July 2008
1 post
June 2008
12 posts
Frustrating Tech Support Experience
I am trying to deal with my ISP’s support department, via their online “chat live with us” service. Somehow they’ve determined at the “high server divsion” that the horsey mailing list I’ve been on since about 1995 is spam, so they’ve blocked it. Not like “sent to my spam folder” - I mean blocked like I never see that anything was sent to...
@MercMostViewed Gets News Mostly Right on Twitter →
While looking for information on the Trabing Fire in the Santa Cruz mountains, I found the Twitter user mercmostviewed. Following their tweets gets you a couple of links every few hours to articles that visitors to the Mercury News site found interesting. Nice.
I follow a few local (San Diego area) news organizations, and one in particular pushes out about 5-6 posts once or twice a day. Just...
An Experiment in Blogging
I was introduced to BlogCatalog recently by Erica O’Grady. I’m not sure if it works with Tumblr… Let’s find out. I’m supposed to include this link in my blog. Here it is:
http://www.blogcatalog.com/directory/internet
With a little luck this blog will be reviewed and listed on BlogCatalog.com in a day or two.
[Update: Both the Tumblelogs I submitted to BlogCatalog...
When the "Larger Image" Isn't.
Arrgh! UI Geek Peeve #242: If you’re going to provide a link to a “larger image” make sure it brings up an image that is… wait for it… larger! And not 5% larger, either. Large enough to make it worth my while to bother with it.
It’s one of a thousand little details that say a company doesn’t care spit about customer service. Why should they invest the...
I'm done. Now what?
I’ve been working with a bunch of sites recently that take you through a process like signing up for email or taking a quiz, then leave you stranded on a confirmation page, with no clear path to follow.
Would it kill them to provide a shiny, inviting, “Go Shopping!” button or something?
Instead, I’m expected to figure out what’s next, or just wander off to some...
Amazon.com is down. →
It’s not everyday you see that.
Their poor Web team! I’m sure they are a bit frantic right now.
Is istwitterdown down?
What does it mean when you try to go to http://www.istwitterdown.com, and the page won’t load?
Darn this evil Plurk!
There are still a lot of things I do not like about Plurk, but darned if it isn’t addictive. It’s constantly showing you updated little messages that say how many new plurks there are to see, and how many responses you’re going to miss out on reading if you walk away. It even shows the number of unread responses in the tab in Flock (an awesome browser), when you’re trying...
Go Plurk Yourself
I’m still pretty sure I don’t really like Plurk, but it’s like one of those movies-on-TV you can’t turn off. I want to see how it turns out. Check it out. If you get there via this link you’ll automatically be my friend. (Ooohh!!) http://plurk.com/redeemByURL?from_uid=10161&check=-819193639&s=1
Playing with Plurk
So far I think it’s kinda fun, but not better than Twitter. Cuter, yes. A few rough usability edges, but I’m sure they are still working on the details. I don’t like the horizontal UI, and using it seems very mouse intensive. Give it a try: www.plurk.com Update 30 minutes later: I give up. It’s physically difficult to use (lots of scrolling, mouse-aiming, and clicking...
May 2008
10 posts
I've been blogging about Tumblr. →
Check, check, check, check, go.
I detest Web apps where you have to select things using check boxes in a column, then pick an action from a drop-down list to apply to all the selected things. Trying to figure out what the check boxes in Outlook’s Web interface might be for. There’s a check/uncheck all meta-check-box at the top, but no clue about actions.
Help site visitors do what they want to do.
You would think it would be easy enough for companies to think of the top 3-4 things visitors to their Web sites might want to do, then help them do that. For instance: check their account balance, or find a store location. But so many companies don’t bother. What are they thinking?
Expand All, Everywhere
When I am appointed Queen of Usability in The Universe, every place that could use an Expand All option will have one. I just hate having to poke through lists, FAQs, etc., expanding each little point as I go. I came to the page to read the information - don’t make me fuss around to see it.
Coolest Thing Ever
This is the coolest blog-thing ever. I’m off to tell all my friends. :-)
UI Geek - Linda Eskin →
My site, after vastly simplifying it. Needs a bit of work. I think I’ll add Tumblr to it!
Twitter / LindaEskin →
Follow me on Twitter.
Great UX/UI
So far I’ve signed up (15 seconds), posted something (with the encouragement of a friendly message), and now I’m posting something else so I can try customization. I’ve been a user for about a minute. Brilliant.
Trying Tumblr
If the folks at Twitter use it, it must be good.