Peter Van Dijck's Guide to Ease

Peter — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:36:27 +0000

Automatically adding textfields upon type

Peter — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:25:43 +0000

Google has, on the edit profile page, a wonderfully simple UI convention I don’t remember seeing before.

Click on a textbox, and you can start typing. From the moment you start typing, it will add another textbox below it, so you can keep adding items. It doesn’t do that when you put the focus on the textbox though, only once you start typing in it. Wonderfully unobtrusive and effective. A jQuery plugin that does this (getting the details right) would be lovely.

“more even more” pattern: more storage

Peter — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:15:12 +0000

Another example of the more-even more pattern:

More “more – even more”

Peter — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:40:22 +0000

I noticed the “more – even more” pattern again today, on the BBC this time:

Awesome, although I like Google’s wording better – less words :)

Peter — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:21:42 +0000

Photo sharing innovation has slowed down again. Flickr is still good, but isn’t innovating aggressively, and it’s starting to show its age. Picassa kinda sucks. iPhoto is very nice but doesn’t have a strong online component. Facebook has a great photo app but it’s still Facebook - too closed. I think the space might be opening up again, let’s hope someone has a good go at it.

Peter — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:57:03 +0000

“You’ll be able to connect your choice of storage devices directly to the Box using USB” - awesome. That’s exactly what I’ve been wanting.

Control is not discipline

Peter — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:40:54 +0000

Via Anne Galloway: “Control is not discipline. You do not confine people with a highway. But by making highways, you multiply the means of control. I am not saying this is the only aim of highways, but people can travel infinitely and ‘freely’ without being confined while being perfectly controlled. That is our future.”

Awesome quote, it made me think. So so-called “freedom” can be used to impose control. Made me think of travelguides.

Heavy stuff

Peter — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:14:32 +0000

Heavy stuff, that bible!

Peter — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:28:37 +0000

Tastespotting is pretty awesome.

Peter — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:33:02 +0000

The second issue of the Journal of Information Architecture is out :) (via Lou on FB, which I can’t link to, which is one of the reasons that makes me think that whole FB thing is gonna blow over, just another walled garden, which is why I keep blogging, which is why this is here, although it gets crossposted I believe.)

Design research useless for innovation?

Peter — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:55:04 +0000

Don Norman: “I’ve come to a disconcerting conclusion: design research is great when it comes to improving existing product categories but essentially useless when it comes to new, innovative breakthroughs.“

I don’t think that’s so disconcerting, although it goes against much of the common UX babble.

“The fluffy marketing version”

Peter — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:51:05 +0000

I wonder why they felt they had to add that?

Confusing features with explanatory UI

Peter — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:15:37 +0000

When a feature is confusing enough to warrant you having to add rather heavy explanatory UI, you might wanna rethink it.

Peter — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:49:01 +0000

Lou is thinking about a combined index for his books, I think that’s an awesome idea.

How physical mail used to be like email

Peter — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:22:19 +0000

Mail used to be like email! “By the late 19th century, there were between six and twelve mail deliveries per day in London, permitting correspondents to exchange multiple letters within a single day.“ Six to twelve times a day checking your mail, sound familiar?