Display resolution statistics January 2010
Based on latest data from w3schools 76 % of users surf the web with their motor set to resolution higher than 1024×768, which is currently accepted minimum standard for web site designers. Read More
UI Design & Web Usability Blog
-
Feb 7th, 2010
-
Jan 31st, 2010
Jobs: “No one will be using Flash. The world moves to HTML5″
At a recent Town Hall meeting with Apple employees Steve Jobs made it clear that Flash is not coming to iPhone or iPad. Read More
-
Jan 21st, 2010
Apple Tablet Confirmed by The Wall Street Journal
It is almost certain a new device is going to be unveiled next week. We’ve heard many name variations such as iSlate and iPad –both are Apple’s registered trademarks– Apple Tablet, etc. It seems like Apple’s plans are big this time; they aim to re-shape the publishing industry (which is in an apparent crisis) as they once re-shaped the digital music industry with iTunes and iPod. Making it easier for people to access media content for an affordable price has proved to be successful. Here is a short recap of what we know so far:
- Apple has been discussing with book, magazine and newspaper publishers possible ways of cooperation.
- NYT Chairman Arthur Sulzberger, when asked about the new devices, said “stay tuned”.
- Orange Chief confirms Apple Tablet With Built-In Webcam
- Apple has been negotiating with TV networks CBS, Walt Disney and ABC for a monthly subscription service.
- There have been rumors that Apple is going to work with Electronic Arts to position the new device as a gaming platform.
- The device will have a web camera and be capable of live web streaming
- Apple has been promoting an idea of backing-up users music online and accessing it on an connected device. This also supports the recent Lava acquisition. Its technology may very well find its way to iTunes 10.
- Apple’s new $1 billion data centre in North Carolina is under construction. MobileMe will most probably have a major upgrade, possibly the “Mobile iTunes” version, and as the name suggests, possibly other things related to “Me”.
Nowhereelse.fr has obtained what it says may be a video of the long-rumored Apple tablet. Whatever it is, it looks pretty cool already:
Last year, Apple’s focus shifted from computer production to content delivery. The turning point was dropping “Computers” from the company name. Since then their devices are just one unified platform that makes it easy to delivery content to end user. And, this strategy pays off very well.
-
Dec 10th, 2009
Google Chrome Beta for Mac speed test
Safari is the fastest browser on a Mac platform, approximately 12% faster than Chrome Beta according to Computerworld. Chrome easily leaves behind FireFox and Opera in JavaScript rendering performance.
SunSpider JavaScript Benchmarks of Mac Browsers (Shorter bars represent faster performance)
On the Windows platform Chrome 3.0 shines as the fastest browser, leaving Safari behind. We might expect a speed boost in the final version of Chrome for Mac, although Google has made no claims regarding Chrome JS rendering speed on Leopard.
JS rendering performance is important for websites and web apps that rely on JavaScript to provide rich functionality. Gmail, Google Maps, Flickr, a9, online text editors and any other site that uses AJAX.
-
Nov 10th, 2009
Usability over Aesthetics
I really admire good design, a tasteful colour palette and the fine finish of all UI elements. But Google pays no attention to any of it. Their design is completely data driven and they are known for things like testing 64 shades of blue for few months before deciding on the colour of the box boarder. And still I find myself dumping the beautiful Apple Mail for Gmail. I bought Things – a most eye-catching app that scored Apple Design Award and yet find myself using Gmail Tasks. Beautifully designed iCal is also an app I rarely open, opting for Google Calendar instead.
What’s the reason? Usability I guess. Google is an adept in making usable apps. All their apps are highly intuitive and usable, albeit ugly. I save great deal of time when I have all apps in one window talking to each other. The ugliness of design elements does bother me but the usability pays me back in time saved.
I guess to justify Google’s approach to UI, they need to think about every bite going through their server with the amount of data they process. To a certain degree they comply with a basic rule of design: Take out everything that is not necessary until you can’t anymore and then you have a well designed product. (Michelangelo used to joke that his trade is very easy. Take a rock and cut off everything unnecessary).
-
Nov 10th, 2009
TweetBoard Alfa
TweetBoard makes Twitter available right on your website. The window is dynamic and doesn’t get in the way. It seems to be very cool and usable way to facilitate your marketing efforts and may be even communicate with your customers. We are awaiting alfa testing approval and will let you know about integration process and usability of the product.
Tweetboard
-
Nov 4th, 2009
Website Link colour
Surveys shows that average users still prefer blue text links over other colours even if they are consistent across the site. This probably doesn’t apply to web apps such as intranet site, gmail, etc that users use on daily basis.
-
Oct 25th, 2009
Gmail Tasks Usable Feature – Outliner
Gmail Tasks has one very useful feature. It is an outliner that lets you organize tasks into discrete sections that are related in a tree structure or hierarchy. As much as I love OS X Mail and iCal, the ability to quickly break any task into sub-tasks makes a big difference in usability.
