From: Gleanings
To: Sleep is for the Smart
Subject: Gleanings: refreshed and refreshing
Hey kids…
after a grueling working week I’m back. I’ll never use the phrase “sleep is for the weak” again… sleep good.
Idle information….3% of my visitors have no JavaScript. They either turn it off or don’t have JavaScript enabled browser. Wonder which it is.
I also have a higher than industry standard number of Mac and Netscape users
I get 28% Netscape and 20% Mac… compared to the web-wide numbers of 13.5% for Netscape and 3.5% Mac. Just goes to show you, nothing is more valuable than designing for *your* users. Anyone have an old Mac to donate so I can browser test?
(BTW I use http://www.TheCounter.com/ for my stats rather than digging through my logs)
okay, enough about me.. here are your URL’s…..
USABILITY MATTERS
do not forget the alt tags!!!!!!! or it may cost you.
Still more reasons to remember alt tags, including being found by search engines.
evil bureaucracies?
Useit.Com: Regulatory Usability.
Regulatory requirements often reduce the usability of Web content and end up
damaging the exact goals they were trying to promote. Regulatory agencies
usually base their rules and regulations on design criteria that are
appropriate for paper-based documents but which don’t work in the online
medium.
more Jakob
CIO WebBusiness: From February 1, 1999; Jakob Nielsen on Dinosaurs
DESIGN MATTERS
Death of the Websafe Color Palette?
good old webmonkey discoverers there are really only 22 websafe colors. hope you like green.
OTHER MATTERS
interview with author of cluetrain manifesto
NEWS
Business Week: So Who Wants to Surf the Tube Anyway?
Q&A with Lutz Erbring, professor at the Free University of Berlin. The
technology is there to combine the devices. But nothing that we’ve [seen]
suggests that people want to mix those activities. When they’re watching TV,
they want to relax. They don’t want to do any research.
NY Times: Trademarks Winning Domain Fights.
At the heart of Icann’s domain name arbitration system is the Uniform Dispute
Resolution Policy, a set of rules that provide the litmus tests for
determining if a domain name holder is acting in bad faith or is out to hijack
a trademarked name.
Industry Standard: Yahoo “Ads” It Up.
Anheuser Busch might know that millions of dollars spent on ads that feature
talking frogs will lead to hundreds of millions in beer sales. But the
intuitive logic of advertising seems like a stretch to Wall Street, especially
with investors leery of Internet stocks.
APROPOS OF NOTHING
Splendid Maya Palace Is Found Hidden in Jungle
Dieting Lowers IQ of British Girls
One in four schoolgirls are damaging their IQs by dieting and depriving themselves of iron. British researchers found a highly significant difference in IQ between schoolgirls with the lowest levels of iron in their blood and those girls with adequate iron levels.