Tag: UX

  • The UX of DivX on my DVD or DirecTV

    Wow, that title was a mouthful. Ok, bottom line:  It sucks. There is a term: convergence.  It basically means that I could get video on my computer and watch it on my TV or mobile device.  Specifically, it means giving my television (or connected devices) codecs and access to the internet. First is DirecTV.  There…

  • An idea for Project Management software

    There is no such thing as SaaS management software. There are bug trackers like Jira and Bugzilla.  There is Agile project management software like TargetProcess or FogBugz.  There is Microsoft Project.  But there isn’t something I look at and say, “That would work to manage the never-ending work a SaaS startup goes through.”  At least,…

  • The SuperDiv

    Without any doubt in my mind, this is the holy grail of web development.  A superDiv.  I spoke with Brad Neuberg about this at AjaxExperience.  He was working on possibly using the <canvas> tag to do interesting things like this.  Corner.js does this pretty well for <img> tags, but not for generic divs. This is…

  • The UX of Online Tennis Ladders

    They all suck.  How hard is this?  The rules are simple.  The business model is simple. People register and join a ladder.  It costs a minimal amount per player, like 25 cents a month per player. Ladders have rankings for each player in the ladder. 1-n. Each player has a history of matches that can…

  • My Favorite Slide

    Also known as Baby Sandwich. This was my favorite slide from my presentation.  There are ideas that become wrong over time and you have to willing to get rid of it.  It could be your own code, your own ideas or positions you had previously taken.  It doesn’t matter whose idea it was, if it…

  • The UX of the Renaissance Hotel

    At AjaxExperience, we stayed at the Boston Renaissance Hotel.  It was mostly 95% pleasant, but the 5% really annoyed me.  Is this nitpicking or human behavior?  I definetely feel like it’s the little things that matter.  Although if you screw up the big things that is bad too.  In general, I had a good time and…

  • Browser Possession Part II

    Remember Browser Possession?  It was at the end of last years AjaxExperience.  I had figured that it was a dead issue, but apparently it has come up again a few times in this years conference. I asked the Adobe guys about it and got a surprising answer.  They are talking about doing it with the…

  • AjaxExperience Presentation

    I think it went well.  I had nice reviews from people afterward.  So far, the conference has been fun and informative.  I have met lots of new and exciting people.  I love being around such brain power.  It’s inspiring and exhausting.  Somehow though, I feel like last years was more edgy and exciting.  Some passion…

  • RIA Frameworks

    NOTE: I am not an engineer.  I am very good with HTML/CSS and I love jQuery.  The following is from that point of view. I was wondering what the state of RIA Frameworks were these days.  Have more competitors popped up?  How easy are they?  As a non-engineer, I wondered if any were easy for…

  • The UX of Making Progress

    I don’t think this applies to everyone, but it applies to me many times over.  When I feel like I can not make “progress” I get very stressed.  My mind doesn’t think as well, my body feels ill.  I generally have a short temper when I am in this state.  Progress is my minds digestion…

  • Gmail Large Attachments

    Sometimes I feel like GMail is trying to make a bad experience on purpose. Google has a counter at the bottom of the screen that tracks how much space you are using.  Since I use Picasa and have thousands of photos, I purchased the annual storage upgrade.  They give me about 7 or gigs of…

  • 4am Inspiration

    I have not had alot of time to think lately.  Most of my “ideas” are focused on Marketo. However, my AjaxExperience presentation is due and I have not “nailed it”.  I went to sleep worrying about it. I work up at 4am this morning.  Mostly asleep, but this idea kept nagging me.  With this idea,…

  • Powerpoint Guideliness

    Powerpoint is a great tool for communicating, if you use it right.  Most people don’t do it right. Here are a few (but not all) guidelines: Do not make people READ.  It is very hard to read and listen at the same time.  Do this excercise:  Read and article from a magazine about a subject,…

  • The UX of Picasa Name Tagging

    ALERT:  This is the coolest thing I have seen in MONTHS! If you have Picasa, you have to try this.  It’s called Name Tagging.  You enable it.  Mine took about an hour or so to crawl through all the photos.  When it was done, I realized that it put these little squares (only available if…