[video]
Groupon: Is It the Deals or the Copy? -
“There is more going on here than interesting copy. Fellow ClickZ author Bryan Eisenberg and his brother Jeffrey defined four “Modes of Persuasion” in their book “Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?” These four modes define the primary ways readers want to get information and the way they research a problem.”
“Groupon designs its emails and deal pages with these four modes in mind.”
“Don’t bother soliciting feedback unless you’re in a position to act on it. If you’re not ready to start coding or designing, then you’re not in a position to act. It might seem constructive to run surveys asking what your users want, but if their only purpose is to make you feel busy then you’re fooling everyone. Feedback has to result in action. That action is design, implementation, and communication back to the user. Turning the feedback into a to-do list with no one responsible, or a putting it on a whiteboard of “stuff to do someday, maybe” is the equivalent of saying “Yeah, whatever” to your users. They won’t be keen to talk you again.” —
Quote by Des Traynor
I’ve been working on our feedback experience lately, and I feel like the biggest part of the feedback experience is what happens to the feedback after someone gives it. Sure it should be simple and easy to be able to give feedback, but the real reason someone is leaving feedback is to be heard. So how do we make sure that this is happening? These are the aspects that I want to focus more on.
“Clarity is best achieved through words. Icons are a tricky beast to work with. They can be literal or metaphorical. A magnifying glass can mean zoom, or search. A down arrow can mean download, save, or simply “drop-down”. A back arrow doesn’t say for sure if changes will be saved. X is one mans close, another mans cancel, and someone else’s delete.”
“Nothing says Send Message, like the words “Send Message”. You can play with envelopes and arrows all you want. That’s not to say that icon-only interfaces are bad. They exchange initial clarity for long term beauty. It’s a choice you sometimes have to make.”
By Jeremy Keith
Look up HTML5, CSS3, etc features, know if they are ready for use, and if so find out how you should use them – with polyfills, fallbacks or as they are.
Virus That Puts Porn On Your Computer -
“Early data indicate that this virus is responsible for as much as 98 percent of all apparent consumption of online pornography. No one really looks at that stuff. The virus has even been linked to similar malware programs, such as one that causes a victim’s computer to compulsively check his ex-girlfriend’s Facebook page, as well as this one that generates e-mails (again, by some algorithm or something) that make it seem as if the victim were cheating on you with Christine.”
[video]
It’s already been a month. As I type that two emotions pass through my mind like rushing water. The first is that I still feel like we just got here, and like it’s still my first day working for FamilySearch. The second is that it feels as though I’ve always been here. In many ways the daily grind of my life hasn’t really changed much. I wake up help change diapers, get Hannah ready for school (make her lunch, get her breakfast, assist her in getting dressed, etc…), get myself ready for work, attempt to contain my children as they overtake the house. I go to work, and work on work stuff for work. Then I come home and attempt to contain my 3 children minimize messes and chaos while trying to help feed them dinner and entertain them. During this time we also will make frequent trips to Target, Walmart or some other store. This is partly for “family fun” and also to make needed purchases. By the time 7:00 or 7:30 rolls around we begin the wind down and intro to our bedtime routine. Lately this has consisted in baths, diaper changes, dressing kids in pajamas, saying family prayer, brushing teeth, reading a book and dishing out plenty of hugs and kisses goodnight (Hannah & Connor are currently sharing a room and LOVING it).
Then Heather and I either watch basketball, or TV shows until Heather’s ready for bed, to which we head on up stairs and I continue watching basketball or TV in bed until I fall asleep just to hit replay on my Groundhog-day-esque life.
I’ve recently decided to give Path a try. At first I wasn’t a huge believer in the relevance of it all. It seemed like it was just another “thing” that was similar to another “thing” I was already using. I mean really does anyone need anymore “things” to use and share their life with people? Why is the world so obsessed with sharing their life anyways?
However, Path is something I am REALLY embracing. The best way I can describe Path is that it is a mixture of Facebook Timeline, Gowalla (which was recently purchased by Facebook), Foursquare, Twitter, Tumblr, and micro blogging all wrapped into a single app with a beautifully hand crafted bow. One huge key difference that sets Path apart and that I just recently discovered thanks to my friend/co-worker Jesh, is that you can “peeth” privately on your Path. This essentially means I am actually able to simply digitally capture my life. This is everything that a journal has yearned to be. I am able to capture where I am, who I am with, when I am doing it, what I am listening to, along with any thoughts or comments I may have. If I so chose I can share it with my fellow pathfinders as well as the “Twittersphere” or “Facebookies” to boot. When I keep it public my friends are then able to comment on my life. This is especially awesome to me, since some of my close friends know that I have been known to leave commentary in my close friends journals. I think Path needs to look to add video as another option of posting as well as a “Watching”, since they already have a “listening” option. While they are at it, might as well add in a “reading” as well since many humans enjoy reading.
Path describes itself as, “the smart journal that helps you share life with the ones you love.”