Easy and Hard
Recently I was asked why I suggested a Cancel button be moved to the right of a Delete button in a dialogue box. The confusion was understandable: in this particular UX, the paradigm had been established that termination actions were on the left, whereas continuation actions were on the right. My response was that, since ...
Me on Blodget on Siri
Henry Blodget is convinced that Apple’s iPhone-based voice recognition tool, Siri, poses absolutely no threat to Google search. He’s even more certain than Google’s own Eric Schmidt. How is he so certain? Let’s analyze excerpts from his article to find out, shall we? “I don’t even have an iPhone 4S yet, but I’m still ready ...
NY Times Paywall Pricing
After the New York Times introduced its new digital subscription pricing policies, there was much confusion. Frankly, even the NY Times’ own explanations are a bit baffling. Therefore, I’ve created the quickie infographic above in order to (hopefully) clarify things. (You can click it to see a larger version.)
Words Matter
Right now, conservatives are circling the wagons, defending themselves, claiming that the rhetoric of Palin, Beck, Coulter, Hannity (really, most of FOX News) cannot possibly be blamed for the actions of one psychotic young man in Pima, Arizona. And they may be right: preliminary evidence suggests that the shooter was not, in reality, motivated by ...
MTA: Free UX Advice
Following on yesterday’s rant about the MTA’s abysmal website, I thought it only fair to provide some thoughts about how they could improve their online experience. I only looked at their home page, and I only spent about 30 minutes, but even such a cursory audit reveals a lot of room for improvement. Remember: the ...
The Jargon Jar
My response to the age-old swear jar? A jargon jar. Every time you utter a piece of meaningless business jargon, put a dollar in the jar. Aside: business jargon falls into some interesting categories. Appropriating a term normally used in other contexts: “I don’t have the bandwidth to handle all this, therefore I’d like to ...
Agency Smartypants
Many years ago, an email linking to an online IQ test went around the big NYC branding agency where I was working. Several of us took the test and when we convened to compare results, no one wanted to reveal their score. Therefore, we agreed to take the test together, as a team. Several of ...
Say No to Itty-Bitty Type
I’m going to design and market eyeglasses that slightly diminish one’s vision. Why, you ask? So I can sell them to Web designers in the hopes that, seeing the world how people over 35 do, they won’t continue to use 10 pixel gray Arial on every site they design.
Stop Saying ‘Hot Links’
People, please! They’re just links. If you need to be specific, call them hyperlinks. But hot links? That’s such a succulently out-of-date way to refer to them! File under Pettiest Gripes Ever.
Wireless with Wires
The only thing I hate more than wires around my computer are wireless devices. They run out of juice constantly, and recharging them is a hassle. Your options, depending on your wireless device, are: Destroy the environment—and your wallet—with traditional batteries Use rechargeable batteries which last about 3 hours, have a 6-month total lifespan, and ...
Why Google Wave Failed
Google Wave is dead. Over. Kaput. Of course, to anyone who considered using it, this isn’t a surprise. Nonetheless, it’s a bit sad; Google Wave had great promise and received much fanfare. It was heralded by many, including Google of course, as a revolutionary way to communicate. But it had one major, insurmountable flaw: no ...
Robert Reich on Apple and the FTC
Robert Reich nails it in this blog entry. How the FTC can possibly focus on Apple at a time when our banks are basically acting like criminal enterprises is beyond me. But, it proves something I’ve been suspecting for a while now: we are quickly becoming a society that values (monetarily, at least) those who ...
The Ugly American
Today’s Big Picture features amazing images from the soon-to-be-opened Shanghai World Expo. One thing struck me, however: many of the international pavilions demonstrate design that is full of whimsy and beauty, whereas the U.S. pavilion looks surprisingly like a metal-clad industrial park building. So, what happened? Am I missing something? Did someone forget to send ...
Photoshop for Rent
As long as I’m railing against Adobe for their exorbitant upgrade pricing, I might as well relay one of the ideas that’s been bouncing around my head for a while: why not allow users to download software for free, and only pay each time they use it. Heavy duty Photoshop users, for example, would pay ...
Bye, Bye, Mac Guy
It’s not that you weren’t clever or talented or funny. And it’s not that you didn’t make your point: the Mac is more hip than the average PC. It’s just that it got so tiresome and offputting seeing you constantly act smug and superior to PC guy. Frankly, toward the end, I felt sympathetic for ...
