April 25, 2007
Recently I’ve been thinking a fair bit about flyout global navigation menus. You see them all the times these days, but despite their popularity, I’ve never been fond of them. I find it annoying when they accidentally appear as you move your pointer around the screen. And more importantly, as Jared Spool’s site points out, users decide first and move second, so their effectiveness as a navigation tool is questionable.
Recently, M&S have taken flyouts menu to an extreme:
April 23, 2007
An article from today’s New York Times uncovers how Wikipedia’s entry on the recent Virginia Tech killings “has emerged as the clearinghouse for detailed information on the event”.
I’ve never really understood how Wikipedia has become so reliable, but after reading this I can finally begin to understand it. It is baffling that a totally decentralised, unplanned, and uncoordinated group editing effort can actually work. One interviewee summed it up nicely, “As the popular joke goes, ‘The problem with Wikipedia is that it only works in practice. In theory, it can never work.’”
It’s a short article, and well worth the read.
The YouTube clip below shows a timelapse of the first 12 hours of the article being created. (Thanks to Dave Davis for pointing this out.)
April 20, 2007
In an interview with well-known technologist Rio Ferdinand, rap superstar and web content guru P Diddy offers advice on how to keep traffic flowing to your website.
April 20, 2007
April 19, 2007
Like most sciences involving human factors, mixed method research is essential in Usability Design and Analysis. This post provides a brief overview of one of the benefits of using Quantitative Research to enhance the user experience.
April 18, 2007
In his latest audit from across the pond, our author in US residence, takes a look at Irish political website progress since the last election. Who fares well and who doesn’t? Find out below..
April 16, 2007
Simplicity wins everytime. We refer to it mostly as usability.
Yet, some of the biggest, most profitable companies get it very wrong. David Pogue, technology columnist with the New York Times, gives an entertaining talk (and song) on user interface design and simplicity (via the new TED website).
