Locus of Control

Freebie – aMAZEing Desktop Wallpaper for December 2009

Georgia Otto — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:23:32 +0000

Here’s the December maze calendar wallpaper – the last in this series, and with a Christmas theme! If your screen resolution is not listed below, feel free to comment and I’ll create another version for you. 1280 x 800 1280 x 1024 1440 x 900 1024 x 768 1680 x 1050 1920 x 1200 For those who missed them, here are [...]

Mega IA: Thinking Outside the Box

Georgia Otto — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:12:13 +0000

For the November meeting of the NHUPA, I did a 10-minute talk about the effects of social media on information architecture. This blog entry provides some additional resources for anyone interested in doing further research on the topic. You can also download the original slides and handout. For those who missed the presentation, I’ll give you a [...]

Wireframing & Prototyping Tools: Balsamiq & Friends

Georgia Otto — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:58:25 +0000

For last month’s meeting of the NHUPA, a number of people did short presentations and demos of a variety of wireframing and prototyping tools. I presented Balsamiq, a low-fidelity wireframing tool best used for capturing ideas quickly, keeping people focused on concepts/layout or for teaching new user experience designers about wireframing. I figured someone might find it [...]

Freebie – aMAZEing Desktop Wallpaper for November 2009

Georgia Otto — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:52:32 +0000

Here’s the November maze calendar wallpaper! See? It’s on time and everything! I went with a simple color-based theme this month. If your screen resolution is not listed below, feel free to comment and I’ll create another version for you. 1280 x 800 1280 x 1024 1440 x 900 1024 x 768 1680 x 1050 1920 x 1200 For those who [...]

Freebie – aMAZEing Desktop Wallpaper for October 2009

Georgia Otto — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:56:18 +0000

Here’s the October maze calendar wallpaper! Sorry it took so long to get it posted, I’ve just been so busy. But I promise I will be more timely with the last two. I promise. No, really, I do. Oh well, better late than never! If your screen resolution is not listed below, [...]

Freebie – aMAZEing Desktop Wallpaper for September 2009

Georgia Otto — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 12:39:01 +0000

Here’s the September maze calendar wallpaper! It’s a back-to-school theme. I used a new method for showing the month name. You can look at the glass half full and say, “Bonus! More maze area to keep me busy so I don’t fall asleep in class!”…or you could just be realistic and realize I [...]

Adjustments To My Work-Life Balance

Georgia Otto — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:11:57 +0000

I work at a web design company, doing user experience design. Then I write blog posts about that same stuff during my (very limited) spare time. This is rather overwhelming when you consider the number and variety of other hobbies and interests that I have. Therefore, I have concluded that in order to optimize my [...]

Webitect ~ Conducting Collaborative Design Sessions – Part 4: Maintain

Georgia Otto — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:30:13 +0000

Make sure you never leave your participants hanging after an important meeting. Part 4 of this series will help you maintain a long term relationship with your participants. Part 1 of this series gave an overview of the purpose behind collaborative design sessions and how to prepare to conduct your own. In Part 2, we showed you how to [...]

Webitect ~ Conducting Collaborative Design Sessions – Part 3: Facilitate

Georgia Otto — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:21:54 +0000

Clients and users need guidance when contributing their design ideas. Part 3 of this series will prepare you for the challenges inherent in facilitating collaborative meetings. In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we explained how to prepare in advance for collaborative design sessions and how to begin your meetings with a solid focus [...]

Webitect ~ Conducting Collaborative Design Sessions – Part 2: Inform

Georgia Otto — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:10:00 +0000

Getting the most out of your users requires that you take the initiative. In Part 2 of this series, you’ll learn how to begin your design session in a goal-oriented manner. In Part 1 of this series, we discussed the benefits of collaboration with users and clients at various stages throughout the design process. We also provided [...]

Freebie – aMAZEing Desktop Wallpaper for August 2009

Georgia Otto — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:54:49 +0000

Here’s the August maze calendar wallpaper! If your screen resolution is not listed below, feel free to comment and I’ll create another version for you. 1280 x 800 1280 x 1024 1440 x 900 1024 x 768 1680 x 1050 1920 x 1200 For those who missed them, here are the previous wallpapers in this series: January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July [...]

Webitect ~ Conducting Collaborative Design Sessions – Part 1: Prepare

Georgia Otto — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:32:04 +0000

Read “Conducting Collaborative Design Sessions – Part 1: Prepare” on Webitect.net » Perhaps someone noticed I haven’t been posting at my normal rate. Or perhaps no one cares. For anyone who actually noticed the lapse, I appreciate your patience and support. The fact is, I’ve been working on my first paid blogging job! I’ll be [...]

Freebie – aMAZEing Desktop Wallpaper for July 2009

Georgia Otto — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:50:56 +0000

Here’s the July maze calendar wallpaper! If your screen resolution is not listed below, feel free to comment and I’ll create another version for you. 1280 x 800 1280 x 1024 1440 x 900 1024 x 768 1680 x 1050 1920 x 1200 For those who missed them, here are the previous wallpapers in this series: January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 Post [...]

Allowing Integration is Key to any Webapp’s Success

Georgia Otto — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:16:23 +0000

The web, as we know it today, provides a wide array of applications and social media tools, which we all use in different ways. One day, I was feeling quite overwhelmed by my own use of the web, and attempted to draw a diagram of how my various web applications were interconnected by the flow [...]

Tutorial: How to Start a Blog & Get Posts Written

Georgia Otto — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:25:58 +0000

Recently, I was asked by a friend about my blogging habits and how I get my posts written. I’ve been meaning to write about this anyway, so I figured now was a good time. This post will cover how I got started, how I get ideas, and how I actually write my posts. [...]

Can You Find the Missing Link in Target’s “Itso Builder”?

Georgia Otto — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:12:43 +0000

So the other day, I stumbled across a cool project called Itso Storage that IDEO did for Target some time last year. The product is the typical IDEO output: clever, practical and elegant. However, the web aspect of Itso appears to be missing an important feature. Either that or I’m blind. (Was that a bad [...]

Freebie – aMAZEing Desktop Wallpaper for June 2009

Georgia Otto — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:06:47 +0000

April showers bring May flowers, May flowers bring June bugs! If your screen resolution is not listed below, feel free to comment and I’ll create another version for you. 1280 x 800 1280 x 1024 1440 x 900 1024 x 768 1680 x 1050 1920 x 1200 For those who missed them, here are the previous wallpapers in this series: January [...]

Determine Your Client’s True Goals Without Jumping to Conclusions

Georgia Otto — Tue, 26 May 2009 00:42:43 +0000

The Problem When a client asks for a new website or a redesign of their existing site, it’s often difficult to get them to explain why. In many cases, they’re not even aware of the goals underlying their strategic choice to create a new website. Once you determine the client’s true business drivers as well as the [...]

Samsung Memoir – Product Review with Photos

Georgia Otto — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:12:16 +0000

About a month ago, I bought the Samsung Memoir. The other reviews out there are mostly written from the perspective of people who are highly experienced with using smartphones, comparing them, and writing about them. This review is from the perspective of never having used a smartphone before. Before we begin, I think it’s important [...]

Kawaii Creations – Design Mirkku by Mirjami Manninen

Georgia Otto — Mon, 11 May 2009 13:13:49 +0000

Design Mirkku is the official website of Mirjami Manninen, a graphic designer from Finland. Here you can find examples of her illustrations and other work. Smashing Magazine has also featured a couple of her icon sets as freebies: Feed Me – animal RSS icons Cute Twitters – twitter follow me icons Have you found any other super cute [...]

Freebie – aMAZEing Desktop Wallpaper for May 2009

Georgia Otto — Sat, 02 May 2009 12:03:51 +0000

April showers bring May flowers! Here’s the monthly freebie for May. If your screen resolution is not listed below, feel free to comment and I’ll create another version for you. 1280 x 800 1280 x 1024 1440 x 900 1024 x 768 1680 x 1050 1920 x 1200 For those who missed them, here are the previous wallpapers in this series: January [...]

Design Spotlight – Apr ‘09 Winner – Now Accepting Entries for May ‘09!

Georgia Otto — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:40:35 +0000

Congratulations to Pixel Bridge for winning the April 2009 Locus of Control Design Spotlight Award for their work on Phatty Burrito, a flash game for Glide Magazine. A total of 10 votes were collected for 3 nominated flash games. Phatty Burrito won by a margin of 5 votes. Details of the original nominations can be [...]

Tweetizen – A Simpler Way to Group Tweets

Georgia Otto — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:23:23 +0000

I’m sure a lot of you wish you could split the people you follow on Twitter into groups based on friends, family, co-workers, or subject matter. Well you can. Maybe you’ve tried TweetDeck or PeopleBrowsr – both of which can do this, among many other things. You have to download TweetDeck and (correct me if [...]

NHUPA – Design Slam!

Georgia Otto — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:44:13 +0000

Last month’s NHUPA meeting had an interesting format, the “Design Slam” workshop. The basic idea was that a non-profit organization presented goals and needs for a new website (to be designed from scratch, not a redesign). Then we all split into groups to plan and design a specific aspect of the site. We determined our [...]

Tutorial: How to Get Good Feedback from Website Users

Georgia Otto — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 15:37:40 +0000

All too often, we think we know what our users want. But the only way of truly knowing is by listening to them directly. You may not think it’s representative of your primary target audience, but it is still valuable nonetheless. In the previous post we talked about what users can do to make their feedback [...]

Tutorial: How to Give Good Feedback to Website Administrators

Georgia Otto — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:29:32 +0000

User feedback is like gold to web designers and administrators. But from the user perspective, it often seems like feedback isn’t being taken into account. Perhaps that’s because users don’t know how to give good feedback. Before we begin, let’s set one thing straight. If your feedback is nothing but all-caps rage, it will probably be [...]

Is Banner Blindness a Myth?

Georgia Otto — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:07:43 +0000

Banner Blindness is a term which refers to the theory that users ignore page elements that have typical traits of an advertisement. Animation is one trait of advertisements which users have allegedly learned to ignore. However, a 2003 study by Ping Zhang and Nelson Massad for the Ninth Americas Conference on Information Systems shows that: Animation [...]

Kawaii Creations – Kawaii Not by Meghan Murphy

Georgia Otto — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:36:52 +0000

Kawaii Not, a comic strip by Meghan Murphy, combines the incredibly cute with the cheeky and sarcastic. You can read the comic online or purchase a book with the first 100 strips. The store also includes hundreds of cute buttons featuring art from the comic strips. You can also download animated icons/avatars, of which there [...]

Etsy Provides Innovative Ways to Browse Products

Georgia Otto — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:52:30 +0000

Etsy is a site where people can buy and sell homemade goods, craft supplies and vintage items. This site offers over a dozen unique and innovative ways to browse through products. My top 3 favorites are: Pounce – Get an idea of items that might be selling like hotcakes, or best of all, give new sellers [...]

Freebie – aMAZEing Desktop Wallpaper for April 2009

Georgia Otto — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:17:55 +0000

Here’s my April maze wallpaper, complete with calendar and Easter theme! If your screen resolution is not listed below, feel free to comment and I’ll create another version for you. 1280 x 800 1280 x 1024 1440 x 900 1024 x 768 1680 x 1050 1920 x 1200 For those who missed them, here are the previous wallpapers in this [...]

Design Spotlight – Mar ‘09 Winner – Now Accepting Entries for Apr ‘09!

Georgia Otto — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 19:26:48 +0000

Congratulations to PixelMEDIA for winning the March 2009 Locus of Control Design Spotlight Award for their recently launched BreastCancerStories website. A total of 17 votes were collected for 3 nominated websites. BreastCancerStories won by a margin of 15 votes. Details of the original nominations can be found here. The April 2009 design spotlight contest is now [...]

Tutorial: Turn Your Sketches Into Clean, Sharp Vector Art

Georgia Otto — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:12:00 +0000

When you scan a sketch into your computer, the lines are often light and have fuzzy edges. Resizing the scan blurs or pixelates the image. You can use Photoshop to darken the lines, but they’re still not going to be as clean and sharp as if you vectored the sketch. Vectoring your scanned sketches is great [...]

Error Prevention vs. User Satisfaction – What’s the Deal with Duplicate Form Fields?

Georgia Otto — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 10:47:21 +0000

Lately, it seems to be increasingly common to find web forms with duplicate fields, particularly for the email address. It’s a low likelihood that a user would make the exact same typo in both fields, so by ensuring that the two fields contain matching data, we can more thoroughly prevent user error. In his “Eight [...]

Lessons to be Learned from Facebook’s Latest Homepage Changes

Georgia Otto — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:18:49 +0000

Normally I don’t post such negative commentary on Locus of Control, but I decided to make an exception this time. Regarding the recent homepage updates on Facebook, I would like to point out a few things that I think we can all learn from. Lesson 1: Don’t lie to your users. Facebook’s preview of the upcoming changes [...]

Why the “Fold” Doesn’t Matter Anymore

Georgia Otto — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:44:08 +0000

At a recent meeting of the NHUPA, Will Powley from Mad*Pow gave a 10-minute presentation called “Newspapers Have Folds, Websites Do Not“. In this presentation, a study by ClickTale was mentioned in support of the notion that the “fold” should no longer be a primary concern for designers. For anyone who may not be aware, the [...]

Kawaii Creations – Adventures in Bentomaking by Pikko

Georgia Otto — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:06:25 +0000

Lunch has never looked so cute! Adventures in Bentomaking is a blog about Japanese-style bento-box lunches. Pikko, a mother from Hawaii, somehow finds time to produce these culinary delights for herself and her family on a weekly basis. Each blog entry includes detailed photos and descriptions of how the featured bento was made. If I [...]

Two New Tools for Quick Usability Testing

Georgia Otto — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 01:19:01 +0000

In a previous entry, I discussed the need for better UX design tools. Now, from the makers of OptimalSort, come two new tools for testing the usability of your IA and interface design. Treejack You input a sitemap in the form of a hierarchically structured list and assign tasks for test participants to perform. Participants navigate through the [...]

Freebie – aMAZEing Desktop Wallpaper for March 2009

Georgia Otto — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:55:19 +0000

Here’s the third in a series of hand-drawn maze wallpapers, complete with monthly calendar! If your screen resolution is not listed below, feel free to comment and I’ll create another version for you. 1280 x 800 1280 x 1024 1440 x 900 1024 x 768 1680 x 1050 1920 x 1200 For those who missed them, here are the previous [...]

Design Spotlight – Feb ‘09 Winner – Now Accepting Entries for Mar ‘09!

Georgia Otto — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:24:46 +0000

Congratulations to the folks at SimpleBits for winning the February 2009 Locus of Control Design Spotlight Award for the Foamee logo (be sure to visit the Foamee site and mouse over the logo to get the full effect ). This was the first logo-specific design spotlight contest. A total of 31 votes were [...]

A Picture’s Worth 1000 Words – Using Comics in the Design Process

Georgia Otto — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:10:56 +0000

A few weeks ago I attended a meeting of the NHUPA, held at Mad*Pow headquarters in Portsmouth, NH. Amy Cueva did a very informative presentation about using comics in the design process. She included lots of examples and methods, as well as a bit about why and when to use comics. As part of the presentation, [...]

Get an RSS Feed of All Your Comments Across the Web

Georgia Otto — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 00:49:35 +0000

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a nice, consolidated feed of all the comments you’ve made on other people’s blogs? BackType gives you this for free, and it’s really easy to use. In addition to the RSS feed, you can also use BackType to: Manage your feed and remove specific comments if desired. Follow other users [...]

Five Ways to Create Online Forms & Surveys Without Code

Georgia Otto — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:15:24 +0000

As a compliment to my recent post about form design, here are 5 free WYSIWYG editors for building online forms and surveys. I’ve also included screen shots of each form builder interface so you don’t have to sign up for anything to compare them. Wufoo – Lets you adjust label positioning on form fields (as [...]

Designing Web Forms – Label Placement & Primary vs. Secondary Actions

Georgia Otto — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 02:11:22 +0000

As previously mentioned, user experience practitioners often rely on common sense, convention and past experience when making design decisions. Usability research may seem like overkill, but even when you’re sure of your assumptions, it’s always good to double check. For instance, Luke Wroblewski once wrote an article in which he provided some very sensible guidelines for [...]

Kawaii Creations – Meomi by Vicki Wong and Michael Murphy

Georgia Otto — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:23:32 +0000

In their little corner of the web, Vicki Wong and Michael Murphy have created a fascinating world full of mystery and unbelievable cuteness known as the Meomi Cloud House website. You can download free desktop wallpapers, buy Meomi products, and learn more about the Octonauts series of children’s books. But that’s not the main reason I’ve [...]

How to Make the Most of Five Seconds

Georgia Otto — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 02:11:22 +0000

You might be amazed how little time it takes for users to get a first impression of a website and how difficult it is to change that impression once it’s made. Wouldn’t it be great to know what users see in the first 5 seconds of viewing a site design – before building it out? Thanks [...]

Freebie – aMAZEing Desktop Wallpaper for February 2009

Georgia Otto — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:31:55 +0000

Here’s the second in a series of hand-drawn maze wallpapers, complete with monthly calendar! If your screen resolution is not listed below, feel free to comment and I’ll create another version for you. 1280 x 800 1280 x 1024 1440 x 900 1024 x 768 1680 x 1050 1920 x 1200 For those who missed it, check out the January [...]

Design Spotlight – Jan ‘09 Winner – Now Accepting Entries for Feb ‘09!

Georgia Otto — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:18:34 +0000

Congratulations to Alan Houser for winning the January 2009 Locus of Control Design Spotlight Award for his design studio’s website, Creative Component. A total of 22 votes were collected for 4 nominated websites. Creative Component won by a margin of 2 votes. Details of the original nominations can be found here. The February 2009 design spotlight [...]

Conventional Doesn’t Mean Comprehensible – Common Labels That Aren’t So Clear

Georgia Otto — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:32:03 +0000

Has anyone ever noticed how ambiguous certain terminology is online? I’ve heard complaints from users of varying levels of experience, and I’m sure for new users it’s especially confusing. Most experienced web users may not notice how confusing some wording is, and even if they do, it’s not hindering their ability to get things done. [...]

User Experience Research – A Study of Zebra Striping

Georgia Otto — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:43:08 +0000

Sometimes it seems that there isn’t enough collaboration between the academic side of User Experience and the applied side of it. UX practitioners need supporting evidence to back up their decisions when designing interfaces. Those who run studies about UX need to know that the questions they’re researching are relevant in actual practice. Often I discuss [...]

Two Card Sorting Tools For User Experience Design

Georgia Otto — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 01:37:33 +0000

Following from last week’s discussion about UX design tools, here are a couple of free webapps that allow you to set up card sorting exercises and analyze the results. For those who may not know, a card sort is an exercise often used by Information Architects and other UX professionals to reveal natural patterns in the [...]

Improving User Experience Design Tools – The Spirit is Willing, But the Flesh is Weak

Georgia Otto — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 02:38:11 +0000

User Experience professionals are frequently concerned with bridging the gap between themselves and the users of systems they design. However, there is a parallel gap that needs to be closed between UX designers and the developers of UX design tools. A series of surveys conducted in 2006 by associates of The Information Architecture Institute revealed [...]

Kawaii Creations – Nut and Bee by Annette Lauder

Georgia Otto — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:56:21 +0000

Time for another dose of mind-blowing cuteness – and this one has a shop where you can purchase adorable products to your heart’s content. Nut and Bee, by Annette Lauder, is frequently updated with new artwork. You can vote on each design by specifying which type of product you think it should become. It’s quite [...]

Two Ways to Add Chat to Your Website or Blog

Georgia Otto — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:51:37 +0000

Adding a chat widget to your website is a quick and simple way to provide a social element for your users, without managing a complex forum or starting a corporate blog. On the other hand, perhaps you’re a blogger and you just want to give your users a way to interact with one another in [...]

Three Tools to Generate Background Patterns

Georgia Otto — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:57:37 +0000

If you’re looking for a quick way to add a nice looking background pattern to your website, blog or twitter profile, here are a few options – besides the Tartan Maker and Stripe Generator I mentioned in an earlier entry: PatternCooler – With over 31,000 designs to browse, you’re sure to find something here that will [...]

Please Wait…

Georgia Otto — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:00:03 +0000

We’ve all sat in front of our computers watching the words “please wait” blink on the screen, watching some dot move in a circle indefinitely, or worse, watching a progress bar get to 99% in 10 seconds, then get stuck there for hours. Is there anything we can do to improve this user experience nightmare? According [...]

Freebie – aMAZEing Desktop Wallpaper for January 2009

Georgia Otto — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 05:00:28 +0000

Locus of Control needs some freebies! Desktop backgrounds are always nice. Particularly ones incorporating useful monthly calendars. This wallpaper is also a maze, which I drew by hand (hence the lack of straight lines). I have no idea if it’s any challenge or not, so I’m interested to hear what you all think of [...]

Design Spotlight – Dec ‘08 Winner – Now Accepting Entries for Jan ‘09!

Georgia Otto — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Congratulations to Andrew Littler for winning the very first Locus of Control Design Spotlight Award for the design of his blog, This Ain’t Narnia. A total of 24 votes were collected for 6 nominated websites and Andrew’s site won by a margin of just 3 votes. Details of the original nominations can be found here. The [...]

Top Ten Twitter Tools To Try Today

Georgia Otto — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:00:30 +0000

Alliteration is fun. Anyway, what follows is a list of what I believe are the top 10 tools to use with Twitter, roughly in order of usefulness: 10 – Twitter Grader – Learn how much influence your tweets have in the overall twitterverse. 9 – Qwitter – Get email alerts when someone stops following you. 8 – TwitterFeed [...]

Wishlistr – Start Next Year’s Christmas List Now!

Georgia Otto — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 05:00:09 +0000

What’s that? You didn’t get what you wanted for Christmas? Maybe next year you should make a proper list. Why not start now, with Wishlistr! This simple webapp hosts your wish list at a unique URL that you can send to anyone. Add hyperlinks on list items, as well as additional notes such as size [...]

Snippage: Make Desktop Widgets From Any Site

Georgia Otto — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 05:00:57 +0000

Want to read someone’s tweets without actually following them on Twitter? Or perhaps you’d like to put a stock ticker or eBay listing on your desktop where you can keep an eye on it? Snippage let’s you create desktop widgets which display small portions of any website and refresh automatically every few minutes. They’re similar [...]

Web Design Superheroes: Download Your Superpowers Here!

Georgia Otto — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 05:00:49 +0000

With x-ray vision, photographic memory and the cure for color blindness, now you too can enhance your web design ability to superhero level! Simply download your desired superpowers from the list below to get started. X-Ray Vision ~ This bookmarklet will allow you to see the CSS behind any element on a page. It takes seconds [...]

Tutorial: Building Your Ultimate Social Networking Console

Georgia Otto — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:00:07 +0000

With hundreds of social networking websites in a constant cycle of death and rebirth, it’s fairly common for one person to have multiple accounts. Here is how you can use your iGoogle page to view and update all your social networks from a single console. For the more advanced users, I’ve included some extra tips. First [...]

Awesome Highlighter: A Tool for Researchers & Editors

Georgia Otto — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 05:00:38 +0000

Here’s just a few of the awesome things you can do with Awesome Highlighter: Highlight with multiple colors and add annotations on websites. Tag your highlighted pages to your heart’s content. View your saved pages and edit the highlights, notes and tags. Easily share with a hyperlink, or send your pages to Twitter and Delicious. Remind yourself and others why [...]

When in Doubt – BS Your Way Out!

Georgia Otto — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:00:13 +0000

Business Speak (BS) originally served the innocent purpose of delivering unfavorable messages in a sensitive and gentle manner. It’s always nice to be mindful of recipients’ feelings when we’re forced to criticize them or bring them bad news. Recent trends and general consensus, however, indicate that BS is now being used for everyday communication between [...]

Kawaii Creations – Orisinal by Ferry Halim

Georgia Otto — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 05:00:27 +0000

We can’t be all business all the time – it’s important to balance work and play. That’s why, every so often, I will post a “Kawaii Creation” – something excruciatingly cute that I’ve found on the web. With stunning visuals and excellent music, Orisinal is a collection of flash games created by Ferry Halim, which are [...]

Gubb: The List-Maker’s Paradise

Georgia Otto — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 07:00:50 +0000

Are you a compulsive list-maker? Or maybe you just need to keep track of a few things. Either way, Gubb is a simple web application made especially for you. On the surface, it’s intuitive and straightforward – you just make lists. If you happen to desire a more robust feature set, Gubb has capabilities for sharing, [...]

Can We Really Create Experiences?

Georgia Otto — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 05:00:25 +0000

Lately, I’ve noticed an interesting trend in how web design and interactive marketing agencies are describing their services. Here are some examples: “We strive to create memorable and joyful experiences for our clients, their customers, and one another.” ~ PixelMEDIA “We strive to create rich, intuitive, interactive experiences.” ~ Pixel Bridge “We’re passionate about creating meaningful experiences that [...]

Design Spotlight – Now Accepting Entries!

Georgia Otto — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:00:06 +0000

This is a casual contest that anyone can enter and is judged purely by subjective methods. What good is that, you may ask? Consider that your website is constantly judged by such methods every time you get a visitor. It may not be scientific, but if you win, it will make you feel good. And [...]

Rearrange Your Taskbar While You Wait for Windows 7

Georgia Otto — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 05:00:28 +0000

Have you ever wished you could rearrange your taskbar items by dragging them around? Windows 7 may include this feature, but it’s a long way off for most people at this point. So while you wait, here are a couple of solutions. Taskix is a very small program that lets you simply reorder taskbar items. Taskbar [...]

Setting the Stage – Thoughts on “Web 2.0″

Georgia Otto — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:07:03 +0000

Let’s get this Web 2.0 talk out of the way – does anyone else feel like it might be just a little bit out of control? I figured I’d use the special occasion of my first post as an excuse to lay down some ground rules. Well, really just one: This blog is not about [...]