(Comments added for week ending Sun 29 Dec 2002) | View Other Weeks
| last updated:03 Jan 2003 09: 37 Webword time, or 03 Jan 2003 14:37 UK time |
|
| Webword Statistics - Recent Comments (Comments added for week ending Sun 29 Dec 2002) | View Other Weeks |
| What's That "Page Flicker"Thing? | Sat 28 Dec |
| (IMDB) Because we divide different categories of information about a movie into separate pages, the page flicker was designed to allow you to move forward and backward through the various pages we have about that particular movie. (Comments: Thanks Frank.) |
| Sun 29 Dec 17:44 | Frank Lynch | Not really fond of this idea, since the architecture isn't necessarily user driven. Since there is left hand nav that someone can use in a directed fashion, is this an admission that the left-hand nav isn't really being used? Or is it another marketing-driven attempt to get people to delve deeper? |
| Fees Hidden in Plain Sight, Companies Add to Bottom Line | Sun 29 Dec |
| Companies are adding new surcharges to all kinds of services and products as they try to compensate for a sputtering economy and price-conscious customers. |
| Sun 29 Dec 17:40 | Frank Lynch | Wow, does danger ever lurk here! Charging customers for amenities they don't use seems like a nice way of hiding the fact that somewhere, some marketing manager overestimated demand for the unused service, or did a poor P&L analysis. I'm not saying this is how it's used yet, but give it time: it works out to 'bad decision' insurance. |
| Top Ten Web-Design Mistakes of 2002 | Tue 24 Dec |
| Every year brings new mistakes. In 2002, several of the worst mistakes in Web design related to poor email integration. The number one mistake, however, was lack of pricing information, followed by overly literal search engines. (Comments: I wasnt going to post this but too many people submitted it to me.) |
| Tue 24 Dec 20:43 | Manu Sharma | Are the days of the fire spewing Jakob a thing of the past? It's the first time in the past seven years that he has used comic illustrations to make his point. Remember the exuberance of last week's 'In the Future, We'll All Be Harry Potter.' He’s also been using the 'joy of use' phrase quite frequently in his articles recently. Is this his way of celebrating the holidays or is there a real, deliberate shift in Alertbox's tone and direction? Maybe he’s simply borrowing the skills of Steve Krug. Anyway, I love the cartoons (even though the ALT text exceeds Nielsen’s own guideline for the maximum number of characters :-). |
| Tue 24 Dec 21:32 | Morris Cox | It makes a lot of sense to me. |
| Wed 25 Dec 12:41 | Ron Zeno | 11. Credulously believing information on the web Especially information doled out by those with obvious conflicts of interest. |
| Wed 25 Dec 23:53 | Frank Lynch | I loved his recoommendation against new browser windows: that users can always right-click to open a new window if they want. I don't think I ever saw that level of sophistication in usability labs. |
| Thu 26 Dec 07:29 | Mac | For your info, this content was produced as a poster that was mailed out to nngroup customers about six months ago, so I wouldn't expect more illustrations in the future. These oversimplistic 'Mistakes' actually raise a lot of questions that actually need discussion rather than a check box. On No Prices. Why can't we see the prices for the nngroup reports on the reports page ? On FAQ. Why don't nngroup explain why they don't have any returns policy? If NNGroup aren't going to take these things seriously, why should anyone else? |
| Sat 28 Dec 11:43 | Gary Ames | This is great. Important topic, authoritative, clear text and a graphic kicker! That's meaning and memorability with impact. But why so rare? How much does it cost to make cartoons like these? |
| Sun 29 Dec 13:29 | Anonymous | What makes it 'authoritative'? I'd suggest reading with a healthy dose of skepticism. There is no definition or explaination of how a mistake makes it into the top ten. There is no reference to research of any kind to support the claims. Once again it's Jake tossing rice to the hungry, but we need some meat. |
| 2002 Worst Manual Contest Winners | Sat 28 Dec |
| Words are used out of context and language is vague or inappropriate, potentially exposing the company to lawsuits. For example, statements implying job security alternate with threats of discharge. The instructions in this manual explain more about how to get fired than about how to succeed at work. Paragraphs and information are mislabeled. |
| Sat 28 Dec 23:04 | Matt Haas | Wow! The winner was shockingly similar to the employee handbook at my first job out of school. Viv la HR idoits! |
| Where the Jobs Are | Tue 24 Dec |
| (Fortune) Almost one half of one percent of all Americans work at Wal-Martthats 1,383,000 people. |
| Tue 24 Dec 05:25 | Martin Sutherland | I've always had this horrbile fear that sooner or later all manual jobs will become automated, and that the only jobs for humans will be in the 'service' industry. We'll all work in supermarkets, call centres, and Starbucks. We'll all earn our money being the human interface between 'the system' and other happy little consumers like ourselves.
|
| Tue 24 Dec 06:56 | daniel szuc | Would you like fries with that order sir? |
| Tue 24 Dec 18:36 | Boyink | Better start prepping for a career in Automation then...;) |
| Sat 28 Dec 12:00 | Gary Ames | You can still be replaced by a computer. Today, 25% of grocery stores have automated do-it-yourself check out. Check-out Clerk is one of the best hourly jobs in a store. Check-out Clerk was one of the best hourly jobs in a store. Welcome to 2003. |
| WebWord Comment | Sun 22 Dec |
| Sad. |
| Mon 23 Dec 06:46 | Mac | This is an awful story. But the author should know that people who aren't middle class and white have been dealing with this kind of treatment on a daily basis, for years. Mr Rockwell is a man who believes that the US Government is Socialist, a true free market will free us all, and has this to say of Truman 'We're supposed to approve the election of the mass-murdering socialist father of the cold war and the Korean war in 1948.' |
| Wed 25 Dec 23:06 | daniel szuc | Theres a very fine balance ... mmmmmm (*ponders*) |
| Thu 26 Dec 13:02 | Lydia | I am absolutely flabbergasted. If I am this shocked, appalled, angry, and violated after just reading his description of the incident, I cannot imagine what they must be feeling. I simply can't. I can understand the airport's need to be careful, and I'm sure they did, too. However, that does not mean having to forfeit your right to dignity and due process. At the very least, they should have a room available (that is NEAR the checkpoint, not halfway across the airport) to privately examine people, and they should take couples in together. Whatever happened to 'innocent until proven guilty'? Horrifying. |
| Thu 26 Dec 14:40 | John S. Rhodes | I'm going to watch this page for updates. |
| Sat 28 Dec 00:36 | daniel szuc | This is a concern: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/12/27/1040511178084.html |
| Trade it on Trodo: Understanding and Improving Barter | Fri 27 Dec |
| The first purpose of this article is to provide a brief summarization of how barter works. The second purpose is to explain how Trodo capitalizes on the strengths of barter while minimizing its problems. The final purpose is to give readers a clear idea about how Trodo works, including the philosophy behind it. |
| Fri 27 Dec 15:08 | Anonymous | The only thing missing is a link to purchase the report. |
| Fri 27 Dec 15:15 | John S. Rhodes | 'The only thing missing is a link to purchase the report.' I'll make that available next year. Sorry to make you wait! ;-) |
| Fri 27 Dec 21:59 | Anonymous | what is your business model? how do you make money? |
| Fri 27 Dec 23:48 | John S. Rhodes | Unless something changes, the business model is to eventually charge a small yearly subscription fee to use Trodo. There is no plan for transaction fees, or listing fees at this time. I might accept advertising at some point, or perhaps sponsorships. However, the core *idea* is to some day charge a small subscription fee when the Trodo site has enough items available to people. Good question. |
| WebWord Comment | Tue 24 Dec |
| If you barely notice that some technology is bad, then it is probably really bad. If you notice that some technology is bad and you make a comment about it out loud, or cringe, or mumble, or utter anything, then probably everyone thinks it sucks and needs repair. If you provide feedback to the creators and / or owners of some technology, it is probably so bad it needs to be thrown out, crushed, burned, or otherwise left to die. If you tell other people that some technology is bad, the technology should be considered so truly terrible that it should be deleted from existence and never mentioned again to any person at any time for any reason. |
| Wed 25 Dec 21:03 | Anonymous | If no one posts a response to a WebWord Comment then it is probably really bad. If someone posts an off-topic response then everyone probably thinks the WebWord Comment sucks and it needs adjustment. If a troll posts the first response after more than a 24-hour absence of any commentary, the WebWord Comment is probably so bad it needs to be thrown out, crushed, burned, or otherwise left to die. If you e-mail John directly to complain about the WebWord Comment it should be considered so truly terrible that it should be deleted from existence and never mentioned again to any person at any time for any reason. |
| Thu 26 Dec 09:39 | John S. Rhodes | We should never mention this post again. ;-) |
| Thu 26 Dec 19:38 | Anonymous | that posting was really bad. |
| Fri 27 Dec 18:12 | Anonymous | and too long... ;o)) OMG! 24hrs has passed... |
| WebWord Comment | Tue 24 Dec |
| I enjoy using technology the most when I dont need to think about it at all. |
| Tue 24 Dec 14:55 | Joshua Kaufman | Me too. This is why I own a Mac (and soon an iPod). |
| Tue 24 Dec 20:25 | daniel szuc | I have always liked and enjoyed the terms 'invisible computing' or 'invisible interface' - something that is a fluid extention of the task at hand and works into the existing scenario without breaking the flow. Too deep? ... perhaps :) |
| Tue 24 Dec 20:28 | daniel szuc | Joshua - I own an iPOD and its great! Transfer of songs seems to work faster on OS X. Love the dial that controls the menu system and the volume. Apple do user experience for the most part very, very well and can see them making more in roads into 'home' experience over the next 5 years - Cameras, TVs etc |
| Wed 25 Dec 21:08 | Anonymous | I don't enjoy using technology. I enjoy doing. I enjoy playing Allied Assault. I don't enjoy a computer console with a large vibrant display. I enjoy listening to music. I don't using a compact digital music player. I enjoy playing soccer. I don't enjoy admiring the crisp edges of the recently cut grass. |
| Implantable devices could become humans' 'black boxes' | Tue 24 Dec |
| Though still in an early stage, a market is growing for implantable monitors, tiny devices that track the function of a persons organs. |
| Tue 24 Dec 01:31 | Eric Scheid | how long before someone gets their implanted black box subpoenaed ? |
| Dial-Up Revelations | Sun 22 Dec |
| Lately Ive grown lazy around the issue of page size and images. When designing something for a client or posting a picture to my own web site, Id often think to myself, everyone I know has a high-speed connection now-a-days and with little more than a cursory glance at the file size, Id post or design in happy, dial-upless oblivion. Oh what a spoiled fool Id become. (Comments: Via Elegant Hack.) |
| Mon 23 Dec 03:03 | Dennis G. Jerz | A possibly related issue... I always surf with WebWasher -- software that kills most pop-ups and advertisements. I recently installed similar software that kills Flash. When I recommend links to my students or on my weblog, I have only previewed those pages in their filtered, relatively crap-free states. Sometimes when I watch students trying to navigate through the links I've suggested, I'm amazed to see how *awful* the sites look. No wonder some students are annoyed that I assign them online reading! |
| Mon 23 Dec 11:42 | Frank Lynch | I was surprised to hear no mention of the Opera browser; its image-toggle feature is a great help -- even when using DSL. |
| 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.) |
| Mon 23 Dec 09:48 | Boyink | Oh - so it's just a front page. My bad, sorry. Your second comment confuses me - is this project all about 'working for yourself' as a designer? Can you explain that? It seems like W3C or non-profit, a home page design would take the same approach (assuming that some consideration to the needs of the site visitors and owners is being given)? I agree about designers being designers regardless of the pay - I'm sorry if my rantings came off as designer-bashing, my feelings are quite the opposite. I'm lamenting the time and effort being spent by skilled artistic people on a design for a group that didn't request it, doesn't appear to want it, and most likely won't implement it - while other groups are practically crying for design help. |
| Mon 23 Dec 11:26 | Boyink | 'Are the requirements for this contest the same as what the W3C used when creating the new homepage? No, not at all. The W3C homepage was created with higher accessibility requirements, support for internationalization, and other factors that are not part of the WThRemix contest scope.' ?? This confuses me even further. If the point of the contest isn't to come out with a better design based upon the same requirements then I really don't 'get it'. |
| 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. |
| Mon 23 Dec 10:53 | Wolf | ...users need painkillers? Probably. You might want to read the following: http://www.zenhaiku.com/archives/eyeblaster_ads_message_service_spam.html |
| 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. |
| Mon 23 Dec 03:10 | Dennis G. Jerz | A quote from the report: 'For every dollar you spend improving the visual design or style of your site, you will receive virtually no improvement in sales. The same dollar spent on improving core behavioral interactions with your site’s critical way-finding and form-filling functions will, however, return $50-100 if executed in a professional and rigorous manner.' Ron interperets the statistics with a healthy note of skepticism -- by throwing around stats Mauro is sounding a bit like the gurus he disdains, but you can't have a convincing RoI report without stats. |
| Mon 23 Dec 03:41 | Dennis G. Jerz | I see that Mauro concludes that his company's proprietary usability testing system is the solution to the guru problem. What else does one expect -- he's not going to release a white paper that makes him lose his job. I'm not trying to run a business, I'm just trying to study the Internet so that I can teach it. But this is somehow depressing to me. Are we all simply jesters in Jakob Nielsen's court? |