Tactile feedback is a major player in usability. When it comes to electronic devices and environments tactile feedback becomes known as Haptic Technology. Haptic Technology is feedback delivered to a user to allow for a more realistic and engaging experience. We can see this type of technology in place currently with video games and how new systems controllers employ haptic technology. This comes in the for of vibration feedback, tilt sensativity and pressure sensative buttons.
The milk in your fridge isn’t usable. No, it’s not expired, it’s just not very usable because there is no standard color code for milk caps.
I discovered this because in my house we keep two kinds of milk in the fridge, skim & 1%. I drink the skim milk and my wife drinks the 1%. I thought I memorized the cap color of my milk, but some mornings I poured the wrong milk. After realizing the problem was poor design and not poor memory I decided to investigate the confusion further.
I determined in the weeks we buy Wawa brand milk this means that I reach for the green capped jug while she reaches for the blue. But when we buy Lehigh Valley Dairy brand milk I have to remember my skim milk has a blue cap and the 1% has a purple cap. The confusion thickens if we purchased milk from multiple dairies in the same week. Read more…
Authors Note: I originally started this post on December 2, 2008. Some of the information is dated but I figured I would post it. You will see my updated comments through out but I have left the piece in its entirety.
I have been spending some time lately researching navigation when it comes to environment based interactions. The short answer, “hotspot” navigation vs traditional “listed” navigation. This style of navigation is not new in any sense and has taken many forms both good and bad.
Before I began my research I laid down a few questions and expectations for myself to answer. They are basic and simple but they are fundamental when it comes to navigation design. The questions I asked myself were:
Good Idea: Healthy competition with other phone companies.
Bad Idea: Making a monochromatic legend for your service map.
An aside: I’m also confused by cricKet’s respeKt campaign: “It’s time your wireless company gave your wallet some respeKt.” It’s basically a contract-free flat-rate plan. Two people suggested that it was to sell to the “urban” demographic. It seems akin to H&R Block’s “I got people” campaign.
Palm’s latest smartphone, The Palm Pre, runs on the new “Palm webOS” which basically means the entire UI layer of the phone is a browser. Applications are developed using HTML5, CSS, Javascript and Palm’s own Mojo Framework which uses a “JSON-based message bus to tap into a wide range of device services, including contacts, calendars, and location”.
I think Palm’s choice of using web technologies as its application programing language puts it in a good position to outshine the iPhone’s extensive catalog of apps. Palm also “borrowed” the idea of an app store baked into the device.
I am very excited about the Palm Pre, and the idea that web technologies are escaping the web and further blurring the line between website and application.
Aside:
Palm’s webOS reminds me of www.youOS.com (now shutdown) which mimics a computer desktop in a web browser complete with word processor, chat application, desktop wallpaper and of course a web browser.
I have been working on a project here at work. It is my first project in AS3 and one of the largest and most complex I have ever made. The user capabilities have made for a difficult time but the thing that keeps fighting back is a context sensitive aspect. I have a little function that helps people locate a nearby service based on their zip code. Works fine in the production environment, information is pulled from an external source and displayed to the user. However… once it is on a server it fails to do its job.
I have a crossdomain.xml file in place on the other server which I am pulling information from. I have narrowed it down to 2 things that could be my problem now.
Suggestions? Ideas? I think I might be the only person trying this because all my searches come up with it either being HTTP to HTTP or HTTPS to HTTPS. Never a true crossover. The server I need to get information from I do not have access to because it is a third party that collects information for one of our clients. I’m exhausted with trying to figure out if it is me or the fact that HTTP and HTTPS when it comes to Flash Player just do not play nicely.
So you know, I have Read through this extensive document and think I got everything right. Would make it easier if I had access to the server to actually control what I am doing rather then depending on a third party.
Barack Obama’s team has done it again. They have taken the web 2.0 style that has surrounded the new president and pushed it onto the White House’s website. The old website was not bad, but it is nice to see a fresh face on the website. I just hope this doesn’t turn into a every new president gets a new website deal. Not that it would be bad, but is it really necessary?
In any case I am digging the new look and feel of the site. All the small accents for images and horizontal breaks are well done. It remains conservative yet allows for some play in the presentation of content. It is nice to see design taken to a, pardon the pun, presidential level. Any thoughts? I will write a more detailed comment after I have had more time to get through the website.
Blackboard's Digital Dropbox Interface
Blackboard is a very popular Learning Management System. I have to use it for most of my graduate courses and it’s really been nothing but a frenzied click-fest. Sections are buried deep and threads on the forums are impossible to directly link to.
This quarter my professor’s assignment delivery method of choice is Blackboard’s Digital Dropbox. It sounds pretty friendly and easy to use but c’mon this is Blackboard! Naturally, my professor never received my solution to the assignment and it was originally graded as a 0.
If you click on the image, you’ll see two buttons: Add File and Send File. Clearly this means that you Add the files and then send them off to where ever they’re meant to go… right?
Apparently it means that you Add files to your personal “dropbox” or Send files to the instructors. It’s not a 2-step process as it may seem. And why is it called a dropbox to begin with? I thought it meant that I could drop the files in and be done with it. Otherwise, isn’t it more like a Digital Queuebox or something else just as useless?
Blackboard, I loathe you.
I noticed this on the Cosi dinner menu. It’s as if the graphic designer settled on any ol’ icon that represents “technology” and retains the Cosi logo.
you keep using that icon. i do not think it means what you think it means.
Update: I would appreciate this if it didn’t mimic the look of an already established icon with a completely unrelated meaning.
The Internet is full of good flash websites, and terrible flash websites. What makes a good flash site? In my opinion it is how you handle the users experience because lets face it, they are not visiting the site for pure information collection, they want to be entertained. Part of making the user experience more enjoyable is providing some entertainment while we wait for the Internet to catch up to our requests. The best way to do this is with nice, attractive preloaders. Enter Big Spaceship…
Big Spaceship has put together a small gallery of preloaders they have created for clients over the years. The attention to detail in some of the preloaders is pretty amazing, that and the fact that they kept them to a minimal size. I have always tried to research preloaders to find some inspiration as to what people will be expecting with little or no results. Most of what turns up in the ordinary “Barber Pole” preloader we have all come to know and love. Very unoriginal but its familiar and safe. These on the other hand, or completely creative and unsafe, which is what makes them so good. They still accomplish their goal while still maintaining functionality.
Got any preloaders? Share them with the rest of us!