« May 2005 | Main | July 2005 »
No thinking, just linking:
--------
It's called computer rage and Kent Norman from the University of Maryland has assembled a series of clips showing how to destroy various parts of your computer, should the rage become all too much. 'Torching your monitor' includes a wonderful soundtrack from Norman's son: "Dad, do it again!"
--------
A small but interesting study of prospective students' impressions of university websites is discussed in this Guardian article. ALthough it focussed on UK university websites it provides some valuable insights into how high school students use university websites and what they are looking for.
The students in this survey were in the first year of A-level courses at Long Road sixth form college in Cambridge and Cambridge Regional College, and had not yet engaged in the applications process - the researchers were after fresh eyes. They were asked for their first impressions: was the site visually attractive, with a good balance of text and pictures? Did it give a good feel for the institution? Did they agree: "This is a cool site"? Was it easy to find their way around?
--------
Web developers world wide are holding onto their mice in anticipation of the release of the next generation of Microsofts Internet Explorer, IE7. With anticipated increases in CSS2 and accessibility standards compliance along with security enhancements, it is hoped that the world wide web will no longer be split between the W3C compliant browsers and the megalomaniacal Microsoft monopoly of browser rendering.
Microsoft yielding to IE standards pressure?
What this means in real terms is that developers will no longer have to develop sites using the W3C standards, then hack them up to give the same text sizing, pixel placement, and functionality in IE as has been done for the past 4 years.
With the new styles currently in the pipeline for the USyd domain this is great news indeed, but as with all things Microsoft, I'll believe it when I see it.
--------
Write for the web according to how people search, including descriptive links. Hooray!
(That's descriptive of the content behind the link - not what you do with the link).
--------
For all you geeks (you know who you are):
Computer scientists in the US are developing a system which would allow people to "teleport" a solid 3D recreation of themselves over the internet.
Interested in programming for a new CMS created with Ruby on Rails, utilising Ajax and supporting web standards? (Note: this is not for the Uni!)
--------
The University of Sheffield has put together a site that provides guidance with creating accessible multimedia for e-learning. They say:
This is not a site full of accessibility guidelines! We want it to be a place where good ideas can be shared, where problems can be identified and discussed, and where the potential of multimedia to make the learning experience accessible to as many people as possible can be realised.
--------
I have plenty of stuff that does a lot but I don't always use all the features. In fact, sometimes I don't even know how to use it at all. Take my DVD player for example...anyway, this is probably not going to apply to the geeks in our midst but there is this thing called featuritis: sometimes the true art is in knowing when to stop.
What if instead of adding new features, a company concentrated on making the service or product much easier to use? Or making it much easier to access the advanced features it already has, but that few can master? Maybe what they lose in market share in one area will be more than compensated for in another area. In a lot of markets, it's gotten so bad out there that simply being usable is enough to make a product truly remarkable.
Indeed. All the bells and whistles in the world are not going to change the fact that you can't find your exam results...
--------
We've all been there. Surely it can be done and still allow people to walk out of the room with a pulse.
--------
An interesting alternative to email notification in CMS workflows: generate an RSS feed. No more clogged inboxes...
Via CMSwatch.
--------
To size up colleges, students now shop online. Unis are trying to woo them with podcasts, blogs and Flash but it seems it's the plain old information which may be the winner:
although students depend on the Web to conduct research about colleges, they don't always buy what the institution is trying to sell them. Britni E. Wilcher, a graduating senior at Claremont High School, in California, says she bypasses much of a college Web site's bells and whistles, like blogs and podcasts, for the important information, such as what courses are available and who the professors are.
UPDATE: More comment on this article at Collegewebeditor.
--------
A few of us in Web Services luuurve del.icio.us. We have RSS feeds of the the each other's del.icio.us and have found that it's a great way to share information. There's nothing ground breaking about it but it's just EASY, especially with the RSS feeds. We can keep up to date in our news readers without having to visit del.icio.us.
As well as keeping an eye on other's del.icio.us bookmarks, we have toyed with the idea of setting up a del.icio.us entity which would bookmark the bookmarks of individuals, if you know what I mean. That way all our del.icio.us entities would be in one place.
Another way to use it could be simply to set up an entitiy for research, a class or a project and give everyone involved access to post on it. As people come across resources, papers, websites etc they could post it, the tag system means that some semblance of order will be maintained.
So, get del.icio.us people. (And if I have to type del.icio.us once more I am going to scream..)
--------
For anyone interested in search, check out this collection of papers written by people working at Google.
--------
Copywriting is interface design
Copywriting is interface design. Great interfaces are written. If you think every pixel matters then you also need to think every letter matters.
300,000 words of usability essays have had an impact: online user interfaces are considerably easier to use now than they were in 1995. Many predictions and recommendations have come true, though the full Alertbox vision is far from realized.
A few tips on estimating web projects
Today I want to talk about how to estimate projects and ensure that your estimates work for you as well as your clients. I�ve found this can be really tricky and if not done correctly can cause real headaches down the road. A proper scope assessment is key to the success and smooth going of any Web project and the project estimate is a big part of a good scope assessment.
AND