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Monday, October 21, 2002 |
The Lowly URL and the Web User Experience
Here's a great piece on how to use top-level redirects to create user-friendly and memorable URLs. This is an aspect of Web design too often overlooked.
1:06:38 PM 
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Two Great Minds on User Centered Design
Among the smartest -- and coolest -- folks I got to work with when I was with CNET Builder.com for more than four years were Nathan Shedroff and Peter Merholz. They were an integral part of my advisory board and they worked on every New Orleans conference I chaired as I recall.
Now Jeffrey Veen points us to an interview Digital-Web did with them on the timely topic of user-centered design (UCD). Must reading, Web builders!
Defining What We Do. It seems we're never quite done when it comes to developing definitions for our vocabulary in this industry. I'm getting kind of tired of the debate, frankly -- I'd rather focus on how to do this stuff, when it's appropriate, and why it's important at all. That said, I was impressed by Peter's comments in the latest Digital Web Magazine. Meryl interviewed him along with old friend Nathan Shedroff on the subject of what, exactly, do we mean when we talk about User Centered design. [Jeffrey Veen]
12:57:45 PM
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Apple Holds the Upper Hand Vis a Vis Expo
Cooler heads prevail in Expo battle [MacCentral]
Let me say this clearly. Apple holds the upper hand here. I loved MacWorld Expo in Boston and hated it in NYC. I applaud IDG's decision to relocate the show to Boston. But if Apple says no, then the conference hosts had better re-think their position.
A MacWorld Expo without Apple and Jobs would draw fewer people than the Montreal Expos playing the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Or the average home crowd at the Oakland Coliseum to watch the A's, whichever is smaller.
12:51:40 PM
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Cyberspace is Not a Place After All!
Judge: Disabilities Act doesn't cover Web. A federal judge says Southwest Airlines doesn't have to make its site more accessible to the blind. The Americans with Disabilities Act, she says, doesn't apply to virtual space. [CNET News.com]
I'm sure glad this well-educated and articulate judge is here to teach all of us ignoramuses what cyberspace is and isn't. As more and more people rely to a greater extent on the Internet for news, connections to other humans, interaction, data storage, and a host of other things, it's nice to know that the U.S. government, at least, won't worry its pretty little empty head about those who have any disability. Let 'em cheat fate!
Late Addition
Mark Pilgrim over at diveintomark added some cogent comments on the specifics of the judge's ruling.
12:40:46 PM
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Zeldman Redesigning His Site
There's been an interesting increase lately in the number of prominent sites that are undergoing redesigns to get in full step with CSS-2 principles. The latest is Jeffrey Zeldman's place. The Z man has always been one of the leading proponents of Web standards and of design elegance through simplicty. His sites have always reflected that propensity.
Now, though, he's doing another conscious redesign and I'm anxious to see how it comes out after he gets off jury duty.
12:03:58 PM
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Blogging: Don't You Have to Have Something to Say?
Doonesbury & weblogs. "Don't you have something to say?" [Scripting News]
11:56:14 AM
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Stuffing Your Mind into Silicon
Ray Kurzweil's beliefs about strong AI and the possibility that we will be able by mid-century to have our minds downloaded to Silicon and preserved forever, got an airing on Canada's CBC. (Thanks to SlashDot for the link.)
This subject has long fascinated me. I'm just finishing reading a novel that has this as its theme. It is, curiously enough, a mystery rather than s-f, but it's darned good. It's called Mind Catcher by John Darnton. Clicking on that link will take you to Amazon via my affiliate account.
11:52:00 AM
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How to Fail Spectacularly in Business: Follow the Hollywood Lead
Jack Tapica has penned an amusing and sometimes painfully insightful piece that tells us how to fail with more pizzaz by looking to our colleagues in the entertainment biz.
12:02:00 AM
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© Copyright 2002 Dan Shafer.
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