Webword Statistics - Recent Comments

last updated:23 Dec 2002 07: 32 Webword time, or 23 Dec 2002 12:32 UK time

Webword Statistics - Recent Comments
(Comments added for week ending Sun 22 Dec 2002) | View Other Weeks

Why a Man's 'Ouch' Is Different Than a Woman's | Sun 22 Dec

Men generally tolerate intense pain better than women, but painkillers tend to do a better job at masking pain in women than in menand new research in mice offers an explanation why.

Sun 22 Dec 12:54 | JEH | does sites exists where the user experience is so bad that users need painkillers? :)

Download Chapter 2 | Thu 19 Dec

for free. PDF format. Thanks Gabriel White.

Sun 22 Dec 08:49 | daniel szuc | Like the diagram.

WThRemix | Thu 19 Dec

Wthremix is a design challenge for coders, and a coding challenge for designers. Here’s the idea: create a redesign of the W3C homepage. Design an intuitive layout and navigation, organize the content with the user in mind, and create an aesthetic which reflects the importance and influence of the institution. (Comments: Thanks Joshua Kaufman.)

Fri 20 Dec 12:54 | MadMan | What do I get out of it? It's not even being held by the W3C.

Fri 20 Dec 13:06 | Boyink | Love it...a 'digital intervention'. With no involvment of the w3c, entries not even being submitted to the W3C, I'll be curious to see who has the time to do free work with little chance of implementation. But hey, they have a cool button thingie.

Fri 20 Dec 22:44 | James | It's a chance to learn, experiment and bring an issue to light. It's also a chance to put our money where our mouth is. We've complained about the site for years and this is sort of an outlet. The w3c seems to be embroiled in lots of politics, they are aware of the contest and will no doubt glance through the entries.

Sat 21 Dec 09:33 | Boyink | I can see the reasoning for all of that, it just seems like if the design and construction time is going to be volunteered to create a site there are probably tons of not-for-profits out there with terrible sites, no budget, and would welcome just about any help with more than just a 'glance'.

Sat 21 Dec 20:55 | James | A mockup of the front page is not a site. Working for a non profit isn't the same as working for yourself. Designers would be designers even if they didn't get payed.

The Cloak | Mon 16 Dec

...sits between your computer and any web sites you visit. It prevents the web sites you visit from finding out who you are. And it can use the standard SSL protocol to encrypt all communication from your browser, so that no one (except for the-Cloak) knows where you are surfing.

Tue 17 Dec 05:37 | Martin Sutherland | Am I paranoid or merely careful to wonder if any of these anonymizer services are being set up and run by government agencies? Do I know any of the people behind the-cloak.com? SamSpade.org tells me that the domain is owned by Walther Schmidt of CTE Ltd., which appears to be registered somewhere in Antigua and Barbuda. Who is this? Why should I trust him? Also, the site's FAQ says: 'For your safety, you should assume that we will turn over log file entries if we are presented with a court order, subpoena, warrant, or other legal demand originating from a non-totalitatarian government entity.' It sounds like this is a site to use just for 'casual' anonymizing.

Sat 21 Dec 19:51 | LoneStranger | Nice work, Martin. Do you know of any anonymizing services for the 'serious'? Have you researched Anonymizer.com? Thanks. LS

WebWord Comment | Tue 17 Dec

Trodo Community!

Wed 18 Dec 04:39 | Mac | I'm interested to know why you've chosen to use phpBB, rather than something like MT ? I must admit, I find the phpBB interface confusing, over-complicated and feature happy. I'm sure it can be 'customised' to make it simpler to use, but we know that the ability to customise isn't the same as usable.

Wed 18 Dec 09:01 | John S. Rhodes | Nice icons! I didn’t really chose phpBB, it chose me. I’m only half joking here. When I set up the site my hosting provider made it very easy for me to use phpBB. In fact, it was already installed and ready to go. The only thing I needed to do was configure it (e.g., set up categories, change the header, alter the permissions). So, rather than suffering through a Movable Type (MT) installation and configuration, I used what was given to me. For those people that know me, this was the right choice. I do not enjoy programming, software installations, and other related activities. I took what was given to me and I ran with it. Of course, if I had unlimited resources, I might have done things differently. I didn’t like the phpBB interface the first time I used it. So, I agree with your initial impression. However, after a short period of time, I realized that I kind of liked the interface and I actually found it reasonable to use. It isn’t nearly as simple as it should be and 90% of the features are not relevant. Still, in terms of forums, phpBB is solid. When I say “solid” I mean that a few ways. It is stable, it loads relatively quickly, and there is a good support community behind it. I like stability! Despite these comments, I am beating around the bush. We both know that the Trodo phpBB Community is not easy to use. My real answer can be found in my earlier comments in the paragraph above regarding MT versus phpBB. ;-)

Wed 18 Dec 10:50 | Richard Lehoux | Are you gonna give us news about the site? What's the rate of new users or items? Is it going has planned? Don't stand there! Say something! Talk to me!!!

Thu 19 Dec 14:53 | Mac | John, that's very interesting. I believe that one of the main things that holds back the use of *better* web server tools is the difficulty in setting them up and then keeping them running. I would like to use a host where I could pay Ł50, and have them set up things like MT. I think they don't because of the hassle involved for them.

Thu 19 Dec 15:47 | MadMan | Mac, http://www.vesana.com offer just such a hosting service. For peanuts, they'll pre-install your favourite blogging system for you (default is MT). Pretty good deal for as little as $3 per month. Tell them Madhu of evolt.org sent you. No, I don't get jack, except goodwill.

Thu 19 Dec 18:49 | Anonymous | Mac, MT's license effectively prohibits a hosting company from setting the software up for you, lest they do it for free. 'You may not, without Licensor's prior written consent (a) charge for any service that uses the Software, (b) charge for copies or modified copies of the Software, or (c) charge for support services associated with the Software.' If you purchase a *commercial license* then this blurb applies: 'This gives you license to (a) use one (1) installation of the Software for commercial purposes and (b) charge for support services associated with one (1) installation of the Software. '

Thu 19 Dec 21:30 | Lydia | Good point, anonymous. I had a friend who was selling design services with an offer to set it up under their favorite blog as sort of a promotional hook. However, because she also said she'd set up MT, she got several extremely nasty e-mails in quick succession 'encouraging' her not to charge money for that. She was not aware of this requirement, but as it was irrelevant, she tried to explain that the fee was for the design and content rather than set up on a server. This was met with more carefully worded 'suggestions' to cease and desist. The lesson: Don't even try.

Fri 20 Dec 23:50 | MadMan | Lyida, who sent these nasty emails? The MT people? Sure, you can't charge for it, but if a hosting company does it for free to get your business, I don't see a problem with it.

Pogue's Awards | Thu 19 Dec

(New York Times) In that spirit, I present: Pogues 2002 Simple Awards, presented to companies and products who have made an effort at simplifying procedures and keeping their technology approachable. (Comments: Might require free registration.)

Thu 19 Dec 23:30 | Ron Zeno | While it's always nice to see issues of usability featured so prominently, the choices are ironic. The solutions are all trivial and most of them (all, I bet) have been around long before the award-winning product existed. In some cases, the award-winning feature is a standard.

Fri 20 Dec 18:58 | Rian | So you post an article about 'Pogue's 2002 Simple Awards' which is supposed to award people/things that 'simplify procedures and keep their technology approachable'. Yet the link takes you to a page where you have to fill out a huge form (that takes about five minutes) to look at the New York Times online. I just think it is ironic that these 'Simple Awards' are located on a site that is super complicated to get on.

Perspective: An answer to dumb PC salespeople | Mon 16 Dec

But on visits to retail stores on both the East Coast and West Coast, it was the same depressing story: The salespeople may have been scrubbed, cheerful and politebut they were utterly incompetent when it came to explaining the ins and outs of the products they were selling or the underlying technologies.

Tue 17 Dec 03:03 | Mac | Almost everytime I go into a computer store I end up overhearing an employee telling blatant untruths to potential customers. Sometimes I bite my lip and walk away, or sometimes I jump in and help the customer with their problem. My main piece of advice to customers is never, ever buy the extended warranty.

Tue 17 Dec 06:22 | Matt Round | Yeah I hear a lot of lies told to people, particularly about extended warranties, I only intervene if I'm in a stroppy mood though...

Tue 17 Dec 13:57 | beanball | I wonder if car mechanics and designers feel the same way with Auto sales people? Usability people are not alone...

Tue 17 Dec 15:48 | Lydia | What is really frustrating is walking into a store where they sell Macintosh alongside PCs and hearing the stupid salesman (who is normally a PC guy) telling the customer how they would do much better to buy a PC. Maybe it's just the *itch in me, but I always say something like 'excuse me, do you normally work in the PC department? Shouldn't you have a Mac salesperson out here?' It always makes them think I'm a 'secret shopper' (spies employed by research firms or employers to evaluate the performance of salespeople) and they usually fly right after that.

Tue 17 Dec 16:42 | Barry Parr | There's a joke that I heard when I was working in a computer store around 1979: Q: What's the difference between a computer salesman and a used car salesman? A: A used car salesman knows when he's lying.

Wed 18 Dec 07:59 | daniel szuc | A friend of mine in Australia told me his recent story when looking for a PC. Most of the sales people he initially communicated with bombarded him with technical information that he did not understand - thinking this would impress him. It was only when he visited an Apple store that he was made to feel more comfortable. Perhaps Apple are looking at the total 'customer experience' more effectively than other PC stores? Or he may just have fallen on a better sales staff. Is the sell any different for male or female buyers. In this case my friend was buying as PC for his wife.

Fri 20 Dec 13:07 | Lydia | Daniel, I think the sell is definitely different. Men are expected to know technical details, women are not. I've actually been approached with the line, 'That's a real cute number, huh?' I felt like I was in a car dealership. I should point out, this was when I was in a Comp(uter) USA store that had an Apple store inside it and it was the PC guy on the floor. In actual Apple stores, I have never been treated that way, but I still get a more cautious approach than guy friends. A couple of the sales guys I talked to, though, had spec charts handy and when they could see that I knew a little bit more than which model was the cutest, they'd whip them out and go over the differences with me. Age plays a factor, too. My pop, who does not spend all day on computers, but builds his own and tinkers on the Internet so has a fairly grounded knowledge, always gets the 'old timer' treatment when he goes into stores to help my family members buy computers. What ever happened to just figuring out what the customer wants and steering him to the right thing for his needs?

WebWord Comment | Thu 19 Dec

Technically Legal

Fri 20 Dec 07:48 | Mac | I have recently re-read 'The Man in the High Castle' by Philip K Dick.

WebWord Comment | Thu 19 Dec

Visit Ron Zenos blog. He has an excellent summary and review of Charles Mauros Professional Usability Testing and Return On Investment.

Fri 20 Dec 07:40 | Mac | Ron does an excellent job of summarising and reviewing this report. I am still working my way through this report, but I think that it is an excellent piece of work that should be built on.

What Makes Us Tip More or Less? | Wed 18 Dec

(How Stuff Works) For example, Cornell Universitys Center for Hospitality Research has conducted several studies revealing some interesting facts about server habits that can boost tip percentages. (Comments: Touch people, make eye contact, be helpful, and give candy!)

Wed 18 Dec 22:41 | MadMan | Touch people, and get sued for sexual harassment. ;)

Thu 19 Dec 18:09 | Morris Cox | Or married. *grin*

Thu 19 Dec 21:50 | Lydia | Sigh... this is just my fuddy-duddy nature coming out again, but I can't stand it when waiters touch me. In fact, all of their attempts to make a more intimate connection are aggravating. I like someone who is friendly and efficient, but doesn't impose. It's not a sexual harrassment issue, it's a violation-of-boundaries issue. As for squatting by the table? Just creepy, no other explanation for it. I guess for some people they don't like feeling 'powerless' by having to look up at the waiter, but I prefer that - it establishes boundaries. I am kind of at their mercy, and in turn they are not sitting at the table chatting with me and my friend. I like the candy thing, and I do admit it tends to inflate my tip. It seems like a neat little touch. One place I went to gave lollipops. I thought that was original. The bottom line, though, is attitude. I've been to places where friends have been horrified by a waiter who was 'too perky' but I like that. The girl with the lollipops was in a really good mood about something. I gave her a gigantic tip. The smiling was infectious, even my friend had to admit she was smiling by the end. Maybe the waiter was insane, I dunno, but she seemed genuine.

WebWord Comment | Sun 15 Dec

I just finished reading The Elements of User Experience by Jesse James Garrett. The bizarre thing is that I dont think I learned too much. However, I feel differently about user-centered design. How strange.

Mon 16 Dec 08:28 | Mac | John, I do agree with that quote, although my interpretation may be different to yours. I think that a designer should be able to explain the thinking behind every aspect of their design. That is not to say the the user will agree with the decisions made, or even make sense of the design, but the designer must be able to explain the rationale for their design. The designer should have considered the 5001 individual details of the system and the human interaction involved. Their solutions may not be the most popular ones, but are they consistent with the designers overall vision of the system? I would rather use a misguided design that was consistent and actually had the fingerprints of a designer on it, rather than a bland, lowest common denominator, system that felt like it had been designed by a committee.

Mon 16 Dec 22:58 | Ron Zeno | The bizarre thing is that I don't think I learned too much. Sounds like you were expecting something different. What and why?

Mon 16 Dec 23:16 | John S. Rhodes | Ron, I expected some new ideas. Nearly everything I read in the book, I had read before. (That's really the crux of it.) However, I liked the way Jesse put together a great overview of user-centered design, and he did it in a short, easy-to-read book. Of course, given Jesse's talent, the diagrams were excellent.

Tue 17 Dec 12:32 | MadMan | John, I haven't read the book. (Not available in India.) Could you please tell me if the preface says anything about the intended audience of the book? Is it UX professionals or is it management? Perhaps it's possible that it's not written for people like us. Perhaps. Mac, the problem is with the assumption that you can predict accurately every possible reason for users visiting your site and every action they will take. In my experience, you will always have some surprises when you find out what certain users wanted. Sometimes, it's not possible to satisfy the user, no matter how hard you tried. That doesn't mean, of course, that you don't think things through.

Tue 17 Dec 18:27 | Lydia | Jesse said: 'The user experience development process is all about ensuring that no aspect of the user's experience with your site happens without your conscious, explicit intent.' And John said: I do not agree with this. You simply can't ensure that the user experience follows some script. I haven't read the book, but I don't think JJG is talking about being able to predict everything the user does and trying to funnel them through the site a certain way. My take on that quote is that he is talking about being very conscious of the user when designing a website, and crafting the site so that he walks away with a certain impression. It isn't limited to usability, or site flow/organization, or content. Take the example of getting a certain feel for a company across in the design of the site. If you want, you can make a site that conveys power, elegance, but a certain professional detachment. You can take the same content and create a site that is fun, friendly, personable. Amazon leans more towards fun and friendly rather than huge and impersonal, for instance. That is what crafting the user experience is about, and when you do it that way, every element you design is part of that. 'Gold box', or 'Cheap Deals'? I'm not sure if I got that idea across clearly, but that's what I read into the quote.

Wed 18 Dec 00:33 | MadMan | Lydia, could you point me to some sites that you think convey 'power, elegance, but a certain professional detachment'. I'm serious here. I love that image. :)

Thu 19 Dec 21:17 | Lydia | Well, MadMan, since you asked me so nice-like, how about http://www.ibm.com? The US site, at least, does just that. Despite the happy stock photos (or perhaps because of), there's a certain feeling at the site, sort of like when you go on corporate tours and a very pretty, perpetually smiling tour guide is extending her arm to hurry you to the next section.

The Psychology of Navigation | Wed 18 Dec

(digital-web.com) In a very real sense, information architects have to try to get inside users’ heads to predict what they’ll be thinking.

Wed 18 Dec 09:59 | Richard Lehoux | In every book I read abour design, they always present them at different level: IA adress the structure ( ex: site design ) and UI work in the detail ( ex: page design ). So both have to predict and measure users actions. PS: In IA, you can measure users action ( or reaction ) on your prediction with card sorting. PS: I'm no expert in IA. I just read the same book as everyone: 'IA for www'.

Wed 18 Dec 14:33 | George Olsen | Mac said: 'IA predicts user actions while usability measures user actions.' Yeah, it's an important distinction -- it's design vs. critique -- and one reason the two professions seem to keep talking past each other. Granted usability _engineering_ ideally does involve the design process (including doing stuff that looks a lot like IA, interaction design and UI design), but on the whole, the self-described 'usability' profession has tended to focus on the testing end of things. In part it's because traditional usability folks often came from cog-sci backgrounds and never got a background in design matters. In contrast IAs (however you want to define them) often came from a 'creative' (in the sense of creating things) background, whether it was visual design, writing, organizing materials etc. So they tended to focus on designing things first, then testing them. Usability (testing) folks have too often abdicated the design to someone else and only offer critiques -- and ending up marginalizing themselves. At best these folks offer usability guidelines for design, but that ain't the same thing as actually getting your hands dirty and _doing_ the design work. Personally, I think you need both design and critique skills. A designer who's done usability testing is a stronger designer for having internalized the lessons learned -- and more likely to get the design right the first time. A usability tester who has design skills will offer much more cogent analysis and recommendations. They'll also be much more aware of the real-life design balances that always need to be struck. Otherwise it's like coaching a sport you've never actually played yourself. You don't have to be a master of it to coach, but you do need to have experienced it.

Interview: Rick Robinson, VP of Community Products, AOL | Thu 12 Dec

(Good Experience) Make your members very happy, and youre going to have a loyal audience. Advertisers love to interact with those people. This is going to be our direction: keep the loyalty we have, attract more members, and turn them into members who love us. Advertisers will recognize that and follow.

Wed 18 Dec 08:01 | daniel szuc | The real time evaluation of stats and trends that drive software or interface changes will be an interesting one to watch here.

WebWord Comment | Mon 16 Dec

1/2 of a keyboard? (Thanks Daniel Szuc.)

Tue 17 Dec 05:21 | Martin Sutherland | I thought this was a joke when I saw it. I'm still not entirely convinced it's not the most elaborate hoax web site of the year. This is a bit like the Fastap keyboard that John highlighted a few weeks ago: it seems to address a need for one-handed typing. Personally, I'd take one of the Nokia-style mini-qwerty keypads any day. So long as it's small enough to fit in my coat pocket, with keys big enough to do two-handed thumb-typing, that's good enough for me to tap out small notes, text messages, etc. If I want to do any real writing, I'll wait until I've got a full-size keyboard in front of me. Has anyone seen the Alphasmart Dana, by the way? Now that's something to drool over. (Oh, and when they say that the Half Keyboard leaves 'your other hand free for other things,' what immediately springs to mind is not using the mouse, or drawing on a touchpad.)

Tue 17 Dec 05:53 | James Tuddenham | In the UK, there is currently an advert with a picture of a business man sitting on his briefcase on a train platform. It's a sunny day. The tagline goes '15 minutes wait for the train. Would you rather do nothing, or be checking your email?' Doing nothing on a sunny day seems like a pretty good option to me, but then again maybe I'm not the target audience for these 'wire your brain up to the closest lamp-post' devices.

Tue 17 Dec 10:09 | boysen | I'm with you Martin. I was convinced that this was a 'con' but after downloading the demo and attempting to perform with only half my keyboard, I've realized that these people are serious. Seriously crazy if they think people will go to the trouble of relearning how to type in order to save a couple ounces of weight.

Tue 17 Dec 10:23 | Mac | I prefer the microwriter chord keys for one handed blind typing:

Tue 17 Dec 11:04 | Joe Clark | Well, had anyone bothered to Google, they would have found the article I wrote many years ago on the software-only predecessor of Half-QWERTY, which was in fact tested on actual users. It took not very long to retrain for one-handed typing, and one subject reached something like 80% of her two-handed typing speed. I was functional, albeit slow, immediately. So no, this isn't a hoax. It's backed up by solid human-factors research, so give us a break, would yez?

Tue 17 Dec 12:35 | Anonymous | http://www.halfkeyboard.com/research/index.html

Tue 17 Dec 12:42 | Martin Sutherland | Fair point, Joe. Searching for 'Half Keyboard' does indeed show up a lot of results, and a bunch of interesting research. For disabled users, and in other specialist markets, its utility is clear. But by emphasizing how it will leave you one hand free to do other things, the halfkeyboard.com web site is clearly marketing the thing at an able-bodied audience, who want to use a keypad for their PDAs. The initial reactions in the comments here may indicate that they'll have an uphill struggle on their hands to get people to look past the strangeness of the product. Your research showed that it took average users 10 hours to get up to 50% of their two-handed typing speed. But what was a typical user's typing speed after just two minutes? Because that may be all the time they'll spend playing with it when they're in a store, with an eager sales assistant by their side. And then there are those lovely Blackberries, and the shiny new Nokias with their qwerty keyboards, both just a few feet away... If customers can see an immediate benefit from using the half keyboard, they'll buy it. With the payoff 10 hours of practice away, it will only appeal to a minority. The usability may be grand, but it's not everything. In marketing terms, this looks like a nightmare--or maybe just a novelty.

Tue 17 Dec 12:42 | Lydia | I'm wondering who the audience is for this? Personally, I find my full-size Palm keyboard quite useful for intensive data-entry tasks away from the computer. It folds up very small and light and has always worked flawlessly. I can't see relearning how to type in order to save some weight or to avoid having to unfold the keyboard. I don't see myself ever needing to do the two-handed entry I've seen in their examples, either. I don't have that kind of time pressure on my life. I do like the convenience of being able to lay your Palm flat on the desk rather than having to stand it up; seems like a more natural arrangement. Not compelling enough for me to switch, but a good feature.

Tue 17 Dec 13:17 | Joshua Kaufman | Of course it's marketing. That's usually what companies do when they have a great product. If I were making the same thing, I'd market the hell out of it. It doesn't claim to be better or even equivalent to the QWERTY keyboard, but it fills a need that many users have - typing with one hand - and does so with reasonable success (see Joe's comment above). With handwriting recognition coming more into play with PDAs and Tablet PCs, I can see a tool like this being very useful in the future.

Wed 18 Dec 07:55 | daniel szuc | Does this mean you only do half the work in half the time?

Making Headlines With Cascading Style Sheets | Sun 15 Dec

I covered ways of styling text with and without a headline as well as incorporating images all in an effort to grab your readers eye. But dont just take these examples as-is. Play around with them and experiment. Build off of these examples and push and prod them to make interesting effects on your own.

Mon 16 Dec 22:37 | Chris | Oh for PNGs with alpha channels in IE/Win! There are so many benefits to designing with CSS with only legacy browsers standing in the way.

Tue 17 Dec 16:31 | Matt Round | It's incredibly frustrating that Microsoft's lagging with PNG support. There's an impressive workaround for IE5.5+ for Windows which uses IE DirectX filters, but I've not used it myself. I've been using CSS for a long time, but recently it's been refreshing to be able to do far more with it as v4 browsers fade away and even Win IE5 is becoming less of a concern. In my day job we're working on a UK government site which uses CSS for everything except defining columns, other browsers either get unstyled content or a simplified design without the fancy touches (boxes round things, bulletted navigation lists nicely styled, etc.). Hopefully after launch we'll be able to smugly show it off as an example of applying modern Web standards.

holistic usability | Mon 16 Dec

orthodox usability sees the user as an abstract, data processing hulk, navigating hungry for hard facts, through the web. in our view, the user is a human being with emotions, curiosity, complex preferences – in short, the user is alive. (Comments: The user is dead. Long live the user!)

Mon 16 Dec 22:53 | Ron Zeno | It's a joke, as far as I can tell. Who is the joke on?

Tue 17 Dec 03:14 | Mac | Makes the (somewhat understandable but blinkered) mistake of viewing usabilty as a set of restrictive bland guidelines. It's even less informed than I am! Damnit, maybe I should start a new site: usabilitymustlive.com ?

Tue 17 Dec 14:34 | George Olsen | OK, so I don't care for the design, but I agree with the main point -- 'traditional' usability tends to focus on functionality and efficiency and ignores (or even distains) things like memorability, delight, whimsy, etc. In other words, the stuff that lots of 'interactive designers' like Hillman Curtis focus on. While lots of folks here will dismiss this as Flash/video crap, there's a place for immersive multimedia on the web (and other interactive mediums) and Curtis has done some great stuff. Not to start off the jargon wars again, but what the article is really talking about is 'usability' vs. the larger notion of 'user experience' -- the latter of which focuses on balancing demands of functionality, content and presentation.

WebWord Comment | Mon 16 Dec

I really like the way XPLANEs Share a link page highlights fields when they are active. Does this work in most browsers? Have other people seen this? Nice!

Mon 16 Dec 19:43 | Boyink | I like it too, but would approach in a reverse fashion -- making the current field white. That's a data entry aide I recognize from my old MSAccess days.

Mon 16 Dec 20:03 | James | Metafilter has been doing it for over a year I think.

Mon 16 Dec 20:53 | Anonymous | does not work with Opera 6, but Opera 7 and IE works. Nice.

Tue 17 Dec 00:03 | Ryan | side note: does anyone else recognize the illustrations on that site? It's great to see one of my favorite artists working in tech. Too bad we can't afford him on our current project.. 64.240.98.84/Genwest/index.html. Completely devoid of any design elements. Character is good for usability oh yeah, that text entry trick is nice, ill have to try that :) (by the way, i haven't validated the xhtml yet not even close)

Tue 17 Dec 00:05 | Ryan | Sorry about the 2x entry, still getting the hang of this tablet PC.

Tue 17 Dec 06:15 | Mac | Ryan, try it with a big glass of water.

Tue 17 Dec 08:01 | James Tuddenham | At first I thought it was Terry Colon, who used to do the diagrams for Suck, but looking at other work on the site, I see it's not. I love the style - who is it?

Tue 17 Dec 12:46 | dvg | Groovy mouseover effects. I wrote a tutorial on how to do that a few months ago: http://www.davidgagne.net/code/archives/005543.shtml

Tue 17 Dec 13:26 | Anonymous | Well after further research I found out that it wasn't who i thought it was... If you like the home page style, with the strange, cool squareish buildings, try Acme Novelty Library. Seems like one of the XPlane illustrators is a fan too :) http://www.fantagraphics.com/artist/acme/acme.html Did you guys think it was easy to actually find their services on that site?

China Starts Campaign Against Bad Signs | Mon 16 Dec

When I had dinner with my friends at a Chinese restaurant at the Temple of Heaven, it took us a while to realize that the crap on the menu was, in fact, a misspelled but very tasty fish.

Tue 17 Dec 07:00 | JEH | This is a problem in Japan as well. :) http://www.syberpunk.com/cgi-bin/index.pl?page=engrish Really, really funny. Perhaps worthy of posting by itself.

Tue 17 Dec 09:14 | Francis Wu | Don't forget http://www.engrish.com!

The Experts' Guide to Success in 2003 | Mon 16 Dec

(Business 2.0) If anything, dumb down your site.

Tue 17 Dec 08:55 | Brian | Sigh... It's always encouraging to see how usability has made an impact in the business world. 'Usability means dumbing it down!' Umm, yeah. That's what it means, all right. Care to show a little MORE contempt for your users--you know, those people you're hoping will send you money and keep your sorry ass afloat?

Is There A UI Generation Gap? | Sun 15 Dec

(peterme) Kids are better than adults with these tools because it satisfies a need that is greater in kids than adults connecting with peers. Which means, typically, that kids are willing to spend longer figuring out these stupid things, because the end resultbeing in communication with peersis desirable enough to warrant hurdling over bad interfaces. Adults simply have other things that warrant greater attention. Im guessing adults are far more facile with, say, Quicken, than teenagers are. (Comments: Thanks Joshua Kaufman.)

Mon 16 Dec 08:52 | Mac | Kids are fearless. They will invest time in doing the most stupid things that adults would never waste time on, because they want to be a part of their peer group and will expend a lot of effort on these sociological activities. Kids will spend time learning how to txt and won't care what they look like walking down the street thumbing their way through a banal message to a friend who is probably round the corner. Kids will learn all the words and dance steps to the latest boy band tune. Kids know how to have fun. I used to bake horse chestnuts in the oven, soak them in vinegar, drill a hole through them, attach a shoe-lace, and then try to smash other kids conkers to small pieces. Many children are stopped from doing stuff like this anymore, so it is any wonder that they put more effort into the 'safer' technological pasttimes?

Tue 17 Dec 08:45 | Brian | I agree with some of the on-site comments: this analysis is a bit simplistic, and there are genuine differences in psychology and brain activity between younger and older users. But at least one point was dead on-target: This 'older users can't learn' excuse has been trotted out WAY too often as a rationale for designing and releasing crappy interfaces. It's regularly used to justify ignoring the needs and priorities of any users over 30 because that would be Hard Work.

Web Usability ROI | Sat 14 Dec

(TaskZ) This paper discusses the return on investment (ROI) implications of integrating formal usability testing methods into web development projects. (Comments: 57 pages. Did anyone read this? I didnt have a chance yet. Opinions?)

Mon 16 Dec 16:59 | Ron Zeno | Best ROI arguments I've seen in a very long time. Very good comparison of online vs lab testing methods. The last few pages are mostly promotional, but it's a very small price to pay for the large amount of good information. Read this report!

HOW TO BECOME A "PERFECT" JAPANESE WOMAN | Sat 14 Dec

The manuals written here is not a joke, but very serious behavior for women in Japan in order to find a proper man, to get married, and to have a happy life. (Comments: Thanks MadMan.)

Mon 16 Dec 10:34 | Mac | Is there much difference between this article and the very American Surrendered Wife ?

i used to believe | Sun 15 Dec

i used to believe is a collection of ideas that adults thought were true when they were children; some of them are funny, some of them are bizarre, but theyre all true. there are currently around 7300 beliefs on the site. (Comments: Via Leah.)

Mon 16 Dec 09:13 | Mac | What the hooey! I still believe most of these things because they are true! Next, you'll be telling me that there's no such person as Santa Claus and that God doesn't exist. But I will not believe that George W Bush is President of the USA. I know it's just some kind of weird virtual reality show that you yanks are running. We know that you have adopted the Osbornes as your real 1st family. Here are a couple of my favorite facts from the site: believed that if you looked reeeeealy close at an LP, you would see the words and music printed in the groove, and that the needle read it and played it as music somehow. True, if you can read the language. I know someone who can listen to a modem and tell you what's being transmitted. We were told - in the mid 60s when the new 10 speed 'English Racer' bikes came to America - that you had to perform some complicated 'back pedal' manuever to get it to shift. and that it was impossible to master unless you were British and an expert biker. True, you Americans have never seen our really special advanced racing bikes, because you would never be able to ride them properly. When I was small, I believed that if you ran the hoover over the power cord, or if you didn't keep the machine moving at all times, it would explode. True, this fact was the inspiration for the film Speed. I believed that all swear words were modern inventions and that someone sat in an office creating them, just like someone else who created jokes, *all* of them Definitely True, my dad works for Walls Ice Cream who print jokes on their lolly sticks. He used to know the man who invented the jokes that were printed onto the sticks.

Web bugs, and why I hate 'em | Sun 15 Dec

Theres no reason for me to use a web bug except to give away information about your reading habits. While Im not claiming that information is terribly valuable, when aggregated across a lot of sites, it becomes valuable. (Comments: I wonder why there isnt more discussion on this topic. It was only hot for a few months but now people dont seem to care. Very curious.)

Mon 16 Dec 08:55 | Dave Bauer | I think the reason you don't hear about it is because everyone who understands the issue knows how to work around it. You can set Mozilla to only load images from the same server as the page and there are other workarounds.

WebWord Comment | Sun 15 Dec

For some reason that I cant easily explain, Froogle doesnt impress me. I tried several searches for different types of items, but I didnt find anything useful. Does Froogle work for you? (Comments: Several people submitted this to me. Thanks!)

Mon 16 Dec 08:18 | Mac | It feels like 'Google Does Amazon', but not very well. I tried to find the lowest price XBox console as an experiment. I searched for XBox and got 0.25 million results. I saw that I was getting all the games and accessories as well as the consoles. I then tries to 'Narrow Results By Category' but that was no help, as there was not a 'Games Console' category (that IA stuff isn't easy!). I then decided to set a minimum price of $100, which should get rid of the games and cables. I typed '100' into the 'from price' box and clicked the 'go' button. There are three different go buttons and they all do different things. Froogle decided to interpret my minimum price of $100 as a range of '$0 to $100' rather than '>= $100' as I had intended. I got the hint and entered a minimum of $100 and a maximum of $200. This gave me 121 results which consisted mainly of XBox consoles. Some of the deals were console only and some were consoles with games included. As there was no way of sorting the results by price it was very difficult to narrow down my choice. I was now at a loss at what to do next. Or was I ? I spotted the text ads to the right of the results and decided to give them a quick go. My second choice gave me this which presented a selection of 9 UK retailers with reviews, prices and shipping information. I could even sort them by price ! Google are good at the 'Type/Click/Browse' web search, but they have got a lot of work to do with this catrgorisation/product browsing stuff. I know this is a beta, but is there really any excuse for not being able to search by price? I am disappointed with this effort and it doesn't excite me one little bit. However, as a side effect of my searching I did find this gaming chair which I found interesting.