Archive for the 'usability' Category

The fallacies of summary-only RSS feeds

I’m still frustrated and to a degree baffled by all those otherwise-wonderful sites that are serving up RSS feeds with just headlines and summaries. Where are the rest of the articles?

Sometimes this happens through laziness, sometimes with careful thought and intent but mostly through ignorance and fallacy.

Continue reading ‘The fallacies of summary-only RSS feeds’

Too much information

A jack has been plugged in

You’d have to get up pretty early in the morning to put one over the system management software that comes with the Acer Aspire 9300.

A jack has been plugged in!

A jack has been unplugged!

Do you think I don’t realise already? Who’s the one doing the plugging and unplugging?

An important usability principle is to conserve the user’s attention. Let them focus on what matters most. Emphasise the main event, quieten the minor details and remove everything that simply doesn’t need to be shown.

For pity’s sake, don’t pop up a balloon just because I’ve plugged my headphones in.