Jeff Chausse
Digital Strategy + Design
Apple Special Event: Meh
Well, Steve Jobs hath spoken and released unto the world… some obvious stuff and some entirely redundant stuff.
OK, I’m glad they launched a new Mac mini, with FrontRow + remote control, but that was 100% expected. Other than that? FrontRow now supports Bonjour sharing – a fairly obvious update. Then there were two not-so-revolutionary iPod accessories: a $99 leather iPod case (um, no thanks – but it’s classier than socks, I suppose) and yet another plug-your-iPod-into-a-speakers thingamajig. I’m sure it sounds swell but, you know, the way Apple is crapping on iPod accessory makers — the people who made the iPod what it is today — must be ruffling some feathers by now.
Ruby on Rails Tutorial from Apple
Apple just released what looks to be a nice Ruby on Rails Tutorial. Personally, I got my start using O’Reilly’s excellent “Rolling” tutorials (part 1, and part 2) in conjunction with the absolutely essential Agile Web Development with Rails book, but this looks to be just as good, especially if you’re a Mac user.
Maybe Steve Jobs’ big announcement today will be a killer Rails IDE? Maybe not, but a guy can dream… Meanwhile, I highly recommend Eclipse + RDT for all your Rails-riding needs.
Jakob Nielsen, Anchor Links, and why Design is Important
Jakob Nielsen’s latest rant is against anchor links. Anchor links existed before image tags. In fact, they were in the HTML spec before HTML specs had version numbers (notably this 1992 W3C HTML specification).
Jakob’s argument: Users are used to going to a different page when they click something. For a click to have any other effect would hopelessly confuse the user.
This is pretty sad. Check your calendar, Jakob. The year is 2006. This argument may have held back in the days of brochureware web sites, but we’re already in the postmodern phase of the web — web sites are no longer just a collection of static pages. Web “applications” are the order of the day. Let’s list my “mental model” of what clicking a link might do, based on the context of said link. By context, I mean clever design used to bestow affordances upon the link (something Nielsen obviously knows very little about).
Clicking a link may:
- Bring me to another page
- Bring me to another part of the current page (oh no!)
- Initiate a download
- Open a dialog box (DHTML or otherwise)
- Expand a section of the page
- Modify a page’s stylesheet
- Re-center a map (Google Maps)
- Subscribe to an RSS feed
- Play a video
I’m sure I could think of more. The point is that if you care to help the web evolve so that every site doesn’t look and work like, well, Jakob Nielsen’s web site, you must use design to create intuitive usability. Flickr introduced many new user interface concepts to people (such as simply clicking on a title to change it) — without hopelessly confusing and alienating users. How did they do it? Design. Design and usability go hand-in-hand. Without design there is no innovation. Without innovation, there is useit.com 
Design Tweakage
I made some minor layout tweaks to the site, and will likely make some more quite soon. After exploring the world of Web 2.0, this site’s layout was starting to feel very dated. I didn’t want to do anything too drastic — I’ve had my share of regrettable drastic site redesigns.
If you’re also thinking of modernizing your web site, you might want to check out this excellent web page from “Web Design from Scratch” which attempts to maintain a handle on the web design zeitgeist of the day. It’s a great resource, though I wish it kept a log of previous versions. I was hoping to comment upon exactly what year my old design would have been in style!
Web Development Quickie – Dynamically JavaScript Includes
Phpied.com has a great article on using JavaScript to dynamically include other JavaScript files. It goes way beyond the basics, including tricks for ensuring that a file is not included multiple times.
My First Web 2.0 Domain Name
An odd sense of combined giddiness and guilt came over me as I registered the following domain name for a MyBigRiver spinoff project:
I thought twice about it since the the single g version goes to some kind of lawn care products, but it’s actually a great name (as far as Web 2.0 domain names go) for what I’m cooking up. It doesn’t go anywhere interesting right now… Just wanted to share.
Prosper.com – Web 2.0-esque Microlending/Microborrowing
Prosper.com is a new site that links up private individuals who need to borrow relatively small amounts of money or who have money to lend. I’m a tad leery that the company doesn’t provide any clear guarantees against deadbeats, but should it prove a trustworthy system, it strikes me as an easy way to make a quick buck if you have some spare cash laying around to lend. Very interesting.
Steal My Idea #2 – Stolen!
Looks like Adesso has pretty much created a Digital Whiteboard Tablet, as I described in my “Steal My Idea #2” post. They call it the Cyberpad. It uses pen and paper instead of dry-erase markers, but other than that, it’s almost exactly as I described it. No Wi-Fi, but does sell for under $200. Spiffy.
Geek Roadies
The Wall Street Journal has a great article about the geeks (mainly Geek Squad employees) who travel with rock bands and such, keeping their XBoxes, Internet connections, and crappy 10-year-old Casio organizers working. For some reason I find this quote hilarious:
“Prince uses only the finest techies in the country”
Perhaps too much SNL and Chappelle’s Show…
5 Seconds
Seth Godin has a message for web marketers who insist on capturing every possible customer – don’t bother! I speak from (painful) experience when I say that he’s absolutely right. By struggling to make “leads” out of all the folks who aren’t really interested in what you’re selling, you inevitably annoy the heck out of those who actually are.