October 13th, 2009
10/GUI : The Video
via 10gui.com
Nifty
Posted via web from bzipkin’s posterous
Check out this demo of new HCI paradigm that could have legs. Scrub forward to about 4mins to see the demo in practice.
Archive for the 'Usability' Category
September 28th, 2009
The Phone – Memories of Old…
Posted via web from bzipkin’s posterous
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September 11th, 2009
Hemingway’s Rules of Writing
Before they became great American writers, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Theodore Dreiser and Sinclair Lewis shared one thing in common: they all worked as beat reporters for the Kansas City Star.
While he only worked at the newspaper for six months, Hemingway credited The Kansas City Star stylebook as “the best rules I ever learned for the business of writing.” The full stylebook doesn’t appear to be available in public domain. However, there are several high-level guidelines and excerpts that any modern writer will find valuable and striking in their simplicity:
The three tenets:
- Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative.
- Never use old slang.
- Eliminate every superfluous word.
More dogma:
- Be careful of the word also. It usually modifies the word it follows closest. “He, also, went” means “He, too, went.” “He went also” means he went in addition to taking some other action.
- Be careful of the word “only.” “He only had $10″ means he alone was the possessor of such wealth; “He had only $10,” means the ten was all the cash he possessed.
- In writing of animals, use the neuter gender except when you are writing of a pet that has a name.
- Try to preserve the atmosphere of the speech in your quotation. For instance, in quoting a child, do not let him say “Inadvertently, I picked up the stone and threw it.”
You can get more info on proper writing styles and mechanic from the Elements of Style, by Strunk and White, and the Associated Press Stylebook, which was influenced by classics stylebooks from the Kansas City Star, The Boston Globe, and others.
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January 30th, 2009
Google Testing a New Adwords Interface?
Google has begun testing a new interface for Adwords. A few MCC users have received invites to experiment with the new UI (not me, unfortunately).
It looks like you can request an invite through the Inside Adwords blog.
Here’s a post from Tim Cohn that offers a brief preview with a screenshot.
At first glance, it looks like they plan to integrate more Google Analytics-like charting features and possibly more robust navigation.
Adwords is due for a UX upgrade. The current approach seems to be collapsing under the weight of all the new features. Some things I’d like to see:
- Easier exporting of tables and campaign information
- Better integration of reporting
- More robust integration with Google Analytics
- Improved role management between team members using MCC
- A better campaign or ad group comparison engine
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December 8th, 2008
The Pleasure Principle
I recently caught a short but sensible post from TechRadar.com that makes the case that Apple is great at interface design because they are one of few technology companies who value “pleasure” as a design principle.
Great concept and very true – when was the last time you used a device or application (from a company other than Apple) and found the experience actually…ummm…enjoyable?
So what is this user experience pleasure principle? Why do Apple products continue to inspire and dazzle users while products from companies like Microsoft and HP just tend to bore us?
UX designers are conditioned to think that user workflow, task completion and logic are the essentials of a quality experience. Elements like design craftsmanship and detail are often considered extraneous and wasteful—or are simply seen as just “adding color”. Many leading design firms and pundits have trumpeted this concept of simplicity over embellishment—function always trumps form.
It’s becoming clear, however, that interfaces don’t need to be stark and bland to be good. Some of the most interesting and powerful digital experiences can be seen in game UI. And companies like Apple continue to show that creating a sense of wonder in your product experience just may please customers as much as simplified design workflows.