applications move beyond the UI constraints of the browser. This would be a big plus for more bandwidth. |
| Tue 06 Aug 11:20 | John S. Rhodes | Mac, if you ignore the complex business issues behind the broadband industry and instead focus on the user experience and the technology, do you think you argument against broadband still applies? In other words, are you throwing the baby (broadband) with the bathwater (broadband providers)? Also, while I don't believe it at all, perhaps some companies really do need to restrict access to ensure growth and profits. What would you think about broadband if it was free and open, made public in some way by some organization or the government? Daniel, I agree with your comment. Moving beyond the browser would be interesting and useful. That's really only going to happen with bigger, fatter, faster pipes. Of course, I suppose I could make a counter argument. For example, some of the coolest things I have seen on the web are over at the 5K web site. People can do more (much more in some cases!) with less. Perhaps big pipes will just encourage network bloat. I'm thinking here of how many Microsoft applications just grow and grow and grow, because they can. Wintel and all that jazz. |
| Tue 06 Aug 11:43 | Jack Schonchin | I'm still waiting for the compelling argument for broadband. The expense/benefit ratio is extreme. The Internet is not essential. Water, garbage, electric and phone bills are essential. Some might say cable TV is essential. There's nothing essential about fast Internet access, especially at $45-60/month. There are a few exceptions (ex: online gaming, diehard fanatics, wealthy individuals, business applications, etc.). I suspect the people who have broadband fit those exceptions. Just last night I was looking at alternatives to my cable modem because it requires me to pay for cable TV service I do not use. DSL is out-of-range. No microwave. Satellite is a few hundred bucks more per year, plus questionable access in bad weather. I know web designers who do not have Internet access at home and/or don't even own a computer anymore. I always thought that to be bizarre, but I'm beginning to understand. My life is pretty darn busy and the Internet has lost its luster. |
| Tue 06 Aug 11:43 | Mac | John, I have had a think about this and focusing on the 'user experience and technology' I can honestly say that I think we should do without broadband. You have already explained why constraints aren't necessarily a bad thing, and can actually encourage innovation and creativity. The point has already been made elsewhere that making sites accessible can also make them more usable. Well maybe having to think about limited bandwidth can help up design and build more usable sites. If broadband does begin to take over, then we may be in the situation where we have a 2 tier Internet. With lots of focus and energy being expended on 'byte candy' for the FatBanders, whilst the SlowNet Peasants get left to rot. I am slowly coming to the conclusion that Ted Nelson is right, and that this road may be a dead end. Perhaps there is a better way? |
| Tue 06 Aug 12:10 | Richard Lehoux | I think that with the fall of the dot.com, there's nobody left to provide push without demand. If everyboy use the internet only for email and use traditional medium for broadband content, we will have to wait a long time before we can watch old 'I love Lucy' on the Internet... |
| Tue 06 Aug 12:13 | JB | John I think the first thing you need to do is convince the telco's of a viable business model that does not mean taking out a second mortgage to pay the monthly subscription. |
| Tue 06 Aug 12:16 | Frank Lynch | John, do I understand your suggestion correctly? Are you asking companies to spend money to invest in content that's appropriate to broadband, and hope dial-up users will see how poor the experience is, and then, rather than say, this was hell and I'm not coming back, they would say, gee, this would be a whole lot better if I had broadband? I don't completely agree with Jack that and the 'it's only the Internet' argument - - I do think that the Internet can mean more to people - - but I don't think this is the way to go... In my view, there are enough rich sites out there, that if a company wants to push broadband, they should set up broadband kiosks in malls where people can try broadband content in a broadband setting. (I was about to mention a failed past effort to show baseball games using broadband, but then remembered that satellite dish packages serve that pretty well... Maybe Jack's right: it will take a unique app not served by other channels to make it happen.) Until it does, I think the company with the real opportunity here is Opera. That graphics toggle in the tool bar really helps with dial-up. |
| Tue 06 Aug 12:17 | Jack Schonchin | But do we even want to watch 'I Love Lucy' via the Internet? There is no broadband issue with broadcast or cable TV. Why push full-screen video into a medium that cannot handle it and whose users do not want it? I would say this is a failed idea from the dot-com boom, but hasn't Micro$oft been making some rumblings about the PC becoming the new home entertainment center? As if. |
| Tue 06 Aug 14:00 | Frank Lynch | I think the difference is 'on demand.' I can't rent 'The Incredible Mr. Limpet' in my neighborhood, but I still think my kid would like to see it. Who knows when TBS will run it again? |
| Tue 06 Aug 14:19 | John S. Rhodes | Hmm...very good discussion. Thanks for all the interesting thoughts and ideas. Here is what I am thinking right now, at this moment. 1. What I like is interactivity. I really hate most electronic media that is passive. For example, I can't stand most TV. I can't stand most radio. I think that most movies are crap. If I could have substantially more control or TV, radio, movies, and so forth, I would be happy. 2. When I think about what I want in terms of interactivity, I think about what I outlined just above. In most ways, this feels like what I want from broadband. Rich media (e.g., video) that I have extreme control over. I want to see it when I want to see, I want to edit it, and I want a lot more. Seems like I need broadband for it. Oh, I also want it to be fresh and I want it now. Therefore, I (usually) won't just be satisfied to go buy it from a store. I want to download it now and then...engage! 3. One of the reasons video games are getting more and more kickass, is that they offer what I outline above: rich experience, mega control, interactivity, and more. In my mind, video games are broadband-in-a-box with some networking thrown in, in many cases. Perhaps I am wrong, but this is why I think that the video game market is growing so rapidly. Well, that and the fact that the Atari generation is getting older and richer. What do you say? I'm I a quack? Do you agree? |
| Tue 06 Aug 14:25 | John S. Rhodes | Regarding your 'on demand' comment Frank, I think this is why TiVo is so popular. You have control. Here's an interesting application: Merge TiVo with easy editing and gameplay. That is, take the data stream from a TiVo and give people the ability to play with it. Change characters, sounds, colors, and so forth. Add some competition to it, or contests for best manipulation of content. Or, add some shotguns and frag grenades. Really take out Barney, or force the Seinfeld crew to attack the cast of Friends. Ha! |
| Tue 06 Aug 14:45 | Jack Schonchin | I channel surf because most TV programs are boring, unoriginal or just plain bad. When I channel surf I get exposed to a bevy of shows I would never choose from a TV listing guide (History Channel, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and sometimes even CSPAN!). If you give me complete control over watching what I want when I want, I'll get so bored I'll stop watching television. I like TV stations providing the programming for me. As crude as they are, the TV/Cable networks act as a content gatekeeper. I record maybe one show per week. If I miss a show, I must be pretty busy. I'll catch it as a rerun, or live with the pain of having missed a show. I think my life will be the better for it. |
| Tue 06 Aug 14:50 | John S. Rhodes | What we should all do is give up TV, radio, and the internet for a while. Just for fun. That would help us know what is really important and what is not. I think very few things would have value. |
| Tue 06 Aug 14:52 | jonathan | Interesting comments... Re: TiVo, this from CNET today Nielsen begins monitoring TiVo usage Will this now symbolize the decline of 'user control' over TiVo? My personal observations lead me to believe that marketers have the anti-Midas touch. Everything they put their hands on begins to turn to shit and chip away at the larger user experience. It's funny actually...TiVo users tend to be mac-like fanatical about their units and once an audience like that is built, the marketers swarm in like buzzards changing the device to accomodate advertisers and merchants. The result is a lesser product that seems to cater more to add-on functions then what the thing was originally designed to do. But I digress...good comments here. jonathan |
| Tue 06 Aug 14:55 | JB | Jack I am not to sure that users don't want it...more that they don't want it as it is today. I think that once the services and the infrastructure is in place (i.e. based around users needs and wants) this will lead to the next evolutionary step of the Internet. One needs to remember that we are not the entire user population. |
| Tue 06 Aug 15:19 | Darin | John, I think you inadvertantly nailed it on the head. CONTROL. You want to see it when you want, edit it, interact with it and make it your own. Outside of games, the big boys who control the information don't want you controlling their copyrighted material. People can't sample tracks anymore without litigation, film companies want to crash down on user-edited versions of their popular films (i.e., Phantom Menace), etc. That's where the bottleneck is. CONTROL of the pipe, CONTROL of the pricing, CONTROL of the content. |
| Tue 06 Aug 15:31 | Jack Schonchin | We're all sheep. The sooner we accept it, the sooner we can go about being good little consumers. Forget silly ideas like 'you own what you buy' and concepts such as 'fair use.' Those are dangerous ideas that will soon land you in jail. CONTROL implies a degree of freedom. Your free days are numbered. |
| Tue 06 Aug 16:31 | Jack Schonchin | OK, so I'm cynical. When I ask myself 'Is the Internet a better place than it was a year ago?' and after I adjust my answer for factors that would skew the results (for example: I don't consider the increase in the number of people coming online because that will always be rising), well, one of these days I'll have to respond: 'no.' So far we have enjoyed new technologies, standards, protocols, etc. that have increased communication and how we interact with information. However, legislators are increasingly treating their constituents as criminals. It won't be too long before the Internet changes from an environment based on 'what we want' to one based on 'what corporations and governments want.' Fanatics worry about the 'new world order' with one government ruling everything. I'm a tad more concerned that we practically already live in a 'one world operating system.' When the corporations and legislators choose to impose the will upon us, they will already have the means to do so: Microsoft. Back to the original topic... bandwidth. I don't need a fat pipe. I'm not interested in a future where a handful of companies control what we see and hear. What will bandwidth give us? Rented software. Rented movies. Rented music. Rented everything. No more ownership. Anyone want to buy my PC? I'm going to install kitchen cabinets for a living. |
| Tue 06 Aug 16:49 | Lyle | Someone will develop a nice little stand-alone app for computers based on a similar idea to Instant Messaging. People to people communication, via video, recorded at webcam quality on computers with webcams and other internet connected devices. Messages will download in the background, first informing of their arrival when they are ready for playback. Users with broadband will love it. People on slow Internet connections will be able to fully participate, but the choking of the 56K modem will definitely be noticeable, and irritating enough to push users steadily toward broadband. When a 'buddy' is online, the video will be sent peer to peer. Sending messages to offline buddies will require payment. The app will not come from Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo, or anyone else with existing networks of advertisers or software with which to integrate it, and thereby mess up both its usability and utility. It will be stand-alone, no-strings attached, and people will feel like they control it, and that they can trust it. |
| Tue 06 Aug 17:05 | Ron Zeno | What's the driving force here? What are the priorities? The needs and abilities of the people who will use or be affected by the use of the products, the needs and capabilities of the technologies, or the desires of businesses promoting the technologies? |
| Tue 06 Aug 17:15 | Sean | Hearing Jack's rants via .mp3 = 3 mb Seeing Jack's rants via .avi = 6 mb schonchin@_just_sit_back_this_won't_hurt_a_bit_.yah oo.com = 1 k priceless. |
| Tue 06 Aug 17:41 | Dusty Bottoms | Watching TV/movies on a computer will not become a mainstream thing. DTV will reach that space long before any PC/TV convergeance comes about. I would never equate an increase of bandwidth with a rich experience. Does Flash MX have that stigma? (I haven't used it yet). Besides Flash MX, there are a handful of players in the 'beyond the browser' space right now: Rebol http://www.rebol.com Curl http://www.curl.com Esual http://www.esual.com Mozilla ... These products are pretty damn good. I've used the first two extensively, and their aim is to provide rich, native-app like interactivity with little/no bloat. In the case of Rebol/IOS, I actually think they've **over-delivered**. It's not until you experience network-aware thin client apps that you realize this odd new market could have legs. Hopefully the bad rap of Flash doesn't thwart progress in this area. |
| Tue 06 Aug 18:15 | Frank Lynch | John, yes Tivo will help if there is a showing of 'The Incredible Limpet,' but then there is planning. Tivo won't answer for my spontaneous interest in having the opportunity to say to my child, 'Gee, I'm sorry, I remembered it being better.' |
| Tue 06 Aug 18:18 | Martin Sutherland | John, your original comment bothers me, and I'm trying to put my finger on why that is. I think it's because you make it sound like broadband and fat pipes is a good thing in its own right, and that it is somehow necessary for the internet to 'evolve'. This is too much like saying that the increased availability of nippy little sports cars is crucial to the continued wellbeing of (off-line) society. Having access basic access to a PC, and the internet--regardless of the speed of your link--is just now *beginning* to be foundational in a societal and educational sense. Advocating bigger and richer media applications over faster and fatter pipes is a sport for the rich and privileged that pays heed neither to social nor economic good practices. Where the real opportunities for the internet lie, and where the real wealth (in both monetary and less tangible forms) will be created, is in getting more of the world's population on-line. (Metcalfe's law: the value of a network increases with the square of its size.) If most people were to prioritise what they want out of the internet, it would probably look like this: 1. Be on-line. 2. Be on-line *all the time* (always-on connections) 3. Fast connection. In western society, we're well into phase 1. That first wave has seen applications like email, Amazon, and Ebay. Phase 2 has--so far--brought us instant messaging. What has phase 3 actually delivered that wasn't already available (albeit more slowly) by phases 1 and 2? I think the next real innovations on the internet will come from the always-on-ness of our connections. The next round of wealth will be supplied by the original, basic phase 1 applications. (See how Hotmail, Yahoo, et al. are all starting to charge for their webmail?) Right now, phase 3 is only good for art, and those of us with more money than sense. And yes, I'm writing this over a broadband link. ;-) |
| Tue 06 Aug 18:41 | Matt Round | One aspect often not considered when discussing broadband content is the issue of hosting - serving up huge amounts of video, audio and animation costs a fortune in hardware and bandwidth. Most sites are struggling already, they certainly can't afford hosting bills several times higher, leaving the way clear for the major sites with deeper pockets to dominate. I have to consciously avoid using large files on my own sites, as I know it'd only take one link from a fairly popular site to cause problems. I'd love to use video, but broadband hosting's beyond my budget. (I'm still on a 56k modem at home, as ADSL is unlikely to work and cable TV is unavailable; at work I've got a lovely 2Meg line) |
| Tue 06 Aug 19:36 | Frank Lynch | Off-topic aside: Matt, very good point re wanting to avoid chewing up host bandwidth on your own site. Are you familiar with blogger Josh Marshall? Aside from gif's asking for donations and book covers, the photos he uses are linked off other sites' pages, thereby chewing up their bandwidth, rather than his. I don't know how much traffic he gets, or whether the other webmasters know/care about this... But I know it happens at other sites, because there's a site on using DNA as evidence (believe it or not) that actually links back to the image on the picture page on my Samuel Johnson web site. (The guy has a page including Johnson's comments on being an attorney.) |
| Tue 06 Aug 23:06 | Lyle Kantrovich | Bandwidth is just a pipe. It's what you get over that pipe that really delivers value. Fatter pipes can deliver value faster. I just moved and was looking to get DSL - no go - too far away. Cable is a year off. My area phone lines are crap and can only deliver 26k dial-up connections. The reason I want broadband is so that when I dial in to work to check email running my rich, fat-client (Outlook) it doesn't take over 10 minutes to load. Of course some better design on the part of Microsoft would've helped too (Hey Bill, it's called background processes and multi-tasking - look up OS/2 for examples). To me broadband equals time: less load time, faster access and downloads of research materials, and occasionally mp3's I might find or audio samples when buying music. Keep your TV and Movies -- I can get enough of that crap on the boob tube if I want to waste 20% of my time watching ads. More valuable 'killer apps' will deliver broadband - broadband won't invent killer apps. |
| Tue 06 Aug 23:37 | Sean | We can only get so far by speaking in generalities. We build and visit specific sites for specific reasons. For a contrast in styles, visit Kartoo and do a search for 'usability' in each version: HTML - http://www.kartoo.com/html.php3 FLASH - http://www.kartoo.com/flash.php3 Which version do you prefer? Why? |
| Wed 07 Aug 08:52 | Jim | The thing that will drive people to Broadband is lower cost. Give them broadband at the same price as dial up and who wouldn't switch? Then sell additional services (movies, applications, tools, etc.) at an extra cost for people who want them. Most people won't see these 'bandwidth-sucking applications and tools' until they have basic broadband service first. Right now, who wants another monthly bill? Who feels that they don't already pay enough in monthly bills? Who wants to increase the money they pay out every month? Most people don't feel the advantage of broadband is worth the extra cost. Give it to them for the same price and they'll see the advantage. |
| Wed 07 Aug 09:58 | mcw | Good thread. IMHO best comment is from Lyle. Broadband/fat pipes don't do anything, they enable useful applications. So - there are those above who see some useful apps, those that don't see useful apps, (and those who think it's all a plot to control our lives.) I'm with the useful apps crowd. Broadband=time for me and I like it. Not sure how I'm being controlled; I can go to any site I want (or not). |
| Fri 09 Aug 03:04 | Mac | Just read an interesting article about this topic. It puts the case that the most important aspects of braodband are: 1 - Always On 2 - Low Latency with speed being at the bottom of the list. |
| WebWord Comment | Wed 07 Aug |
| WebWord is 4 years old today. BOOM! It would be interesting to see how many wacky facts people can dig up about the site. Be creative but try not to get too personal. Ha! |
| Wed 07 Aug 08:55 | Jack Schonchin | Slogans: 1988: The voice of Internet usability and human factors. 1999: The Internet usability site of John S. Rhodes. 2000: technology. humans. experience. 2001: Industrial Strength Usability. 2002: We sell fish heads. |
| Wed 07 Aug 09:06 | Jack Schonchin | September 8, 1998. Article: Harness the Power of Your .SIG 'A rough and informal analysis has lead me to recommend that all .sigs must contain these two important elements: 1. Full name, 2. Email address However, a .sig might include these items as well: 1. URL, 2. Telephone number, 3. FAX number, 4. Company name or organizational affiliation, 5. Quote, comment, or humor statement (use with caution), 6. Snail mail address July 27, 2002: The .sig from an e-mail from John S. Rhodes -John Perhaps we need a follow-up article discussing when and why people drop their sig. I do it often when writing to people I know. |
| Wed 07 Aug 09:18 | John S. Rhodes | Jack, as you suggest, I drop the .sig when I know someone well. It is not that I am lazy, I just feel that it is information overload. Then again, if you think about being professional at all times, or promoting something (e.g., I usually provide a link to my subscriptions page), then maybe it does make sense to always include the .sig. Interesting topic... |
| Wed 07 Aug 09:27 | Jack Schonchin | 1824: First proof John is immortal. He died in 1824. 1880: Lived in Topeka, KS, curator of a junk shop at least through 1916. John's father is a judge. Operates a funeral home. Donates to the FarmHouse Fraternity - 'Builder of Men.' Is quoted by Macromedia on Flash usability. Oh John, you're going to hell for this one. OK, I'm going to be late for work now. |
| Wed 07 Aug 11:11 | MadMan | Oh no, he died in 1824? John, you're not secretly The Highlander, are you? Tell me that you're not an immortal who's lived for hundreds of years. It would be a shame if I had to find you and cut off your head. But remember, there can be only one! |
| Wed 07 Aug 14:23 | Mac | Longest words used since April 2002 Sorry, for people not included, as I've only got 10 minutes to do this. 19 straightforwardness Darin 18 transmogrification Jack Schonchin 17 interdisciplinary John S. Rhodes 16 misunderstanding Lydia 15 configurability Kirk 15 inconsequential Frank Lynch 15 personalization Sandra 15 professionalism JB 15 straightforward Alan Fisher 15 Unsubstantiated MadMan and my favourite slogan is: Forget About Technology, Focus On People |
| Wed 07 Aug 14:43 | Jack Schonchin | John likes comic books! Googling the newsgroups I found John at Binghamton University. First I thought there was a professor by the same name, then I read John's bio and realized he earned two MAs there. Given John's old university address, I figure John is a fan of The Punisher, Spawn, Dark Knight comic books. I'm pretty sure John didn't just mug a kid and try selling his goods because comic books now cater to a more mature audience. John is also in good standing at Ebay. John is a seller's dream - extremely fast, a great communicator, a quick payer, and is highly recommended. He's a real asset to the Ebay Community. John has a Canon printer and listens to KORN. If a wiseass can pull this up, imagine what $50 to a private investigator web site could do. |
| Wed 07 Aug 14:49 | Jack Schonchin | Oops. Reading the subject again, I guess those aren't 'wacky facts people can dig up about the site' and are, just a tad, personal. |
| Wed 07 Aug 14:54 | A. Rhodes | It's hard to be anonymous with my name right in my email address... It's just that I have a (personal) comment that nobody else knows (well, until you read this comment) Today is John's bday. http://www.plauder-smilies.de/party/bdaysmile.gif |
| Wed 07 Aug 15:16 | Mac | Pargh! - (anonymous) if you want to be anonymous you have to clear out all the boxes. But thanks for the insider info and... Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday, dear John S Happy Birthday to you ! clap, clap, clap, clap, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah |
| Wed 07 Aug 15:58 | MadMan | So how young are you Johny boy? Or you old enough for that to be a rude questions? ;) On another topic, Jack seems to be trying to increase his comments tally by posting a lot of fluff. :p I'll beat you yet, Whacko Jacko. |
| Wed 07 Aug 19:23 | Jack Schonchin | Now that we know John's birthday, we're halfway to guessing all his passwords. MadMan, I tell people what they want to know. You may not like it, even I may not like it, but I can't pretend fluff doesn't exist because that is a lie and when art lies, it becomes worthless. There has always been fluff. There will always be fluff. Fluff and evil and men with big guns. And if I happen to write fluff better than anyone, then I've got a bigger responsibility than anyone to serve it up. |
| Thu 08 Aug 03:13 | Mac | I reckon that MadMan and Jack are the same person. And I know Erasmus agrees with me as well. |
| Thu 08 Aug 06:20 | MadMan | Ah, but the difference is, Mac, I *have* an identity. Jack is just a name with funny Yahoo addresses. Besides, he knows stuff about USA that I wouldn't. |
| Thu 08 Aug 14:25 | Jack Schonchin | I'm allergic to chimpanzees. |
| Fri 09 Aug 02:48 | Matt Rhodes | Happy Birthday, Bro. You're going to be old and fat soon. |
| Customer Experience Meets Online Marketing at Brand Central Station | Thu 08 Aug |
| (Boxes and Arrows) Think about the last time you praised a company to a friend or associate. You probably used words like, “professional,” “easy to work with,” “capable,” and “on the ball.” Wouldn’t we like all the firms we do business with to have those attributes? Are people who visit your website left with the impression that your firm is on the ball? |
| Thu 08 Aug 07:31 | Frank Lynch | I've actually heard participants in usability labs make comments like 'Why are they wasting my time?' A web site actually projects the extent to which we value our customers' time. |
| Thu 08 Aug 11:09 | Ron Zeno | I have a hard time wading through the propaganda in the article. If the author is trying to convey useful information, I'm having trouble finding it. |
| Thu 08 Aug 14:04 | Jim Truman | I had a hard time just reading the article. Who thought up that godawful colour scheme? |
| Thu 08 Aug 21:55 | John S. Rhodes | Ron, I like this part of the artcle... 'Think about the last time you praised a company to a friend or associate. You probably used words like, “professional,” “easy to work with,” “capable,” and “on the ball.” Wouldn’t we like all the firms we do business with to have those attributes? Are people who visit your website left with the impression that your firm is on the ball?' ...because it gets at usability without using fancy language. The plain language appeals to me and I would guess that it appeals to many others. The one thing that doesn't fit is that the article seems to basic for the audience. |
| Thu 08 Aug 23:35 | Ron Zeno | Propaganda level: Very High (Lots of nice, agreeable sound-bites; lots of generalities; bits of information we've seen before; great tie-ins to his book and consulting business) Propaganda quality: High (Good, but its unclear what audience he is targeting. Ironic for a marketing consultant.) Information quality: Low (Judging from the article, usability is obviously not his forte.) |
| Fri 09 Aug 01:35 | MadMan | I love Ron's rating scale for articles. I'm slowly becoming a fan of his blog too. As a fellow cynic, it's most refreshing to see that somebody sees a propoganda piece for what it is. What's worse than a propoganda piece? A clueless propoganda piece. |
| Fri 09 Aug 02:15 | MadMan | And using local terms like 'Brand Central Station' (I suppose it's a mutation of 'Grand Central Station') when you're writing for a global audience is just wrong. I once read an article on Builder.com (or builder.com.com if you will - wtf?) that had the title Automatic for the user. Unless you're an REM fan (which I'm not), you wouldn't 'get it'. Article titles must stand the test of time. Using examples from pop culture is 'cute' at the time but will people remember it 5 years from now? To see how widespread this bad practice is, just search on Google for Oops they did it again. BAD idea. Not everyone in India or South Africa or Norway will know what 'Grand Central Station' is. And 5 years from now, Britney may no longer be around (something for which I pray every day.) Article titles must be intelligent, not cute. |
| Communicate the ROI for Design | Thu 08 Aug |
| (Adaptive Path) Practicing designers often get caught in the trap of thinking that design is the solution. What they need to realize is that, to a businessperson, design is a solution. |
| Thu 08 Aug 10:25 | Richard Lehoux | I must agree. I read an article a long time ago when I studied industrial design. It talked about some problem in German company and it's relation with marketing and design. Back then, they tough if you made a good, usable and simple design, it would automatically sale well. German company disliked marketing people with there futile ideas. But a slump in the sale around the end of the 80's ( if I remember well ) made them change there mind. Marketing was brought in and design ( and engineering ) were pushed back to a less prominent role. If you remember, that's about when the BMW began to get rounder shape... So, yes, we are not the only one holding the future of a compagny. But Peter’s photo is to big. I don’t like been stared like that while I read. Brrr… ( Trying to be funny here. Sorry ) |
| Thu 08 Aug 11:05 | Ron Zeno | Naive? Propaganda with little information content? I've been commenting here |
| Thu 08 Aug 13:05 | JB | I know this is written forma design point of view, and maybe I missed the point of the entire article (it happens sometimes), but to me it has nothing to with design itself, but to do with designing something that customers want. Design is a component of delivery on what customers want. Even when you are trying to tap into new markets you need to know what customers want and then design for this. Am I making sense or is this just gibberish? |
| Thu 08 Aug 13:51 | Richard Lehoux | Since a product can sell very well even with a bad design, and many time win against better one, we need to prove the value of our work. The question is simple:” Why spend some money to make your design change and perhaps risk reduce profitability if you can't prove it will in fact raise it.' Many designer think it's 'morally wrong' to do bad design. Even if it's true, it's not enough for business people. |
| Thu 08 Aug 21:59 | John S. Rhodes | Quick and dirty and ready to sell is a million times better to most business people than elegant and usable but not ready to sell. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. |
| Fri 09 Aug 02:02 | MadMan | History shows that many products that are category leaders are not necessarily the most usable. People used DOS for 9 years before Windows became a success, despite the fact that Apple has had a GUI since 1983. To this day, Mac users claim that the Mac is easier to use, but close to 90% of the world's computers run some version of Windows. What on earth...? You can almost never have perfect usability for a product that's new to the market and has never been seen or used before. Wasting your time on perfect usability could be a costly mistake in terms of business. When a product is new, you can only guess at how it's going to be used by regular customers and make it usable by those guesses. More usability can be built into the product as usage patterns are observed and also how the requirements change. I assure you: you can almost never have perfect usability in a version 1.0 product. Another thing to bear in mind is that the first customers of a product - the 'Innovators' as Geoffrey A. Moore calls them in his book, Crossing the Chasm, typically do not care much about usability and want to buy a product just to stay on top of the latest innovations. It is the early majority and the late majority that take a product into the mainstream. By the time this happens, the product will likely be version 3.0 and usability becomes more important (though not to the exclusion of factors like price, positioning, availability etc.) Let me give you an example. Till the early 90s, people in India didn't have much choice for TV entertainment. There were two boring state-run TV channels and that was it. Then suddenly, the Gulf War happened, and the satellite TV revolution came to India as Indians hungered for CNN coverage of the War. In a few years, there were several cable channels blooming in the country. At the moment, I have about 85 channels on my TV. We're spoiled for choice! Why is this relevant? Well, consider how this would influence the design of TV remote controls. Till 1992, with only 2 channels, switching between channels was easy: up and down. With 85 TV channels, however, the usage pattern has changed. Now, the usability requirements dictate that you must make it easy for a person to switch from channel 7 to channel 62 quickly. Lots of people channel surf. They also likely to quickly switch to another channel and see a TV show in the same time slot. So now you have to build in a 'quick switch' option to help them do that. Also, nobody watches all 85 channels. They typically have perhaps 10 favourite channels. So the remote control must have some kind of 'add to favourites' feature that lets a person quickly add a particular channel to their favourites. Some people like to arrange channels so that their favourites are in channel 1 to 10. So you need a 'swap channels' feature. My point is that if an Indian TV manufacturer were designing a TV remote control in 1990, he didn't need to do much. But in 2002, the TV itself may not have changed much, but the use of the remote control has changed, not because of any significant advances in TV technology, but because of an external factor like the flood of satellite TV channels. So the usability requirements of the remote control have also changed drastically. There was no way the 1990 designer could have anticipated this change in how people used the product and made it usable to suit that usage pattern. |
| Not a Moment Too Soon | Thu 08 Aug |
| For the first time in years, my e-mail inbox is totally and completely spam-free. |
| Thu 08 Aug 10:32 | Mac | Not sure about the extra hoops people have to hump through, but maybe it will work. A challenge: Create a disposable e-mail account, ask all Webworders to get it on as many junk lists as possible. Then try this software to see how well it works, to send it all back to the spammers. |
| Thu 08 Aug 11:16 | Ron Zeno | Interesting idea. Might work if handled properly. |
| Thu 08 Aug 11:32 | Jack Schonchin | I don't like that it sounds proprietary. I pay for the software, and if the company goes out of business, am I out of luck? I'd like to see a piece of freeware that could work with a web form you create, or give you the option of paying the author to use his form. After all, what choicemail does isn't terribly complex. |
| Thu 08 Aug 11:41 | Jack Schonchin | Here's an e-mail I just sent the company: Hi... a couple questions: Can I configure Choicemail to work with my own web form? e.g., non-approved e-mail senders are directed to a web form I created, instead of the one provided by your company. If not, do you have plans to make Choicemail a subscription service? It doesn't make sense to me that you would sell a one-time product and then provide web forms in perpetuity for an unknown number of customers. Plus, my copy of Choicemail becomes useless if your company ever goes out of business (not such an unusual occurrence for tech companies). Food for thought. |
| Thu 08 Aug 11:48 | John S. Rhodes | Jack, did you mentioned that you learned about it through WebWord? ;-) |
| Thu 08 Aug 11:49 | John S. Rhodes | Damn -- 'mentioned' = pargh! |
| Thu 08 Aug 12:07 | Jack Schonchin | High marks for a prompt, personal e-mail response: ------- In theory you could use your own web server. Andy Sivak Vice- President, Sales ----- Thanks for the prompt reply Andy. Could you clarify 'in theory?' Do you mean Choicemail allows me to specify the web address senders will be directed to, and that you provide documentation on how the web form I create needs to interact with Choicemail? Thanks. -Jack ----- To quote the Hertz commercial --not exactly--- We are developing a server version of CM for ISPs and the like. Some of them want to run their own registration servers, which is fine with us. This version of CM does allow the user to change the verbiage but not the url. Andy Sivak Vice- President, Sales |
| Thu 08 Aug 12:37 | JB | Great idea, but agree with Jack. Also I think it really does depend on the number of new and legitimate emails you receive each day. I just don't know how business emailers would respond if they were immediately flipped to something they were not expecting - with a message to the effect of - we don't know who you are and you need to verify your real existence. |
| Thu 08 Aug 14:57 | Jack Schonchin | It would not be a big deal if the auto-email explains the circumstances and that it's a one-time verification measure. It *would* be a big deal if _everyone_ used this service and we had to jump through web hoops everytime we contacted someone new. This service won't scale, unless it becomes an accepted as a necessary nuisance. |
| Thu 08 Aug 19:33 | Eszter | I don't see how it would work for those who receive emails from higher ups. I can't imagine people senior to me going through such hoops. Not to mention those people who'd be really confused and would have no idea what's going on. (We are all interested in Web stuff and know the Web enough to follow directions in such an email but lots of people don't have that Web savvy.) I guess if it was widespread enough many people would pick it up eventually, but that would be a lot of lost communication in the meantime. Also, what to do if you use a program like pine in UNIX and not a Web-based email program? |
| Thu 08 Aug 22:58 | Chad Lundgren | Am I the only one annoyed by the authors's saying POP means Point of Presence? It means Post Office Protocol in this context. He also complained about having to wait for the message to show up to delete it. I guess no one ever told him he should turn his preview pane off. |
| WebWord Comment | Tue 06 Aug |
| Here is something that Jack Schonchin sent me: Several of my techie friends are contemplating leaving the industry. Perhaps its the stress of working in a field that requires continuous skills refreshening, or the annoyance of being devalued or considered interchangeable by management. If you [are] burned out and left the Internet industry today, what new profession would you pursue? Whats your dream? Interestingly, this article about stupid interview questions was posted on MadMans web site today. Still another reader told me that he might end up working in the Fiji Islands! I guess we need to talk about employment. Fire away folks; lets get talking. |
| Tue 06 Aug 21:57 | Jack Schonchin | Some of the professional aspirations I've heard recently from unhappy techies: operating a beer-making supply store, starting a video game store, making cabinets/woodworking, and becoming a nurse! Most notably, none of these techies have any interest in becoming consultants and/or using their tech skills in another job. As for me, I'm undecided. I'd like to be a writer, but since I've devoted my life to computers I feel like every last ounce of creativity has been drained from my body and my writing is relegated to ridiculous ranting on web sites. Oh joy. And geez, writing won't pay my mortgage. |
| Wed 07 Aug 01:26 | Zef | This is a tough one. A while back I visited an employment agency to see if I could 'cross-step' into a another career. Their answer? 'Why would you want to leave the web industry - many people are falling over themselves to get a good job in the web!' But I have considered re-entering the Television or Film industries - but that would mean starting from the bottom of the ladder which I'm not prepared to do at this point in my life... I guess the main issue (for me) is that any career is an option - but will it pay just as well as the web industry?! |
| Wed 07 Aug 01:46 | MadMan | You know what I've always wanted to do? Be a cartoon voiceover artist. I can do accurate impressions of many cartoons on TV. Scooby Doo, Elmer Fudd, Popeye, Bugs Bunny, the list goes on... But because I live in India, that dream will probably never come true. :( My other dream is to own a restaurant. Cooking is my biggest passion next to computers, and I've been cooking since I was 13. In another 5 years, I will make it happen. |
| Wed 07 Aug 01:55 | MadMan | Also, not enough management people read Peopleware |
| Wed 07 Aug 04:40 | Edwinek | I dream about that all the time... One thing that would be great is a job that knows (almost) no deadlines. Where quality comes before speed. I'd love to work in a big bookstore. Or do something else that actually means something to other people. But I have the same problem as Zef: how about the pay? You get used to a certain amount of spending money. And to a certain amount of luxury. |
| Wed 07 Aug 04:41 | Matt Round | Are people in IT any more dissatisfied with it than those in other professions? Most people grumble about their jobs. If someone doesn't enjoy continually refreshing their skills then they're unlikely to be happy in any interesting/creative/challenging job. Maybe people just need to switch to better jobs, perhaps taking a pay cut and/or getting out of big corporations/cities and into smaller companies/towns? I can certainly understand people getting fed up with sitting in front of a computer all day though, everyone's bound to tire of that at some point. |
| Wed 07 Aug 08:07 | (the other) JS | Anyone see technology revitalize a career? A dentist in my locale uses Virtual Reality helmets. Allows the patient to go from 'whaouerhoaaklkdfj' ...to simply tuning into the dentist perspective (he wears a head cam) of what is going on. Anyone try to figure out the smartest interview questions asked? It would seem a little more 'infoage'. It would seem the interview process an ideal study of information tactic and counter tactic. |
| Wed 07 Aug 10:24 | Rebecca | You don't get enough postings from women around here. I would do something totally different - work with kids maybe. Do something where I interact more with other humans, face to face, than I do with a computer monitor. A friend of mine left the industry to become a baker. A BAKER!! And she is so happy. I don't contemplate leaving the field because I don't enjoy refreshing my skills. In fact, it's just the opposite; when I am involved in some sort of professional development, or when I am engaged in conversation with someone who is teaching me something new, that's when I think about staying, not leaving. It's the day to day stuff that wears on me; the uncertainty, the lack of compassion, the interaction with management who refuse to put their money where their mouth is. There will always be a place in this world for bakers. They will never be obsolete. Maybe my friend had the right idea. |
| Wed 07 Aug 11:15 | Richard Lehoux | When I want a change, I always aspire to a more artistic realm, like going from interface designer to graphic designer. I have already some experience and it's related. But after a long and exhautive argument with a client or a programmer about a silly proposition ( I mean REALLY silly ), I dream of going more to the technical side, like programming. If it's working, everybody's happy, end of the discussion. |
| Wed 07 Aug 11:22 | Jack Schonchin | Sure, every profession requires skills refreshening, but few are quite as steep as the tech sector, and the medical field. I'm pretty sure I could be good at holding and twirling one of those signs on a street corner - pointing motorists toward a new housing development that has houses for sale, or promoting $5 pepperoni pizzas - but I draw the line at wearing a gorilla suit. |
| Wed 07 Aug 12:04 | JB | You know I came from a finance background and ended up in the Internet...go figure. But I am starting to feel as the hype has disappeared that I may have ended up inadvertently pigeon holing myself into a profession with very few options - I am on the business side, not the tech. So I have been spending much time contemplating what I would do if I chuck it all in and my response would be go back home to Oz and either start a pub/bar or a cafe...but both would need to be by the beach so I could surf at lunch time every day. And in the morning. And in the evening :) |
| Wed 07 Aug 14:08 | Lydia | I have to admit, the amount of time I spend studying and reading does take it's toll from time to time and I do feel anxiety over the 'interchangeable' issue. I've managed to set myself apart, but I sometimes wonder if it is enough. If I could do anything else I wanted to do, I'd move to New Zealand and do something there. Anything, just so long as it was in New Zealand. As to whether I will screw up the courage to make this happen, I dunno. |
| Wed 07 Aug 19:33 | Chad Lundgren | My burnout causes: Clients who think they are web designers. I used to be passionate about talking people out of dumb things. Now I may try, but don't get upset when they pull a 'I'm paying for it, do it my way.' Another cause: lack of an official web designer certificate. Regular folks should to be able to distinguish between wannabes with a graphical program, and people that hand code when needed, test on multiple browsers, and design with the user in mind. |
| Thu 08 Aug 01:38 | Jack Schonchin | Chad, if that's the kind of folks you're dealing with, buy a copy of PrintMaster and print yourself out a nifty-looking certificate. Print several for different awards and accomplishments - just in case your competition has a certificate too. You want your stack to be bigger than his. When I do commercial design it's through word-of-mouth. The client accepts me as an expert from the get-go. When the client wants something bad it's usually a gut reaction that hasn't been thought through. When I apply logic to their fanciful thoughts they crumble. It usually involves demonstrating how their idea will hurt them and how my idea will help them. Hmmmm, I wouldn't mind being a movie reviewer... but given the web, I think that's a dying profession. I'd love to study cave geology. I'm not about to go back to school though. |
| Thu 08 Aug 03:43 | Mac | I have been programming for 15 years, and think that if you want to keep your sanity it's better to stay in 'deep tech'. If you can access the users then you have a chance to work directly with them and produce something you can feel proud of (sometimes). However I'm not a teccy snob and I think that the influx of people into the industry over the last five or so years is great, because it helps change the 'Trek Watching, Pizza Sniffing, Desk Sleeping' view of us teccies. However, I do like the idea of becoming a professional luddite. A 'useful' job like Baker would be great, but I couldn't get up that early. Or how about a full time WebWorder? Maybe we could get sold on MTV and become a cult? |
| Thu 08 Aug 11:20 | Jack Schonchin | Or how about a full time WebWorder? Maybe we could get sold on MTV and become a cult? I want to be the person who gets voted off the web site. |
| Thu 08 Aug 11:53 | Alex Bischoff | MadMan: I can relate to your comment about management-types reading Peopleware. Sure, at this point, I'd probably accept a web development job even with a company that hadn't read Peopleware. But, it would be a huge plus if they had. |
| Thu 08 Aug 17:38 | Laura | Hey Lydia - don't underrate wherever you are already - New Zealand is okay and all, but it ain't that great! We have the same problems here as everyone else in the world - just complicated by too few inhabitants and a lot of sheep! It is isolated and pretty in places, but it isn't the new utopia that it's promotd to be... If I got out of web-related stuff, I would like to go into publishing. There is something satisfying about a book that the Internet never provides me... |
| Boys, boys, boys | Tue 06 Aug |
| (Guardian) It may sound stereotypical, but men are often so carried away by the beauty of what they have designed they forget to think about whether it is user-friendly. |
| Tue 06 Aug 22:09 | Ron Zeno | Nonsense! (referring to the specific quote. The rest of the article isn't too bad.) Interestingly, women are well represented (perhaps even the majority?) in usability testing. Lots of reasons why: the social skills required for the work, prominent women leaders in usability testing, usability testing seen as a career advancement from other fields with a high proportion of women... |
| Tue 06 Aug 23:32 | Vanessa | My experience is that while women are well represented and respected in areas of project management, design, content creation etc, they are extremely under represented in development and programming of web apps. In addition to the reasons given in the article, I also believe this is because: 1. Senior management are often middle-aged men (this is a generalisation but hey...)who are not confortable having young women assist them with technical issues/concepts they are embarrassed they don't understand themselves. 2. Being part of forums or finding mentors in these areas is difficult for young women vs young men. Senior management (who I will again generalise as being middle aged men) often have difficulty relating professionally to younger women. |
| Wed 07 Aug 17:06 | Lydia | Vanessa, I think those are good points. I have heard from girlfriends that they tend to lean toward the things you mentioned because they relate to it best. I have to agree with some of the things the article says. I'm in an all-male office, and I smile woodenly every time the single guy talks about all the hot chicks he saw over the weekend. (Fill in the blanks on the rest of the language used.) It's a frustrating double-standard. Women want to be treated like one of the boys and accepted, but that does mean talking about hot chicks and crowding around the window when the girl in the short skirt walks by. So, what is to be done? Ignore it as long as you are not being offensively leered at and drooled over yourself, or say something and effectively ask them to censor themselves whenever you are in the room? Women are more used to private networking, I think. Examples: seeking out another girl and talking to her individually about the cute guy I flirted with over the weekend or being discreet about checking out the delivery boy's ass, then giggling about it with a girlfriend later. I would never think about doing that kind of thing in front of my male co-workers. I'm just not wired that way. I think for men, letting women in means letting them see everything as is, and when women say 'but I don't want that part' the reaction is, 'well, what DO you want?!' and it's just frustrating and stressful for everyone involved. Am I totally off my rocker with this one, or does anyone else see this happening? |
| Thu 08 Aug 03:53 | Mac | Lydia, I don't think anyone should have to adopt 'macho' behaviour to fit in. There are plenty of guys who don't want to work in an environment like that. I try and seek out like-minded people, be they men or women, and then see what we can do to try and change things ourselves. This may involve propaganda against soft-porn, or it may be agitating for equal pay. However, I do not subscribe to the Political Correct attitude where problems are swept under the carpet by attempting to change the language without confronting the underlying issues. There is more that unites us than divides us. Oh my God, I'm getting a bit political now, so I'd better sto |
| Thu 08 Aug 16:35 | Lydia | Mac, I wish I worked with more guys like yourself. Fortunately, most of the older men here are perfectly delightful to work with. Most of them are married, too, so that might be part of it. |
| WebWord Comment | Thu 08 Aug |
| Visit this page. MadMan says: Amazing intrusive ad. Load and watch the page for a while. A man will walk across. |
| Thu 08 Aug 10:16 | Jack Schonchin | How long should we wait? I waited a minute. I read this article yesterday and didn't see the ad then either. Perhaps I have something disabled in my security settings. |
| Thu 08 Aug 11:03 | WeirdRed | Wow! I thought I wasn't going to get it because I got a request to install Flash 6, which I declined... but then he walked across... It made me think of those pop-up ad busting software that one can now download. We need one step further... a First person shooter to blow the ad, and this annoying little man away. THAT would be satisfying. |
| Thu 08 Aug 11:40 | Frank Lynch | I never saw it. I think my Norton software blocked it out. |
| Thu 08 Aug 11:44 | Joshua Kaufman | I hardly ever see ads like that because once I see one on a site, I'll never return. |
| Thu 08 Aug 12:51 | JB | The ad is undeliverable it says something about doing your taxes and it is a project waiting in the background....wish the ad loaded in the background. The most amazing thing is the actual article...what are they going to confiscate next...and what is the IQ of the people that are doing this.... I understand the need for high security, but a the expense of common sense...pllleeeaaasssseeee |
| Thu 08 Aug 12:52 | JB | Uh Oh...I have a Pargh - is that how you say it - in my comment...damn! |
| WebWord Comment | Tue 06 Aug |
| Top commenting members of all time = Zipf distribution? |
| Tue 06 Aug 21:50 | Ron Zeno | As I understand it, a Zipf distribution is very likely. Coincidentally, Zipf's law applied to newsgroups (sci.math.research) |
| Tue 06 Aug 22:13 | John S. Rhodes | Ron, I think so too. The way I see it, the WebWord community continues to get stronger and stronger. Strange in some ways, but very exciting. As the WebWord community has increased in size and strength, it seems that a few powerful voices have emerged. As most people know, and as you can see from the statistics, Jack Schonchin, MadMan, Mac, JB, Matt Round, (the other) JS, Alan Fisher, and Ron Zeno dominate. What does this really mean? For those people near the top of the stack, I think it means increased exposure to people interested in usability. I think it means increased traffic flow to their web sites (if they link to them). I think it means increasing opportunities for networking with each other. In short, the Big Cats of WebWord might start to reap the rewards of Metcalfe's Law. Maybe that means money, or at least some prestige, for those folks that spend time and energy here. No matter how you slice this, it is cool. Of course, I want to thank everyone for being here. Also, I remind everyone that getting to be a Big Cat just takes time and energy. It means posting on WebWord. Two barely related items: 1. Less Than Metcalfe's Law 2. The Internet After the Fad - Remarks of Dr. Robert Metcalfe at the University of Virginia May 30, 1996 -- 'The Internet is overdue for a major collapse.' |
| Tue 06 Aug 22:38 | Jack Schonchin | 1. increased exposure D'oh! 2. increased traffic flow to their web sites D'oh! 3. increasing opportunities for networking D'oh! Anyone want to hire or seek the advice of a guy who writes under an assumed name and rants while he's foaming at the mouth? |
| Tue 06 Aug 22:43 | Frank Lynch | It'll take me time to ferret out the difference (code: don't hold your breath!) but in my days in marketing research (and marketing) we often talked about the 80:20 rule of market concentration. Roughly 20% of the customers account for 80% of the volume. And it was my understanding that this actually followed a Pareto distribution. What are the finer points of the Pareto distribution vs the Zipf distribution? Ya got me. But I suspect it's of greater importance than Samuel Johnson's comment on deciding the precedence of a louse and a flea. Understanding the shape of a distribution CAN be important; it is NOT enough to know the mean. A former colleague was always more than happy to bet you that the next person to enter the room would have an above-average number of fingers. |
| Tue 06 Aug 22:58 | John S. Rhodes | Zipf, Power-laws, and Pareto - a ranking tutorial -- 'Many man made and naturally occurring phenomena, including city sizes, incomes, word frequencies, and earthquake magnitudes, are distributed according to a power-law distribution. A power-law implies that small occurrences are extremely common, whereas large instances are extremely rare. This regularity or 'law' is sometimes also referred to as Zipf and sometimes Pareto. To add to the confusion, the laws alternately refer to ranked and unranked distributions. Here we show that all three terms, Zipf, power-law, and Pareto, can refer to the same thing, and how to easily move from the ranked to the unranked distributions and relate their exponents.' |
| Wed 07 Aug 00:55 | Frank Lynch | The distribution may be biased towards recent posters - - I've been posting since August '01at least... John, you may/not remember your call to everyone re 'Who is Samuel Johnson?' (What? No link?) It may be inconsequential, but the distribution is labeled 'of all time.' |
| Wed 07 Aug 03:02 | Mac | Frank, I apologise, that is due to mis-labelling on my part, and the fact that I have only analysed webword back to April 2000 (After Movable Type). I think it is very important to tell history as it 'really was' and can offer the following 'partial' solutions. I can change the labelling to make this clear, or I can put some time into pulling in the Greymatter (July 2001 to April 2002) years as well. I could also go back to Aug 99 to include the earliest webword archives. What do you think? Moogle - fossilising the Webword fossils (no offense intended Jack) |
| Wed 07 Aug 03:20 | Mac | Ahhhhgggg, I meant back to April 2002 After Movable Type, why do you only notice the mistake after you press the button? Is it some hard-wired thing that allows for the chaos in the universe to increase over time? (I know that doesn't match the science). I think I'll just shut up now (dig, dig, dig, dug) |
| Wed 07 Aug 07:12 | John S. Rhodes | There must be a name for hitting the post button and then recognizing the mistake. 1. Poosting 2. Poopz 3. Postz 4. Pargh 5. (cover your eyes, kids) Shitting the Bed Others? Soemthing better? |
| Wed 07 Aug 07:15 | John S. Rhodes | Too funny...I just it. (I proofed it. I swear I did.) 'Soemthing' should obviously be 'Something' -- Pargh! |
| Wed 07 Aug 10:09 | Frank Lynch | Ah, I know the feeling - - It's my wish for a homephone that holds the numbers in a buffer (allowing you to backspace if need be), and requiring you to press 'enter'. The number of times I make a mistake when dialing internationally (requiring a complete re-start) is aggravating. I know cell phones do this, why can't home phones? |
| Wed 07 Aug 11:05 | MadMan | 'I just it.' You what, John? :p |
| Wed 07 Aug 11:12 | John S. Rhodes | MadMan... 'I just it.' ... yet another friggin' pargh! |
| Wed 07 Aug 14:00 | Lydia | Mac, I like the way you have it now (maybe just because I'm kinda up there on the list and I wouldn't be if you included the Greymatter stuff!). Maybe you could leave off 'of all time' so that there is no clear reference, then provide a 'statistics gathered since April 2002' as a footnote for the curious. Your biggest fan, Lydia |
| Wed 07 Aug 14:39 | Frank Lynch | Actually, there's something humorous about labelling it 'of all time', kind of says earlier time doesn't count. It doesn't exist. Kind of like the way '1066 And All That' ends... (paraphrasing here - - ) And so, with the end of the Great War, England was no longer Top Nation, and history came to a . |
| Wed 07 Aug 16:32 | JB | I wonder what the distribution would be if banter-like comments were discounted. I know I probably would not even register. It is a good community, but is what you are seeing meeting or matching your original business goals and objectives? |
| Wed 07 Aug 16:37 | John S. Rhodes | JB, there are not really business objectives. WebWord is about information dissemination and exchanging ideas about usability and related topics. |
| Wed 07 Aug 16:44 | JB | John, you know what would be good...and you may already do this....is at around year end, or whenever you feel like it, you post links to your most conversed topics that you have posted. For example I noticed that the broadband topic has received a lot of attention. This way everyone could at least get a snap shot of what were the most talked about issues on your site throughout the year. Just an idea :) |
| Thu 08 Aug 02:49 | Mac | How About this?. Although it only includes comments since April 2002, it is updated on a weekly basis. Tip - If you hover over the link you should see a tooltip that gives you a description of the item as WebWord Comment isn't very descriptive I know. Perhaps I should show an abstract for the top 10 items? |
| Thu 08 Aug 03:06 | Mac | Oh, and another thing: How do other people pronounce Pargh? Faaaaaarrrrrr : In a Homeresque dohhhhh kind of way. Parrrrggggg : A la Long John Silver. Phhhaaaar : Kind of French - you have to shrug at the same time. Here's a potential mascot: The Gadget Guru sniff (See: Miami vice meets gadget guy.) Or maybe a sponsor |
| Telemarketers always use a script: why shouldn't you? | Tue 06 Aug |
| (Junkbusters) Every time you get a call you consider junk, just ask the questions in this script. If they answer no, you may be able to sue them. You can print copies of it to keep by every phone at home. If everyone follows it, the junk calls will slowly but surely drop off. (Comment: Also be sure to read How to dejunk your communications channels. Nice! At the same time, this is kind of depressing. It just makes it clear to me that we will continue to fight to clean up the communication channels for a long, long time.) |
| Tue 06 Aug 22:02 | Jack Schonchin | I bought a Telezapper. Very few calls get through now. When one does get through, I hang up. No more, 'Sorry, I'm not interested.' I just hang up. |
| Wed 07 Aug 22:58 | Joshua Kaufman | And then there's always the three magic little words: 'hold on, please' |
| Re: AccessiBlog updated | Tue 06 Aug |
| If the Blog is supposed to collect all articles and research on the web, it has woefully missed the mark. Perhaps that is your goal, but its premature to announce your success. You missed an awful lot. Not a useful site. |
| Wed 07 Aug 03:38 | MadMan | I think the notion that one site could over every darn resource on a topic is silly. The Internet is just too big for that. Does Webword cover every usability article ever written? No! Nor could it ever hope to. Does that mean it's of no use at all? Of course not. When I find an article that hasn't been linked from Webword, I use the 'URL submit' feature (cool idea, John) to alert John about it. Ms Pemberton could have done the same. |
| Wed 07 Aug 03:44 | MadMan | The first sentence should read 'cover every darn resource'. Looking back at the thread, Joe does claim that 'essentially every article ever published online on Web accessibility is linked there.' That does seem a rather confident assertion. |
| Wed 07 Aug 18:28 | Joe Clark | Yes, and terminally boring straight-guy nerds are, as ever, incapable of envisioning my uttering that statement with my hand on my hip and a knowing roll of the eyeballs. The impossibility of a complete resource is acknowledged in the irony of the declaration to the contrary. And no, I'm not changing it. Either you get it or you don't. And now there will exist a Googlable solution to this vexing mystery of the ages. |
| Accessible Web Sites | Mon 05 Aug |
| , published by Glasshaus (ISBN 1-904151-00-0), is an excellent book. While I care very much about usability I often do not consider accessibility. Sure, they go hand-in-hand, but my focus has still been on usability. This book has definitely helped change my attitude. If I have learned one thing, it is that it doesnt take much to make a web site accessible. There are tools available and the rules arent too hard to follow. Furthermore, creating an accessible web site does not cost much more than a site that is not. In many, if not most cases, the cost seems to be lower. Read more... |
| Mon 05 Aug 22:38 | John S. Rhodes | I'm going to talk about the first three chapters of the book. In particular, I'm going to post some quotes from the book. Some things really caught my attention and that is what I want to share first. From Chapter One 1. Usability problems impact all users equally, regardless of ability (Page 10). 2. Accessibility problems hinder access to a web site by people with disabilities (Page 10). 3. Certainly, in developing guidelines specifically for accessibility, it is often difficult to distinguish between usability and accessibility. It becomes clear that many design aspects that are good for general usability are required for accessibility (Page 12). 4. Between 15% and 30% of the general population have functional limitations that can affect their ability to use technology products. That represents an estimated 50 million people in the US alone, and over 750 million worldwide (Page 16). 5. Myth: Accessible Pages Have To Be Plain (Page 26). 6. Myth: Just Add a Text-Only Version (Page 27). 7. Myth: Assistive Technologies Take Care of Web Access (Page 28). From Chapter Two 1. Raising the alarm, the United Nations notes that more than half a billion persons were disabled worldwide and that approximately 80 per cent of this population lived in developed countries (Page 34). 2. There are two types of approaches to specifications for accessible web design: W3C WCAG, an international voluntary standard, and Section 508, a US legislative mandate for Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards (Page 51). From Chapter Three 1. Now screen readers look at the Document Object Model (DOM) of the page to know what the browser would display. For the web, as well as for some other applications, screen readers are not reading the screen any more, not even reading what was written to the screen... (Page 54). 2. JAWS for Windows and Window-Eyes are used by probably over 90% of users of the web who are blind (Page 55). 3. The bottom line is that when we talk about access to the web for people who are blind, we are talking about Microsoft platforms (Page 56). |
| Mon 05 Aug 22:46 | John S. Rhodes | I think the myths pointed out in Chapter One are interesting. When I think of accessible web sites, I think of dry, boring, stiff web sites. Ones with no jazz. I am wrong! Web sites can be accessible and exciting. They don't need to be all text. Dash that idea from your mind. In the second chapter, what struck me most is that a lot of people are disabled or impaired. In some cases people cannot hear, in others they cannot see. Other people are colorblind, still others have trouble typing and writing. It almost seems that we are all broken, damaged or impaired. In some ways, I suppose that is entirely true since no person is perfect, if that actually makes any sense, or is possible. Chapter Three makes one thing very clear: Microsoft is pro accessibility. For all the hassle I have given them over the years, they do seem to care about accessibility. While I could probably make an argument about how they are only doing it for profits, I won't. I'll just say here that Microsoft has done a lot for the world of accessibility. Now that I have written out some quotes, and now that I have shared some of my thoughts on the first three chapters, what do you think? What did you like about the first part of the book? Speak up! |
| Tue 06 Aug 05:31 | Alastair Campbell | John wrote: 'While I care very much about usability I often do not consider accessibility.' I think that is why you wouldn't find it hard to make an accessible site. If an HTML site is usable, then there are probably only a couple of technical issues to account for, and it will be usable for everyone. My favorite quote from the book is: 'many design aspects that are good for general usability are required for accessibility' If you actually try a screen reader, it becomes obvious why you should have consistent navigation. The screen reader essentially linearizes everything, so if the navigation is moved (in the code) or changes a lot, it can make it impossible to get around. That is just one example. But, if you pay attention to the usability, it's just small technical things that you might need to change to make it accessible. The book it pretty good at covering how each technology deals with web pages, but I'm not sure how much more useful it would be to a web developer than the http://diveintoaccessibility.org/ series. |
| Tue 06 Aug 18:23 | meryl | This is truly the first complete resource book on accessible Web design. It covers lots of ground from law to design. We have a long way to go in education designers and managers to invest in design about accessibility. One of the simplest things to do is add the ALT tag to graphics. A gosh darn lot of sites don't even do that. It's not just for the developer, but also it's for the manager -- the decision maker. Design shops don't always have the ability to convince companies to do certain things. This book will. Alastair is right that diveintoaccessibility.org is awesome. I love how it creates personas for different people and show what works and doesn't work. The beauty of creating sites with XHTML and CSS is that a screen reader won't go nutty over the structure since content is separate from structure. |
| Response: The Backlash against Jakob Nielsen and What it Teaches Us | Thu 01 Aug |
| (Usability News) Unfortunately, Nielsens pronouncements have all too often been like a restaurant critic insisting we should all eat only a McDonalds, since after all its the most efficient restaurant around. |
| Tue 06 Aug 06:42 | MadMan | I'm Jakob Nielsen, yes I'm the real Nielsen, and all you other Nielsens are just immitating, so won't the real Nielsen please stand up... please stand up... please stand up? |
| WebWord Comment | Sun 04 Aug |
| Huh? Whats going on? Im dizzy. Hell = frozen over. How long has it been? No. Sales. Pitch. |
| Mon 05 Aug 04:18 | Mac | I feel honour bound to reply to that. At this moment I am updating my Alertbox Analysis site to reflect this article, and here are my initial thoughts: This article feels like it was written in the 1980's. At that time the HCI conferences I was attending were full of talk about new input devices. One person I remember talking about this stuff very entertainingly was Bill Buxton (that name always reminds me of our gren skinned friend.) This feels like an attempt to extend the reach of NNGroup into Ergonomic Design, (perhaps influenced by Donald Norman?) I predict that we will soon see an article about the usability of Fast Food Burgers (that should help cover up the taste of the s**t), which will include a usability analysis on the interaction between the 'customer' and the 'server' (or whatever thay're called these days. |
| Mon 05 Aug 04:20 | Jack Schonchin | It's a trick. He makes you read the entire article very carefully, and then re-read it just to be sure. |
| Mon 05 Aug 04:53 | Mac | Subliminal Barney |
| Mon 05 Aug 10:33 | Lyle Kantrovich | I have to admit that I too have tired of Jakob's pitching. My gripe isn't so much that he pitches his and NNG's products and services, but rather that many recent Alertbox articles contain little more than a sales pitch. When I first started reading Jakob's articles (sometime in '96) they usually had some nuggets you could take away and use. Lately Alertbox topics seem pretty lightweight. Examples: Search and You May Find - July '97 (gives away search guidelines) Marginalia of Web Design - November '96 (covers titles, font size and color as well as a nice t |