Wednesday, December 15th, 2004
I came across an interesting web portfolio created with an iPod-like interface. It even plays music and switches songs while you’re viewing it. Check out a screen shot.
Tuesday, December 14th, 2004
DVD Coasters are Really No Fun
Well, they aren’t. Therefore, I link to Steve’s blog entry that says to go to www.nomorecoasters.com. Read it, then buy good DVD-R and CD-R discs in the future. Yes yes.
Tuesday, December 14th, 2004
Map24 is similar to mapquest or yahoo maps in purpose, but it shines in implementation. The interactive map is a Java applet that lets you smoothly zoom, scroll, and navigate the map. It updates very smoothly and nicely without reloading the webpage.
Monday, December 13th, 2004
Google Labs is always coming up with interesting ideas. They’ve got another winner with the newest addition: Google Suggest.
It’s a makeover of google.com with a tweak that auto-completes the search term you are typing. A drop-down list of popular search terms is generated with each character typed. The amazing part is how quickly it works.
As documented in this slashdot comment, it is implemented using an XmlHttpRequest in a Javascript that sends very small amounts of data back and forth to update the list.
Wednesday, December 8th, 2004
Here is a map showing where our condo is. The red square is our place. There is public parking for a good price just north of the dark blue square. Mi casa, su casa.
Saturday, December 4th, 2004
Graphical User Interface (GUI) Design Tips
Benjamin Roe’s “Usable GUI Design: A Quick Guide” nicely summarizes some of the most useful ideas in user interface design. His 5 major points are:
0) The user is not “using” your application, rather getting their work done with the help of your application.
1) Fitt’s law: big stuff close to your mouse is easier to click on.
2) Avoid unnecessary interference with your user.
3) Use the power of the computer to be helpful to the user. Don’t burdon with mundane tasks.
4) Make items easy to distinguish and find.
I also think that saving state is a very great feature that could improve many applications. Ben mentions this under his point 3, but I just wanted to emphasize that saving state is very important. Some of my favorite applications do this well (MATLAB, UltraEdit, Firefox with SessionSaver) once it is setup, but I think it should be the default!
