Back to the top: navigation and design failure.
November 22, 2009 at 12:03 pm Filed in:Design | Technology No Comments
One of my pet peeves that I consistently see with businesses who traditionally relied on the sunday advertisement insert is a reluctance (or perhaps overt refusal) to format their weekly ad in a manner more appropriate for the web.
Case in point: I was looking for a new backup hard drive today, and after becoming frustrated with the lack of usability on the ShopLocal.com, I reverted to switching back to viewing the weekly ads of individual retailers, where I happened to stumble across this perfect example – a weekly ad from Best Buy.
We’ll leave aside the fact that this opened in a pop-up, cosmetic issues and the use of flash for the time being…. What’s key here is that the majority of advertisement content that is of interest to the consumer is below the fold, requiring that the user scrolls down the page to see the content that is of interest to them. And if you look at the next image, you’ll see why.
The layout of the ad is intended to reflects the dimensions of a page in those the traditional weekly newspaper advertisments… the ones that were so unwieldy, where you had to either clear a 3′x5′ space to read on, or make a real effort to keep the paper from flopping over on itself… the ones that have been largely replaced in print by a more manageable tabloid format.
Perhaps the old-style ad layout was selected by the designer to reinforce metaphor of a print ad by as a way to make users comfortable with the notion of viewing an ad online. Or perhaps they are simply unwilling to put their ads in a more usable format in order to force more user interaction with their content in hopes of increasing conversions.
Regardless, this format, utilized by grocery stores and other big-box retailers on their sites might be palatable, were it not for one key problem that always appears to be found in near proximity:
So many websites with nothing original to say…
September 5, 2009 at 9:54 am Filed in:Technology | geek No Comments
I’ve had many discussions with others lately about websites that focus on providing user-contributed content… and in those conversations, one of the topics that invariably comes up is how to come up with the initial content required to attract users to a new web site.
While some sites continue to grow organically, attracting users by word-of-mouth and link-of-google for the limited content they already have, a new practice has been spreading like the plague for sites that seek to obtain user-contributed content (UCC): ‘data’ scraping.
Continue Reading
Would you tinker with gravity?
June 27, 2009 at 10:27 am Filed in:Science | Technology No Comments
Let’s say someone invented a device that could reduce the force of gravity from Earth’s gravitational field to, lets say, the gravity felt on the moon. Presuming we had some way to make sure our atmosphere didn’t fly away, do you think we should modify Earth’s gravitational field? Why (or why not)?
Car rollovers, laundry and sustainability, oh my!
May 25, 2009 at 11:05 am Filed in:Technology | random facts No Comments
I came across this gem that plays like a 1970s British mashup of Mythbusters and How Things Work when, for some reason, I was looking for info on how washing machines work today. And although it clearly explains how washing machines work, it gives you so much more.
They stage a car rollover in perhaps the clearest description of how solenoids work I’ve ever seen. In describing how the various components work they build special effects equipment, cut about 20 washing machines in half, and include various other Mythbusters-like goodies… and when the narrator gets hit in the face by water, I can’t help but imagine how hilarious it would be were there a British version of Mythbusters, with Adam’s analogue responding in that stoic British fashion…. although Jaime is stoic in his own way, it would be vastly entertaining to see a more impetuous hacker forced to deal with the outcomes of his rash actions in the stoic fashion expected in British culture.
In the historical overview of how we clean our clothes, we learn about women’s liberation – and get to see naked pirates.
The last five minutes or so address how the technology involved in producing washing machines had changed in “recent” years. They compare how And in one of the earliest discussions I’ve found surrounding gadgets/technology and sustainability, I’ve found perhaps my favorite quote thus far of the year:
“The modern engineering would probably horrify pre-war engineers who worshipped quality, not economy.”
And the reggae version of Dave Brubek’s “Take Five” at the end is a nice touch.
In all, it’s a fascinating watch – if you’re a technology geek like me who never got to take shop class or study electrical engineering but loves to figure out how things work, it’s 25 minutes well spent.
Me Do My Myself: renegade baking, creativity, and Fashioning Technology
February 6, 2009 at 9:31 am Filed in:Craft | Design | Technology | food&drink 1 Comment
I had my first renegade baking experience was when I was 4. My mom was outside working in the garden, and my friend and I decided that we wanted to ‘bake’ for the first time. Unfortunately, we couldn’t reach the recipes, so we just threw everything in our reach that looked like ingredients in the bowl. But (luckily) we couldn’t reach the stove or the oven, and when she came back inside, she found us with a big bowl full of a green mess.
About 45 minutes after enquiring as to what we had put in the bowl, our green monster cake came out of the oven. She had magically turned it into a verdant, yet quite tasty spice cake (a miracle, quite possibly, as the two items I recall within reaching distance from our fridge in those days were anchovy paste and Aquavit).
Why is that memorable? It taught me creativity and ingenuity in the kitchen can sometimes lead to fantastic, although slightly bizzare results. Thanks to that fantastic experience, to this day I’m hard pressed to follow a recipe to the letter. I have an appreciation for all types of cuisine, and I’m open to the bizzare.
And I really like green food.
But now I have a problem. I’m addicted to books full of fantastic diy projects – various forms of knitting, electronics, sewing, glasswork, cookbooks… but I never seem to actually MAKE anything from those shelves full of books, taking up so much valuable space and collecting dust in my tiny San Francisco apartment. Continue Reading
Powered by Microsoft? Ford must really be in trouble.
October 23, 2008 at 6:57 am Filed in:Design | Technology 1 Comment
Yup, there are all of the old jokes:
If Microsoft built your car, your car would crash randomly three times a day while you were driving down the road… and every time you made a left turn.
or
If Microsoft built your car, every few months you’d have to reinstall a new transmission, but you wouldn’t be able to figure out why.
or
If Microsoft built your car, all the warning lights are replaced with a single dashboard indicator which lights up to read ‘Your car has experienced an unexpected error” - but it is only after the engine is ‘unable to recover.’
Microsoft doesn’t immediately bring to mind stability, reliability, or even functionality. If Ford’s main marketing pitch for the Focus is letting people know that they’re integrating Microsoft technology, they must really be in trouble. Continue Reading
Windows without Walls?
September 30, 2008 at 4:15 pm Filed in:Advertising | Technology 1 Comment
Windows without walls? You can’t have a window without a wall, let alone multiple windows without walls. Otherwise, what would the windows be windows to?
Windows without walls are called GLASS WALLS.
Easily broken.
Ah Microsoft, you’re lucky. So many metaphors, so little time.