last updated:16 Aug 2002 13: 32 Webword time, or 16 Aug 2002 18:32 UK time

Webword Statistics - Recent Comments (Comments added for week ending Sun 12 May 2002) | View Other Weeks

A Visual Rather Than Verbal Future | Fri 10 May

(Washington Post) With all due respect to fellow computing gurus around the world, the University of Marylands Ben Shneiderman doesnt think speech will ever become the main way people communicate with computers. Hes convinced our eyes will do better than our voices at helping us control the digital machinery of the 21st century.

Sat 11 May 00:17 | Chi Lambda | I agree with this article. Another way to prove that speech is not the ideal way to communicate between user and computer is to sit someone you know (who is proficient with computers) in your seat in front of your computer, and instruct them (from behind) on how to do your work. You will soon realize how tedious this becomes.

Video games to help you relax | Fri 10 May

(BBC) One of games is a two-player dragon racing game called Relax To Win. The idea is simple. Two electrodes are attached to a players fingers and as the person relaxes, their dragon moves faster.

Fri 10 May 10:09 | Anonymous | So when this depressed or traumatized person sits down wired up to this game and their dragon just sits there - or moves at a snail's pace - doesn't the poor performance increase anxiety?

Fri 10 May 15:41 | shinya | that's revolutionary... use the game to calm down and relax after a hard day of real life sex and violence.

The pop-up ad campaign from hell | Fri 10 May

(Salon) Its the latest in Web marketing innovation: Hijacked Web surfers, exploited Web browser vulnerabilities and malicious spyware all wrapped up together.

Fri 10 May 10:46 | Alan Fisher | It's ironic that, while reading this 2-page article, I had to close down a pop-up which Salon had thoughtfully chose to show me AND ignore an interstitial advert between the two pages. While not as crooked as the campaign that the article is about, the fact remains that ALL pop-up ads are wrong.

Fri 10 May 12:32 | Chad Lundgren | A while back, I sent Salon an angry email about a Flash ad that covered the story I was reading. I made it clear that I didn't object to advertising per se, just advertising that inteferred with the content. Much to my surprise, I got a reply from a 'Sr. VP of Business Operations'. He mentioned that he didn't like the obtrusive ads, but justified himself on 3 grounds: 1) The ad market is so soft, the advertisers are dictating the terms. 2) Yahoo and CNet are doing it. 3) We've never made a profit. In my email I neglected to mention that I had actually considered and rejecting getting the premium service when it became clear that this would get rid of some but not all ads. So of course while insisting we wasn't 'shilling' (his word) for Premium Services, he mentioned Premium Services. Kind of like the passive-aggresive trick of saying 'I won't even mention the time you were so drunk you were directing traffic.' I didn't bother with a reply.

Complex Times Demand Greater Simplicity | Mon 06 May

Simplicity exposes the quality of an idea. Although we may have become accustomed to over-thinking and over-producing, now is the time to simplify.

Thu 09 May 14:34 | Anonymous | I do not see any user comments in the WebWord archives for May. So, uh, why bother posting at all?

Why Ads Are So Stupid | Mon 06 May

(Traffick) Ads are stupid because the people who create them are, for the most part, really stupid.

Tue 07 May 15:32 | (the other) JS | I know some higher level copy writers who collect print junk mail, lots of it. What they do not collect is email spam and online ads. This is far more telling a metric than many I could name. Creative works, for Chiat's 'toys' ad it got them an award as Nissan tanked. The problem is the word branding gets used a little too liberally, for anything not directly tracked. The word, unfortunately, has all the ripeness for folly as building self esteem does for schooling. There is a tendency to see brand recognition as a correlation to product sales (no such correlation exists). There is an often irresistable tendency to mask self absorbed artistic expression at the client's expense as branding. And who is there to question it? Branding is, to a far larger extent than anyone is willing to admit, magical thinking. It has become, in practice, a word devoid of useful meaning.

Tue 07 May 21:37 | mcw | I'm not sure I agree. People who create ads may be pretty bright. They assume their targets are stupid, though. How many companies treat their customers like they are intelligent? Their ads reflect the view of the customer, which is that the customer is pretty dim and needs to be enticed or fooled into buying their product.

Thu 09 May 09:28 | (the other) JS | Brading is more a game of oursmarting clients. The customers are rarely fooled any more. The advertisement is, however, not the product template. A lot of products, including high-tech, need the hype to make up for mediocre product. Branding is not quite the same issue, for it isn't really fooling customers so much as clients. The imprecision of its use promotes a lot of wrong conclusions. But I doubt ad people are stupid, quite the contrary. They've created a quantity which is impossible to measure directly. 'Ineffective' has no application in this envoronment.

Toilet Paper Algorithms | Fri 03 May

(Don Norman) The real problem is, of course, in the design of the toilet paper holders. Instead of a dual-roll holder where both rolls are equally available, the holder should enforce a serial constraint: the second roll should not be available until the first is depleted.

Wed 08 May 12:42 | Ron Zeno | 'When we remodeled our home, we decided to install a dual toilet-tissue holder.' And so begins Don's article. Seems that Don made the design mistake of installing a poorly designed toilet-tissue holder, then wrote about it. So much for Don's ability to identify good and bad design before purchasing the product in question...

Flash MX: Moving Toward Accessible Rich Media | Mon 06 May

(A List Apart) People concerned with accessibility issues will find shortcomings in Flash, as is also easy to do with HTML. Rather than deriding Macromedia, we need to work with them to progress toward better solutions.

Wed 08 May 11:23 | NANTUCKET_SAILER | 'Rather than deriding Macromedia, we need to work with them to progress toward better solutions.' Frankly, it's the other way around: Macromedia needs TO WORK WITH US for them to progress. Remember guys, they need our business more than we need them.

WebWord Comment | Thu 02 May

Last night I went to the Ale House to celebrate. A good friend of mine earned his Masters degree in Psychology from Binghamton University. I decided to have a couple of bottles of Lindemans Peach Lambic, which is a fruity Belgian ale. I also had Buffalo Chicken Pizza. It was a good night.

Tue 07 May 21:39 | mcw | Ale House - good place for a beer.

Gratuitous Graphics and Human-Centered Website Design | Thu 02 May

(Don Norman) I champion human-centered web sites: where you can actually find what you are looking for, and where you dont wait eons for meaningless graphics to load. Where the organizational structure of the site matches the way the viewers think. Is this such a strange concept; putting users first?

Mon 06 May 12:36 | Anonymous | For me, Don fails on his key point. I found the floating colored balls to be exceedingly annoying, not 'fun.' And they very much got in the way of my reading the article. Every time I moved the mouse my eye was distracted.

Adobe wins Macromedia patent suit | Fri 03 May

Adobe filed the suit in August 2000, alleging that the user interface of Macromedias Flash Web animation tool infringed on Adobes patent for tabbed palettes, a feature that allows users of design software to rearrange the work space on the PC screen.

Mon 06 May 12:32 | Anonymous | I normally don't curse, but...GODDAMN Patents! THis is a prime example of the absurdity of patents, how they stifle business, and end up hurting consumers. Software pantents are good-for-nothings.

Slate: calculated refinement or simple inertia | Thu 02 May

(Boxes and Arrows) Before we get started, I just wanted to note that my comments are intended to supplement the diagram, rather than vice versa. So be sure to download the PDF version of the diagram to get a full understanding.

Mon 06 May 11:33 | Anonymous | I would like to know where I can buy some bionic eyes to read light gray text on a white background and light blue text on a light gray background. This is a joke, right?