(Comments added for week ending Sun 18 Nov 2001) | View Other Weeks
| last updated:16 Aug 2002 13: 33 Webword time, or 16 Aug 2002 18:33 UK time |
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| Webword Statistics - Recent Comments (Comments added for week ending Sun 18 Nov 2001) | View Other Weeks |
| WebWord Comment | Sun 18 Nov |
| Im back! Thanks for being patient. The trip went very, very well. |
| Sun 18 Nov 16:14 | MadMan | Boy, are you trying to catch up with a vengeance or what? One moment, the site hasn't been updated for a while, and 30 minutes later, the whole page is full of new links :) Hey, just thought I'd let you know that I've linked to your site from mine. Let's get that PageRank up, yeah! |
| Fake or Foto? | Sun 18 Nov |
| Take a look at the ten images below. Some of them are photographs of real objects or scenes, others are created by computer graphics (CG) artists. Test your ability to tell which among the array of images are real, and which are CG. |
| Sun 18 Nov 12:37 | Jack Schonchin | I am exceptionally annoyed by computer graphics that are not lifelike. Movies are ruined for me when I notice the CG. Examples: 1. K-Pax - The blue jay scene. When did blue jays become endangered or too difficult to film? That's ridiculous. 2) Harry Potter - The centaur, troll and broom stadium game were painful to watch. An entirely CG movie such as Monsters, Inc. is fine because you don't expect reality. But when you mix real humans with fake humans (or human-like faces) it's just crap. Film real things and save CG for the impossible. When rendering a human-like face make sure it's top-notch. Harry Potter's monster faces were lousy. |
| WebWord Comment | Tue 13 Nov |
| Im on the road today and I dont have time to post any news. However, I want to share a quick (true) story. One woman says to another woman that her hair looks great. Really wonderful. Then, the woman with the great hair says that she is wearing a wig. She has cancer and her real hair fell out due to chemotherapy. Ouch! What a faux pas! |
| Wed 14 Nov 07:43 | James Tuddenham | I don't think it is a faux pas really - do you know if they talked more after that quite dramatic 'ice-breaker'? I recall an event at university when a friend started slagging off another house member when we were all out for a drink, as all others around the table were responding with 'Well, that's a bit harsh' or 'I don't think that', etc, he responded with 'Oh, come on! You all said so yourself, last week'. Unbeknownst to him, the young lady in question had joined our table two places to the left of him, and was listening in with growing shock (hence every one elses protestations), it was like seeing an accident in slow motion. This was a real case of foot in mouth disease. |
| Thu 15 Nov 08:46 | anrkngl | The point of such wigs is to give the cancer patient a better look so people don't ask questions. Making it a point to say it is a wig defeats that purpose. I think to me that it is an invitation to further conversation. |
| Thu 15 Nov 11:12 | jan | What a great compliment! I don't think it was a faux pas at all. The woman with cancer could have just said thank you. Sounds as if she wanted to talk. |
| Thu 15 Nov 12:40 | Natalie | What an interesting reaction you had - personally, that wouldn't have occured to me. It's all in the motivation that drove the spontaneous interaction between those two people. My guess is it was all about simple human curiosity and the universal need to make a connection. So the information revealed is conventionally judged as an 'uncomfortable' topic, but in this day and age where reality-this and reality-that consummes our popular attention on TV and movies, why not the real thing? |
| Fri 16 Nov 17:51 | Anonymous | At least her wig made her look good, right? |
| Sun 18 Nov 03:11 | Anonymous | i have a boner |
| Sun 18 Nov 07:58 | MadMan | Hey boner dude! You do know that IP addresses are logged on the site, right? And that we can do a reverse trace on your IP and report you to your ISP? No? Well, it's possible. Please keep this site free of crap. |
| Lies, Damned Lies and Internet Statistics | Sun 11 Nov |
| (BBC) The internet is not like a consumer technology or a toy. Its use will not level off at 50% or 60% because people dont want to buy PCs. Instead it is like gas or water or electricity - a basic service that all homes and businesses need. |
| Tue 13 Nov 15:06 | MadMan | 'like gas or water or electricity'. Try telling that to my mother :) I don't think so. |
| Sat 17 Nov 20:13 | mcw | Let's take a longer view of technology and service adoption. At the start of this century, electricity was not ubiquitous, especially in rural areas. Radio was not a 'necessity' but people chose to have it. TV was not a 'necessity' but people chose to have it. The adoption rates for all these technologies, and for home computers, varied in its pace of advancement. Monthly growth statistics on internet use are more noise than signal. Let's take a five year view and see what the changes i internet use have been. 1970 - handful of technical people 1975 - more technical people, but very small number 1980 - the number is larger, but largely limited to government and university. 1985 - some companies are connected. Private services like Compuserv and Prodigy are out there, but without internet connection as we know it today. Still many multiple communications standards in computing. 1990 - more and more companies getting on the net, a few ISP's offering service. Internet e-mail fights with X.400 standard. 1995 - The web is on us and the growth is taking off. Widening public perception of the internet. X.400 is dead. OSI is killed by TCP/IP. Anyone remember SNA? Token Ring? 2000 - dot-com fever peaks. What's the likely forecast for 2005? 1) use declines, internet proves to be a fad, like CB radio. 2) use peaks in 2001, growth stops, maturity sets in. 3) growth continues. New features and uses are developed, these draw in new users. You make your own call. I vote for #3. |
| WebWord Comment | Mon 12 Nov |
| Im going to be on the road for the next several days. Postings will be limited. |
| Thu 15 Nov 12:29 | derek | Shouldn't that be 'Going on the Rhodes'. I can see you now on CMTV, 10 gallon hat an' all. |
| Fri 16 Nov 17:53 | Joe Scrilla | Interesting. I am curious as to how you will be checking your email/communications (PDA, laptop, cell phone, etc.). Give us a usability log of it :). |
| WebWord Comment | Wed 29 Aug |
| A few days ago a WebWord reader sent me a note about Internet Explorer. He said that when he used to type in incorrect URLs in Internet Explorer, he was merely sent to an error page. End of story. However, he recently noticed that when he types in the wrong URL into Internet Explorer now, he is sent to an MSN page. I noticed the same damn thing. Now were shown an actual MSN search page bearing the MSN logo. Maybe this isnt total bullshit, but it is certainly offensive. Unfortunately, since I am using their free software, they have me by the balls. How else is Microsoft controlling my browing experience? I think that I am going to have to start looking into alternative browsers. Dont be fooled, there are choices. But, Im not sure how I could ever live without my Google toolbar. To run it, you need Internet Explorer 5.0 or 5.5. |
| Fri 16 Nov 06:43 | Raj Gabrielse | I simply can not understand why everyone is so deadset on dumping on IE... first of all, all the complaints made sofar are all about configurable options. Yesy!, that's right, they can be turned on/off. Learn how to use the damn thing and configure it the way /you/ want it to behave...it's not /that/ difficult ya know, just like switching channels on yer tv (or it must be that even that is to difficult for most) For instance, has anyone complaining about IE's default search pages ever taken the bother to click the options button in the searchbar? You oughta try it some day...you'll be amazed what's possible there... There are also loads of sites that carry tools to modify and even replace the default pages for things as DNS errors, y'all know how to use search engines, not? Or the comments how Opera has this and that on it's toolbar/in menus...welll. I got news for y'all. IE has these too, albeit they don't come standard, granted, but they's still available. So no complaining if you don't go out and get what you need please... Now, I don't deny IE has quircks, but all browsers have quirks, and sofar, only NN6 comes the closest to being a standard supporting browser...for me, I can't wait until the day the web starts sending all 4.x browsers to a downloadpage for the series 6.x browsers...at least then we don't have to keep coding html in a gadzillion flavors to support deadweights like IE4,NN4/Opera4. And if you don't like all the thrills'n frills, go download Lynx... |
| WebWord Comment | Fri 09 Nov |
| This is utterly ridiculous! |
| Mon 12 Nov 13:06 | Anonymous | The idiocy of some companies is truly sad. What a pathetic request. Now, whenever I hear of The Vanguard Group, I will probably remember a negative connotation. |
| Tue 13 Nov 13:06 | jan | You are right. This is ridiculous. One would think that if the site was constructed properly, a person would have no confusion about branding on arrival there. One would also think that the company would appreciate a bit of free advertising. I would say that this is a blatant case of Vanguard cutting off its nose to spite its face. |
| Thu 15 Nov 11:52 | JimmyD | That's sad. You can call the link 'Monkey Ass' if you want to. That's like the manager at a McDonald's calling you at home, and asking you to stop saying to your friends 'let's go to McD's'. Shit. |
| Turn Signals | Thu 18 Oct |
| Checking your blindspot is actually dangerous, since youre looking over your shoulder and really taking your eyes off the road. Making the rear view mirror a little wider and a little more convex can help. Im not sure why car manufacturers are so skimpy on this feature. (Comments: This is reader feedback on the Driving, Death and Usability article that I posted yesterday. The reader had more to say. Check it out.) |
| Tue 13 Nov 14:37 | jan | I have had autos made by many different manufacturers over the years. Ford is the worst offender of inaudible turn signals. Even when we didn't have the radio on, we couldn't tell when the turn signal was still on in our Ford pickup. I have noticed that nine times out of ten, when someone has not turned the signal off, he or she is driving a Ford. |
| Don Norman is wrong when he compares pens to software | Wed 07 Nov |
| The idea of software getting as easy to use as a pen is revolting to me. The only way thatll happen is if you reduce its functionality down to only one or two functions. |
| Tue 13 Nov 11:20 | Alvaro | Perhaps that's the idea behind this: http://www.anoto.com And I must say it looks as a great idea IMHO. |
| The Usability of eBay's Checkout Feature | Sun 11 Nov |
| (WebWord) The article briefly highlights some frustrations sellers have with eBays Checkout feature. |
| Mon 12 Nov 12:56 | frank | Very interesting. After finding a desired product sale item, I tried to register on the UK site. I found it impossible to register (and I am a user experience professional) so I abandoned the task and went elsewhere. |
| Tue 13 Nov 08:36 | John S. Rhodes | New article on CNET: eBay sellers can opt out of Checkout |