Facebook really loves to play Popularity Police. If you don’t like enough of a Page’s posts, they stop showing in […]
Japan Tsunami Disaster Relief – Every Little Bit Helps!
March 15th, 2011
Credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images
I didn’t get to go to SXSW this year, but I’m happy to see that one of the leading Web design conferences in the world is trying to make a difference in one of the biggest natural disasters Japan has ever faced. (These videos illustrate the scope, but they’re pretty intense.) At the time of this writing, SXSW4Japan has raised over $46,000 of their $50,000 goal for the Red Cross to use to help the Japanese people recover from this devastating tragedy. Keep Reading
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Odd Coupon Design Placement?
March 2nd, 2011
Does the coupon ribbon strike anyone else as odd advertising placement?
What do coupons have to do with growth hormones? In this case, nothing, and it actually made me bark a little laugh when I saw them linked so closely together. It was as if the coupons were somehow to get me hormone-free butter (or cows) as opposed to what was actually in the box — like a mail-in cereal box prize. Keep Reading
Pandora Feature I’d Like to See
March 1st, 2011
I was talking with a friend recently and discovered he and I have entirely different wishes from Pandora radio. Most days, I want to hear as much new music as possible, influenced by my favorites. He, on the other hand, would prefer to use Pandora more like a playlist and hear songs he’s marked as favorites far more often than he does. Of course Pandora isn’t just a cloud-hosted playlist tool, but I can conceive of a spectrum like the one pictured above. Some days I’m more on one end than the other, and it would be cool to be able to tell Pandora that. I’m envisioning the default being smack in the middle.
Thoughts?
Philanthroper Deal-a-Day Charity [Badges]
February 24th, 2011
I’d like to take a moment to mention a lovely new charity startup called Philanthroper. They’ve taken the “daily deal” idea popularized by Groupon and turned it on its head, so that instead of paying for a coupon, visitors are presented with the option of donating to a different charity every day. To make it even better, they’re only asked to donate one dollar. The idea is, if enough people donate $1 it will add up quickly and allow thousands of ordinary folks to make a difference with very little personal expense. Keep Reading
GDBD: The AllRecipes Cross-Platform Ecosystem
Good Design Bad Design, Web Design
February 22nd, 2011
First, let me just say that I hate cooking. There’s work on either end, usually while hungry on the one side and lazy on the other. To me, the only thing worse than cooking is all the dishes you have to do afterwards. Anyway, I’ve found the AllRecipes apps are so well designed, the geek in me is soothed enough to make the cooking experience much more pleasant; almost, dare I say it, enjoyable.
The Verdict: Good Design!
The Takeaways:
- Designing for the total user experience is more relevant than ever with cross-platform applications, and doing a good job at this makes both Web and smartphone applications stand out above the competition.
- Excellent cross-platform functionality makes other design flaws easier to forgive.
- Leveraging communities brings additional value to information which could otherwise be found elsewhere.
The Details
AllRecipes has done a fantastic job of integrating their website, which clearly came first, with their iPad and iPhone apps. Keep Reading
Facebook Pages Update, Lose Width… Again
February 10th, 2011
New Facebook layout will be forced on March 1, 2011
Facebook is rolling out yet another change to the Pages feature, which is optional for now but will be pushed on March 1, 2011. Keep Reading
