Microsoft's Avalon presentation API is coming

New tools for User Interface Design running on Windows ...

"Avalon is coming. Well, actually, Windows Presentation Foundation is coming. But whether you know it under the hip codename it's been using for a couple of years now, or the newly-sanitized corporate moniker it goes by in the Windows Vista beta, the essential message is the same: This is the future of user interface design for those of us in Windows development. As such, it's worth knowing a bit about what's coming, even if it won't matter to most of us for a couple of years.

Let's start with the basic facts: WPF consists of a new graphics runtime that runs on top of DirectX, and that is meant to be called from everywhere (browser-based applications, Windows forms, video, documents, you name it), plus a framework (what we used to call APIs before the term "framework" became so sexy). WPF will ship as a native part of Windows Vista (if you haven't been paying attention, that's the operating system that used to be called Longhorn) some time in 2006, and will be available as an add-on to Windows XP and Windows 2003. Microsoft still nurses fond hopes that people will throw away all older versions of Windows."   continued ...   (Via )

Microsoft Avalon - Windows Presntation Foundation

Voice Driven Interfaces

We need to make better use of what we have ...

"I’m sure we’ve all had experiences with voice systems like the one above. Usually they are deployed as cost savings measures to reduce customer support staff. Unfortunately, this is the only experience most have with voice systems. Although not often covered in the HCI literature, there is an incredible amount that voice interfaces can do. These options are also becoming more viable as the base of consumers with voice-enabled devices (usually phones) grows.

One idea would be to have location-aware voice-based assistance relayed through an earbud as one navigated in an unfamiliar space. The space could be driving directions, or just walking downtown. The information could range from educational to entertainment to cultural to (of course) commercial. This type of interaction would allow hands-free operation, and more importantly, leave the eyes open to experience the world instead of being focused on a tiny screen.

In the commercial space, there are a few companies that are advancing voice-based interfaces. TellMe is a good example a company applying small changes to greatly improve the usability of their system. These changes range from saying the action button after the description, to optimizing unneeded pauses in speech. They also use an approach to menus that prompts for speech selections as soon as they are heard, which makes the interaction feel quicker, while also provided temporal data to help bolster voice recognition accuracy."   continued ...   (Via OK/Cancel)

Obitz voice interface.

Philips calls for technology industry to step up pace in realizing simplicity

Simplicity in design is long overdue. Perhaps simplicity will yield greater usability ...

"Philips is to use the forthcoming launch of High Definition TV (HDTV) services in Europe as a rallying call for the technology industry to increase its application of simplicity in product creation.

Rudy Provoost, CEO of Philips Consumer Electronics, will tell an audience of industry insiders that manufacturers must make as much effort as possible to 'Realizing Simplicity Today' within the industry.

Building upon the Sense & Simplicity campaign Philips launched one year ago, Mr Provoost will underline the need for manufacturers to put the consumer first when introducing new technologies and technology-enabled products, such as HDTV."   continued ...   (Via PhysOrg)

Philips simplicity effort.

Phones For Grown Ups

As some cell phones have gone to a "simplicity" model, Eatoni Mail provides ease of input ...

"As phone keypads and screen sizes get smaller, many people find them increasingly hard to read and use. Now Eatoni Mail introduces large type and a simple text-entry software solution on BREW to simplify the phone experience.

Eatoni Mail, from software developer Eatoni Ergonomics, simplifies the sending and reading of email on a mobile phone by reducing the number of keystrokes used to type text on a telephone keypad. It can also instantly increase the font size of words appearing on the phone’s screen to a 24 points – the same font size used by many large-print newspaper and book editions -- eliminating the chore of attempting to read the small print usually associated with text on phones.

“Eatoni’s LetterWise is a modeless, ‘what you see is what you get’ text entry system that is even simpler than multi-tap,” Gutowitz said. “LetterWise needs about half as many keystrokes as regular multi-tap. With LetterWise it’s easy to enter proper names, URL’s, slang and unconventional language on a cell phone or other handheld device.”   continued ...   (Via 160 Characters)

Letterwise enabled phone.

New Web Tools for Color Blind Computer Users

A new approach to an old problem ...

"A researcher at the University of East Anglia is working on plug-in software that tweaks colors according to the type of color blindness of individual computer users.

The award allowed Jefferson to further develop his concept, FarbenTech, a technique to correct colors for color-blind computer users. He is interested in developing adaptive technologies for color vision deficient (CVD) observers by preserving color information by mapping colors based on the type and severity of the individual user’s condition. Jefferson’s research combines color imaging and human factors in order to develop assistive tools for CVD computer users. Jefferson is developing accessibility tools for designers to help them choose color combinations that are user friendly for color blind people. Color blindness is typically a genetic condition and it is much more common in men than in women. About one in twelve men has at least some color perception problems."   continued ...   (Via SAP INFO)

Color blind testing.

Data Visualization: Virtual Geographic Environments combining AEC and GIS

A bit dated but a good article on visualization ...

"Visualization is a natural extension of communication and functions in the “visual thinking” domain. Visualization emphasizes intuitive representation of data so as to enable individuals to understand the nature of phenomena represented by the data. The visualization of data is one of the central tasks in the field of AEC (architecture/engineering/construction) and GIS. Data visualization makes use of the ability of the human eye to recognize structures and relationships that may be inherent within the data. However, the rapidly increasing amount of data precludes the presentation of all given data items. Furthermore, the complexity of many datasets surpasses the user’s ability to identify the gist or the underlying concepts. Advances in human-computer interaction have created completely new paradigms for exploring graphical information in a dynamic way, with flexible user control. Therefore more intuitive and efficient interactive visualization environments become increasingly significant for the visual exploration of large amounts of complicated spatio-temporal information."   continued ...   (Via Directions Magazine)

Philips unveils world's first 'Rollable Display' pocket e-Reader concept READIUS

A display like this might make the e-reading UX more acceptable to users ...

"Polymer Vision does not intend to commercialize this concept as a product in the market. Instead, it is demonstrating the fitness of its rollable displays for use in the mobile devices of tomorrow.

The Readius is the world’s first prototype of a functional electronic-document reader that can unroll its display to a scale larger than the device itself. With four gray levels, the monochrome, 5-inch QVGA (320 pixels x 240 pixels) display provides paper-like viewing comfort with a high contrast ratio for reading-intensive applications, including text, graphics, and electronic maps. Using a bi-stable electrophoretic display effect from E Ink Corp., the display consumes little power and is easy to read, even in bright daylight. Once the user has finished reading, the display can be rolled back into the pocket-size (100 mm x 60 mm x 20 mm) device.

“Making displays thinner and flexible will have advantages in power and weight. But the only way to add the key advantage of size—allowing larger displays in smaller, pocket-size mobile devices—is by actually making the displays rollable,” says Polymer Vision CEO Karl McGoldrick."   continued ...   (Via PhysOrg)

Potential for a good UX.

History of Apple Computer

A detailed history of Apple Computer that will form the basis of a book ...

"Before he co-founded Apple, Steve Wozniak was an electronics hacker. By 1975, he was working at Hewlett-Packard and helping his friend Steve Jobs design video games for Atari. Wozniak had been buying computer time on a variety of minicomputers hosted by Call Computer, a time-sharing firm run by Alex Kamradt. The computer terminals available at that time were primarily paper-based; thermal printers like the Texas Instruments Silent 700 were state of the art. Wozniak had seen a 1975 issue of Popular Electronics magazine on how to build your own computer terminal. Using off-the-shelf parts, Wozniak designed the Computer Conversor, a 24-line by 40-column, uppercase-only video teletype that he could use to log on to the minicomputers at Call Computer. Alex Kamradt commissioned the design and sold a small number of them through his firm."   continued ...   (Via Wikipedia)

In the beginning there was ...

Google OS (??)

Just a joke but not that far fetched ... continued ...   (Via Gizmodo)

Just around the corner?

The Smart Laser Scanner for Human-Computer Interface

A new User Interface concept is around the corner ...

"Seems like free-space/motion-tracking interface systems can’t get by without a Minority Report reference anymore, but of the ones we’ve seen to date, the Smart Laser Scanner for Human-Computer Interface by Alvaro Cassinelli, Stephane Perrin, and Masatoshi Ishikawa definitely gets our award for slickest implementation (and perhaps another award for being an actual working system). Their first gen system is comprised primarily of off-the-shelf equipment like a laser diode, photodetector, which they believe can eventually be shrunk and integrated into portable devices. Can’t wait!"   continued ...   (Via Engadget)

Inputing in space.

Rettig on Experience Design

A good paper on Experience Design with examples ...

"Mark Rettig and Aradhana Goel’s “Desiging for Experience” (.pdf) is too good to just bookmark in del.icio.us. A 128-page presentation with two extraordinarily detailed experience design case studies does not come along every day. Diagrams and prototypes galore await, reader."   continued ...   (Via heyblog)

An early mock-up.

Bottoms-Up Semantics by Agile XML

A complex methodology for Agile Development ...

"On XML.com, Micah Dubinko summarizes some interesting conversations surrounding agile development and XML.

I think there is something to the “agile development” idea. It’s kind of like bottoms-up, instead of top-down.

The top-down approach, of course, is the Semantic Web. In particular, the technology RDF. RDF was created for knowledge representation, and if you scroll down a bit on the Semantic Web roadmap you’ll come to a graph that shows you an idea of how that works. You can make assertions about things, using subjects, verbs, and objects."   continued ...   (Via Bokardo)

Agile Development.

BayCHI - The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of ACM SIGCHI

Monthly Program Meeting
September 13, 2005
PARC's George E. Pake Auditorium, Palo Alto, California
Podcasting: Media Evolution or Revolution?
Doug Kaye, IT Conversations
Podcast Solutions and Podcast Problems
Dan Klass, The Bitterest Pill

Monthly meeting.

This Is Broken - (please help) New Orleans/Gulf Coast

Emergency assistance needed now. This is really broken. Links to all official non-profit organizations.

"Broken: (please help) New Orleans/Gulf Coast

I lived for ten years in New Orleans and on the Gulf Coast, and my heart goes out to the residents of those areas.

If you want to help, please donate money. I know I will.

Also see Wikipedia's entry on Katrina."   continued ...   (Via This Is Broken)

Katrina devistation.

OpitcalBar turns part of a display into a touchscreen - sort of

Going half-way often leads to a half-baked UI ...

"Want a touchscreen display? Then you’d better just buy one, or pick up a Tablet PC. That’s the conclusion of PC Magazine, which checked out the H2i SimplyTouch OpticalBar, a $60 sensor that hooks up to the top of a monitor and tracks finger movements over a portion of the screen, allowing that part of the display to become a virtual touchscreen. The reviewer found that using a keyboard and mouse is still quicker, and that the sensor can still misread taps, despite the fact that the system is designed to work with SimplyTouch’s own software, which has a preset group of icons that you can assign to different tasks. The review didn’t even mention the biggest problem we see with this: pizza grease on the screen. But, then, maybe we need to get away from our desk a little more."   continued ...   (Via Engadget)

A "sort of" touch screen.

Razer Copperhead Mouse Review

Getting the ergonomics and UX right on a mouse ...

"The Razer Copperhead has the same shape as the Diamondback, featuring a symmetrical design that's great for righties and even better for left-handers who haven't yet surrendered to right-handed mouse operation. The mouse has two oversized left and right click buttons that make clicking easy for a variety of hand placements ranging from the usual "hand on top" to a "low-rider" grip where the palm rests on the mousing surface rather than the mouse itself. The scrollwheel is clickable and has groves to provide subtle tactile feedback as you scroll up and down.

Continuing with the ambidextrous theme, the Copperhead has forward and back thumb buttons on both the left and right sides of the mouse. Since two buttons opposite your thumb will be relatively inaccessible, depending on your hand placement, the mouse maps those buttons to cycle the dpi between four presets: 400dpi, 800dpi, 1,600dpi, and 2,000dpi. Common mice top out at 400 or 800dpi, and current gaming mice go up to 1,600dpi. However, the Copperhead's laser engine offers 2,000dpi performance for the smoothest mousing action around."   continued ...   (Via GameSpot)

An ergonomically improved mouse.

Creative Awarded U.S. Patent On User Interface For Portable Media Players

A patent for a User Interface Design. Look out Apple ...

"Creative Technology, the Singapore digital entertainment products maker, today announced that it has been awarded U.S. Patent 6,928,433, which Creative is referring to as the "Zen Patent." The Zen Patent was awarded to Creative for its invention of the user interface for portable media players, including many of the Creative Zen and NOMAD Jukebox MP3 players, and found in some arch rival players, such as the Apple iPod and iPod mini. The Zen Patent covers the user interface that enables users of portable media players to efficiently and intuitively navigate among and select tracks on the players.

Creative's invention for the user interface for portable media players enables selection of at least one track in a portable media player as a user sequentially navigates through a hierarchy using three or more successive screens on the display of the player. One example would be the sequence of screens that could display artists, then albums, and then tracks. When the user selects an artist, the player displays a list of albums for that artist. Selection of one of the listed albums then displays a list of tracks on the album."   continued ...   (Via PhysOrg)

Creative Zen's patented UI.

An Approach To Optimal Design Within Technical Constraints

A procedure for designing for a great UX but within constraints ...

"I’ve observed (and practiced) a number of design processes which were less than optimal. In some cases, the designer has sufficient technological knowledge that they cripple themselves (I think I called it shooting ourselves in the foot) with the their own perceived constraints. Other times, the designer may set out with a fairly idealistic design, but the end product gets nowhere close to that vision.

So after a few hard lessons, I’ve come up with a personal approach which seems to have worked better. I think one of the keys is the initial design. When I first approach a problem, I design as though technological constraints did not exist within reason. What’s within reason? That’s a judgement call. As one commenter pointed out, without technological constraints, the user could just think what they want, and the system would do it. That’s not very realistic though. I say it’s a judgement call for what is within reason because it depends on the device we’re designing for.

Basically the idea is to stretch the boundaries that are perceived to be there. What if those weren’t there? What if we could drag and drop on the web? What if we could retrieve data without refreshing the page? All of these are now possible but were probably perceived as not so just a year ago."   continued ...   (Via OK/Cancel)

Optimal design with technical constraints.

Who wants to own content?

More on the ownership / control equation for Web 2.0 ...

Distribution is not king. Content is not king. Conversation is the kingdom.

The war is over and the army that wasn’t even fighting — the army of all of us, the ones who weren’t in charge, the ones without the arms — won. The big guys who owned the big guns still don’t know it. But they lost.

In our media 2.0, web 2.0, post-media, post-scarcity, small-is-the-new-big, open-source, gift-economy world of the empowered and connected individual, the value is no longer in maintaining an exclusive hold on things. The value is no longer in owning content or distribution.

The value is in relationships. The value is in trust."   continued ...   (Via BuzzMachine)

Ya gotta have trust.

9 Lessons from 9 Years of Interface Design

This should be an interesting series ...

"I recently put together a personal retrospective that outlines some of the high-level principles I’ve come to embrace through nine years of interface design. I described these principles as “lessons” to focus on how I came to adopt these principles and why. Lessons are a useful way to think about interface design methodologies and guidelines because not only is the design process complex, it also never really ends.

When designing digital products -technology, business, and user experience need to converge in all the right ways lest one of these factors overpower the others. If the technology is not up to par, people can’t use the product. If the business case is not valid, people don’t want to use the product. And if the user experience comes up short, people don’t know how to use the product. Experience builds a designer’s ability to understand how these factors limit and enhance each other. It helps to build a designer’s horizontal skill sets.

Over the next few articles on Functioning Form, I’ll dive into each of these lessons with concrete examples and explanations:

1. Insights come in all shapes and sizes.
2. Writing it down forces you to think it through.
3. Less is more…
4. …except when more is more.
5. Patterns occur at all levels.
6. Documentation takes time. Make it worth the effort.
7. Design is communication. Use it as such.
8. It’s about more than users.
9. Design is never done."   continued ...   (Via Functioning Form)

Product Forces.

All Your Control Are Belong To Us

Who gets to control Web 2.0. A rebuttle to the next article below ...

"If you're interested in this Web 2.0 thing, and you haven't yet read Abe's thoughts on it, you should. His distinction of the insiders (those who build the tools) and the outsiders (those who use the tools) is reminiscent of Neal Stephenson's use of Eloi and Morlocks (click and scroll down a bit) as a way to distinguish between the hackers who build our technological systems, and the people who use them.

Later on, Abe references my essay on relinquishing control, and claims,

"In the end he's not just arguing that companies should relinquish control, rather he's arguing that they should relinquish control over to him, his company Adaptive Path, and others that share their philosophy. Reliquish control over to the professionals, those that know what they are doing, know how to control things on the internet." (Emphasis his)

As the author of that essay, I feel confident in saying that Abe's take, on this point, is balderdash. One of the challenges facing Adaptive Path, and anyone seriously pursuing designing in this space, is that we as designers, we as professionals, we as those who think we know better, we, too, have to relinquish control. And that is exactly what I meant in my essay. If I were to truly believe what Abe claims I meant, I would be hypocritical. I don't want companies to give control to me. I want them to give control to their customers. Because if there's one thing I've learned, those of us who "know what they are doing" often don't."   continued ...   (Via peterme)

Who will control Web 2.0?

Web 2.0

A detailed discussion of the future of Web 2.0 ...

"Are the internet hypelords getting a bit tired? There's this funny whiff of déjà vu that comes along with the latest and greatest buzzword: Web 2.0. Web 2.0? Wasn't that like 1995? Don't they remember that Business 2.0 magazine? Or remember how all the big companies have stopped using version numbers for software and instead hired professional marketers to make even blander and more confusing names? I hear "Web 2.0" and immediately smell yet another hit off the dotcom crackpipe...

But perhaps that's a little too harsh, while Web 2.0 might have emerged in a large part from tech publisher O'Reilly's PR, underneath it is a real feeling among some that there is something going on that makes the web of today different then the web of a few years ago. Blogs, open standards, long tails and the like. The most concise and clear definition I've found is Richard Manus', " the philosophy of Web 2.0 is to let go of control, share ideas and code, build on what others have built, free your data." Which of course doesn't sound that different then say the goes of the plain old unnumbered "web", back ten years ago. But the Web 2.0 are right, the web is different now, but the big differences aren't necessarily found in those prosaic "information wants to be free" ideals, which actually stand as one of the biggest constants in web evolution."   continued ...   (Via Abstract Dynamics)

Web 2.0 wants to be free.

Planning for User Research Success

A set of questions you should answer before starting Usability Testing ...

"Planning is crucial if you want your user research efforts to be effective. You need to think about what information you need to gather, and why, before embarking on any research. Good planning, well communicated to the client or project, and followed by careful implementation will ensure your research is effective.

When conducting user research activities such as Usability Testing, Interviews and Site Visits, it's important to think about the information you want to gather and why. Sometimes we see organizations undertaking research activities – with the best of intentions – that yield data that is insufficiently detailed, mis-focused, or not timely. For example, they may rush into conducting usability testing of an interface with readily identifiable flaws (such as inconsistent navigation or terminology) that could have been addressed prior to testing.

A useful way to begin planning is to answer a set of questions. Not only do they help you choose the appropriate research activities, but they also help you to actually produce a Research Plan that can then be agreed and signed off with your client or project."   continued ...   (Via Apogee)

Asking the right questions before you start testing.

Engadget 1985

Just for fun, this is what Engadget looked like circa 1985. A lot of hardware and software products including early Apple and Windows 1.0. Usability has sure come a long way. You have to look at this.   continued ...   (Via Engadget)

This is the Macintosh Lisa, renamed Macintosh XL.

Open New Windows for PDF and other Non-Web Documents

PDF UI has been an irritant for a long time ...

"When using PC-native file formats such as PDF or spreadsheets, users feel like they're interacting with a PC application. Because users are no longer browsing a website, they shouldn't be given a browser UI.
Users are easily confused when websites link them to non-Web documents that offer a significantly different user experience than that of browsing Web pages.

In user testing, we often observe the following behavior: When people are finished using PDF files, Word memos, PowerPoint slides, Excel spreadsheets, and similar documents, they click the window's close box instead of the Back button. This gets them out of the document all right, but not back to the Web page from whence they started.

Blowing away browser windows is particularly bad on intranets, where users often have to log in or jump through other hoops to access document repositories."   continued ...   (Via Alertbox)

PDF Full Screen.

The Future of the Home Entertainment PC

Another example of poor UI resulting in poor UX ...

"The future of the Media Center is a series of devices working seamlessly together to give you the content you want where you want it. Now the players "just" need to make that dream a reality before the cable guys do.

The PC industry has a hard time with usability . Products often require users be tech experts and learn various user interfaces, networking skills and system administration skills. However, standards do exist and controls like keyboards and mice remain constant across the family. While CE hardware is instantly on, PC hardware is anything but and often turns itself off as a result of needing to apply a software patch or a "crash" -- neither of which exists in most CE hardware.

The most obvious example of this usability problem is on home wireless networking equipment which generally requires extensive technical knowledge to set up securely, often needs to be flashed to work properly and is generally not set up optimally as a result.

This may be the reason that people are generally dissatisfied with their PC-related products and why they often migrate to shelves in the garage or basement, are put up for sale on eBay or are returned to the store for some other poor fool to try."   continued ...   (Via TechNewsWorld)

It is not an easy experience.

Spousal Acceptance Factor

Remote control(s): probably the worst User Experience since programming a VCR ...

"Back when we were buying our DLP rear projection TV, we initially bought a 43-inch model. When it was delivered, my wife, Jan, looked at me and said, "Gee, it seems a little small."

Then she tried to use it. There was a long period of time where only I and my two daughters could actually watch the TV. That's because of the plethora of different remotes needed to turn on the TV:

• Grab the Samsung remote, turn on the TV
• While that's warming up, grab the Onkyo remote and turn on receiver.
• Make sure the receiver is set to Video 1.
• When the Samsung is warmed up, use the Samsung remote to bring up the list of inputs and switch to DVI.
• Finally, when all that is live, use the Dish Network remote to manage the DVR.
• Ah, but if you want to adjust the volume, you need the Onkyo remote.

This situation replicates itself across the country. It's not women, either. Several of my male friends aren't savvy about juggling multiple remotes that use multiple modalities. And, of course, they shouldn't."   continued ...   (Via Extreme Tech)

Keeping them all straight.

No-see-um keys, new shape for keyboard

Is this more than assigning events to function keys? Has anyone tried this keyboard? ...

"Two Austin startups have added new twists to typing on a computer keyboard and using a mouse.

Metadot Corp.'s Das Keyboard is selling a keyboard equipped with blank keys mounted on individually weighted key switches.

The idea is that without letters and numbers to guide them, users' brains will adapt and memorize the key positions, resulting in faster and more accurate typing."   continued ...   (Via Statesmen.com)

A new input concept.

Is 'ghetto' a design choice?

Why can sites with poor UI be so popular? ...

"MySpace is a community site that allows you to setup a profile and blog and connect with friends and strangers. It's also a designer's and lover of design's worst nightmare because the UI of the site is atrocious yet it boasts 17 million visitors a month (and rising) and was recently purchased for over $580 million by News Corp.

Great design trumps horrible design because it makes things appear to work easier. Trying to navigate the MySpace UI is frustrating at best. So why does it work? Besides the community I think it's the fact that you can customize your pages and if you explore the community you will see some crazy designs going on. 90% of them you can't even read the content, but people love it.

My best guess is that it follows the eBay design model. My theory is that eBay was a success due to its crappy design because it gave it that flea market feel and when you went there you felt like you getting a deal. Go to Tiffany & Co. and you don't get the feeling that you are getting a bargain because you shouldn't."   continued ...   (Via Whitespace)

A popular site with poor UI.

Dear Microsoft: F Lock sucks!

Whoops ...

"I've complained about this before, but it just bit me again. The implementation of the F Lock key on newer Microsoft keyboards is a user interface design gaff of massive proportions. We have 20 years of people learning how to use function keys, and in one fell swoop, MS decides to change the way everything works. The funny thing is, it's not like the addition of the F Lock key and changing the behavior of every function key has reduced the complexity of keyboards. Take a look at some of the higher end MS keyboards, and you'll see that they're festooned with buttons for just about everything.

In any case, MS should at least make it possible to configure the keyboard to default to the normal behavior that applications and users expect from the keyboard. I have to install their keyboard driver software anyway, so why isn't this an option in there?

Microsoft's vaunted user interface skills and lab testing chops really took a hit on this one.

Nothing like moving a hundred pictures into a folder, then pressing F2 to rename one and have them all disappear. Why? Because F2 means Undo on this damn keyboard. Nice.

Bad Microsoft, bad!"   continued ...   (Via Pretty Stupid For a Smart Guy)

Forcing a new paradigm.

Good Luck New Orleans ...

"New Orleans evacuated as ferocious Hurricane Katrina nears."   continued ...   (Via PhysOrg)

Good luck everyone.

The Psychology of Search: Chapter Three

The third in a series of articles on search ...

"Your Memory Stinks and Search Engines Smell It

Human memory is incredibly bad. In fact, it is so bad that you probably don’t remember what you ate for breakfast just a few days ago. The interesting thing is that human brainpower is pretty impressive; we are outstanding at pattern matching and problem solving. Memory has everything to do with search.

You often search because you have poor memory. But, it isn’t so poor that you are a blank slate, tabula rasa. No, instead, you have a clue and you are buying more clues with every search you do. Let’s cut to the core of this.

Your ability to pattern match and recognize is outstanding, but your ability to dredge up old memories is awful. This is recognition versus recall at work."   continued ...   (Via WebWord)

Bad Memory.

A List Too Far Apart?

We need to design for the greatest versitility - liquid designs accomplish this ...

"On the off-chance that you've spent the last few days living under a rock, let me be the first to tell you that A List Apart has been redesigned.

There has been no shortage of opinions expressed about the new look. Like the old saying goes, opinions are like assholes: some are more well formed than others. No, wait... everybody's got one. Yeah, that's it.

I have a problem with the fixed 1024 pixel wide layout of A List Apart. Now, don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that they should have stuck with 800 pixels. Arguments have already started raging about this with some people fighting for 800 and others campaigning for 1024. To me, the whole debate seems pointless."   continued ...   (Via Adactio)

A large fixed width design.

Web Sites and Window Width

It's not the screen size that we should design for, it's the window size. And these days, the window could be quite small. Perhaps liquid designs should be in your future ...

"It seems that designers creating a 1024 pixel wide design are making a certain assumption …something like “screens are continually getting bigger, so our designs can get bigger, too”. But it’s also an assumption that most folks want to browse using a single window, and have that window take up the entirety (or close to it) of the available screen.

In fact, in recent weeks I’ve been seriously considering buying a new Apple display, with 20 or more inches of viewing capacity, large enough for an even bigger design than the new Alistapart one. But the reason is not so that I can stretch one window and make it as big as possible, the reason is so I can have two windows at ~800 pixels wide.

So I wonder if, instead of seeing everyone adopting a wider fixed-width design, we’ll instead see a comfort level forming with slightly smaller, liquid windows. There is, after all, an upper limit to everything, except plasma TVs, of course. Perhaps we’ve seen the beginnings of it with this new design. And, perhaps others will start to have the same opinion that I do: that two windows are better than one."   continued ...   (Via Bokardo)

Liquid design versitility.