Apple’s Tablet, Slate, Canvas, Taplet

Jan 10
24

Tablet style computing has been one of the most failed technologies ever. History is full of examples of similar devices that have crashed and burned.

1950’s Styalator electronic tablet, 1960’s RAND Tablet and Dynabook. Various generations of Apple Newton devices, Microsoft Slate’s and Windows for Pen based computers. Even the Kindle that has sold about 1.5 million units total could be viewed as a failure when compared to numbers like 40-60 million iPhone’s and iPod Touch devices.

Why have so many companies tried and so many failed? Perhaps more importantly what does Apple think it can do to succeed? Here’s what I predict:

  • Best overall device for consuming content. Books, Magazines, Music, DVD’s.
    Devices of the past focused on creating content (usually with a pen) only the Kindle was good at reading content and only book form at that.
  • Best mobile web-browser. Sure you can pinch and zoom on your phone but if you really want to surf you need something larger. This middle ground is great for a tablet sized device.  You can finally read a website on a bus or train without trying to balance a laptop or looking too conspicuous.
  • Interface based on the iPhone. Clearly Apple has nailed the iPhone UI. They will take this base and extend it to a larger device. Not as big as a laptop but somewhere in between. The touch based interface will be enhanced with a two hand multi-touch predictive keyboard.  Everyone will hate it at first.  Three months later everyone will call it brilliant.
  • It’ll look like a flat iPhone.  90% screen, a little edge. Thin as hell.  It’ll be priced so that people perceive it as being expensive and premium compared to everything else. $799, maybe more.  Expect people to say…  Why would I get that when I can get a Kindle for $259.  That sort of thing just makes people desire it even more.
  • App developers will flock to it.
  • Magazines will be the killer content.
  • Social games will be the killer app.

Post to Twitter

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Apple, Design, Prediction | 2 Comments »

Power Favorites for Twitter Pros

Dec 09
5

Favorites on the popular twitter service have limited use. After being on the service for over a year I had managed to favorite only a few stories and checking with some others online it seemed that few people were making use of the feature as the feature was originally intended.

I’ve found a better way to use favorites.  When reading from a mobile device I will ‘favorite’ a story that I want to read later. I then have an RSS subscription to my own favorites list. This means that I can ’skim’ while mobile and read when I’m in front of a larger screen when I have more time.  There are dedicated services for this idea such as ‘instapaper’ however favorites and RSS works great across all clients and don’t require any special tools.

With that here’s 10 of my recent favorites:

P.S.  Don’t forget to follow me here.

Post to Twitter

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Mobile Ergonomics for those with two thumbs

Nov 09
23

Mobile Ergonomics

You can’t easily tap every region of the phone with equal ease. Your hand isn’t designed for this.  Yes your thumb is opposable but unless it’s double jointed there will still be parts of your phone that will be harder to tap.

When designing an application consider how it’s going to be held.  In one hand, sometimes in the other, perhaps in your pocket?  That’s why it’s so important to get the app out of the simulator and actually into your hand. The mechanics of how you hold your phone make it much harder to grip the device in certain orientations. It makes it particularly difficult to reach the lower corners by your thumb.

Consider the built in Camera application that Apple provides. The application is simple and attractive but the buttons for the application are in exactly the wrong place. To take a proper picture you need to hold the phone perfectly vertical (unless you’re taking a picture of the floor.)  The slippery edges of the phone require you to either grip the phone firmly with your hand making it difficult to tap the camera or alternatively balance the camera precariously on your pinkie finger.

iPhone Camera Interface Tap TargetsI have dropped my phone at least twice attempting this and know of at least one person who has smashed their phone into little bits because of this.

There’s a principal called “Fitts’s law” that describes how clickable items are on screen. Said simply:

Items that are larger and closer to the mouse cursor are easier to click.

The mathematical details then explain that traditional screen edges are infinitely click-able since they have a virtually unlimited size.   On a mobile device the same assumptions don’t hold true. The mechanics of your hand play a significant role.  Not only do items have to be larger to be easier to click but they have to be easily reachable when holding a phone in one hand.

Post to Twitter

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Design, Telephone, User Interface, mobile | No Comments »

Quick Calendar UI Review – Google

Nov 09
19

This is a simple UI critique of a simple feature burried in Google Calendar.  Here’s the original:

Google Calendar Original

It’s a relatively simple form.  It’s certainly not bad but I think it could be better. Here’s a quick mock up:

Google Calendar Concept

Here are the key design points:

  • The body of the form has “What, When, Where”  but doesn’t have “Who” if you’re having a meeting it stands to reason that the people attending are pretty important. I always felt that having guests hidden in the right didn’t make sense.
  • The majority of meetings are measured in duration. 30 min, 45 min, 1 hour, 2 hour, all day, etc. It’s much easier to pick a common duration and allow “custom end time.” as a fall-back rather then making users select end times.
  • Most meetings don’t repeat. Logically this is a secondary consideration. This can be moved to the secondary area on the right.
  • Checking availability should be a secondary area action as well. Plus over on the right there’s more space to present availability in-line.
  • It should be really easy to preview a location with a map.
  • The current UI makes it difficult to add people to a meeting without the system automatically emailing them. You have to place names into the description area. Having a simple checkbox to email guests could solve this.
  • There are a lot of simple UI 101 alignment things that can make the UI look cleaner and simpler just by lining fields up.
  • The right hand side could be extensible with new modules, plug-ins, ala Google Labs.

Post to Twitter

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Design, Google, Review, User Interface | 1 Comment »

5 Email Problems not Solved by Google Wave

Nov 09
10

Google wave is an interesting new technology for communication. In concept it’s supposed to fix many of the issues associated with email. While it solved some of the back & forth in traditional email threads it fails to solve a number key email issues and instead introduces it’s own set of problems by radicly changing how people work.

  1. It’s still not possible to easily tell if your message was received, read or even opened.  Just like email you will never know if the important proposal made it.
  2. Information overload.  The problem is finding what’s important. New things move to the top regardless of how important they are. Compare this to how you organize papers on your desk, important things move to the top.
  3. If you say something stupid you can’t take it back. Just like email once it’s out there you’re done. Even if the other person hasn’t seen it yet. They will now play it back in it’s full glory.
  4. Privacy. You can’t send something and keep the recipient from forwarding it on.
  5. Transfer of large files or collections. You can still attach things but if you want to share 50 wedding photos or a large home movie Wave won’t help you much.  It’s a communication pipe but files are secondary citizens.
  6. Bonus #6. Spam.  You’ll can still get it and you’ll still be expected to flag it.  So there will be false positives. An extensive social network reputation doesn’t help.  A lack of a social network doesn’t keep you from sending 1000’s of messages.  It’s still early so there is little spam but this will change if this catches on.

    Post to Twitter

    Tags: , ,
    Posted in Design, Email, Google | No Comments »

    Free iPhone Designer Icons

    Oct 09
    16

    Designing icons is hard. Designing quality icons is harder. That’s why it’s great when a free resource pops up that provides over 100 free icons for your use in iPhone application designs. These icons are perfect for tab bars or toolbar use.

    Often times we don’t use these icons verbetam but they provide a valuable design language and starting point that offers some level of predictability and consistency across apps.

    glyphs and icons for the iPhone

    Get them over at http://www.glyphish.com/

    Post to Twitter

    Tags: , , ,
    Posted in Apple, Design | 1 Comment »

    Interface List Design – Drupal

    Oct 09
    1

    This is a quick UI critique on a list design pattern that’s in a proposed stages for Drupal7. The UI being critiqued is not final, as such the feedback is meant to be helpful to both the Drupal team and anyone else designing list based design patterns.

    Before:

    drupal_content_list

    Example image from drupal 7 content list

    Key points with this screen:

    • The title areas don’t tell you what you’re supposed to do on this screen. In fact there are at least three competing title areas. “Content” as a title, “Content” as a tab, “Add new content” as a secondary title and two group boxes that cover filtering and updating. The actual title of the screen doesn’t reflect the modal nature of dialog. You’re actually adding content to something else and it’s not clear what that is.
    • The information is presented in the wrong reading order.  The content table should be first.  You first have to read the list to see what you’re dealing with before you decide to either filter it or update it.
    • An empty list is a dead-end. It tells you there is no content but doesn’t direct you on how or where you should go to create some.
    • The X in the upper doesn’t make it clear what it would close. The tab? The dialog? A simple cancel button or a standard cancel button or a close button in the upper right would be more obvious.

    After

    drupal content list updated

    Key points

    • Title should say what you’re doing.
    • Filters should sit above column headers whenever possible. No additional button action should be needed and multiple filters can be applied at the same time.
    • It should be easy to reset the filters and hide them. Hidden should be the default.  The filters should give you a clue as to the number of items in each filter bucket:  Articles (3)  Posts (120). This makes it easier to select the right filters.
    • If the table is empty it should be easy to get to a content creation page.
    • Buttons along the bottom of a dialog provide clear ways to exit or complete the task.
    • Things that don’t map to the core task should be hidden.  In the original mockup there were options to update the status of content from published to unpublished. This type of functionality belongs in a management section, not when you’re “adding content.” It should be removed or hidden in a similar way that filters can be hidden.

    Post to Twitter

    Tags: , , , , ,
    Posted in Design, Development, HTML/CSS, Usability, User Interface | No Comments »

    Why NDA’s make little sense

    Sep 09
    15

    I used to think that an Non-Disclosure-Agreements (NDA’s) were a useful tool in business. I’ve now decided it’s a wedge that gets in the way of progress and conversations.

    A typical scenario is between someone with an idea and someone who’s in the position to help fullfil that idea. This can be a VC with money, a contractor with skills or a business partner. The person with the idea begins the conversation…

    “I need your help, but before I can even tell you how you can help, I need you to sign something.”

    What a conversation killer. When you put it that way, it sounds rediculous but that’s exactly what these conversations are about.

    1. I don’t know you.
    2. I don’t know your idea.
    3. I don’t know your background or company.
    4. I don’t even know if I can help you.
    5. What is the upside for me to sign an agreement?

    Let’s tell some more truths.

    1. Few people read their NDA’s closely. It takes time.  This is time that is spent looking at papers rather then discussing your idea and how to execute it. What would you rather spend time doing?
    2. It’s not clear to me how enforceable NDA’s are if they are violated.  It’s practically impossible to tell how information leaks out and who is responsible. If information leaks out will you really spend thousands of dollars in legal fees?  If you’re a startup the answer is always no.  The only time NDA’s get more serious is when they are with a larger publicly traded company.
    3. In most cases the NDA does exactly the opposite of what actually needs to be done.  If you need help the best way to get help is to put the word out. You’ll find the best people and the best answers to problems.

    At best the NDA says that both people signing agree not to be assholes.  Of course you shouldn’t need a piece of paper to tell you that, after all you’re the one asking for help.

    Ideas are worthless

    Imagine you’re a brilliant entrepreneur, a savvy business women or a brilliant negotiator.  No matter how good your idea, the idea itself is worthless. Zero. Nada.  There are two things that matter with ideas:

    1. Execution
    2. Advantage

    As I just said ideas are worthless, litteraly a dime a dozzen. Execution, is the way you implement the vision of the idea. No one is going to execute the idea the same way that you would execute it. It may be your drive, your passion, your tenacity. Whatever it is, no one else has it.  You have to be more passionate about your idea then anyone else.

    The other thing that matters is your advantage. This may be your connections, your education, your life experiences, your expertise. Whatever you bring to the table that gives you the lead over your competition.

    If you can execute your idea and you have an advantage you can tell your idea to people all day long and it doesn’t matter.  If other people don’t have the same passion and advantage as you they will never be able to bring the idea to completion that way that you would.

    It’s been done.

    Your idea, however brilliant has already been done. It’s been done by someone else, in some other country, in some related field, in some other time, to some similar product, using a derivitive technology. For all the NDA’s that I’ve signed I have never once seen an idea that is totally new.

    Ideas are by nature evolutionary and build upon past ideas.  No matter how good your ideas may be it’s already been done. It’s has already been disclosed. A simple google search of your idea will show that there are tons of people doing what you’re trying to do.  What hasn’t been disclosed is how you’re going to execute your idea.

    Ideas are a People Business

    VC’s talk about intelectual property or the secret sauce for your idea. In most cases it’s not the patents sitting in a drawer. It’s people who have a vision to execute and a tactical advantage to make an idea successful.  If you’re asking for help you need the right people and to get them you need to have a lot of conversations.  The more NDA’s you sign the less total conversations you can have.  Among other reasons this is one of the reasons you won’t find VC’s signing NDA’s.

    Someone is building your idea right now. What are you waiting for?

    An NDA?

    Post to Twitter

    Tags: , , ,
    Posted in Experience, Humor, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

    Apple’s Secret

    Sep 09
    8

    Apple is generally great at keeping secrets. They love to break the news and wow the audience. They are amazing at this and control the media experience with precision. The process starts with the invitation, carefully crafted with just a hint of what’s to come.  It has the exact effect that Apple wants. Everyone is speculating and getting excited. It’s like opening a present on your birthday… What could it be?

    The problem is that controlling this experience requires secrecy. It means that within Apple there are people who know the secret and people who do not.  The secrecy creates dividing lines between groups. The groups that are not ‘in the know’ then go off and create their own secrets.  This is what has happened at Apple and it’s getting out of control.

    Everyone gets paranoid about saying too much and in turn says too little. This secrecy has created a particularly deep divide in the iPhone part of Apple’s business. The cloak and dagger secrecy behind the ways that Apple runs the app store have made me question if the secrecy is ‘worth it.’

    I appreciate the show and the magic that goes on to make it happen. That said a clearer line needs to be drawn between what’s good for hardware sales and what’s good for the rest of the business.

    Post to Twitter

    Tags: ,
    Posted in Apple, Venting | No Comments »

    Drupal User Experience

    Aug 09
    8

    Over the summer we overhauled the Raizlabs website. It was originally developed in 2001 using Frontpage (yeah, I know). The site had accumulated a number of HTML files, a collection of ASP files, a number of blogs for personal and company use, some newsletters and assorted client scripts.

    In re-designing the site I knew I wanted a content system. We evaluated Joomla, Drupal, WordPress and custom solutions.  Joomla and Drupal looked promising. Wordpress was a good blog system but not designed for larger site structures. We started implementing a Joomla site and were perhaps a week into the process when we decided to change paths and go with Drupal.

    The Joomla front-end experience is easier to get started with but makes it difficult to setup and interact with content quickly. The Joomla system had a lot of out of the box features but it required too many steps to do simple things.

    The Drupal user experience was by contrast amazingly stark. After downloading Drupal I couldn’t figure out how you could possibly build a site using it.  It later became clear that the real value of Drupal was with it’s module system.

    Critical flaw: Make sure things work out of the box. Batteries should be included.

    While Drupal is truly a powerful system this is easy to overlook. The default install that you get from Drupal.org has nothing included. It’s like getting a car engine without the seats.

    Dries: Oh, you want seats in your car? There’s a module for that.

    There are more complete solutions and downloads available from providers like Acquia but this is not obvious. The modules are the most critical part of Drupal and if you’re not familiar with modules it’s not clear what modules you need.  They have many names that are also not obvious: CCK, Views, ImageCache, AdvancedHelp, Devel, Mollom, TaxonomyMenu.

    Too much flexibility can cause problems.

    Everything in Drupal is customizable. Not only can you customize your content but the system also makes it very easy to customize the admin structure, menus and commands however you want. It’s so easy to customize the administrative interface that it’s easy to get into a state where nothing works.

    The admin interface should be designed to be quick and efficient for creating and editing content.  Some amount of customization is great but the system as it stands is overly abstract making it easy to get into trouble.

    Be good at certain things. Don’t try to be good at everything.

    When evaluating Drupal it seemed that it has support for blogs, forums, discussions, groups and pretty much everything else. It was only later that we decided that even though Drupal could do these things it couldn’t do them well.  For instance Drupal has a blog module but it’s so much harder to use then WordPress that there’s really no reason to fight Drupal to do what you want, it’s easier to integrate WordPress. Same story for PHPBB and the Drupal Advanced Forum module.  As a content system Drupal should make it easier to integrate these external products. Instead they try to re-invent these components and it doesn’t work.  Drupal is a good content system but it’s not a good blog and it’s not a great forum.

    More then anything I wish Drupal would be a better cross product citizen for other PHP projects.  For example: Gallery, PHPBB, WordPress, ZenCart, etc. Plugging in other stuff that’s not part of Drupal should be encouraged.  The attitude that it has to be Drupal for everything is simply not practical.

    Views and CCK

    Views and CCK allow you to create all sorts of queries onto your content and allow you to customize the fields of content that you collect. It’s basically like creating your own database columns for your content.  The problem is that you can’t just take someone elses database you have to build them yourself. If I want to setup a bunch of content and views to create a little client database I have to start from scratch. It would be so much easier to take a good solution as a starting point and customize it to specific needs.

    There should be a number of popular and useful views that should be included. I shouldn’t have to create my own “random post of the day” or “most popular articles” these should be canned views.

    Modules and Blocks

    A module encompasses a portion of functionality. It’s actually not ‘modular’ in that sense of the word. It’s more like a plug-in that extends the functionality. A block is a component that gets shown on a page.

    The block model assumes that you have one core site template and that blocks are either shown or hidden on each page. As your site grows you have to have rather complex rules for when certain blocks are shown and when they are hidden. The UI to customize this show/hide functionality is rather broken. Rather then having page tempaltes with visual drag-drop interfaces for multiple pages you have to manually specify all your blocks and pages within one block template page.

    I wish I could define a site structure then drag/drop content and widgets to each page in the site structure.

    Terminology

    With any content system there’s a certain amount of learning that has to happen. For some reason content systems don’t use terminology that is used when designing a website. They use their own abstract terms: Page, Story, Book.  If you take these terms literally you may expect that stories compose a book and a page is one page of a longer story. This isn’t how it works.

    Drupal uses the term “Menu” for everything. Even if certain things are tabs, other things are trees and still others are actually menus.

    Making things practical, not just possible.

    Drupal has the ability to do a lot of things but in many cases these things are possible, not practical. Solutions for certain tasks are not ‘turn-key’ they involve a lot of customization and configuration. As a simple example I wanted to create a special “clients only” section on my site. Reading the docs and forums there were at least 10 different approahes for how to solve this problem. Some solutions suggested advanced permission modules, others suggested Organic Groups, still others suggested a CCK/Views approach. This seems like such a basic security scenario that there should be a simple solution to make this work (there was not).

    I’m sure this problem has been solved many times over using Drupal however there is no current way for people to share these “solution recipes” in a way that I can download them and have things just work.

    Long term experience

    I think Drupal’s user experience has a lot of potential and I’m encouraged by the efforts I’ve read about for the Druapl 7 release.  Focus on the user experience is really the thing that’s going to make this not just a powerful system but a practical one.  I’m looking forward to it.

    Post to Twitter

    Tags: , , , ,
    Posted in Experience, Review, Usability, User Interface | 15 Comments »

    « Older Entries