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Blogs » Archive for February, 2007
Usability Stifles Creativity!
I often read comments across various usability and interaction design mail lists discussing the pro’s and con’s of user testing.
One argument that seems to come up again and again is the impact of user testing on the creative process. Experienced designers and user experience professionals frequently debate whether user testing actually stifles the design process and hinders true creativity in design.
Take navigation for example… Usable site navigation is considered so important that there is an industry of roles dedicated to it throughout the development of a site: Interaction designers, information architects, usability specialists, accessibility experts, Ajaxian god like creatures… you name it. And don’t forget the Flash developers!
But back to my point about user testing verses straight up design… is it possible to produce creative, functional and usable designs that haven’t involved some type of ‘user intervention’?
I think so. But I do think it depends on the skill of the designer, the user and the type of site.
Take a look at Etsy, a site for sellers and buyers of handmade things – basically an online craft market (not a bad geek destination for a Sunday morning date, huh?!). The site’s been around for about a year and …
The Worlds Longest Month – How much does your business really need you?
I’m happy to be home, and I don’t mean that in the ordinary ‘happy to be home’ way. You see, our annual trip to Asia went well this year, but just as we were getting on a plane from Tokyo back to the US I suffered a medical emergency and wound up in the hospital. Everything turned out fine - I’m home again and steadily recovering from what turned out to be a nasty but routine illness. But I’m happy to be home, in a big way.
So, back to business: why am I writing about this?
First, I wanted to explain my long absence, and thank everyone at SitePoint (members included) for their patience and kind words. Second, being away from my business and my clients was a big eye-opener so it seems an idea blog post.
Most of you understand the value of documenting and codifying all of the procedures that make your business run. A business that is overly dependent upon one person has little value to anyone but that one person, whereas a well documented business allows new employees to quickly step up into various roles if need be. This message was popularized in Michael Gerber’s ‘E-Myth’ …
MSN’s Keyword Forecasting Tool
MSN adCenter has released a cool keyword forecasting tool.
Type in one or more keywords and you’ll get a breakdown as to the number of searches over the past year, and the forecasted number of searches for the next few months. It’s a great way to do more accurate projections on your traffic and sales volume for the near future.
As well, MSN will provide you with data about the demographics of the people who are searching for that particular keyword, namely age and gender.
No MSN adCenter account is required to use the tool.
Autopostback + Checkboxen=Dumb
Why you should not use checkboxes combined with autopostback.
Avoiding Evil JavaScript
The following is republished from the Tech Times #158.
What makes some JavaScript Evil, and can beginners learn to write Good JavaScript code from day one? Cameron Adams and I have set out to write a book that proves that they can, but it’s not proving to be as easy as I’d hoped.
Bad JavaScript is worse than no JavaScript at all, because it can prevent some users from accessing your site. There are at least three groups of people that you should at least think about when adding JavaScript to the mix, and I’ve listed them here in order of increasing difficulty:
- users that don’t have JavaScript-enabled browsers
- users that browse without using a mouse
- users that browse using a screen reader
Perhaps a little idealistically, I’d consider any JavaScript code that prevents one of these groups of people from accessing your site to be Evil.
At last week’s meeting of the Web Standards Group in Melbourne, James Edwards (coincidentally, Cameron Adams’s co-author on The JavaScript Anthology) summed it up very neatly:
“One person’s preference is another person’s real need. It may be that a group of users finds it easier with Ajax, but if another group of …
Bowl with Team SitePoint at SXSW!
Bryan has had to change the date of this event to the evening Sunday March 11th, starting around 7pm. This clashes with the Web Awards, so you should email Bryan now to let him know whether you’re still able to attend (if you already signed up then you should have received an email from him).
Are you heading to this year’s SXSW Interactive festival in Austin, Texas next month? Fancy yourself to be a king of the ten pin bowling alley?
Well Bryan Veloso’s AvalonStar Bowling Extravaganza is on again this year at the Austin Bowlarama, and Team SitePoint is looking for a couple of sharp shooters — err, bowlers — to help them take out the treasured Phoenix Cup.
This is your chance to bowl alongside none other than the two founding members of SitePoint, Mark Harbottle and Matt Mickiewicz (as well as a couple of us meagre underlings). And there are other perks too — free drinks for all team members! And in addition, SitePoint is sponsoring the event with giveaways of books, five free drinks to each member of the winning team, and one free drink to every bowler who bowls a strike.
However there …
What have you done for me lately?
So… what have you done for me lately? I make your life easier. I allow you to create great web applications, impress your co-workers, wow your clients, and I’m sure you’re a hero to your boss at least 3 or 4 times a week because of me. So what have you done for me lately? Have you stuck up for me during a fight recently? Have you fought for me to move ahead? Have you really pushed as hard as you could to upgrade me?
If you haven’t figured it out by now I’m not talking about me, Eric Jones your blogger incognito. I’m talking about ColdFusion, the CFML language and the CF world as we know it. Many times I hear about a new person getting put off by ColdFusion because they don’t think it’s supported by a large community or they don’t hear enough “buzz” about it or they think the “mind share” is too low. You know what? They are probably right when you look at the circles they run in BUT maybe they are only right because we as CF developers have allowed it to be that way.
I’m constantly amazed how the number of people …
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