you say it’s your birthday?
Got a Compaq mp3 player for my birthday yesterday. It has really nice affordances. The play button is a nice large button in the center where my thumb can find it without me having to pull the player our of my pocket to look, while the other buttons are more discreet, and require conscious selection. Another nice feature: a lock to disable the buttons, so if you want to stick it in your pocket you can’t accidentally push one. And screen lights up when you press a button, and turns itself off a few moments later. These tiny considerations are what creates a positive user experience. IA could learn a lot from product design.
Wish I could say the same for Compaq’s site. let’s play my favorite game: where would you click to find out about your MP3 player?