I just finished buying my first photograph from iStockPhoto.com. I am totally impressed with their user interface.  The entire experience was solid.  The information architecture seemed coherent.  Everything about it has subtlety and grace.  Compared to the competition, it head and shoulders above the rest.  Plus the pricing strategy was great.  You buy “credits”.  Then you download different sizes which cost you credits.  10 credits cost $12.  I downloaded a fairly large image for 2 credits.  It’s no good for print, but it works fine for the web.

Great job to iStockPhoto.  I not only bought something, but I wanted to buy it because of the UI.  I enjoyed it and look forward to using it again.  Which unfortunately, I never need stock photos, so I probably won’t use it again.

Isn’t that always the way?  You find something you like, but you just don’t need it that often.  Well, I enjoyed my one purchase.

Since nothing is perfect, I do have a suggestion for iStockPhoto.  The functionality for the zoom was weird and bugged me. When I click zoom, I want to see the picture bigger.  Having it in that little frame was annoying.  I would rather you didn’t have it at all.  But maybe check out the canvas zoom capabilities here.  At least this is fun.

Also, the lightbox area is confusing.  I went there and said, “Where the hell is my photo?”  Took me a minute to find it.  It should be more obvious with less marketing in the way.  Otherwise, great job.

Netflix, a few weeks ago, finally introduced Drag and Drop on their Queue page.  I have already used it a bunch of times.  Bravo, Netflix.  It works very well for what it does.  It has a nice transparency when a row is in motion.  Plus several visual cues to know what is happening.  However, it is a little limited.  You can not drag a whole block of movies.  This is important when you have something like 24-Season 6 (5 disc series).  You can only move those one at a time.  I know it’s hard, but they should be able to either select multiple rows for dragging or automatically move a block of a series as one.

Additionally, the checkbox on the right (for deletion) is much harder to click now that the row is draggable.  I missed the button several times.  You need very fine motor control to get it.  My suggestion would be to implement a replacement checkbox made out of images that are larger with a better target.

It’s their first try at Drag and Drop, so I don’t want to be too critical.  It’s a good start.  I hope they follow it up with enhancements.  Getting a product right takes alot of versions and alot of work, but in the end, your customers will love you for it.  I don’t know how the UI looks for Blockbuster.  Anyone have that?

I just finished watching the movie Bridge to Terabithia with Katie and the Kids.  It was the saddest thing I have seen in years.  I almost started crying.  I had that terrible lump in my throat.  I can still feel it.

I thought it was going to be a movie like The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, or The NeverEnding Story.  But it wasn’t like that at all.  I really was taken by surprise on this one.  Well done.  Beautiful movie.  I thought it had a great message, great acting.  The little girl Leslie was just perfect.

Next movie is Pan’s Labyrinth and The Killing Fields.  Happy movies.

I was just reading the CSS3 specifications.  This got me down for two reasons.  One, because I am a total geek for reading these.  Two, because browsers are pretty far away from supporting these.  Who knows when I will feel comfortable actually using some of these capabilities?  When IE7 dies?  2010?  Later?

The stuff in there is great.  But at this point, it’s just depressing to know that it’s there and that I can’t use it.   Some of the capabilities are shadows, rounded corners, easier layout, easier positioning, etc etc etc.  It actually makes me wonder if it makes CSS even HARDER to figure out.

The wonderful part of the WWW is the ability of normal people (a.k.a. Non-programmers) to make new parts of it.  But we are heading towards a world where building is becoming abstracted and more difficult.  Now, it’s easier to make a second-life widget than to make a website.  I wonder where this will all go.  Right now, Safari supports the CSS3 spec and Firefox3 should support alot of it.

I have been thinking about Internet Explorer and the unique challenges that Microsoft faces.  Corporations have been making custom web applications that ONLY work on IE6 or IE7.  These apps are tying Microsoft’s hands when it comes to upgrades.  How can they upgrade when all of these applications depend on IE6 ONLY.   It is terrible development practice to work only in one browser, but it is also Microsoft’s fault for not supporting standards so that different browsers would work the same.

IE8 has to go towards standards so that different browsers will work the same.  This is the only way for them to get out of that mess.  I am simplifying all of this.  But, I really want to use CSS3.  What else can I say?

For a long time, I have not liked the functionality in the image zoom implementations out there. Usually I use HighSlide. It is probably the best of the bunch.  It zooms, drags around, has great styling with lots of options.  But it doesn’t dim the screen and it doesn’t have easing on the zoom. jQuery Thickbox is ok, but the lack of transitions just makes it way too boring for me.  The jQuery Imagebox from the Interface Plugin is actually pretty good, but the effect I want is different.  I want the image to zoom like Highslide.  I want Highslide with the zoom.

I started a project to see if I could make something better. Project EaseBox.  It started off great, and then I screwed up a few things and it all started to fall apart. Ben Nadel offered to help me out.  I am a programming moron and he kicks ass.

I don’t think it would take alot of time, but I really want to make this happen.  I think the need is there.

On another note:  I upgraded WordPress to 2.2.1.  Another easy upgrade.  But I still get JS errors in the admin area.

I have been getting myself accustomed to the idea that my first book advance check will go to a list of fun stuff.  Here is my current list.

1. Logitech Harmony 800 Remote Control (or equivalent)
2. Digital recorder for Katie.  I don’t know which one is best.  It’s for recording her singing.
3. Wii. You know, for the kids.
4. LCD Monitor.  Not sure which one yet.  Probably a 19″ one.
5. Tennis bag.  Maybe I should get this now.
6. Tennis game for the wii.  You know, for the kids.
7. Maybe a zune to replace the iPod.  I am so sick of iTunes.  Plus car adapter.  Plus speakers.  Holy crap, that’s expensive.  Maybe i should pass on this one.

It’s good to have dreams.

An engineer friend of mine needed some help on CSS.  He was extremely frustrated with the CSS.  As I fixed it, he looked at me like I was performing black magic.  I asked, “Isn’t programming like this?”  He said, “No, programming is more deterministic.”

This made me think about all of the HTML/CSS I have done in the last 12 years.  It has mostly been trial and error screwing around until all the browsers came into line and worked.  For a little while IE6 was the only browser to worry about and life was good.  Now, we have Firefox, IE6, IE7, and Safari and the ridiculous Word 2007 renderer that Outlook 2007 uses.  I don’t want to spend my time troubleshooting CSS.  I want to be developing better UX.

Look at this retarded Email template I had to make that works in IE6/IE7/Safari/Firefox/Gmail/Outlook2000-2007/YahooMail/ad nauseum.   View the source.  Is that the most f##ked up html you have seen since 2000?  Come on?  Nested tables?  Spacer.gif?!?  I usually look at spacer.gif as a sign of someone who doesn’t know CSS.  This is unfair.

CSS should be detirministic.  I should say width: 100px and damn-it, it should be 100px on every browser.  This is the kind of thing that drives people to use Flex.

On a completely random note:  This guys art work is really funny.  I like the URL too.  Nice work.

I am stunned, shocked and dismayed. Microsoft has kicked me straight in the family jewels on this one. I am so mad, I could spit! Literally. This is a horrible decision.

Microsoft Outlook 2000 and 2003 both used Internet Explorer as their rendering engine. T his meant you could design a regular old html website and send it to someone via email and it would look correct. In Outlook 2007, Microsoft switched gears, WITHOUT TELLING ANYONE, and pulled out the rendering engine! They replaced it with some fucked up half-browser! It doesn’t have float, it doesnt have positioning! It makes my life hell. What the hell is wrong with them?!?

I had designed this great html editor in Marketo, and now I will not be able to use it for Emails because positioning is missing!

Boo! Boo! Booooooooooo! Microsoft screwed the pooch on this one.

Great article on the subject. This one really breaks it down to its unbelievable sadness.

Microsoft had this lame excuse of an explanation. They even made a validation tool that doesn’t even work independantly. It only works with their crazy 200 meg Expression Web Designer. I am so mad. Spit!

UPDATE:

More great articles, all saying the same thing.  I am not the only one unhappy with Microsoft on this.

This guy gives some sample template emails that you can modify that work in Outlook 2007.  This is actually very generous of them.  I am going to try and modify one of them.

Apparently they used to have the Word rendering engine and the internet explorer version.  The Word engine was for writing emails and the internet explorer one was for reading them.  So they decided to standardize on the crappy Word version.  This is tantamount to introducing a major new browser with almost no standards support.  I need to spit again.

To love an idea is to love it a little more than one should.
-Jean Rostand

I highly resemble this quote.

jQuery just announced launched a new plugin area. This is an area that I have had particular interest in for some time. The jQuery plugins really are needed to do any advanced UX. Once you have a taste of great UX, you just can’t hold back from every detail. Anyway, I looked at the area with my UX hat on and give it a review.

Right away, I thought it was an improvement in several ways. The old plugin page is pretty chaotic.  It had grown so quickly that you couldn’t keep up.  Plus there was very little detail per plugin.  Many plugins pointed directly at JS files and others had information on custom blogs or third party sites.  Bringing the plugin infrastructure under one IA structure makes alot of sense.   I have some ideas about structure, but I’ll come back to that in a sec.

The detail pages are a huge leap forward.  You can rate plugins and see lots of good detail.  This is a step in the right direction for sure, but my UX hat won’t let me stop there.  I think this page could use a few more features, which I have been assured are in the works.  One is comments.  It’s important to have community feedback on a plugin.  Another is a list of sites that use the plugin.  This can serve two purposes.  One is to see that others are investing in the same plugin.  Using a plugin is more of a vote than clicking 5 stars.  it is putting money where your mouth is.

The other benefit to registering sites that use a plugin is the ability to email developers when new versions are released.  Right now, I can’t keep track of where I used what plugin.  I need to register the sites for my own sanity as much as the benefit of the community.  It would also yield important information about who is using what plugins together.  In other words, how many people use plugin A and plugin B on the same page?  It’s like Amazon’s 42% of people who look at this page end up buying that other product.

Back to the overall structure.  I think a lesson can be taken from YouTube and WordPress Themes or even BetaNews.  Although it’s important to categorize by type, I also think it’s incredibly important to give a sense of movement and timeliness.  It’s an advantage of jQuery to have such an active community.  I would suggest making the date view be more prominent and more news-ish.  Maybe even off the homepage.  The key is to give the sense of active development.  It’s not just a practical matter of finding the right plugin for the job.  It’s also a way to be involved in the community and see how vibrant it is.

One key to the improved usefulness of the new site will be to get all of the plugins registered and in the system.  It doesn’t work that well without the plugins in it.  But they just announced it today, so should have a little patience!

Overall, I give the new structure a A- as a huge step forward and I am excited to see more improvements in the coming months.