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End the Occupation
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last updated:02 May 2003 08: 54 Webword time, or 02 May 2003 13:54 UK time
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(Comments added for week ending Sun 27 Apr 2003) | View Other Weeks
Greg's Morning Adventure | Sun 27 Apr
I dont even remember how I got home. I just know that I woke up this morning with two traffic cones in my bed. (Comment: This is an entertaining true story written by my good friend Greg. Enjoy!)
Sun 27 Apr 22:54 | Greg Benoit | This is freakin' brilliant. That guy should get a Pulitzer for this!
In Search of Happy In-Site Search Experiences | Tue 22 Apr
(GrokDotCom) The heart of the matter is this: if you are going to incorporate an in-site search application on your Web site, you need to make it a shining example of software design that fits seamlessly into the structure of your site’s persuasion architecture. (Comments: Thanks MadMan.)
Wed 23 Apr 00:37 | Anonymous | 'Persuasion architecture.' Hmmmmmm. Cathedrals inspiring awe of God. Mechanism for control. Courtrooms asserting authority of highly seated judge. Mechanism for control. Grocery stores placing kid-targeted products at kid eye level. Mechanism to increase sales. I submit to you that persuasion in web design is usually a bad thing, an unethical thing. Give me facts and figures and let me make up my own mind.
Sun 27 Apr 19:52 | keith knutsson | a good search experience is hard to come by
WebWord Comment | Wed 23 Apr
Winners of the 2002 Nebula Awards
Fri 25 Apr 19:49 | Anonymous | Dammit!!! Dumbbell Nebula snubbed again!
Sun 27 Apr 19:52 | keith knutsson | congrats to all of the winners
What kind of thinker are you? | Wed 23 Apr
Are you as musical as Mozart? Or are you a wordsmith like Wordsworth? Try our quiz to find out what your thinking style is. (Comments: Thanks Daniel Szuc.)
Thu 24 Apr 00:46 | jen | I use Opera as my default web browser, and tried the quiz. The site bloody well waited until the results page to tell me: 'Your browser doesn't support our quiz, please use an alternative.' Very annoying.
Thu 24 Apr 05:59 | Mac | I come out as an Interpersonal Thinker
Thu 24 Apr 11:23 | Anonymous | Got to the end and: Bad Request Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand. Request header field is missing colon separator. %26Er01%3D1%26Na04%3D1%26Ra03%3D1%26Mu04%3D3%26Ki02%3D1%26Na02%3D1%26Ex04%3D1
Thu 24 Apr 16:03 | Gary | Spatial was the dominant aspect with existential as the secondary. It was a pretty decent quiz, since I design sites and develop content.
Sun 27 Apr 19:52 | keith knutsson | i am a wordsmith
WebWord Comment | Wed 23 Apr
Encourage MadMan to write an article.
Thu 24 Apr 09:45 | Anonymous | Write an article MadMan or I'll pour salt on my paper cut. Do it, or I'll make me cry.
Thu 24 Apr 17:32 | MadMan | Guys, the site is just about done, and I'm still checking for any major bugs. John linked to me a bit prematurely. Yes, I'm writing an article. Yes, it's a big one. Yes, that means it will take a day or two.
Fri 25 Apr 10:25 | Anonymous | Too little, too late Maddy. Lemon juice is now being applied to a splinter I got yesterday and left in my skin because I knew you would not deliver the goods on time.
Fri 25 Apr 19:46 | Anonymous | Maddy, do not write articles. You'll waste time in the conversion. Instead, type your articles.
Fri 25 Apr 20:48 | Anonymous | Don't listen to Mac Daddy. Get yourself an assistant to transcribe your thoughts.
Sat 26 Apr 05:51 | Lach | Don't listen to Fred. Get yourself an assisstant to write the article for you.
Sat 26 Apr 11:07 | Anonymous | Lach is a fool. Buy the rights to someone else's article, then sue the pants off all the other article writers for copyright infringement for using the same letters.
Sat 26 Apr 12:17 | Anonymous | Screw all that. Write a Google bot to cull key phrases and passages from popular blogs, then get drunk and piece them together. Label yourself an artist and you'll be a smash.
Sat 26 Apr 12:26 | Anonymous | Hire Wil Wheaton to write your blog. I bet you can get his sloppy seconds on the cheap.
Sat 26 Apr 14:23 | Anonymous | Journal entries are soooooo spring 2002. You want to be on the cutting edge of the northern hempishpere summer curve. Animal prints are where it's at baby. Round up stray cats, dogs or monkeys, paint their feet, toss em on a tarp, then snap digital images of their art. Wil Wheaton will pay good money for podiatric mammal pictorials.
Sat 26 Apr 14:56 | Anonymous | HOLD ON! SLOW DOWN EVERYBODY! Do we even know how well Maddy writes? Do we want to read what he has to say? Posting brief blog entries on WebWord and responses is one thing. Operating your own blog is entirely different. Can he handle the pressure? If he pushes forward and can't handle it, his fragile psyche could be crushed. Do we want that? Maybe we should set low expectations for him so he can only succeed.
Sat 26 Apr 14:58 | Anonymous | Love the hot pink and table saw MadMan. Pace yourself now. You don't want to get winded.
Sun 27 Apr 19:51 | keith knutsson | hey madman, write an article
This is your life - snapped, stored and sent in a moment | Wed 23 Apr
Kodak says 3 billion rolls of film will be used worldwide this year, about 60 million of those in Australia. But demand peaked in 1999 and is now on the wane. (Comments: Three billion? If only 1 in 3 rolls are developed at a cost of approximately $5.00 per roll, that means that humans spend about five billion on film processing per year. Thanks Daniel Szuc.)
Sun 27 Apr 19:50 | keith knutsson | analog film is going away
'I like to watch' -- consumer testing, that is | Wed 23 Apr
After lots of time behind the mirror, Ive built a list in my mind of the things you definitely dont want to hear in consumer tests no matter what role you play. (Comments: Thanks Adrian Holovaty.)
Sun 27 Apr 19:49 | keith knutsson | i also like to watch users interact with the web applications that i build
A brave new world for books | Wed 23 Apr
You will step up to one of these machines and you will browse the index. You might be looking for a classic that has been out of print of years, perhaps, or the latest bestseller, or you might be looking for a book on quiltmaking. You will browse the index, and you will make your choice. You will choose the typeface, the size of the type, the binding, the cover. You will choose whether you want to listen to it or to read it. Then you will pay your money and you will punch your buttons. In a short time, out from the machine will come your book. (Comments: In my experience, kiosks arent economically viable, and the usability is often terrible. An exceptions would be photo booths.Thanks MadMan.)
Thu 24 Apr 02:05 | Anonymous | Once handhelds have better-than-print resolution at an affordable price, books for leisure reading are doomed. I give books twenty years from that date. Generations are forming today that prefer online information. Pulp huggers will grow old and die. New generations of e-youth are replacing them. What's that you say? You prefer the 'feel' of paper? Such attachments are easily lost in the cultural reformation.
Thu 24 Apr 05:24 | Anonymous | Log into Amazon, and have my typographical preferences stored together with my other user preferences. Great! Everything i order will be optimized for my eyes.
Fri 25 Apr 11:27 | Alan Fisher | Despite what Grease Junky might say, books will not be killed off by any new technology. Radio was supposed to kill newspapers and books, cinema was supposed to kill radio, TV was supposed to kill cinema, the internet was supposed to kill TV etc etc. But I can't think of a single communications medium which has been driven to extinction by a new technology. I'll abandon books when I can be sure the handheld isn't going to crash or run out of power just when I'm getting to the good bits, and when I'm sure Mr Gates et al don't see it as another way of over-charging for something I can already get much cheaper.
Fri 25 Apr 16:16 | John S. Rhodes | 'But I can't think of a single communications medium which has been driven to extinction by a new technology.' If an alphabet is a comunications medium, then alphabets have replaced alphabets. For example, the Aramaean alphabet gradually replaced cuneiform. Similarly, one might argue that certain computer languages are replacing other computer languages.
Sat 26 Apr 14:46 | Anonymous | Ahhh, the arrogance of the ages. By Alan's logic one can also deduce that because no war has ever led to the extinction of our species, it will never happen. I didn't say books will disappear. I said books for entertainment will go electronic. You fail to see the day when handheld computers with better-than-print resolution are easily affordable to a majority of a population that has not been raised with any affection for printed books. Many, if not most, of today's kids already prefer the Internet to books. An appropriate quote would be, 'Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?' -HM Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927. Books will be changing, like it or not.
Sat 26 Apr 15:18 | Blogmin | What makes a book a book, and a web site a web site? Once the gap between resolution, readability, convenience, and price are bridged, there won’t be a difference! The only question is when, and if, those hurdles are ever overcome. (Sorry for the mixed metaphors) As for the kiosk, yeah right, the book giants will never let that happen. It’s the US version of capitalism at work.
Sat 26 Apr 23:17 | (the other) JS | I do think ebooks like talking movies will have to come into their own. Once the strength is realized, new techniques to take advantage of the strength, then the new medium takes off. The problem comes in when trying to force fit the new technology too much in the ways of the old. This seems logical for fast or smooth adoption, but probably only holds back the new technology. There has to be a big advantage that breaks with the past, and it is this that developers seem not to fully grasp.
Sun 27 Apr 19:49 | keith knutsson | very progressive... i envision similar things for the music industry
The difference between acronyms and abbreviations | Thu 24 Apr
(Accessify.com) So, I thought I knew the difference between an acronym and an abbreviation when I built the Acrobot tool.
Thu 24 Apr 04:37 | Mac | See Also: HTML is not an acronym... by Craig Saila. Some more questions... If USA is an acronym, should it be USOA (United States Of America)? Can you have a one letter acronym? Can you have a one letter abbreviation? Are acronyms and abbreviations mutually exclusive sets? Are there minimum/maximum lengths for acronyms and abbr? Are the rules different in different countries? Can there ever be a universal standard, and does it matter?
Thu 24 Apr 07:37 | Anonymous | What about laser: light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation, scuba,radar, BASIC or COBOL, Disney's Epcot® center? Should I really have to think about marking these up at? (BTW, Epcot = Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci211560,00.html puts it well: 'The Webster's definition does raise a question (and begs one, too). Is the 'word' an acronym forms a real, already existing word, or intended to be accepted as a new 'word,' or just something easily pronounceable? If the first case, then 'snafu' and 'radar' really aren't acronyms. If the second or third case, they are. However, since any initialism can be thought of as a word and certainly has to be pronounceable so you can say it out loud, one could argue that any initialism is an acronym. We don't think anyone has looked at this issue squarely (and we're not planning to ourselves, but just wanted to demonstrate the ambiguous kind of world we live in...which is why most people frankly don't care whether an acronym is a word or not).' This is the kind of discussion which higlights two things: the piddling things geeks (markup variety) think about, and the faulty notion that anything more meaningful than P can be marked up correctly.
Thu 24 Apr 08:18 | Matt Round | I suspect those creating the HTML standard didn't think about it very much and possibly thought of acronyms as being initialisms, so that the acronym tag would be for anything made up of initial letters while abbr would cover other abbreviations. Internet Explorer doesn't support abbr, so to fully support it you either have to stick with acronym for everything or use JavaScript to replace abbr with acronym in IE. I don't think it's 'faulty' to use more meaningful markup. Using the correct tags for things like headings, block quotes, lists, etc. makes a big difference in terms of accessibility and future-proofing, and even using more obscure tags such as cite, ins, del, and code adds to the richness of a page's information.
Thu 24 Apr 08:42 | MadMan | Yeah Matt, especially when the Hn tags, IMG tags etc. are being done away with in XHTML 2.0 I don't see much 'future-proofing' there at all. Oops, there goes your semantic meaning. Sure, you could simply stick to xhtml 1.1, but then there goes the 'future proofing' argument - that sticking to today's standards means compatibility with future standards.
Thu 24 Apr 10:42 | Darin | You know, I think about web standards and I wonder at how non-standard they are. It was HTML 3.2 then 4.0 then XHTML 1.1, then 2.0. All in the span of four years or so. Where's the standard if it's always changing? Can you imagine what it would be like if oil refineries updated their 'standard' for unleaded gasoline as frequently? I can take my 1992 car and run it on the same gasoline as my 2003 car. The twisted pair my land line phone uses is basically the same as it was 40 years ago. The technology surrounding it is vastly different, but the standard remains. I see the reasoning as you're improving on something to make it better. But if you're constantly reworking code to meet the ever-changing standards, then is it really a standard?
Thu 24 Apr 12:28 | Anonymous | Every tech statndard will evolve, like jargon, to maintain a barrier to the unwashed masses. Besides it takes ten years or more to get a good, stable Standard 1.0, no matter how many versions it takes. So here's looking toward HTML 7.2 and CSS 5. BTW, you can get abbr to work using SPAN. Doesn't make it any less dumb, but just saying.
Thu 24 Apr 14:06 | Matt | I'd say that you can just use the abbr tag for acronyms and for abbreviations (or you could, if IE supported it fully). The reason for this is that acronyms are simply a specific kind of abbreviation. The definitions in the linked article even cite 'USMC' (for the U.S. Marine Corps) as an example of an abbreviation, when it's obviously more specifically an acronym.
Thu 24 Apr 15:12 | Matt Round | 'Yeah Matt, especially when the Hn tags, IMG tags etc. are being done away with in XHTML 2.0 I don't see much 'future-proofing' there at all. Oops, there goes your semantic meaning.' XHTML 2 is, intentionally, taking a 'clean slate' approach so no, XHTML 1.x content won't inherently be XHTML 2 compatible. But people are no more wasting their time adopting XHTML 1.x now than those who moved from plain text to HTML 2 several years ago. Which type of content would you rather try to move to another format or to a swanky new template design: 'tag soup' markup, or clean XHTML with appropriate use of structural tags? I deal with getting content in and out of sites all the time. Good markup can be easily manipulated and restyled, whereas broken markup has no more value than plain text and so has to either be reworked at great expense or thrown out. Rigorously adhering to standards isn't always worthwhile, but it's certainly worth thinking about what format will best preserve the value of your content.
Sat 26 Apr 14:32 | Anonymous | Not a single post smartly using a dozen different acronyms and abbreviations. Ya'll are nerds.
Sun 27 Apr 19:47 | keith knutsson | cool
7 Habits of an AntiBlogger | Thu 24 Apr
(Ian Davis) Think before posting.
Thu 24 Apr 19:10 | Jim | 'Your browser doesn't support our quiz, please use an alternative.' What AM I?
Thu 24 Apr 19:12 | Jim | An idiot and bad reader...nevermind! :-)
Sat 26 Apr 14:37 | Anonymous | More proof 'survival of the fittest' is bunk. The weakest in a population volunteers its extinction for the greater good.
Sun 27 Apr 19:47 | keith knutsson | what about 7 habits of the problogger?
A consumer survey of CMS vendor websites | Thu 24 Apr
It is clear from the survey comments that consumers are now expecting to use vendor websites to narrow down the list of possibilities, with those sites failing to provide sufficient information being excluded.
Sun 27 Apr 19:46 | keith knutsson | commerical cms vendors are under serious pressure from open source initiatives
34 ideas for promoting your intranet | Thu 24 Apr
All of the ideas listed in this article have been synthesised out of the topics discussed during the Intranet Peers in Government forums, held in Sydney and Canberra. As such, these are practical approaches that have been tried in organisations, and recommended as successful.
Fri 25 Apr 13:35 | john | I like the no launch/promotion by stealth idea. People are so cynical of IT dept mass emails, but when they see co-workers making use of something, they want to know about it.
Fri 25 Apr 19:54 | Anonymous | Promote an intranet? Bwhahahahaha! What kind of flunky company needs to promote its intranet? Simple solution: 1) Place files on intranet. 2) When user requests file, tell him to get it himself. People learn real fast that way. They don't get angry either because in a self-serve world the onus is on them. If anything, they feel stupid for having asked. If you have to promote your intranet, it must be terribly unused and therefore irrelevant to your business.
Sat 26 Apr 14:23 | Boyink | Promote an intranet? Bwhahahahaha! What kind of flunky company needs to promote its intranet? Simple answer - any large decentralized company where no one team is answering 'users asking for files'. Waiting for word to 'get around' would take forever, the message would be inconsistent, and the project wouldn't get any recognition from the higher-ups after investing heavily in it.
Sat 26 Apr 14:26 | Anonymous | Simple answer - the smart departments will use the intranet. Sooner or later the flunky departments will learn what's going on, realize they're behind the curve, and seek you out to learn about the intranet.
Sat 26 Apr 14:38 | Anonymous | Hey, there are only 33!
Sun 27 Apr 19:45 | keith knutsson | the real key to getting people to use an intranet is to have something useful
Next Mac OS X Puts User at the Center | Thu 24 Apr
They said User at the Center features will make it simpler for individual users to personalize their computing experience and to move seamlessly among Macs and other devices. (Comments: Thanks Blogmin.)
Sun 27 Apr 19:45 | keith knutsson | interesting
How to make the spammers throw in the spanner | Thu 24 Apr
Egging each other on, Slashdot readers then subscribed him to thousands of catalogues, mailing lists, information requests, etc. The results, according to security expert Bruce Schneier, were devastating. Within weeks he was getting hundreds of pounds of junk mail per day and was unable to find his real mail amongst the deluge, he said. (Comments: Growing a Spam Killing Community)
Fri 25 Apr 02:04 | Matt Round | It's surely just a matter of time before someone flips out and murders a spammer. They're constantly subjecting millions of people to low level harassment, someone's bound to snap.
Fri 25 Apr 06:10 | Alan Fisher | The article also hints at an answer to a question I'm often asked. The question is - Why do spammers do it? Do they really think that we're all going to respond to these invitations to get rick quick or subscribe to 'adult' services? (Sorry, that was 2 questions) A very small percentage of recipients DO respond, meaning that some spammers (like Ralsky) get rich from it. Can we get a law passed that confiscates spam-derived income? But, it's also obvious that some spammers do it just because they know it annoys people. And I shudder to think how this latest development in spamming with snailmail could be used by the spamming community.
Fri 25 Apr 07:04 | Anonymous | 'subscribed him to thousands of catalogues, mailing lists, information requests, etc.' You know what would be a laugh-riot? If the technique (mass signups for snail mail) became so widespread (laidoff employees, divorcees) that you had to employee a filter service - get this - for your physical mail box. If the direct mail industry doesn't go bankrupt (too bankrupt) first. Let's face it, the potential for abuse of this backlash is just as economic (cost projector of retaliatory spam nothing) and is as semi-anonymous.
Fri 25 Apr 08:48 | Joshua Kaufman | Spamming the spammers will frustrate them in the short term, but in the long term it won't do anything but get spammers to come up with more illusive ways to send spam. The only way that spam will truly be stopped is a complete reengineering of the Internet email system.
Fri 25 Apr 14:55 | JB | The Australian Govt is strongly considering it making it a crime to deliver spam. It might set the precedent for the rest of the world to follow.
Sat 26 Apr 09:49 | daniel szuc | http://www.detritus.org/spam/skit.html
Sat 26 Apr 14:27 | Anonymous | Don't look at that link unless you like hot monkey love.
Sun 27 Apr 07:13 | Anonymous | Handle spammers like we do the 'War on Drugs.' Let's imprison every person who gives money to a spammer. Eliminate the users and the problem goes away, right?
Sun 27 Apr 19:44 | keith knutsson | Why do spammers do it? Spammers do it because someone is paying them. This does not account for the zany ones that make no sense.
Bloggers tool up | Thu 24 Apr
(Guardian) In short, with Typepad, SixApart has embraced almost every advance in weblogging over the past year, and wrapped it into a product my dad could use. It raises the bar for the personal publishing world in a way that the Blogger/ Google buyout promised but has yet to deliver.
Thu 24 Apr 06:41 | MadMan | Blogger has been behind in too many areas for too long. My prediction: TypePad will kick arse and walk all over Blogger's features. Maybe they should get some Webworders in for some user testing and comments. :)
Thu 24 Apr 13:39 | Barry Parr | TypePad sounds great. It should spark a new round of first-time bloggers and conversions from other products. The real loser here is Radio Userland. Six Apart is in a position dominate the paid-hosted and blog software markets with its reputation, superior products, and free entry product. Blogger is in a position to dominate the impulse blog market with its excellent product and Google's brand and promotional muscle. Userland is looking creakier and creakier. Their software is too expensive to compete with free services, and too buggy, idiosyncratic, and feature-poor to compete with MT.
Thu 24 Apr 15:20 | Matt Round | I used Blogger for the first time a while back and was horrified at how limited and unreliable it is, I couldn't believe so many people had put up with it.
Thu 24 Apr 16:58 | Alva | If TypePad is better than Blogger, it will hurt Google's image. Google has set itself up as being the best at everything it does. Not only will one of its horses be coming in second, it will spur additional questions as to why Google is straying into non-search services.
Thu 24 Apr 19:02 | Morris Cox | When I was using Blogger before switching to Nucleus, if there was a | the submission page would be empty except for an error. Now I don't have to worry about it and I have something with lots of features like gzipping on the fly, multiple blogs, plugins, XML and RSS feeds, etc.
Fri 25 Apr 10:31 | Joshua Kaufman | If TypePad is better than Blogger, it will hurt Google's image. Until the Blogger homepage says, 'Blogger by Google,' I don't think it's anything to worry about. Most Blogger users probably don't even know Google bought Pyra.
Sat 26 Apr 13:37 | Anonymous | I hear 37signals is working on their own hosted blogging service. Sounds very similar to TypePad. I think it's been in the works for about 6 months now. They've been quiet about it, but I bet it will be very impressive. I can't tell you where I got this info, but it's reliable.
Sat 26 Apr 14:52 | Anonymous | Coming from an anonymous poster, I find that information to be highly reliable and trustworthy.
WebWord Comment | Tue 22 Apr
Daniel Szuc points me to the Usability Club
Tue 22 Apr 08:45 | Joshua Kaufman | What's the first rule of Usability Club?
Tue 22 Apr 10:02 | Mac | NEVER talk about Uncle Filbert
Tue 22 Apr 10:28 | daniel szuc | 4th RULE: Only two guys to a fight. One usability person and one project member of your choice. 6th RULE: No shirts, no shoes. No heuristics, no design templates. See: http://adam.pimpz.org/fight/
Tue 22 Apr 11:37 | Ron Zeno | 1) No critical assessment of anything said or published by anyone. 2) No filtering of information by any criteria other than entertainment value and how well it panders to wishful thinking. (Not that these rules don't apply to almost all other sources of information on usability, just that some of the recommended materials are the worst possible available.)
Tue 22 Apr 12:49 | daniel szuc | Hi Ron, all recommendations welcomed. Any materials that you would like to suggest for www.usability.com.hk? Critical assessment of materials (coming soonish ... ;)
Fri 25 Apr 13:53 | Lydia | Hey Daniel! Neat idea - have you had some interest in the HK community?
Sat 26 Apr 09:33 | daniel szuc | Hi Lydia and thanks. Yes I live in HK and working hard to promote usability :) Onward, onward ...
Why Am I Getting All This Spam? | Tue 22 Apr
To do so, we set up hundreds of different e-mail addresses, used them for a single purpose, and then waited six months to see what kind of mail those addresses were receiving. It should come as no surprise to most e-mail users that many of the addresses CDT created for this study attracted spam, but it is very interesting to see the different ways that e-mail addresses attracted spam and the different volumes depending on where the e-mail addresses were used.
Tue 22 Apr 09:43 | Anonymous | I posted my brand new address on WebWord on one occassion. A few days later a rich Nigerian wanted my money. A web site has a responsibility to take at least modest protective measures for the personal information I give it. If not, the web site shouldn't be asking me for information it has no intention of protecting. Why is it we place 100% of the responsibility on users?
Tue 22 Apr 10:09 | MadMan | John, if you update your MovableType installation to the latest version, you'll find spambot protection is built-in. Daddy Warbucks, are you sure this is the only place you posted it? Many mailing lists have public archives that can be scraped for email addresses. Also, many spammers do 'directory' attacks on common names combined with domain names.
Tue 22 Apr 18:31 | Anonymous | It was a harvester combing WebWord because WebWord was the _only_ place I used the address at that time (a freebie address from one of the major portals), and no dictionary attack would get my username. I receive about 5 spams a month now, 1 of 5 is a Nigerian scam. I now alter my address (@nospam.hotmail.com, etc.) when posting to a web site. I reply to the Nigerians because I know a human reads them, but so far they have rejected my invitations to my house party. They seem to be a most inhospitable people. I don't really care; I'll dump the address when I tire of it.
Wed 23 Apr 15:46 | Boyink | I've had my address harvested from here too - I have a wildcard setup so always use site-specific addresses when posting to blogs. Don't bother to post it anymore, don't see the point.
Thu 24 Apr 23:14 | PaulG | I use an anonymizing service called 'Sneakemail' (http://www.sneakemail.com) that allows you to generate email addresses unique to each location you want to post an email address to (for example, 1qk3O863@sneakemail.com). Any mail sent to these addresses is forwarded to the real address or addresses you specify. The mail 'from' block and header contain the identification of the site on which the email address was posted, thereby allowing you to see where the address was harvested from so that you can send an email to the site administrator asking him to block spam harvesters from his site. The service not only has basic allow/deny-type blocking, but also allows you to create rule-based filters. When an address starts getting spam, you can delete it and all subsequent mail will be denied. They have a free basic service that allows a maximum message size of 150k, a maximum monthly bandwidth usage of 10MB, and unlimited addresses. For $2/month, you get a maximum message size of 500k, a maximum monthly bandwidth usage of 50MB, unlimited addresses, and some other nifty bells and whistles. I can't say enough good things about this service.
Fri 25 Apr 13:44 | Lydia | Yeah, I've had my address harvested from here, and Amazon.com sends you a FLOOD of spam even if you opt-out of everything during sign up. I had an address from a former ISP that I had never used before and within a week I had 4-5 spam mails daily. At least I never check that account.
Leonardo da Vinci, Disciple of Experience | Sat 19 Apr
(Mark Hurst) 500 years ago, da Vinci understood the power of experience. Academic pedigree is fine, but a direct grasp of experience is essential. Analyzing and learning from direct experience is innately more powerful than hiding behind obscure academic methods. da Vinci got it. Maybe he was the first. (Comments: From my trip to Italy I learned that the Vitruvian man is on the back of the Italian one euro coin.)
Fri 25 Apr 07:55 | daniel szuc | All people should be encouraged to enjoy the positive elements of all disciplines *Da Vinci usability*
WebWord Comment | Wed 23 Apr
I think it is strange that I dont know any of the invited speakers that are going to be at the UPA 2003 Conference. Do you know these folks? Should I know them?
Thu 24 Apr 10:39 | Joshua Kaufman | Michael Graves? You know, that guy who makes all that pseudo designer stuff for Target.
Office workers give away passwords for a cheap pen | Sun 20 Apr
Men were slightly more likely to reveal their password with 95 per cent of blokes, compared to 85 per cent of women quizzed, prepared to hand over their password on request. (Comments: Why are men more likely to reveal their passwords? Also, who only has one password?)
Mon 21 Apr 14:58 | Lydia | Maybe men give out their password more because of evolution: they are less concerned with personal security because they focus on having the strength to fend off attack. Meanwhile, women take pains to ensure personal security so they don't have to fight. I would be interested in knowing if this survey was conducted as a company survey, or if participants knew for sure that they were giving information to an outside source. They might be more willing to reveal information if they thought it was internal. I think there is also a perception that being fussy about your password is paranoia. 'Who is going to want to steal YOUR secrets?' and so on.
Mon 21 Apr 21:09 | Frank Lynch | Two hypotheses on the gender thing, neither verified. 1, perhaps men are more used to taking orders (she who must be obeyed, and all that). 2, more specific to the exec who gave his daughter's name later in the process, men are supposedly better at partitioning life's aspects, and maybe they don't understand the connections between what they do in a survey and the potential security threats? Break down the partitions, and ask them in sequence, social security number and mother's maiden name, and I bet you'd see greater resistence.
Tue 22 Apr 04:33 | Alan Fisher | Let's see if I've got this right. They stopped people at random at a railway station and asked them what their password was. They then deduce that most people are not security conscious because they're prepared to tell them. But - where is the security risk in telling someone your password if they have no idea where you work, what your name is or where you use the password?
Tue 22 Apr 16:58 | Morris Cox | How do they know if you know where they work or not? Or any other information about them? I don't take the chance in the first place and I don't have to worry about it.
Thu 24 Apr 06:24 | Mac | My password is ******
Fast-downloading websites are still important | Tue 22 Apr
(Gerry McGovern) Remember, every byte you save makes for a better experience for the reader. You dont have to shirk on quality to achieve a fast-downloading website. In fact, your brand is enhanced every time a reader can quickly and easily complete a desired task. (Comments: There must must be times when bigger is better. Oh wait...nevermind. Pretend I didnt say that.)
Wed 23 Apr 00:15 | Morris Cox | I've been using PHP to gzip pages on the fly if the browser supports it. I put at the top of each page. (My weblog has a plugin that does it for the weblog.) You have to put a line in .htaccess for it to work on HTML pages, but that's no trouble. Putting CSS in a common external file helps. I also put my menu in a .js file. An extra bonus is not having to go into every file just to make a change. Would be nice if every server could gzip on the fly for text content. Not just for the Web, but also for email and MUDs and the such.
Wed 23 Apr 00:18 | Morris Cox | I notice that my line of PHP didn't go through. It would be a bit of an irony if my submission was gzipped. I'll try again, adding backslashes: \< \?php ob_start('ob_gzhandler')\; \?\>
Wed 23 Apr 00:29 | Morris Cox | Me again. If you View Source for this page, you'll see that the original line of PHP is in the source code, it's just not being rendered onscreen. I assume that it's not being processed by the server. Also notice that it has a Doctype of HTML 3.2, there is no CSS and Javascript is not in a .js file. There is also a span tag with two nonbreaking spaces. Sometimes you'll see a space and a slash in a br tag, sometimes you don't. i and em, and b and strong, are both used. Sometimes there's a closing /p, sometimes not. And so on. How much can the time-to-load be improved?
Trust by Design | Tue 22 Apr
(Peter Morville) Amazon, Epinions, Yahoo, eBay, and Google have all displayed this same confidence. By relaxing control and trusting their users to write product reviews, evaluate peers, describe resources, trade fairly, and link intelligently, these companies have reaped great rewards.
Tue 22 Apr 12:04 | Ralph | That wiki thing looks interesting. I'm surprised that I never heard of it before.
Tue 22 Apr 22:07 | Lyle Kantrovich | I haven't even read Peter's article yet, but thought I'd add Wiki to the list...looks like he's covered it. Wiki is an amazing concept to try to explain to business people. Most people can't fathom giving nearly total control to edit all content to all users. It's a very trust-oriented approach (with a few safeguards behind the scenes). In practice it's surprising how few problems there are - maybe more proof that people ARE inherently good. Now off to read that article...
Testing the Three-Click Rule | Thu 17 Apr
(UIE) The number of clicks isnt what is important to users, but whether or not theyre successful at finding what theyre seeking.
Tue 22 Apr 02:35 | Lyle Kantrovich | Frank, I think I said this before, but it's worth repeating: All other things being equal, more clicks is a Bad Thing. Keep in mind that 'task difficulty' and 'perceived task difficulty' are two different things. Sometimes getting the 'answer' faster may actually reduce user satisfaction (but in general, faster is better). I think I've seen research to this effect, but it's too late for me to go hunt up a reference. It could be that a 'fast answer' experience doesn't allow for serendipity or encourage other exploration...not sure what the underlying reason would be - likely some psychology thing like anticipation of enjoyment actually enhancing enjoyment (e.g. enjoying making the coffee, not just being able to drink it). Meta topic: Even though it's less than a week old, this discussion is likely to go cold soon since it's way below the fold on the Webword home page...sigh. See my comments on the Webword redesign post...
Tue 22 Apr 08:52 | Frank Lynch | Lyle, no disagreement here, all other things being equal.
Digital flower keeps tabs on love | Mon 21 Apr
(BBC) Cian Cullinan has come up with a eye-pleasing way to keep in touch with his girlfriend Ciara, via a fake potted plant that opens up into a beautiful flower when she logs on to her computer.
Mon 21 Apr 10:28 | daniel szuc | Be interesting to be able to program feedback on the top of the mouse based on a specific person logging ... as to what that feedback would be ... I dont know ;(
Mon 21 Apr 14:44 | Lydia | That is so romantic!
Mon 21 Apr 17:15 | Su | A real thing in the real world that gives me a rough idea of where she is and what she is doing. Gifts for the high-tech stalker in your life.
Mon 21 Apr 19:48 | Morris Cox | Su (Chinese? *smile*), I had thoughts along those lines, too. Maybe a permissions/authorization system might help. You could specify levels of access like general public, lover(s), friends, family, co-workers, etc. You could also do it person by person. You could also set it to let you know when someone on the list sent you an email or a message.
Observations on Italy | Sun 20 Apr
(WebWord) From 9-April-2003 through 16-April-2003 I was in Italy visiting my brother-in-law. He is currently a Masters student in the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University. We mainly spent time in Sicily (Siracusa and Taormina), Bologna and Rome. Here are some of my raw impressions of Italy. Enjoy!
Mon 21 Apr 10:35 | daniel szuc | Travelling and meeting new people. All good for the soul! *he says while hooked on webword at 10:42pm Hong Kong time*
Mon 21 Apr 13:33 | Anonymous | Hey, I will be in Italy from the 15th of may to the 9th of june, whats the best way to get connected in Florence? Is WiFi (free or paid) available? I have to work a little while im there, it would be nice to do it in a cafe! I still haven't purchased a way to connect my PocketPC, so I am up for any suggestions. I guess my options are modem, nic card, or wifi. Now to read the article and find out that my questions were answered, and i diddn't need to post this!
Mon 21 Apr 13:34 | Anonymous | Also, any webword readers that want to meet up and be nerdy in Rome or Florence, email me! blogmin at blogalong dot net
Mon 21 Apr 15:08 | Lydia | Regarding #15 on the list - Richard Feynman tells a funny story about how he started up a conversation with an Italian scientist he saw at his workplace from time to time Although his side of the conversation was in entirely made-up Italian words, the man spoke back to him in Italian every time! He later found out that the man had simply assumed he was speaking another dialect of Italian, so just answered good-naturedly even though he didn't understand a word. Too funny.
A chat with the man behind mobiles | Mon 21 Apr
(BBC) Wireless is freedom. Its about being unleashed from the telephone cord and having the ability to be virtually anywhere when you want to be. That freedom is what cellular is all about.
Mon 21 Apr 13:26 | Frank Lynch | Ugh, our language is definitely getting frayed. I saw the headline in John's link, and I thought this would have something to do with Alexander Calder. And his mobiles most assuredly weren't wireless!
Imagine if Simcity wasn't just a game | Fri 18 Apr
Somewhere in this mix of tools and interactivity, a true mirror world is brewing. Combine the visual interfaces of SimCity, the up-to-the-minute data of My Neighborhood Statistics, the multiple inroads of Game Neverending, and youd be able to create a true alternate universe, one that was mapped to real events. (MadMan comments: Have you ever played these online games? Thanks Joshua.)
Mon 21 Apr 10:08 | Mac | I don't want a stepford life.
Site Navigation: Keeping It Under Control | Sat 19 Apr
(Adaptive Path) I know this might sound severe, but keep your navigation to three levels. Of course, most sites have content that goes much deeper than three levels, so Ill explain how to handle it. First, let me tell you why I suggest this three-level guideline.
Mon 21 Apr 09:38 | Anonymous | Blah blah blah... Does Adaptive Path ever say anything of value? They just repackage the simplest information with a few fancy words and scientific-sounding terms. Web design is such a simple business. They just try to make it sound all official and highbrow so they can justify their fees.