Too often in our enthusiasm to get the look and feel right, we forget that Content makes up for one of the primary deliverables. Content planning (what, why) and delivery (How, When, Where) is key to design so next time when you are creating those pretty wire-frames inserting “Lorem Ipsum….” pause, think is this good content?
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Content influences design
March 4th, 2010Top 20 wireframe tools
September 3rd, 2009A good list of wireframe tools/software at http://garmahis.com/reviews/wireframe-tools/
Passwords – Usability and tips to remember them
May 20th, 2009Sometimes you come across articles that make you go “Huh! Wish someone told me that earlier” . Here are two that will help you create highly secure, usable and easy to remember passwords.
- The Usability of Passwords by Thomas Baekdal
- The best password remembering tip you’ll ever encounter at jjmelo.com
Hope these help you to create usable, secure and easy to remember passwords 
Audience Based Optimisation – The better way to SEO
May 11th, 2009You may have already heard or read on numerous blogs and online portals the various methods to increase ranking on search results. Most of these articles, if not all, focus on SEO and optimising pages or content for search engine spiders. But, what about the User?
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is not about optimising for these Google bots or XYZ search engine but more about optimising for humans, for users – your target audience. Here is what I call, Audience Based Optimisation (ABO), comes in.
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Installing lower version of Flash player
May 6th, 2009Finally succeeded in downgrading flash player from version 10 to flash player version 9. I had reached a point where I was pulling my hair out and then I found this gem on Adobe’s website – Technote kb402435 .
I tried the following steps to install a lower version of the flash player
- Uninstall all flash player versions using the flash player uninstaller
- Rebooted the computer
- Disabled access to the internet/network
- re-installed an older version of the flash player
- Rebooted the computer again
All browsers, except for Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7), accepted the flash player. IE7 as usual gave me a hard time. This was primarily because of the ActiveX used by IE.
To resolve this, all I had to do was type the following in the command line
uninstall_flash_player.exe /clean
A detailed explaination can be found at Adobe’s website – Technote kb402435 – Safe versions security restrictions when installing Flash Player (Internet Explorer on Windows).
Additional resource that may help
Technote 14157
How to uninstall the Adobe Flash Player plug-in and ActiveX control
Technote 19166
Troubleshoot Adobe Flash Player installation for Windows
Hive Five: Five Best Mind Mapping Applications
March 30th, 2009Ever wanted an application that would help put your thoughts down in a more logical sense? or searched on world wide web for a tool that would help you visualise a work flow or an idea?
If that was a yes “nod” to all those questions then this article titled “Hive Five: Five Best Mind Mapping Applications” by Jason Fitzpatrick at lifehacker.com may just be what you are looking for.
One day at a time
March 24th, 2009There are two days in every week about which we should not worry,
two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.
One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares,
its faults and blunders, its aches and pains.
Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control.
All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday.
We cannot undo a single act we performed;
we cannot erase a single word we said.
Yesterday is gone forever.
The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow
with all its possible adversities, its burdens,
its large promise and its poor performance;
Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control.
Tomorrow’s sun will rise,
either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise.
Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow,
for it is yet to be born.
This leaves only one day, Today.
Any person can fight the battle of just one day.
It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities
Yesterday and Tomorrow that we break down.
It is not the experience of Today that drives a person mad,
it is the remorse or bitterness of something which happened Yesterday
and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring.
Let us, therefore, Live but one day at a time.
Author Unknown
I came across this poem in our local church bulletin. It sure gave me something to think about.
what about you?
SixthSense – integrating information with the real world
March 11th, 2009‘SixthSense’ is a wearable gestural interface that augments the physical world around us with digital information and lets us use natural hand gestures to interact with that information.
Quote from wired.com
Students at the MIT Media Lab have developed a wearable computing system that turns any surface into an interactive display screen. The wearer can summon virtual gadgets and internet data at will, then dispel them like smoke when they’re done.
Watch video of student Pranav Mistry who is described as the brains behind the project. Mistry wears the device on a lanyard around his neck, with coloured Magic Marker caps on four fingers (red, blue, green and yellow) which helps the camera distinguish the four fingers and recognise his hand gestures with software that he created.
More at the SixthSense website.
More iPhone 3G – SMS/Text messages
February 25th, 2009The iPhone 3G and what it lacks for SMS/Text messaging:
- No Copy/Paste feature
- No SMS/Text Forwarding facility
- No facility to SMS/Text multiple recipients
- No Character count
- SMS Preview a privacy concern (can be turned off but a bit cumbersome to do so)
For the good parts, the iPhone 3G does have some pretty useful applications available. I have been using the Map application and Twitterific extensively. Also, the WiFi allows me to check emails, use Twitter, Facebook, download podcasts directly to my iPhone, all using my internet connection at home. This way I save on the data usage allocated by my service provider and can use it on the road the next time I’m lost again
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