A simple ice cream example and how it grows and gains tags and recommendations.. Simple example to learn about how social media works.
Watch Here
Monday, June 23, 2008
Is QWERTY bad for typing?
Did you know that the QWERTY keyboard is designed to slow typing down?
In the earlier days when there were no keyboards and only typewriters, QWERTY was the common layout. It was designed for the typewriters. Prior to QWERTY there were a couple of experiments done but it was soon found that people became very efficient at typing and the wpm(words per minute) rose to an incredible number. Because of this the typewriter keys would jammed. Getting them straight again would waste time.
When keyboards came into being, it were the typists who first became its users. So the layout was kept the same. Nobody bothered to change it afterwords fearing its lack of acceptance. Hence we have inherited the QWERTY keyboard.
Problems with QWERTY?
Dvorak keyboard - An Alternative
Then came the Dvorak Keyboard patented in 1936 by Dr. August Dvorak, an educational psychologist and professor of the University of Washington in Seattle,William Dealey as an alternative to the more common QWERTY layout. It has also been called the Simplified Keyboard or American Simplified Keyboard but is commonly known as the Dvorak keyboard or Dvorak layout.
Although its not proved that this is a better alternative but 2 world records of maximum wpm has been broken using Dvorak. Some of its advantages are -
It was actually implemented by Apple Computers once in its iBook computers.
In the earlier days when there were no keyboards and only typewriters, QWERTY was the common layout. It was designed for the typewriters. Prior to QWERTY there were a couple of experiments done but it was soon found that people became very efficient at typing and the wpm(words per minute) rose to an incredible number. Because of this the typewriter keys would jammed. Getting them straight again would waste time.
When keyboards came into being, it were the typists who first became its users. So the layout was kept the same. Nobody bothered to change it afterwords fearing its lack of acceptance. Hence we have inherited the QWERTY keyboard.
Problems with QWERTY?
- Most frequently used characters are placed on the left of the keyboard whereas most people are right handed.
- Frequently used keys are placed so close to each other that it increases the chances of error.
- Increased learnability due to more left hand usage.
Dvorak keyboard - An Alternative
Then came the Dvorak Keyboard patented in 1936 by Dr. August Dvorak, an educational psychologist and professor of the University of Washington in Seattle,William Dealey as an alternative to the more common QWERTY layout. It has also been called the Simplified Keyboard or American Simplified Keyboard but is commonly known as the Dvorak keyboard or Dvorak layout.
Although its not proved that this is a better alternative but 2 world records of maximum wpm has been broken using Dvorak. Some of its advantages are -
- Study based on letter frequency and physiology.
- Letters should be typed by alternating between hands.
- Frequent letters should on the home row and under the strongest fingers.
- Least common letters should be on the bottom row.
- Right hand should do more typing.
- Diagraphs should not be typed with adjacent fingers.
It was actually implemented by Apple Computers once in its iBook computers.
Samorost - Detective Game
Play Here
This is a nice detective game where one has to find clues to move further.
Rack your brains and think laterally.
Join the dots and put 2&2 together.
Memex - Internet's first visualization in 1945 By V Bush
"The memex (a portmanteau of "memory extender") is the name given by Vannevar Bush to the theoretical proto-hypertext computer system he proposed in his 1945 The Atlantic Monthly article As We May Think. The memex has influenced the development of subsequential hypertext and intellect augmenting computer systems."
"Photocells capable of seeing things in a physical sense, advanced photography which can record what is seen or even what is not, thermionic tubes capable of controlling potent forces under the guidance of less power than a mosquito uses to vibrate his wings, cathode ray tubes rendering visible an occurrence so brief that by comparison a microsecond is a long time,... "
"Bush described the device as electronically linked to a library and able to display books and films from the library and automatically follow cross-references from one work to another."
"The physician, puzzled by a patient's reactions, strikes the trail established in studying an earlier similar case, and runs rapidly through analogous case histories, with side references to the classics for the pertinent anatomy and histology. ...There is a new profession of trail blazers, those who find delight in the task of establishing useful trails through the enormous mass of the common record."
Read the paper - As We May Think
Read about Vannevar Bush
"Photocells capable of seeing things in a physical sense, advanced photography which can record what is seen or even what is not, thermionic tubes capable of controlling potent forces under the guidance of less power than a mosquito uses to vibrate his wings, cathode ray tubes rendering visible an occurrence so brief that by comparison a microsecond is a long time,... "
"Bush described the device as electronically linked to a library and able to display books and films from the library and automatically follow cross-references from one work to another."
"The physician, puzzled by a patient's reactions, strikes the trail established in studying an earlier similar case, and runs rapidly through analogous case histories, with side references to the classics for the pertinent anatomy and histology. ...There is a new profession of trail blazers, those who find delight in the task of establishing useful trails through the enormous mass of the common record."
Read the paper - As We May Think
Read about Vannevar Bush
Story telling and UI Design
What is the Similarity?
A story is a narrative of a sequence of events in a group of character's life. The story is the glue that binds the sequences together. Similarly the UI is what binds all the features together.
A story is a particular set of events that happen to a set of specific characters. The UI is a particular context of use for a specific set of target audiences.
A story flows from one set of events to another in a seamless and logical manner. Similarly in an intuitive UI the user moves from one screen to another in a seamless and logical manner.
In a story there are plots where all characters may be present and many plots where just two or three are present. In a UI there may be screens used by all in the audience and some screens used by a few of them.
The sequence of events are believable when they are likely to occur to the characters in the story. In UI the context of use is great when it actually matches the needs of its users.
The way a story is narrated brings a lot of interest and active participation in the audience. The way the UI is presented brings interest in its users.
A story is great when the people want to hear it again and again. Many other stories are based on the same plot. Popular UIs designs have always been copied and replicated to be used by all.
What are the dissimilarities?
The goal of a story is to entertain. The goal of a UI is to perform a task.
A story is linear, UI is non-linear. However UI does have a logical sequence of events.
How can we use Story for creating UI?
You can use aspects of story-telling to improve the UI. What story gives us is logical sequence of events, context of use, presentation and innovation.
When you create the personas for the UI detail out the personas using a story. Interaction of the persona and feature should be detailed out as a story that actually describes its context of use.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
A Realistic Desktop Interface
As desktop metaphor hasn't changes drastically since the 1970s this is certainly a bold step ahead.
The video
This is a neat and crisp prototype of a user interface using the desktop metaphor.
The video
This is a neat and crisp prototype of a user interface using the desktop metaphor.
- I like the 3d feel of icons after all 3d is more life-like for us.
- There is no concept of a folder rather a pile where objects are laid on top of each other just like we do it in the real world.
- However there a lot of gestures to be learnt to manipulate the objects around. These help the user to do actions like grouping the objects together, piling them them, etc. These gestures are somewhat intuitive so can be learnt soon.
- It also have a contextual menu that appear automatically on selecting which is great as it eliminates the right-click.
- A very interesting thing they have done is to treat images as 2d and file like word doc as 3d. Even in real life photographs are definitely thinner.
- There also a neat way to browse all the objects in a pile. The way we do it if have many books in a shelf.
- I think this is an interesting experiment as they have played with the affordances of objects.
- Also since the desktop metaphor hasn't changes drastically since the 1970s this is certainly a bold step ahead.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Andriod- The Google Phone
A brilliant example of gesture and touch based input is the unlocking system of the Android. It detects the pattern created by the user's finger on the phone and if the pattern matches then it unlocks the phone. It actually uses the idea of sequencing with dots. So simple that an illiterate could use it!
Take a look this android like system
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