Webword Statistics - Recent Comments

last updated:16 Aug 2002 13: 49 Webword time, or 16 Aug 2002 18:49 UK time

Webword Statistics - Recent Comments
(Comments added for week ending Sun 30 Jun 2002) | View Other Weeks

When you search WebWord now, you will be using Google. I was using the free Master.com (Thunderstone) search engine but it wasnt producing useful results. Lets see how this works for us.

Sun 30 Jun 22:41 | Dennis Deacon | John, I will be interested in your comments and others concerning the search engine. At work, we are testing Google on our Intranet (over 100,000 documents). We've had success so far. However there's one feature that I'd like to hear some opinion about. With many search engines, including Ultraseek - our current search engine, the description displayed in search results is usually the first 200+ characters found on a page, or the contents of the Meta Description tag. Google ignores the Meta Description tag and instead, displays text around the keyword or phrase searched on the page. I feel the quality of the description depends on the quality of the content on the page. I'd like to see some other thoughts on this from individuals who have tested Google on their sites.

WebWord Comment | Sun 30 Jun

Please do me a favor. Click in the Search box and the Submit News boxes (Enter URL . . . and Who to Credit?) in the left hand navigation of this page. I added some JavaScript to them to make them a little bit easier to use. Let me know if they blow up or cause you any pain. Thanks for the help.

Sun 30 Jun 21:20 | John S. Rhodes | I forgot to add one important comment. I found the code to do this over at How Stuff Works, which has a ton of useful information.

WebWord Comment | Sun 30 Jun

A few people have recently told me that they would like me to categorize the information that I post on WebWord. I think it is a good idea. Movable Type makes this possible and I am willing to turn it on. However, rather than just make up a bunch of categories, Id like your help. What categories make sense to you. How would you categorize the information you see on WebWord? Post your suggestions. Im listening.

Sun 30 Jun 20:34 | John S. Rhodes | These are the categories that Christina uses: Accessibility Apropos of Nothing Architecture Art Books Brand Business Design Documentation Experience Design Information Architecture Information Design Innovation Interaction Design Interface Maintenance Marketing Personal Pondering Research Search Tangents Technology The Medium Theory Usability User Centered Design Workflow Writing multiple I would probably subtract: Apropos of Nothing, Art, Pondering, Workflow, Maintenance, The Medium, Information Design, Interaction Design, and Experience Design. I think I would add the following: WebWord Comments, Employment, Tools, Ergonomics, and Programming. This would give me the 'final' list: Accessibility Architecture Books Brand Business Design Documentation Employment Ergonmics Information Architecture Innovation Interface Marketing Multiple Personal Programming Research Search Tangents Technology Theory Tools Usability User Centered Design WebWord Comments Writing What do you think?

WebWord Comment | Sun 30 Jun

If you are interested in writing an article for WebWord, please take a look at the Basic Guidelines for Contributors. If you need to find the guidelines in the future, I added them to the navigation area on the left side of the WebWord home page, below Recommend WebWord but above Contact WebWord.

Sun 30 Jun 12:25 | MadMan | Excellent idea, John. :) All I ask is that you not be so rigid about the article rights. Instead of sounding like a dictator ('you *surrender* all rights'), why not ask for a one month exclusive? That should give the article enough exposure, and within one month, it'll probably move off the home page. Most commercial magazine editors usually don't accept previously published articles anyway, so you're safe that way too.

Sun 30 Jun 13:15 | John S. Rhodes | MadMan, Thanks for the advice; sorry to sound like a dictator. I've modified the text to read: 'If you submit an article, you are giving WebWord full permission to post and publish the article. WebWord will be given one month exclusive rights to the material. After one month, I will be happy to allow you to use the article in another place. Just let me know where it will be posted.' By the way, this wasn't my idea exactly. A few people recently have asked if they could write for WebWord so I needed to create some guidelines for them. In fact, just yesterday a student from the University of Minnesota Mankato asked what the guidelines were. So, I wrote 'em up.

Push Here to Save Energy | Fri 28 Jun

(MIT Technology Review) Some significant percentage of devices that have the ability to turn off aren’t being turned off because people don’t want to spend a lot of time figuring it out.

Fri 28 Jun 18:40 | Jack Schonchin | In looking at my office computers, I see Gateway is pretty consistent with its power buttons. I didn't realize a circle with a vertical line is the 'universal power symbol.' Their older tower cases do not have lit buttons. My coworkers most often leave on their PC speakers and/or their UPS units... and printers. My god it is difficult to find the power switch on a printer. It's often in an obscure location on the side or back of the unit! Doesn't everyone do the 'blind feel?' You know, passing your hand all around the printer feeling for the switch while your eyes aimlessly drift toward the ceiling.

While Nathan Slept, What Rich, Powerful Technologists Know About Their Customers | Thu 27 Jun

(TaskZ) No one denies Watson was a very smart man, the very essence of the modern capitalist, but his projected demand for computers was down right foolish. Sometimes rich, powerful technologists reveal staggering levels of stupidity when it comes to understanding the implications of their technology or, more frequently, the needs of their customers.

Fri 28 Jun 17:45 | (the other) JS | Unless a company or five demostrates this, and consequently cuts through the industry like a knife throught butter, mild scoldings like this will have no effect. Look forward to putting a lot of polkadots on Edsels.

Human-Robot Interaction for Multiple Heterogeneous Robots | Thu 27 Jun

A Graphical User Interface (GUI) has been developed to enable the operation of multiple complex field robots. The interaction mechanism was inspired by interface techniques refined in the Real-Time Strategy (RTS) genre of video games that includes the popular titles Starcraft, Command & Conquer, and Strifeshadow.

Thu 27 Jun 07:13 | John S. Rhodes | Questions: When I pull quotes from a source, do I need to include the in-line links? Why? Why not? Are there any ethical issues here?

Fri 28 Jun 15:59 | MadMan | No. Easy reason: Because you're using them only for providing an intro to the article. If people are interested enough to follow that link back to the original article, they'll see the inline links there. Usability-related reason: You're trying to point the reader to a specific article. Why provide a chance for distraction and confusion by providing links to *other* things? Now go back and read reason 1.

Fri 28 Jun 16:26 | John S. Rhodes | I feel much better...my mind is at ease.

Writing “Basic” with a Global Reach | Thu 27 Jun

About those flags, animated and otherwise … ditch ‘em. If you offer your site in multiple translations, use the correct name of the language instead of the country’s flag for identification. Which flag would you use for English (you can choose from USA, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Singapore)? And which of four languages would you be indicating by using the Swiss flag?

Fri 28 Jun 04:22 | Alan Fisher | Even among English speaking nations, there's ample scope for confusion. Take, for example, the article about basketball shoes which John included yesterday. I didn't have a clue what the first 2 or 3 paragraphs were trying to say. I had to go back and think about it. I recognised all the words individually, but the combination left me scratching my head. Britain and the USA - 2 nations separated by a common language...

Fri 28 Jun 05:04 | Mac | As another UK english user I have two main niggles with US english sites and their (understandable, but annoying) Stars and Stripes view of the english speaking web audience. 1 : When sites link to books on Amazon, why can't they provide links to the same book on Amazon sites other than .com, it is easy to generate links to all of the Amazon sites. 2 : Times, it would be really nice to see the time of posts etc. in my 'local' time as well as the 'server' time. (As I view this site regularly I have made the effort to write a program that presents me with posts in my own 'time-line.) Thinking about users in other countries involves a lot more than dealing with foreign languages.

Fri 28 Jun 06:18 | Alan Fisher | But Mac, just think of all those Americans who will be impressed that you were at your desk at 5:04 a.m. 'Sleep is for wimps'...

Fri 28 Jun 06:46 | Mac | 'Early to bed, early to rise' I was actually at my desk at 3am, but I will be going to bed at about 6.30pm Ooooh its nearly time for my breakfast

Fri 28 Jun 08:48 | Nagarjun | Since the author mentions Singapore, there are a host of other countries for whom English is the primary web langauge - India (where this is from), Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia...

Fri 28 Jun 15:56 | MadMan | Whoa! Another Indian reader of Webword. Waitaminnit, I know Nagarjun. How are ya', buddy?

Crashed computer boots local man into jail | Thu 27 Jun

...large sledgehammer...

Thu 27 Jun 11:40 | Marcus | This guy is a personal hero of mine now.

Thu 27 Jun 12:44 | jonathan | There's some follow up story information on this... http://www.wisinfo.com/postcrescent/news/archive/local_4730076.shtml

Thu 27 Jun 14:28 | Lydia | I hear what people say about this guy being a sort of hero, but to think about it from the manufacturer's point of view, it's can be very frightening to have a customer walk in with a sledgehammer and bash your product to bits. If he came in with a sledgehammer, what else could he do? Yes, he knows that it was going to stop there, and his friends know that he's not a violent man, but how does anyone else know that? I can competely understand other patrons being terrified, and I think the police should have investigated it. Maybe not jail him, but certainly visit him at his home and have a talk. That said, I'm glad he made the impact (no pun intended) that he did. I have been in that frustrating service spiral of doom before, and it isn't pretty. There's got to be a point where the company has to admit that a new computer is required, and that replacing parts is obviously not going to work. Unless this guy is constantly sabatoging his machine, there's just no other explanation for constant trouble like that.

WebWord Comment | Sat 22 Jun

I really need to learn more about Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). I just went to a page where CSS was used to manipulate the characteristics of the browser scrollbar. Extra fun: Be sure to right click on scrollbar.

Mon 24 Jun 11:41 | Joshua Kaufman | Scrollbar styles only work in IE 5.5+ and are not part of the CSS Spec: http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/#specs Not only do they often decrease the usability of websites, they're not a recognized standard. My recommendation is to stay away from them.

Thu 27 Jun 11:43 | MadMan | Joey, mail me on webguru AT vsnl DOT net and I'll help you out. I don't think John would want this to turn into 'Web design 101'. A lot also depends upon what kind of job you're looking for. Larger companies have specialist roles like graphic designer, whereas smaller shops usually have to combine roles and have many jacks of all trades.

Human Clock | Thu 27 Jun

This website consists of about 2500 picutres, each representing a single minute of the day in some shape or fashion.

Thu 27 Jun 04:38 | Mac | I love the control panel, its obviously a labour of love and this site cheered up an otherwise miserable working day.

Scenario One | Wed 26 Jun

(AIGA Design Forum) As part of the RFP they are requesting that you submit three annual reports that you have produced, a client list and concept sketches of what their annual could look like. What do you do?

Wed 26 Jun 09:13 | Jason Fried | What do you do? You don't submit concept sketches. The design industry needs to stand up for itself. Plumbers don't have to fix some of your pipes before you hire them. Doctors don't give you a check-up before you decide if they are worth paying for. And, hey, if you ask the client for some free work before you decide if you want to work with them I'll bet they won't respond with a 'Yeah, sure.' If you give away your creative ideas for free, why should the client think they should pay for it? If you give something away, it 1. cheapens it, and 2. it makes it much harder to prove it has value.

Wed 26 Jun 09:32 | MadMan | Hear, hear, Jason.

Wed 26 Jun 10:08 | Adam Kalsey | As a consultant, there is a constant pressure from potential clients to prove my expertise in the sales process. One of the comments to the linked article mentions an approach that I use regularly. I've had sales prospects ask for design concepts, a brief evaluation of their online strategy, or an evaluation of their product. I tell them that the process of creating these things requres that we thoroughly understand their business. It would be premature to perform this work without that understanding.

Wed 26 Jun 12:11 | jonathan | In the annual report development process, it has traditionally been accepted for companies to ask design firms to submit comps of a possible direction to head. Good companies will pay for this work during the RFP process (maybe $5-10K). A lot of companies don't pay, of course. If the company is interested in working with you, it's not out of the question to ask them for some compensation for the pre-project design. Things have changed a bit over the past five years but when I worked for a design firm that developed a lot of corporate literature and annuals, this was the approach we took and it worked.

Information design: What is it? Who needs it? | Wed 26 Jun

(AIGA Design Forum) What distinguishes information design from other types of design? What are some of the guidelines for information design for mass audiences? What are some of the best typefaces for information design? Can one font do it all? Please contribute your articles and comments to the discussion.

Wed 26 Jun 09:28 | (the other) JS | Peter Drucker said, in a 1997 Forbes magazine interview, 'For top management tasks, information technology so far has been a producer of data rather than a producer of information-let alone a producer of new and different questions and new and different strategies.' Information design needs one thing. That would be a good, pedestrian, USEable definition for information. A definition which includes how information differs from data. Oh, every comp sci grad can tell me about Claude Shannon. Not one can tell me the data-to-information ratio on their company network. Of course librarians love to tout their pioneering work in information literacy. Pity it seems like so much data search and retrieval, when it isn't about technology trivia. Failures in a dozen TLA goverment agencies and one named cause, 'Failure to connect the dots.' Huh, I wonder what that means. There is a compelling need to define information in ways average users can appreciate, and find valuable in everday life. This is not happening. This seems an odd vulnerability for an Information Technology industry to have. Theorists offer up a bit too enigmatic a definition for actual use.

Wed 26 Jun 10:58 | Tom Weathington | As we flail away to define 'information,' the decisionmakers press on without us, deciding our fate. Trying to define or re-define something as abstract as 'information' and distinguish it from data misses the point (and reveals us as being far too introspective for our own good): we should really be trying to prove the worth of information design (a truly bad moniker in any event) to stakeholders. I've been on the bottom as well as the top and can tell you that fad names like 'information design' and even 'usability' fail to impress those who hold our fates. In fact, the cavalier use of such terms often alienates key decisionmakers and clients. Business leaders want to know the answer to only two questions from any presentation or project: how will it help me make money or how will it help me cut costs? Our collective navel-gazing gets us nowhere towards providing these answers. If 'information design' is worth keeping as a (very shaky) field or provisional description, it will have to include at least a passing reference to dollars and cents.

Wed 26 Jun 11:22 | (the other) JS | Good luck trying to get to the dollars and cents without a concrete definition. The problem is never bothering to define. Definition leads to criterion for measurement, and from this a link to bottom line business result denominated in dollars. My call is for a practical definition yielding practical results. This will require abandoning the abstractions to settle on something everybody will be a little unhappy with, but which will meet business requirements.

Dino! | Wed 26 Jun

Dino! (pronouced dino!) is a web browser based on Mozilla with extra attention paid to its usability for the masses. We are concerned that the current Mozilla developers are ignoring the usability aspect of the browser. Initially, we will pursue usability issues, such as bookmark access and toolbar sizing. After this is done, we will continue to work towards totally user-friendly, 100% customisation of the Mozilla browser.

Wed 26 Jun 10:18 | Alastair Campbell | Perhaps I'm a little too experienced with browsing, but I think the new Mozilla is one of the best for usability? [Ducking] It has a lot of features kind of buried in menu's, but I think I've at least tried 50% of the features, and would definitely use 40% of them. IE might have an edge due to simplicity, but some of the features make browsing so much easier. (E.g. control over what sites are allowed to do to your windows, and whether you allow images from 3rd party servers etc.) The only thing that has bugged me is the chat thingy, I couldn't make any sense of what you do with it! It will be interesting to see what changes Dino make. I'll get some Newbie-surfers to use Mozilla and see how they get on ;) -Alastair

Falling Prey to the VeriSign Beast | Wed 26 Jun

(osOpinion) Most people who love the Internet hate VeriSign more than open source advocates hate Microsoft. Yet many people continue to register and renew their domains through the company.

Wed 26 Jun 09:56 | Anonymous | VerisignOff.org

Apple's 'Switch' Campaign Needs To Switch Gears | Mon 24 Jun

(osOpinion) If Apple wants to cause disenchanted PC users to switch from the PC to the Mac, it needs not only to tout the Macs magical Internet capabilities but also to put its money where its mouth is by advertising on the Internet.

Mon 24 Jun 21:29 | Anonymous | Eh, so this pundit wants Apple to endorse a failed advertising medium. OhhhhhhhK. The fact that other computer manufacturers advertise online is not a reason for you to do it too. I hate Apple, but I must admit they are doing quite nicely with their current plan.

Wed 26 Jun 01:42 | TimW | http://apple.com/swtich is that not advertising on the internet ? (or is this guy just pissed apple ain't buying banners on his page?)

Wed 26 Jun 05:09 | Nagarjun | I work in Advertising. Two more reasons why Apple is doing just fine: 1. They are probably targeting non-techies prmarily. Joe Sixpack sees a lot more TV than does Joe Programmer. 2. Apple's ads fall into the category called 'Seductive ads', where the creators seek to appeal to the viewer's senses / blow his mind. Banner ads (interstitials , whatever) are a very poor medium for that.

Statistics class | Mon 24 Jun

(Elegant Hack) This article gives me the screaming willies. maybe I am way off base, but this seems like the most irresponsible thing that the Dane has put out. God forbid anyone read it and believe the conclusions. Am I on drugs here? Any statisticians out there who can back me up? or prove me wrong.

Mon 24 Jun 21:22 | Anonymous | And given that Jakob didn't assess the same sites as before, well, I can't believe any of it.

Mon 24 Jun 21:32 | John S. Rhodes | Did anyone notice that I did not post a link to Nielsen's article on the WebWord home page? I just couldn't tolerate it.

Tue 25 Jun 03:32 | Mac | We're not worthy. we're not worthy... I admit it, I'm a sinner and have not implemented the holy writ of Jokeob... I think we should start a fund to send Jakob to Siberia to spend some time with Sergei; surely a kindred spitit. Jesus of Siberia - Guardian 24 May 2002 'Sergei Torop was a traffic cop in the small Russian town of Minusinsk until 1989, when he announced that he was the son of God. Now he commands a following of thousands and rules over a large swath of the Siberian mountains.'

Tue 25 Jun 05:34 | MadMan | Allow me to pontificate like Uncle Jakob. I find that the size of oranges have gone up in the last 1.5 years. Oranges are now 4% bigger. How do we know this? Because when we surveyed the size of apples 1.5 years ago, we found that they were 4% smaller than oranges now are. We tested a grand total of 15 oranges out of the 1 million or so currently sold in our area. Based on this, we can confidently predict that grapes will be 200% bigger by 2017. There, I'm done. Wanna pay me $10000 per day to predict trends for you?

Tue 25 Jun 11:11 | Jack Schonchin | Review: Publicity, Pseudoscience and Usability. 'This is not about taking a gratuitous pot-shot at one man who has been a tireless campaigner for the cause of usability, but it does smack a bit of clutching at straws to keep the wheels turning.'

Tue 25 Jun 13:29 | JB | What I found most interesting was that JN is treating his scale as an accepted and known industry standard.

Tue 25 Jun 13:32 | JB | JS I did notice that you did not post it. I think it would have been good to put it up....it may have taken people away from commenting on your survey :) It would have at least started another healthy debate.

Tue 25 Jun 13:41 | JB | Actually after re-reading this I strongly believe that he did not write this himself...I actually need to believe this as this guy is destroying himself just before bringing out Flash usability best practices.... it must of been one of his underlings and he stuck his name on it.

Tue 25 Jun 15:48 | Jack Schonchin | I am disturbed. What's new, right? JB called John S. Rhodes 'JS.' I used to go by 'JS' until I noticed another JS needing to call himself '(the other)JS.' Perhaps we need to begin a numbering system. As long as we don't accrue six JS's, we should be OK.

2002 WebWord Survey | Mon 24 Jun

Ive been running WebWord for nearly four years. It is hard to believe but I have never conducted a survey to find out about the people that visit WebWord and read the newsletters. If you would take the survey, I would be in your debt. It is only 15 questions and should take you less than five minutes to complete. Please take the survey. It really is painless and the data will be very useful to me.

Mon 24 Jun 01:10 | Anonymous | What WebWord lists are you subscribed to? You do not include an option for people who do not subscribe to anything.

Mon 24 Jun 01:17 | Mathew | The income question does not specify the currency either.

Mon 24 Jun 01:32 | John S. Rhodes | Anonymous, you are correct. That was a mistake. I do not offer a 'Neither' choice. Matthew, the currency is US dollars. Note: If I make changes to the poll, I will lose all results. So, I'll live with it as it is. Perhaps I will need to throw out a couple of questions.

Mon 24 Jun 01:56 | Anonymous | There is no country option for Washington D.C. It is not part of the USA in most respects. (e.g., We don't have representation in Congress, etc.)

Mon 24 Jun 01:56 | MadMan | It's only 15 responses so far, John. And it's still a Sunday in your part of the world. Make changes before it becomes impossible to do so. I'm surprised you haven't asked any questions about interests, what they do at work, etc. Surely, that's more important from a demographics perspective.

Mon 24 Jun 02:29 | Jack Schonchin | I thought the possible responses for the question on hours of use was low. How many WebWorders honestly spend less than 1 hour a week on the Internet? Meanwhile, '20+ Hours' doesn't do some of us justice.

Mon 24 Jun 02:52 | James Robertson | At first I thought: hey, do I really want to give demographic information, for use in selling advertising space? Then I thought: hey, how many useful links have I found because of WebWord (countless), maybe I can give five minutes of time back in return ... :-) I found the education question confusing. We don't really have 'college' in Australia. Instead we have 'university'. Maybe you should distinguish between 'graduate', 'post graduate', and 'high school', etc.

Mon 24 Jun 03:17 | Anonymous | You haven't included many countries in the countries options. 'Other' would include a lot of countries!

Mon 24 Jun 08:38 | John S. Rhodes | Hey folks, I really appreciate the comments. I understand that there are going to be some problems with the survey. They are always problems with surveys. I'm going to leave the survey just as it is. There will be quite a bit of very useful information even with the flaws. Please remember that I've been almost completely data blind. Of course, the data will be useful for advertising purposes. But it will also be useful just to get a demographic picture of the WebWord readership. I'm sure plenty of people will be interested in the results too, and that is why I've allowed everyone to see them. Regarding MadMan's comments about understanding reader interests, hobbies, skills, etc., I want to know that too! However, I'm going to tackle those questions in another survey.

Mon 24 Jun 10:02 | Anonymous | I've always found when running surveys that the most interesting information collected come from open-ended comment fields. Just a box where people can chime in on anything is consistently interesting.

Mon 24 Jun 10:23 | John S. Rhodes | Anonymous, I agree that having open-ended comment fields is a Good Thing but it wasn't possible with this (free) survey tool. I did battle with two Perls scripts for about 5-6 hours. I just gave up. I had both scripts installed and configured but just couldn't quite get them to work. It was incredibly frustrating. To be honest, I am glad to have as good a survey out there as I do. One of the things I wanted to do was to run a contest. With this survey tool, that wasn't possible either. For the next survey, I'll do things differently. On that note, can anyone recommend a good survey service? I don't mind paying a little bit of money (less than $50 if possible) to get a more useful survey in place. Any thoughts on this?

Mon 24 Jun 12:04 | Jack Schonchin | Look for a good, free poll script and pay someone $50 to install it for you.

Mon 24 Jun 12:41 | MadMan | If it were ASP, I could knock one together in a couple of hours. :) That said, I know there are plenty of free (or cheap) alternatives out there. Want me to find some for you? Hey John, why don't you try asking on the evolt.org mailing list? 3000+ web dev guys subscribed. ;)

Mon 24 Jun 12:47 | MadMan | In fact, try this big list at: http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Marketing/Surveys/ (and search for 'free')

Mon 24 Jun 15:28 | Anonymous | Disappointingly generic survey. The 'occupation' question struck me as a particularly blunt instrument. No big surprise that at least half of respondents here are 'professionals.' Why not break that down to be more specific? And wouldn't 'management' also be 'professional' in most cases? (Sorry, my mistake -- oxymoron. ;-) Don't you have any friends in market research to consult on these matters? I criticize only because I care.

Mon 24 Jun 15:47 | John S. Rhodes | Anonymous, Valid criticisms. 1. Even this gross data will be useful to me. I'm not trying to get specific details at this point. 2. I was only able to ask 15 questions. This time around I decided to ask generic questions because of the limitation. I'll try to get more details next time. 3. Please realize that this data will help me help advertisers. It will also help me avoid hitting you with ads that have no relevance. I believe that targeted ads, ones that you care about, actually can add value (no pun intended). 4. I do know some folks that can help me. Also, if someone here wants to help me construct a more useful survey, that would be great. All feedback, even negative, is appreciated. 5. As I mentioned above in response to MadMan, I do plan on running another survey that will hit things like interests, hobbies, etc. 6. By 2017 you can expect that the survey will comply with usability guidelines. Wink, Wink, Nudge, Nudge.

Mon 24 Jun 15:55 | Management | Dear Anonymous, As the survey reveals, most of us who visit this site are 'professionals' and we always reveal our identity. We are not bothered of doing so. However, it does bother us when others (such as yourself) do not reveal their identities while posting comments. I believe this issue was pointed out in a few other postings by others. It is a pleasure to us to know who we're talking to, and since putting a face to the voice is not always possible in the world of e-communication, putting a name to the voice is a great value. As we all post here '...because we care' we also care about those who share their identities with us. Thank you for your cooperation.

Mon 24 Jun 17:11 | Jack Schonchin | Dear Mr. Management, a few points of contention: 1) You did not reveal your identity. Or at least, I have not noticed anyone posting under the name 'Management' before. Are you being intentionally ironic? 2) You should thoughtfully consider all points raised, on equal footing, regardless of the fingers behind the words. I consider anonymous posts as valid as named posts. 3) Placing a name with a message enables you to disregard a speaker out-of-hand... as have half the people reading this post have already done. Boo! 4) What's in a name? Nothing. My real name is not Jack. Tomorrow who knows who I'll be. I've always wanted to be Alex. Other people simply go anonymous when the feeling hits them.

Mon 24 Jun 17:52 | JB | You know for a simple, free survey...it isn't really that bad. Sure there will be nothing definitive, but it will give you a very nice snap shot of your user audience.

Mon 24 Jun 18:32 | John S. Rhodes | JB, I agree.

Mon 24 Jun 18:55 | Jack Schonchin | Oh poot. Let's argue some more.

Tue 25 Jun 01:17 | MadMan | I like it that you've got a decent representation of ladies visiting this site. I've always wanted more women in the profession. If anyone's interested, I'm single, and look somewhat acceptable with a chimpanzee. Damn, I just made a big ass of myself. Did I mention I live in India. Doesn't stop me from terrorising John and this Web site. ;)

Tue 25 Jun 09:57 | Jack Schonchin | Oh MadMan, you know a long-distance relationship will never work. Internet telephony is just too choppy.

Tue 25 Jun 11:53 | MadMan | I'm not a big fan of these long-distance relationships, Jack. I wouldn't want something like this to happen to me.

Tue 25 Jun 15:38 | Jack Schonchin | MadMan, are you saying you don't want anyone discovering the corpse in your fridge?

Is Blogging a Fad? | Mon 24 Jun

One way to distinguish a fad from a trend is to ask what would happen if you reversed the order in which technologies were invented. For example, suppose that we had all of the highly-touted electronic technologies for distance learning, and then someone came along and invented the book.

Tue 25 Jun 14:03 | Lydia | The way I see it, 'personal' blogging is a fad, but 'professional' blogging is probably here to stay. Your blog, for instance, is designed to support a business (or a profession at the very least). Personal blogs are the 'My boss is an idiot because...' kind. Most personal ('confessional'?) bloggers come and go within the space of a year or less. I see a dedicated few who morph into a sort of 'news and events commentary' blog (or just strictly link to other things without much fanfare), but most of the others who hang on to the 'confessional' format tend to fall in that category of 'mind numbing tedium,' to quote a friend. I'm not sure why this keeps happening, except maybe that everyone thinks 'ooh, fun, I'll try this' then fall into the 'fame trap' of revealing personal thoughts and feelings only to be rewarded by constant misunderstanding, personal attacks, and unwanted intimacy from strangers. Interesting question, though.

Google Weblog | Thu 20 Jun

The latest news on everyones favorite search engine.

Tue 25 Jun 13:38 | frank | It's a good search engine, but also here webmasters always find a way to fool the engine, too bad..

WebWord Comment | Mon 24 Jun

Im having a hard time putting together the words to express my appreciation. It is now 11:16 PM EST and over 270 people have taken the 2002 WebWord Survey. You did this in less than 24 hours. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your feedback. And, most importantly, thank you for being here and sharing WebWord with me.

Tue 25 Jun 03:37 | Mac | One of the things I liked about your survey, was the fact that I could see all of the results myself. I get really angry when I am asked to give up some of my free time to answer questions, but get nothing in return. Thanks for making it a 2-way experience.

Tue 25 Jun 10:28 | Anonymous | You're welcome. I responded twice.

Jambusters eye cellphones | Mon 24 Jun

(BBC) Within five minutes of being switched on the system is able to generate traffic information for over 90% of roads in the network.

Tue 25 Jun 05:19 | Steve Annells | From the BBC website, 8th May 2002: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk_politics/newsid_1975000/1975213.stm A ban on drivers speaking on mobile phones could be scuppered because police cannot tell when a hands-free kit is being used. Mobiles have been linked to 17 road deaths in the UK. But safety campaigners say that could be the tip of the iceberg as no official figures have ever been compiled. A recent study found using a mobile phone behind the wheel was nearly as dangerous as drink driving......... .......Although phone records could be used in court to show a phone was operating, drivers could claim it was switched on but not in use.

Blind Golf | Mon 24 Jun

Click somewhere in the green to drop the ball. It will bounce around until it gets to the hole - the location of which initially is unfortunately unknown to you.

Tue 25 Jun 01:30 | Manuel Razzari | The crack: click very close to a corner and win soon! I scored 34!

Radio, radio: Where did all the music go? | Mon 24 Jun

(CNN) The result, according to critics: appealing to the lowest common denominator with a slimmed down playlist, and ignoring the fringes.

Mon 24 Jun 22:13 | Anonymous | The Internet radio stations are tired of RIAA trying to squeeze every last cent out of them. The People are tired of boring, formula music. Successful musicians are tired of the strangehold the Labels have on them. Independent musicians are tired of never being given the chance to be heard. Everyone is tired of The System. How long do we have to wait for independents to organize a music library of copyright-OK tunes? Everyone will benefit, except the RIAA.

Mon 24 Jun 23:41 | Ron Zeno | 'Research started taking over,' Abrams recalled. 'People wouldn't go to the bathroom without going to a focus group.' The focus group - a great means for finding data to support an idea... And a very poor means to determine the soundness of an idea.

Tue 25 Jun 01:08 | Tim | Was that an article or an advertisement for XM ??

Special NewsLine Story: Stop Aiming for Interactivity! | Mon 24 Jun

Why did we all jump on the interactivity bandwagon? The answer is thought provoking. We did it because we don’t fully understand the human learning system.

Mon 24 Jun 23:19 | John S. Rhodes | By the way, don't draw the conclusion that I think the article is totally correct. I think interactivity is critical. I don't think interactivity is bad but, like so many things, it is often done poorly.

Mon 24 Jun 23:31 | Ron Zeno | Great article! 'The key is to understand the human cognitive system and how it leads to on-the-job performance.' 'Our knowledge isn’t perfect, but that doesn’t mean we should settle for overly simplistic nostrums. We need to ride a more meaningful bandwagon.' Certainly applies to far more than just instructional design...

Links & JavaScript Living Together in Harmony | Mon 24 Jun

(Evolt, Feb. 2002) It seems theres not a week that goes by that someone isnt asking about how to properly execute some JavaScript from a link. Unfortunately, theyre not usually driven to bring their problem to others for help because theyre trying to make their site as usable and accessible as possible.

Mon 24 Jun 04:32 | Matt Round | Please read this article if you use JavaScript (particularly popups) on your site, most developers get it wrong and either use the javascript: protocol or omit return false.

Mon 24 Jun 09:54 | MadMan | Yes, this article is essential reading. It's amazing how many people, apart from using the javascript: protocol, also use '#' anchors with onclick events, causing the page to jump back to the top. Ugh! Also, using Jeff's method keeps people like me happy, because I always shift-click links to open them in new windows. The 'javascript:' links just give me errors, but this method shows me the page. And let me pimp Jeff's excellent Javascript code library at http://members.evolt.org/jeff/code. While he's still creating an intro page, I'm sure you'll still find plenty of useful stuff there.

Mon 24 Jun 12:08 | Joshua Kaufman | What's most unfortunate is that many weblogs use javascript enabled popups for comments, making their comment system inaccessible. I think the default template in Moveable Type uses the javascript: protocol but I'm not sure about most other weblog tools.

Mon 24 Jun 12:40 | MadMan | Joshua, Not only the MT comments, but the MT CGI system too. The funny part is that it's so easy to make your hyperlinks work for people who have Javascript disabled.

Are People Willing to Pay to Reduce Others’ Incomes? | Thu 20 Jun

We design an experiment where subjects can reduce (burn) other subjects money. Those who burn the money of others have to give up some of their own cash to do so. Despite this cost, and contrary to the assumptions of economics textbooks, the majority of our subjects choose to destroy at least part of others money holdings.

Mon 24 Jun 12:21 | Alan Fisher | Madman, I wasn't equating the behaviour of my ex-colleagues to their business behaviour. What I was trying to say was that, even in a situation where competitive behaviour was not appropriate they couldn't resist trying to stab the other team in the back. In a work situation there are often situations where it's appropriate to co-operate with other parts of your organisation, but many people can't differentiate between competing with their competitors (appropriate behaviour) and competing with their co-workers (not always appropriate). Thanks John for reminding me that it's the prisoner's dilemma - I couldn't remember it for the life of me!

Usability Professionals: Stay Prepared for Business Waves | Sat 22 Jun

(UPA) To help you anticipate how business conditions can affect you, there are several factors you can assess these areas of your work: What is your link to the business? How do you create value? How much value? Who else knows the value you create?

Mon 24 Jun 08:19 | Anonymous | I've found a simple notice board of job listings for information architects, interaction designers, usability and accessibility people http://pluto.beseen.com/boardroom/z/55481 I think it's maintained by Netgaine.com. Regards Tommy Tasklow

WebWord Comment | Sat 22 Jun

Another auction is available for advertising space in the WebWord Addiction. Good luck bidding.

Mon 24 Jun 01:04 | PeterV | How much you made, lessons learnt, is it worth the effort, will it last, ... that kind of stuff :)