February, 2001
Archives by Month: March, 2001
Listed below are excerpts and links to all weblog, blog entries, posts published during March, 2001.
Thu
29
MAR
2001
Design for ECommerce: Meet Bob the Browser And Friends
Andrew Chak writes about designing an effective ecommerce site in his new article, Design for Buyers (CNet Builder, March 27, 2001). Chak uses 3 characters, Bob the browser, Evelyn the evaluator, and Trevor the transactor to run through many points to consider. So how do you design for all these personalities and ways of shopping? Design to accommodate the types of users to your site—provide easy-to-find information, simple navigation, and be mindful of what your visitors may be looking for when they pay a visit to your site. If you sell a lot of 35mm film, consider adding a... (195 words, 3 links)
09:38 am, pst
29 March, 2001
Categories: Content, Design, Information Architecture, Usability
29
MAR
2001
Speaking of Humor
Amazing how someone can take such a devastating problem and find some silly humor amidst it all. Fun reading: Foot-and-Mouth First Virus Unable To Spread Through Microsoft Outlook, Researchers Shocked to Finally Find Virus That Email App Doesn’t Like (From SatireWire.com.) If you haven’t visited SatireWire.com, it’s full of silly satire of news stories, politics, and a variety of other topics. Here’s one more before I sign off: Interview With The Search Engine SatireWire.com interviews Jeeves of AskJeeves.com. [Thanks to CreativeGood.com’s Good Experience newsletter for the virus-related satire story.]... (92 words, 6 links)
01:27 am, pst29 March, 2001
Categories: Humor
Tue
27
MAR
2001
Gifts and Romance
Dave Barry has always been a great source of laughter in my life, and today was no exception. Dave’s column for March 22nd: Road to romantic ruin is paved with practical gifts. Here’s a short excerpt from the beginning of his column: "It’s a talk every father should have with his son; and yet, far too often, we fathers avoid the subject, because it’s so awkward. The subject I am referring to is: buying gifts for women. This is an area where many men do not have a clue. Exhibit A was my father, who was a very thoughtful man,... (251 words, 6 links)
04:47 pm, pst27 March, 2001
Categories: Personal
Sun
25
MAR
2001
Links and Usability: Don’t Make Me Think
Reading little green weblog today with its subject “what’s in a link?” grabbed my immediate interest. If you look around at a variety of Web sites, you’ll see a variety of linking styles. In the meantime, some usability 'experts' continue to push for blue underlined links, stating that this is what people are used to and look for, getting confused if links are something different. Little green weblog linked to elegant hack’s post (Christina Wodtke), what makes a link a link?, so of course I clicked on over to read what she has to say about this issue. I... (273 words, 8 links)
05:07 pm, pst25 March, 2001
Categories: Usability
Sat
24
MAR
2001
Crisis Continues in the UK
Mass slaughters intensify in the UK to try to combat the foot and mouth disease epidemic. I was in contact with a discussion list acquaintance earlier this week who happens to have an office close to the National Farmers Union in the UK. He said it was a pretty rough situation there. I’m here in California, geographically far away, but not at all far away in thought and prayers for everyone. I collected a few articles throughout the week related to the foot and mouth disease breakout, which are listed below. I’m also tossing in a few numbers below... (504 words, 16 links, 1 image)
10:49 pm, pst24 March, 2001
Categories: Personal
Tue
20
MAR
2001
Rotating Blackouts Continue
California’s Energy Crisis certainly seems to pale in my own mind in comparison with the foot and mouth disease crisis. Here we are, though, facing more blackouts. I’ll post info about the foot and mouth disease in a few days when I’ve gathered some information. In the meantime, here’s some info about the blackout, including some local information on where the blackouts are at the moment. California Blackouts News More Blackouts Ordered: Key Power Plants Still Offline SACRAMENTO, 9:37 a.m. PST March 20, 2001 SMUD: Rotating Outages Locations Sacramento and outlying areas. News updated regularly, especially during rolling blackouts.... (126 words, 5 links)
10:10 am, pst20 March, 2001
Categories: Politics
Mon
12
MAR
2001
New Products and Updates Around the Web
There are so many great announcements and good things going on around the Web. So today’s issue is devoted to sharing some of the latest. Handspring Announces the Visor Edge ZDNet’s Richard Simm wrote about today’s announcement of Handspring’s latest and very slim new Visor Edge. Retailing for around US$399, the new Visor Edge measures 0.44 inches thick, 3.1 inches wide and 4.7 inches tall. It’s rechargeable (no more batteries!), has many advanced features. Macromedia Announces Discount To Emerging Web Developers Macromedia launched a "Springboard to Success" campaign. Save US$100 through March 31 purchasing Macromedia Flash 5 or Dreamweaver 4 Fireworks 4 Studio. The Mac Observer... (420 words, 15 links)
09:24 pm, pst12 March, 2001
Categories: Photoshop, Software, Typography
Sat
10
MAR
2001
4 Seconds To Grab Visitor’s Attention?
Is that true? Do we only have a short few seconds to grab visitors' attention before they decide to leave or stay? According to a recent article at ZDNet, that’s indeed true. Performance primer: Gone in 4 seconds, states that a recent survey found that we now have only 4 seconds to grab visitors' attention before they decide to leave or stay, compared to previous surveys finding an 8-second norm. That’s not much time. Even 8 seconds isn’t very long. What does this really mean? Does it mean the entire page must load in less than 4 seconds? No.... (896 words, 13 links)
10:41 am, pst10 March, 2001
