31st October 2005
I’m with Euan on Annotatable Audio, it’s a stunning thing.
And then this clever archive thingamijig comes along.
And I’m reminded why I like working for the BBC.
Posted by Nic Price at 11:52 pm on 31st October 2005
31st October 2005
Posted by delicious at 12:18 am on 31st October 2005
30th October 2005
This is my first post from “downstairs.”
As of this weekend, we have wi-fi at home (thanks Pai!).
Now if something springs to mind I can grab the laptop (for the first time in ages the “lap” bit counts) and check it out, or write it, or email someone.
Up until now this has been something that happened in the “box bedroom” - our home study. Separate, removed, away from everyone else.
Will it become a useful addition to our living space? Will it intrude? I guess it’s all just a matter of how we use it.
Posted by Nic Price at 11:52 pm on 30th October 2005
29th October 2005
My three-year old son and I went on a walk to Lordship Lane yesterday afternoon to pick up something to cook for my parents for supper from William Rose the butcher.
When we got back we sat on the ledge of the fence outside our house for a well-earned rest and looked up at the soft clouds drifting by in the light blue sky.
“They said it was going to pour with rain today. I’m glad they got it wrong,” I said.
“Who are they?” he asked.
“The man on the telly last night telling us about what he thought the weather would be like.”
“Oh, ok.” he said.
And then after a pause he grinned at me and said “Maybe they were joking!”
Posted by Nic Price at 12:03 pm on 29th October 2005
29th October 2005
It’s not often I witness this, so thought it worth writing about.
I just cycled home from central London and checked my watch against the time on ‘Big Ben’ and noticed one of us was one hour out.
I didn’t stick around to see if Big Ben has actually (been) stopped at 12 o’clock.
I guess it’s something to do with the clocks going back tonight.
[Update: just spotted this on BBC News Inspection halts Big Ben's chimes]
Posted by Nic Price at 11:49 am on 29th October 2005
28th October 2005
Posted by delicious at 12:20 am on 28th October 2005
27th October 2005
Posted by delicious at 12:18 am on 27th October 2005
26th October 2005
Posted by delicious at 12:18 am on 26th October 2005
25th October 2005
Posted by delicious at 12:18 am on 25th October 2005
24th October 2005
PocketMod, my new PDA!
Posted by Nic Price at 3:56 pm on 24th October 2005
23rd October 2005
Posted by delicious at 12:17 am on 23rd October 2005
22nd October 2005
Posted by delicious at 12:33 am on 22nd October 2005
19th October 2005
Posted by delicious at 12:19 am on 19th October 2005
18th October 2005
If someone says “That’s a great question” - is that because they have an answer to it or because it’s a great question?
[Edit] I should clarify… I was thinking of interviews I’ve heard on the radio or seen on tv. I can’t remember hearing or seeing an interviewee say “Now that’s a great question” and not answer it.
Posted by Nic Price at 1:16 pm on 18th October 2005
15th October 2005
Posted by delicious at 12:18 am on 15th October 2005
12th October 2005
Posted by delicious at 12:17 am on 12th October 2005
11th October 2005
Content isn’t content without context
Posted by Nic Price at 9:00 pm on 11th October 2005
11th October 2005
Posted by delicious at 12:18 am on 11th October 2005
10th October 2005
Macintosh-style interaction design has reached its limits. A new paradigm, called results-oriented UI, might well be the way to empower users in the future.
In his latest alertbox, Jakob Nielsen explains how the concept of what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) is no longer useful or valid and is evolving into what-you-get-is-what-you-see (WYGIWYS) or “results-oriented UI [user interface].”
He uses the user interface redesign for Microsoft’s Office 12 as an example of where this is happening. There’s been positive feedback in initial testing apparently.
You select from a range of examples roughly what you want your end result to be (letter, book, presentation) and then narrow down to more detailed options.
And rather than drilling down through drop-down lists, your options are presented to you in context (according to the task you’re aiming to complete) and visually.
I guess this works in office-type applications because it lets people focus on the content rather than the formatting.
But I don’t think it’s new, just new to office-type applications. Other software has been based on this concept for a while now.
And there are lots of online products and services offering this kind of contextualised option selection and refinement, first thanks to Flash and now with ajax it’s spreading like wildfire.
Isn’t results-oriented UI just user-centred design by another name?
Posted by Nic Price at 6:18 pm on 10th October 2005
10th October 2005
Posted by delicious at 12:17 am on 10th October 2005
9th October 2005
Posted by delicious at 12:17 am on 9th October 2005
8th October 2005
I’ve been trying out the newly launched Google reader, which I was alerted to via my Bloglines subscription to a Google blog - oh my aren’t we just sooo post-modern ;)
You need a Google account (gmail address) to use it.
Like gmail it makes extensive use of ajax for screen-based rather than page-based interactions.
On the plus side it’s as jargon free as you can get with something like this. A healthy thing that should take the feed reader beyond the realm of the somehwat geeky.
You have “subscriptions” and a “reading list.”
The user interface lets you focus on articles and behaves like the “Preview Pane” in Outlook so you can move up and down the list of titles and the content will appear in a larger area of the screen to the right.
But in doing so it strips the content of any of its original personality and makes everything look the same.
You can label your subscriptions so you can find them later, in the same way you can label emails in gmail.
It mixes keyboard shortcuts with mouse clicks - I still haven’t figured out how you’d add a Star to an article without a mouse.
But I don’t get a sense of community from it and I can’t see how I’d share stuff other than being able to blog it (if I was using blogger) or email it (if I was using gmail). It doesn’t feel like a two-way thing.
I’m sticking with Bloglines for the time being.
Posted by Nic Price at 3:09 pm on 8th October 2005
8th October 2005
Posted by delicious at 12:18 am on 8th October 2005
7th October 2005
I met and listened to lots of new and and interesting people at the annual IBF conference this week.
“The user arrives running”, and so did Ted Nelson, as Martin Leith put it, the “ht” in html.
Ted shared with us his sideways view on the world.
When asked to describe a computer we describe ourselves, limited by our own imagination. And how were we ever going to get a paperless office by imitating paper?
Still discovering the elusive interface via xanadu, transliterature and zig-zag. HyperTed.
Good luck to Louise Ferguson with ORG (via pledgebank), and great to meet another East Dulwich blogger :)
It’s the first time I’ve met Gerry McGovern and heard him speak and he does a great turn.
His key message was as intranet professiosnals we need to be the leaders of what we do because it’s not going to come from anywhere else.
Gerry’s take on the user arriving running is imagining your content on a motorway sign and someone driving 70 miles an hour needs to be able to understand it.
He talked about three ages of intranets: first it’s all about infrastructure, then it’s all about architecture, and then it’s all (hopefully) about content… I asked him afterwards “If the screen with your slideshow on had been extended up and right what would have appeared next?” His answer was “Collaboration.”
Thanks to Martyn Perks for pointing me towards the Design Council’s experience design events
The uber-usable Steve Krug, author of the book Don’t Make Me Think and coiner of the phrase “It’s not rocket surgery” to describe what he does, said “Internet sites have advanced by imitation”.
Which made me think.
Posted by Nic Price at 2:44 pm on 7th October 2005
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