user experience
Cyrus Najmabadi* hates tabs in web browsers: Ok, I seriously don’t get tabs on Windows. Hell, I don’t get tabs on OSX either. In the latter there’s a great system called Expos, and in the former the taskbar does the job. Once I start using tabs, things
user interface design
Task-Centered User Interface Design is a 1993 book delivered in digital shareware form, and also available as a PDF. Although it’s almost fifteen years old, it’s still highly relevant – a testament to the timelessness of studying human interface design principles. It was written by Clayton Lewis and John
software development concepts
One of the premium features of the New York Times website is the Windows Reader. It’s free if you subscribe to home delivery of the paper, otherwise it’s $14.95 per month. One of the key attractions of the Times Reader is that it lets you read the
usability
In-N-Out Burger is a fast food institution here in California. Part of their appeal, I think, is their radically simplified menu. Instead of forcing customers to process a complex menu with a hundred choices, In-N-Out got real and pared it down to what really matters: a burger, fries, and a
ergonomics
I spend almost every waking moment in front of a computer. I’m what you might call an indoor enthusiast. I’ve been lucky not to experience any kind of computer-related injury due to my prolonged use of computers, but it is a very real professional risk. I get some
typography
If you think of fonts as a bit of design esoterica, consider this New York Times article on the new Clearview typeface that will appear on all new highway road signs here in the United States: The problem sounded modest enough: Add more information to the state’s road signs
user experience
As displays increase in size and prices drop, more and more users will end up with relatively large displays by default. Nobody buys 15 or 17 inch displays any more; soon, it won’t make financial sense to buy a display smaller than 20 inches. Eventually, if this trend continues,
data visualization
In the spirit of Jennifer Tidwell’s excellent Designing Interfaces book, there are a few great catalogs of data visualization emerging online. Start with the oft-cited Periodic Table of Visualization Methods. There’s another excellent collection at Data Visualization: Modern Approaches. If you’re looking for visualization with a less
ui design
Google’s user interface minimalism is admirable. But there’s one part of their homepage UI, downloaded millions of times per day, that leaves me scratching my head: Does anyone actually use the “I'm Feeling Lucky” button? I’ve been an avid Google user since 2000; I use
programming languages
In response to Wil Shipley’s recent post about the lack of an iPhone SDK, a reader left this comment: I often enjoy reading these entries, but you always come across as a little bit of an a**hole. Full of yourself, overly critical and a bit mean. Dismissing and
lua
Garry’s Mod is a fascinating study in guerilla programming. It’s an incredibly successful mod for the game Half-Life 2 that essentially converts it into a giant sandbox powered by Lua. There are a large number of Lua scripted 3rd party modifications for Garry’s mod. In a server
installation process
Ned Batchelder shares a complaint about the Mac application installation process: Here’s what I did to install the application Foo [on the Mac]: 1. Downloaded FooDownload.dmg.zip to the desktop. 2. StuffIt Expander launched automatically, and gave me a FooDownload.dmg Folder on the desktop. 3. At this