Category Archives: Software design

Digital simulacra and the iPad human interface guidelines

This was originally posted as a comment to an article in UX Magazine about the iPad human interface guidelines. I was reminded by it today by this blogpost by Ben.geek.nz about the forthcoming Windows Phone 7 UI design. While I … Continue reading

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What’s the point of a tweeting mobile library?

Last week I launched @SutMobLib, a Twitter account that tweets the location of Sutton’s mobile library in real time. No, I’m not sitting here all day sending messages. A program does that automatically. Every time the library gets to a … Continue reading

Posted in Design theory, Software design, Sutton, Urban design | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Building a local news mashup with Twitter, TwitterFeed, Delicious, Yahoo! Pipes, Ruby and RSS

(Click on the image to download the PDF, 19KB, opens in new window/tab.) Like this? Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/adrianshort I’m a self-confessed and unashamed news junkie and this is how I’m starting to mash up news in my local … Continue reading

Posted in Software design, Sutton | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

My thermometer has got an API

Meet my thermometer. It’s an old-school analogue device, probably at least 50 years old. I don’t expect it’s very accurate, certainly not by scientific standards. It hangs outside my door and every now and then I take a look at … Continue reading

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Estimated date of birth — an interaction design pattern

How to avoid asking people for their date of birth when you don’t need it but still gain enough data to be able to produce meaningful age segmentations. Continue reading

Posted in Design theory, Software design, Uncategorized, Usability, Web design | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hack your world

On the web, in the streets and even in the municipal flowerbeds, people are taking design into their own hands. Continue reading

Posted in Design theory, Product design, Software design, Urban design | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Too much information

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 … Continue reading

Posted in Simplicity, Software design, Usability | 3 Comments