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Thursday, June 21, 2001

OPENING THANG

I wasn't going to glean today; I've got so much work to do BUT the universe has sent me some interesting stuff, so I share with you!

I'm mad about Ada, btw...

Ada Lovelace, Countess of Controversy
"Augusta Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace, is something of a giant in the world of technology. The daughter of celebrated poet Lord Byron, Lovelace was a Victorian society hostess, the mother of three, and a mathematician widely credited as being the world's first computer programmer."

Was Ada Really the First Programmer?
"In the notes, which ended up being three times longer than the original Menabrea paper, Ada outlined how the Analytical Engine might have worked had it ever been built. She explained how the Bernoulli numbers, a complex numerical system first described by 18th century Swiss mathematician Jakob Bernoulli, might be broken down into simple formulas that could be coded as instructions for the machine. Perhaps more importantly, her poetic prowess endowed Babbage's dry technical details with grandeur. "

I've been reading the book on her, "The Bride of Science: Romance, Reason, and Byron's Daughter" and highly recommend it.

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Posted by christina on Thursday, 06/21/01 10:07 PM CST

IA MATTERS

I started collecting definitions of IA, in hopes of making a solid one. What I'm getting is some wonderful insight from my commentators. be sure to scroll down to David's.

Blurb Gallery (via webword.com)
"Surveying the variety of ways we display introductions to longer articles...
I keep finding myself working on sites that have news or portal-like layouts, and each time I start from scratch thinking about how to display the headlines and summaries. No more, I started this gallery to capture the many ways it's done, and perhaps I'll eventually map these to the audience and business goals."

Designing Help Text (also via webword.com)
"Some users will have difficulty no matter how effectively and thoughtfully an interface is built. Others will need assistance whilst learning how to use a complex and extensive application that contains a number of features.
Given that help text might be required, how is it best implemented? As mentioned above, it is preferable to include as much assistance as possible permanently on-screen. " I so agree to this. An ounce of "tip" is worth a pound of "support documentation"

The Open Directory Project has a robust IA section

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Posted by christina on Thursday, 06/21/01 10:06 PM CST

USABILITY MATTERS

About Questionnaires

Grow Your Site, Keep Your Users Computerworld News & Features Story
sites of eBay's size and growth rate always have special usability concerns

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Posted by christina on Thursday, 06/21/01 10:05 PM CST

DESIGN MATTERS

dot-dot-dot, graphic design - visual culture magazine

Gray's Anatomy online!! Now that is fodder for art and design....
Gray, Henry. 1918. Anatomy of the Human Body

Theban Mapping Project

2001.DESIGNERSITE.CHKLST.
tee hee

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Posted by christina on Thursday, 06/21/01 10:03 PM CST

APROPOS OF NOTHING

The New Yorker Shouts and Murmurs
"The sound bite, that form of speech we encounter in the media every day, seems a unique contribution of our technological age."

Ultimate Napster Clone Guide
I went with BearShare, and have been very happy.

I.M.Me

SF apartment ads. What scares me is that the second didn't seem like a parody.

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Posted by christina on Thursday, 06/21/01 10:02 PM CST

Wednesday, June 20, 2001

OPENING THANG

Busy, busy, busy.

When I joined Carbon IQ I had certain ideas about what I would do: I would do things my way. I would create schedules that made sense. I would do unstintingly quality work. I would speak honestly and openly with my coworkers, and politics and game-playing would not exist and above all I would remember that we are all human begins, and a business is there to support the humans who work for it, not the other way around.

Everything I thought about owning your own business is true-- you get to do the quality of work you want to do, you can take off at 2 p.m. on a Wednesday to catch a matinee and finish the work on a Sunday without people looking at your strangely for either, and you learn all the time. What I didn't know I'd do was all the support jobs, from office manager to bill collector. You pick up envelopes, you call a client to inform them they are three weeks late in payment, you scan news groups trying to figure out why they heck PDF's won't print.... The big advantage however, of a small business over freelancing is you aren't completely alone. I called the client because Noel didn't want to deal with it anymore, and Noel edited a proposal I was writing when I couldn't see straight anymore. Gabe coaxes the printer to print just when I'm willing to pour coke on it, and I tweak the JavaScript rollovers that are trying to make Gabe insane. We are all there for each other, in a pragmatic unsentimental and immensely comforting way. There are no politics, there are no games and the business is the human beings who work there. period.

A small company is the hardest work I have ever done in my life, and I have never learned so much either-- I have no question I'm a better IA for it, as I understand business issues viscerally. My empathy for a businesses need to survive is at an all time high...

I wouldn't trade this opportunity for anything in the world. It's been scary, frustrating and awakening. These have the best six months of my professional life. I look forward to the future. Thanks, Noel and Gabe!

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Posted by christina on Wednesday, 06/20/01 08:35 AM CST

USABILITY MATTERS

"Why having access to a usability lab can be a hindrance. " (via
webword.com)
Interesting blog entry on a usability practioner's experience being forced
out of the lab and into the field, and what he learned there.

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Posted by christina on Wednesday, 06/20/01 08:35 AM CST

DESIGN MATTERS

Kerning: The importance of space between letter pairs (via xblog.com)
http://www.coolhomepages.com/cda/kerning/

Starved for eyecandy? Lots of pretty links at designiskinky
http://www.designiskinky.net

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Posted by christina on Wednesday, 06/20/01 08:34 AM CST

BIZ MATTERS

Scott McCloud talks-- err-- illustrates aout micropayments

talk about it here

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Posted by christina on Wednesday, 06/20/01 08:33 AM CST

BLOG WATCH

New feature suggested by Bill... we'll see how it goes. feedback welcome!
In my opinion, if you click on one blog this week, it's gotta be peter. He is the only one who doesn't seem to be suffering summer doldrums.

Victor redesigns! And it is nice...
http://www.noisebetweenstations.com/personal/weblogs/

Peterme is talking about comics again, and offers a funny quote from the new Yorker on yidishisms
http://www.peterme.com/

Taylor is also talking about Scott McCloud's current "Don't make me think"
http://www.captaincursor.com/

george is thinking about brand and UX
http://interactionbydesign.com/thoughts/thumbnails/index.html

whole lotta nothing has an analysis of trillian, an IM client
http://a.wholelottanothing.org/

Zeldman says teal gradient is the new gray
http://www.zeldman.com/coming.html

Storm pics on davezilla. I miss summer storms (SF doesn't have them)
http://www.davezilla.com/

Biggerhand continues to be 50% basketball, 50% funnny as hell... when is the season over?
http://www.biggerhand.com/

LittleYellowDifferent bitch-slaps the webbys
http://www.littleyellowdifferent.com/

Brad curses in front of his mother (cracked me up)
http://www.bradlands.com/dailybrad/index.shtml

more and more I think drug companies are evil as tobacco, and rebecca's pocket isn't dissuading me
http://www.rebeccablood.net/index.html

Best news on the web, metablog du jour "plastic"
http://www.plastic.com/

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Posted by christina on Wednesday, 06/20/01 08:32 AM CST

EVENT

Thursday, June 21, 2001
7:00 PM
Informal Tools for Designing Anywhere,
Anytime, Anydevice User Interfaces
by James Landay
230 Bechtel, Sibley Auditorium
University of California, Berkeley
http://www.baychi.org/bof/events/east/e200106.html

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Posted by christina on Wednesday, 06/20/01 08:31 AM CST

APROPOS OF NOTHING

For the easily amused
http://www.dancingpaul.com/

pirated sites revealed! Steal this design...
http://www.pirated-sites.com/index1.shtml

Pork, a love story
http://www.storyfuck.com/

I've gotten really into a type of music made in the south of france and I made a radio station out of it to share. I may add some of the other cool french stuff I've found. What's playign there is a very cool synthesis of flamenco, accordian, rock, rap and I dont' know what... it's hard to describe. But I heart it.
http://www.live365.com/cgi-bin/directory.cgi?autostart=calientechao

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Posted by christina on Wednesday, 06/20/01 08:30 AM CST