Designing Interactive

Learn To Type Week

Corey Haines — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:14:59 +0000

As I’ve traveled around and programmed with a lot of different people, I’ve noticed a really frightening thing: in general, programmers don’t type correctly. I’m not sure why this is, but it makes me sad. Most of the people I meet that don’t touch type still can bang away a lot of words a minute, but if you watch their heads, it is like a bobbing robin, constantly looking down to see where their hands are. What a waste of motion and context switching.

Typing is a fundamental skill for programmers. We spend our days manipulating text, so it makes sense that you should have it mastered. In a way, it would be like hiring a carpenter and seeing them flailing around with the screwdriver, missing the screw sometimes, maybe poking their finger. What would you think? That’s how it looks when you are hunt-and-pecking. Embarrassing!

So, I thought I would put a challenge out there: Learn To Touch Type! For the most part, you know where the keys are, it is just a matter of quieting your hands down and learning the home row position. I wager that, for most people, it would take about a week of daily 30-minute practices. A Pomodoro! That’s all.

In fact, why not do it next week, July 12th – July 18th. I declare next week to be “Learn To Type Correctly” week (hashtag: #learn2typewk)! If we do it as a community, supporting each other, then it is more likely that we’ll shed the baggage of bad typing skills. Come on, you can do it! Blog about it, twitter about it, get the word out. Everyone will feel better, and imagine your pride when you sit down at a keyboard and don’t ever have to look at your hands.

But, Corey, you say, I thought typing wasn’t the bottleneck. No, it isn’t, but ineffective typing can be. Having to look down at your hands disrupts your flow. When you can just let the words come out without thinking, you will be much more effective.

Typing Resources

There are plenty of online typing courses that you can use. Here’s a couple I checked out:

http://www.powertyping.com/qwerty/lessonsq.html

This one is very structured, using extreme repetition to push the positions into your head. Try it out.

http://www.freetypinggame.net/default.asp

This is one of my favorites. I’m not sure about the actual lessons, but the games are a lot of fun (I like Keyboard Revolution).

http://www.goodtyping.com/default.htm

This is a step-by-step lesson plan. You have to register, but it keeps rankings and lets you print out certificates.

This is just a short list. If you don’t like them, feel free to use another.

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Implementation Model vs. Mental Model

Josh Walsh — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 19:23:56 +0000

Last week I wrote a post which generalized that programmers do not create great user interfaces. It stirred up some pretty intense debate. A few people even emailed me insulted.

I certainly didn’t intend to insult anyone, but it proves that this problem isn’t going away soon. Proper procedures won’t be put in place until programmers are self-aware.

Consumers don’t think about how things work on the inside. Your interface should function as a magic box. Push a button and something predictable happens.

The brake pedal on your car is a great example. Someone who doesn’t understand how brakes work may envision the pedal pushing a lever which exerts sideways pressure on the wheels, causing the car to slow. Their mental model says that pushing this button causes the car to slow down.

The real implementation model of a brake system is far more complex. That complexity shouldn’t translate into the interface.

Alan Cooper, in his book About Face 3, states:

User interfaces and interactions designed by engineers, who know precisely how software works, quite often lead to a represented model that is very consistent with its implementation model. To the engineers, such models are logical, truthful, and accurate; unfortunately, they are not very intelligent or effective for users. The majority of users don’t much care how a program is actually implemented.

The retina display and the subtleties of Helvetica Neue

Josh Walsh — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:48:25 +0000

From John Gruber’s iPhone 4 review:

It’s a subtle change, but Apple has changed the system font for the iPhone 4, from Helvetica to Helvetica Neue. The change is specific to the iPhone 4 hardware (or more specifically, the Retina Display), not iOS 4. On older iPhone hardware, iOS 4 still uses Helvetica as the system font.

I’ve had a hard time aliasing this typeface at small sizes with any real quality. While it looks great in large sizes or in print, both on my Macbook Pro and 3G iPhone, the type is fuzzy at 14 point or smaller. (I suspect this is due to font hinting) Not surprisingly, it renders very cleanly on the retina display.

This kind of attention to detail is just one example of what separates Apple from the other manufacturers who clearly couldn’t care less about this stuff.

Draft

Josh Walsh — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 01:48:33 +0000

37signals announces ‘Draft,’ a simple iPad application for sketching up wireframes and sharing via Campfire.

This move seems like it’s less about the product and more about pimping their software development opinions. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. For the record, I don’t have a problem with the $9.99 price tag either.

(Aside: A lot of people are complaining that it’s too expensive. They also just broke into the Top 100. So, you decide if it’s too expensive.)

I’ve always agreed with their minimalist approach. It’s like YAGNI on steroids. Sharpie markers, bold strokes, forget the nitty-gritty details… all great advice.

But, it feels like they’ve intentionally taken this to the extreme. Basecamp is great because they left out features that would get in the way. In Draft, it’s as if they did this because it’s cool to leave out features, rather than useful.

On another note, the attitude in Jason’s comment irks me:

We might add yellow to version 2.0 in 2012.

Kinda witty and funny, in a blunt and rude way. It was a rather condescending response to a comment left by someone praising the app they just publicly purchased.

Just bought the app. Love the simplicity, and posting to Campfire makes it valuable. If the goal isn’t to add features… is version 1 the final version?

We run our business on Basecamp and Highrise, and wouldn’t change that for the world. I never thought I’d see the day where Adobe creates a better user interface than 37signals.

Why you should keep programmers away from your GUI.

Josh Walsh — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:52:11 +0000

Programmers generally do not design great user interfaces. I do not mean to cast aspersions in their direction. If anything, it’s a discredit to the project manager who insisted the UI is part of their responsibility. It shouldn’t be – it should be the job of a dedicated designer.

Programmers don’t understand the Mental Models of their consumers. They are so entrenched in the geeky details, that they can’t step back and look at the product through their customers eyes.

A user interface does not need to reveal the inner workings of the product. Rather, the user interface should expose feedback about the actions that the person expects to happen.

For example, a landline telephone uses a very different protocol for transmitting voice than a cellular telephone does. To the consumer, these are variants on the same product. They exist for the same purpose. However, many programmers would consider these to be entirely different products.

It’s important for designers to be involved in deciding what features should be implemented, as well as deciding how the interaction will work, before any technical plans/code are put in place. Otherwise, you may end up with a website indistinguishable from online-banking websites.

On “FanBoy” as a 4-letter word

Josh Walsh — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:20:19 +0000

Apple bashers love to dish the “fanboy” insult to anyone bearing iDevices.

My definition of an “Apple fanboy” is one who blindly and proudly consumes Apple products, blogs, keynotes, etc…, in an obsessive manner. The word blindly is insulting, not the word “fanboy.”

Apple customers, in general, are a fussy bunch. They are obsessive about high quality products with great experiences. They are also critical about devices which don’t live up to their expectations. These are not “blind followers.”

The fact that Apple generally creates amazing user experiences, doesn’t mean we are blind to bad products. We may be members of the Apple cult, but we aren’t ignorant.

I consider myself a loyal Apple customer – even after terrible customer service experiences. I’ve invested in a profusion of their products. I also hate the Mighty Mouse, the new iPod shuffle, and the fact that you can’t register an iPad without another computer.

This “fan” is not a “fanboy.”

Poor Internal UX Design Causes Zappos $1.6 Million

Josh Walsh — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:53:10 +0000

A great case study which proves why you should invest in the user experience of your internally facing applications, not simply the customer facing ones.

Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh

We have a pricing engine that runs and sets prices according to the rules it is given by business owners. Unfortunately, the way to input new rules into the current version of our pricing engine requires near-programmer skills to manipulate, and a few symbols were missed in the coding of a new rule, which resulted in items that were sold exclusively on 6pm.com to have a maximum price of $49.95.

This isn’t the first time this kind of thing has happened. Remember the 52″ flat-screen TV on sale at BestBuy.com for $9.99?

2 Weeks or Less

Josh Walsh — Thu, 27 May 2010 18:28:19 +0000

There’s a two-week-or-less version of just about everything.

@JasonFried

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Forgiveness

Josh Walsh — Wed, 26 May 2010 18:04:33 +0000

By Joshua Brewer at 52 Weeks of UX

Humans are inherently prone to make mistakes. We do it all the time. Misreading some copy and clicking on the wrong link. Searching for something that doesn’t exist. Entering in a URL that we mistyped. Attempting to engage with an interface in a way it was not designed for. All of these examples (and thousands more) happen all the time with our products.

It is this moment in which we have a unique opportunity to engage our users in a genuinely human manner. We have just interrupted their workflow and they may or may not be able to accomplish the task that the software is supposed to help them perform. So often, when an error occurs users will often blame themselves and, unfortunately, because we give little to no help, they continue feeling like they have made the mistake.

[...]

We failed, not the user. After all, they are using our product. We are responsible for the experience and by admitting there was a problem and attempting to fix it as quickly as possible, we will engender the goodwill and hopefully, the return business of the user.

Apple Faces Patent Case Regarding iTunes Store

Josh Walsh — Tue, 25 May 2010 21:06:35 +0000

Apple Computer, and it’s co-defendants Microsoft, Napster and Rhapsody are being sued by Sharing Sound LLC, who holds the rights to a patent for web based music stores. A similar suit has been filed against Amazon, Netflix, Wal-Mart, GameStop and Barnes & Noble.

Abstract from Patent 6,233,682:

The system and method permit the purchase of audio music files over the Internet. The PC user logs onto the vendor’s web site and browses the songs available for purchase. The songs can be arranged by artist, music style, etc., as mentioned above. Further, the vendor can provide suggestions on the web site, directing the PC user to songs that might be desirable, based on that PC user’s previous purchases, her indicated preferences, popularity of the songs, paid advertising and the like. If interested in a song, the PC user has the option of clicking on a song to “pre-listen” to it–hearing a 20-second clip, for example. [...]

As is true of many software patents, this is just bogus. They’ve patented the traditional ecommerce workflow, specifically targeting the music industry. The patent was filed in 2000, one year prior to iTunes premier.

If I had the rights to a similar patent in the t-shirt niche, you couldn’t open a t-shirt website without infringement. You couldn’t organize by brand or designer. You couldn’t recommend other products to upsell based on shopping habits. Heck, you couldn’t even show a preview image of the design on the front.

After a little research, I couldn’t determine exactly what business Sharing Sound, LLC is in. I’m assuming they are in the business of litigation.

Introducing the “Divergence” Omnifocus Theme

Josh Walsh — Sat, 08 May 2010 18:17:49 +0000

Omnifocus has been my GTD trusted system for over a year now. It’s power and flexibility is awesome, but the look and feel leaves something to be desired. Things by CulturedCode has been taunting me with it’s superb design.

Visual design is not just about look and feel. It’s about using visual elements to emphasize the meaning of the content. I haven’t found themes which really pay attention to this detail as well as I would like.

So, as any obsessive designer would do, I created my own.

What the content means:

Available items should be unstyled. These are the baseline design contrast.
Upcoming items should be slightly emphasized. They aren’t any more important than other available items, but do demand our attention. I’ve bolded them.
Overdue items are bold and red, which immediately grabs your attention.
Unavailable items should be de-emphasized or hidden altogether, depending on the context.
Completed items are demphasized with a strikeout and italicized. I de-emphasized them to stay out of our primary focus, but italicized them to easily differentiate them from blocked tasks.
Groupings follow the same rules, unstyled for available and demphasized for blocked.

Visual Style

I didn’t do anything fancy with the style. I switched to using Helvetica Neue for all text as it has a clean variety of font variations.

I switched to a subtle blue/green theme so that I can use a white background for emphasis in some special situations.

Download this Theme

This theme is available for download, please leave your feedback in the comments below.

Josh Walsh — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 04:00:21 +0000

Thank you to the mad scientists at Navel Labs for sponsoring the feed this week.

ReadMore is an iPhone application for tracking your reading progress. It’s a reading log that reports your reading habits and motivates you to keep reading through relevant feedback. It helps break large books into more manageable pieces and keeps track of your progress.

Watch a Video Demo

Be sure to grab your copy in the App Store today for $1.99.

How to pace yourself through laborious books.

All the cool cats are “#UX Designers”

Josh Walsh — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:33:48 +0000

Designing the user experience is not a new idea. There have been people thinking about it since the invention of the wheel. The problem is that now it’s hip to be a “UX designer.” It’s marketable.

People ask me how to sell UX to their customers. You shouldn’t have to. People don’t come to you and say “design me something that’s hard to use.” Their request for design implies usability, just as your service implies usability work.

Now “UX” is exploited as a way to make more money. It’s another line item on an invoice. Deplorable.

Can you argue with Flash’s market share?

Josh Walsh — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:02:00 +0000

Market share is not a good way to advocate bad design practices. Adobe claims a 99% market share, although John Gruber points out that their survey was a bit misleading:

Adobe’s own statistics on Flash’s market penetration claim 99 percent penetration as of last month. That’s because, according to their survey methodology, they’re only counting “PCs” — which ignores the entire sort of devices which have brought about this debate. Adobe is arguing that Flash is installed on 99 percent of all web browsers that support Flash, not 99 percent of all web browsers.

If you wanted to build an application to reach the masses, which of these options would you pick?

Satisfy the Cat, a.k.a. User-Centered Design

Josh Walsh — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 00:18:04 +0000

As a designer of websites, I have to make jolly-well sure that I satisfy the cat first, remember that I’m not a cat, and find ways to play on the cat’s own motivations. Only then does everybody win.

By: John Boykin