UI Scraps

Safari shows a breadcrumb Neat, this is new as far as I can...

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:49:22 -0400

Safari shows a breadcrumb

Neat, this is new as far as I can tell. Maybe it’s not. I don’t know.

Grooveshark advertisement Clever, isn’t it? I clicked it....

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:37:04 -0400

Grooveshark advertisement

Clever, isn’t it? I clicked it. Grooveshark.

NYTimes.com slide-in article suggestion An interesting way to...

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 09:56:27 -0400

NYTimes.com slide-in article suggestion

An interesting way to promote content. I like it. But for what it’s worth, I didn’t click it.

Beanstalk feature tour highlights I really like these pop-up...

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:22:32 -0400

Beanstalk feature tour highlights

I really like these pop-up highlights on the Beanstalk App feature tour. Though I didn’t notice them at first (perhaps they ought to have a background of yellow or something more eye catching?).

I’m keen on using this kind of call to attention in my online portfolio.

Roll-up screenshots on Zendesk I am digging this subtle roll-up....

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 14:39:00 -0400

Roll-up screenshots on Zendesk

I am digging this subtle roll-up. But the big question is, does it help convert? I wonder if they AB tested it?

3D glasses in Google Maps Street View! Woah, this is cool. Now I...

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:48:38 -0400

3D glasses in Google Maps Street View!

Woah, this is cool. Now I need some 3D glasses so I can try this. I wonder if this is a permanent thing or an April Fool’s joke?

Mac OS X contextual help Good contextual help is one of the...

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:05:50 -0400

Mac OS X contextual help

Good contextual help is one of the hallmarks of a mature design. I like this use of a video tutorial in the trackpad system preferences on Mac OS X. Interacting with a trackpad might be an unfamiliar thing to some people. In the case that it is, this video shows how to use the interface. Neat.

Also, welcome back to another season of UI Scraps! I hope you’ve enjoyed the break. I’m back in action, and all systems are a go.

UI Scraps hiatus

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:36:00 -0500

Hi friends,

A list of excuses why I haven’t been posting scraps might be nice. But what would be better is to just start posting more scraps.

I have seen plenty of great interface designs worth sharing, but my workflow has been all kinds of messed up lately. I’ve switched jobs and switched computers. Both have had an unfortunately huge impact on how often I’m able to collect and post new scraps.

Rest assured, I’ll be posted again in the very near future. I have a stock pile of screen shots waiting to be published. Stay tuned, and thanks for following!

Cheers,

Jason R.

Virb welcome page Confirm the action, and explain how to restore...

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:04:00 -0500

Virb welcome page

Confirm the action, and explain how to restore it. Well done, Virb. ~~Enough said~~ Apparently I posted this with the wrong image. The image says: “Are you sure you want to hide your welcome page? You can always show this page again by going to your login settings.”

Also, I’ll be posting more frequently. I switched browsers (from Firefox to Safari) about a month ago. I forgot to add the Tumblr bookmarklet to my Safari toolbar, thereby totally forgetting about this blog. Whoopsie-daisy!

Did I spam you?

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:39:04 -0400

One of my readers mentioned they received some spam. The spam mentioned my post on MacCase product view.

I apologize for the inconvenience and annoyance! I’m not sure what the cause is, but I’m investigating it. If you did get something like that from this blog, please forward the message to jason at jasonrobb.com—Thank you!

Postbox address avatars How nice, avatars! As you type in the To...

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:53:54 -0400

Postbox address avatars

How nice, avatars! As you type in the To field, the photo of your contact is next to their email address.

Here’s how this works, I think: I’ve signed in to Facebook via Postbox, so they grab the profile photo from there. In the case that your fiancé isn’t on Facebook ;) they grab the photo from your address book. Very nice.

I’ve been using Postbox for the past few months and there are plenty of juicy UI tidbits throughout. Definitely worth taking a look!

Get Satisfaction disclaimer Jason Fried of 37signals brought up...

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:33:54 -0400

Get Satisfaction disclaimer

Jason Fried of 37signals brought up an interesting point about Get Satisfaction. I won’t go into 37signals’ argument here. But the gist of it is that Get Satisfaction made an unreasonable suggestion that a company wasn’t committed to supporting their customers if they hadn’t endorsed the use of Get Satisfaction, yet.

It looks like Get Satisfaction is making strides in the right direction.

The note at the top of the page clearly disclaims that New Street Software monitors but isn’t active in the Get Satisfaction community. It wasn’t always this clear. Nice.

YouTube favorite button I didn’t even realized this...

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:16:48 -0400

YouTube favorite button

I didn’t even realized this favorite button was missing. I don’t know how I lived before this was added!

After watching a hilarious clip, I frequently want to favorite it for future laughs. So I would click through to the next page, wait for it to load, favorite it, and close the tab.

Now I can just click the favorite button from this embedded window. Awesome. What a huge lowering of a barrier. Thank you YouTube!

Mozilla Creative Collective signup form prefixes Great idea for...

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:46:00 -0400

Mozilla Creative Collective signup form prefixes

Great idea for form field prefixes on Mozilla Creative Collective! I’ve seen this done before, by providing the “http://” inside the form field. But this is another step in a better direction. A job well done by Happy Cog.

Run Keeper data visualization It’s beautiful. All my run...

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:14:43 -0400

Run Keeper data visualization

It’s beautiful. All my run data is synced with their web service. I can view my speed along side the elevation, and see my location at the same time. Great mashup!

Run Keeper uses my iPhone to track my runs, Google Maps to plot my journey on a map, and Twitter to publish my run data to the interwebs. It makes running that much more awesome. If you’re in to that sort of thing.

Touchlytics: iPhone app UI An analytics app is essentially text,...

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:13:21 -0400

Touchlytics: iPhone app UI

An analytics app is essentially text, numbers, and graphs. While I’m not crazy about the interface design, I didn’t want to moan about it without making any suggestions.

On the right is the original Touchlytics app. On the left, I’ve added more whitespace and made the color pallete more iPhone-like.

I also emailed the developer and offerred him my suggestions regarding the UI and the UX at large.

I find that people are generally happy to hear feedback on something they’ve spent time building. So if you experience a product or service that is lacking in some way, say something! Chances are good they’ll be glad to hear it.

Google Docs dialog box rename This doesn’t make a lick of...

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:49:21 -0400

Google Docs dialog box rename

This doesn’t make a lick of sense. This should be a “click to edit” editable region. Isn’t that the cool thing to do these days? The pop-up works, sure, but it’s not the most elegant solution.

Also, I’d like a pony and a golden toilet, while you’re at it Google Docs.

Invoice Machine submit buttons This a great set of buttons. I...

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:05:59 -0400

Invoice Machine submit buttons

This a great set of buttons. I don’t have much more to say, they’re excellent. One is big, one is small. One is primary, the other secondary. Well done Invoice Machine.

My Fonts search results My Fonts is easily my favorite site to...

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 15:12:00 -0400

My Fonts search results

My Fonts is easily my favorite site to buy fonts. Their new site is leaps and bounds beyond any other font site. In my opinion.

Their search results page is awesome. Forget about ever having to use pagination. The search results page loads more fonts as you near the end of the page. And they provide a link to that scrolled position. Handy!

I could go on and on about this site. Whoever is in charge of the UX is doing an awesome job.

Zappos annoying out of stock message It’s so annoying. So...

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:53:26 -0400

Zappos annoying out of stock message

It’s so annoying. So very, very annoying. Here’s how it works:

Pick a shoe, and select a size on the page with a drop down box. If the shoe is out of stock, this pop-up message appears. The only way to change the size or color again is to click “close this window” every time you adjust the drop down.

This is ridiculous. It probably takes more work for them to check the stock, and use a javascript pop-up, than it would be to just show me on the page which shoes are in stock.

So not only am I told I can’t have these shoes, but I’m inconvenienced because I have this pop-up box in the way now. Ahhhh!

Zappos, you should be ashamed. You’re customer service is so awesome, yet your web site is as lackluster as a grey wall.

I’ll still buy all my shoes from you though.