Super Volatile

Krzysztof Szafranek's link blog

Hi, I'm Krzysztof and I make websites.
When I'm not making websites, I read these.
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user interface

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Dec 2 / 9:38pm

Ivo

Incredible effort has been put into interaction design recently. Unfortunately, all that effort has been targeted towards inexperienced users, pretty much ignoring those of us who use computers for hard work, who run the show behind the scenes.
more on lubutu.com

Command line is incredible powerful interface that has been neglected in the last 20 years of rapid progress in UI design. The article explores this interface and ideas how it could be improved. They seem rather vague, but the subject indeed is interesting.

Filed under: usability   user interface  
 
Nov 11 / 2:03pm

A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design

To take this to an extreme, imagine that you're completely blind. Yeah, that's a tough life, but you can still pretty much take care of yourself and do the things that people do. Do you know what it's called when you lose all sense of touch? It's called paralysis, and they push you around in a wheelchair while you calculate black hole radiation.
more on worrydream.com

Visions of the future, like the one published recently by Microsoft, are not only creepy, but also limited and narrow in presenting what's possible. The article analyses tactile interactions possible with our hands, neglected in Microsoft's video.

Filed under: UX   future telling   user interface  
 
Aug 27 / 10:22pm

Avoiding the Uncanny Valley of Interface Design

There are a few side affects to this surge of realism. I think that there is an Uncanny Valley in interface design that some Websites and applications have landed themselves in through approaching interface design in the wrong way. The Uncanny Valley of interface design might not cause something disturbing, but the user experience can be compromised. 
more on getfinch.com

Inconclusive post about the realism in user interface design.

Filed under: user interface  
 
Jun 11 / 12:19am

The End of :hover?

So my proposition is this: :hover as an web interface design tool going forward is going to be less and less important.
more on andycroll.com

On touch devices like iPhone or iPad :hover and mouseover state are not reliable anymore. But that doesn't mean they're completely useless now. 37signal's designer Ryan Singer argues that proliferation of touch interfaces won't eliminate desktop-specific metaphors but will rather increase the gap between the two worlds.

Filed under: user interface  
 
Jun 6 / 9:57pm

John Underkoffler points to the future of UI

more on youtube.com

Remember user interface that kept Tom Cruise fit in Minority Report? Well, it's real. One thing that seems to be overlooked is how lazy people are – waving your hands all day can be thus pretty challenging task for computer crowd.

Filed under: user interface  
 
May 29 / 9:20pm

iPad Usability: First Findings From User Testing (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)

For the last 15 years of Web usability research, the main problems have been that users don't know where to go or which option to choose — not that they don't even know which options exist. With iPad UIs, we're back to this square one.
more on useit.com

Nielsen on iPad's usability. In short: the interface beautiful, but suffers from lack of standardized controls and metaphors.

Of course it didn't take the members of “Nielsen is a boring guy who just don't get” camp too much time to come up with a rebuttal:

He almost gets it.
more on johnnyholland.org
Filed under: ipad   usability   user interface  
 
Apr 7 / 11:59pm

More ideas than time: Logarithmic calendar view

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more on marco.org

Nice idea for a calendar UI.

Filed under: lifehacks   user interface  
 
Mar 25 / 1:16am

Coding Horror: The Opposite of Fitts' Law

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more on codinghorror.com

I.e. words: make your often used functions easy to reach, make your dangerous functions protected from accidental use.

Filed under: usability   user interface  
 
Mar 21 / 2:38pm

Ask E.T.: Windows Phone 7 Series (WP7S)

The WP7S layout and typography have a looseness found in commercial art and marketing, an inappropriate metaphor for a handheld information and communication device.
more on edwardtufte.com

Edward Tufte on design of Windows Phone 7 Series.

Filed under: user interface   windows mobile  
 
Mar 16 / 11:56pm

Microsoft: Designers, Designers, Designers - Caleb Elston

They are dictating screen resolution, GPS, accelerometer, memory, CPU, even the number of physical buttons that can exist on a device. This level of control allows for manicured apps that will run well on every Windows Phone. This is critical. Android has struggled with this.
more on calebelston.com

The big but maybe sometimes overlooked aspect of iPhone (or more generally: Apple's design) is that it improved awareness and respect for user experience among the competitors. And wider spread of good design benefits all of us.

Filed under: iphone   user interface   windows mobile