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User Centered

Studying the design of everyday things

Posts tagged with "updates"

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User Centered in fine company

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This site made a "Top 100 User Centered Blogs" list (Find us at number 46). We're nestled amongst a ton of my daily reads, and I couldn't ask to be in better company.

Thanks Virtual Hosting for the nod!
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Site Update: Should we have a forum?

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I've had the forum turned off on this site... pretty much since it's inception. Reason being that if you have something you'd want to post about in the forums, I'd rather you just posted it up on the main page anyway (psuedo forcing function?) ...and any discussions on usability topics has been handled within the comments section of the posts.

But maybe I'm missing something... I've had a couple comments on the forum being missing, so I thought I'd ask the group if maybe I'm missing something. Voice your thoughts in the comments, or (what I believe will be) the "only poll you'll ever see on this site."

Also note, I've turned the forum back on for a limited time only! Post now while supplies last. (actually, the forum is always active, there's just not the link up top!)


-Eddie
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A year of user centered conversation

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User Centered is one year old and you didn't even get us a card.

Thanks everyone for getting on board, submitting, writing and commenting. You've joined the group, sent in a submission, commented, contributed your usability expertise, etc, and without that, this site would have died in January or so (it was real close!). Thanks especially to those who have written posts or debated in the comments section. It's refreshing to see I'm not the only one fed up with the way the world works. I really appreciate those that are "in the know" checking in to put some science behind the rants.

We've really done a number on the design and use of websites, software, and everyday things over the last year. Dig through the archives and you'll find (maybe I'll link these up later) 245 posts on things like:Donald Norman, Nailclippers, Can Openers, vertical blinds, wrapping paper, bathtubs, sinks, vacuums, washers/dryers, electric shavers, mouthwash,fast food drive up windows, remotes, TV guides, irons, watches, blenders, stoves, microwaves, toothpaste, gas stations, ATMs, telephones, Shower heads, alarm clocks, hangers, microwavable soups, gym bags, and a whole lotta websites.. and the frustration, praise, rants & raves of 89 members (well, 88 'cause I'm on there twice).

Thanks again all. There... I think that's just about enough group/self narcissism for one year. Now it's back to work on User Centered 2.0:
Generated Image
(courtesy of the Web2.0 Logo Creator....yes, it's a joke)


Feedback
Quick, no login/registration required, 4 question survey to get an idea of what you expect from this site...if you think the survey is dumb, just fire off in the comments section... or email me.

Click here to take survey
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MN Opera User Group

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If you're in Minnesota or the Twin Cities...

I've just kicked off an Opera User Group for Minnesota for the Opera web browser. I see this as an excuse to get together, have a drink or two and talk about Opera with people who aren't always trying to change the subject (because I could probably talk about Opera for a while) I'll will try to keep this post somewhat on topic of usability by saying that there's no way I'm *not* going to to talk about UI design in Opera and browsers in general.

Presumably, there's going to be some useful things we'll do as well, as outlined on the MOUG homepage, but first things first.

Anyway, if you venn diagram out the readers of this usability site, I'm looking for the section that likes Opera and lives in MN area. I know there's a handful of you.

Join The MOUG
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Follow up: Some house cleaning

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A couple posts that were not very interesting in and of themselves, but generated some good discussion in the comments, maybe they are worth another look. These will probably get reposted eventually based on the comments generated-

Motorola RAZR V3 Usability Review (Sept 2005)

and...
DNS for our postal mail (2 June 2006)
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Now we're having cake and ice cream

Well, admittedly- that wasn't much of a hiatus, but man! I should go on vacation more often.

Much thanks to Shelly, dantesoft, Jeremy, kmaage, potomac, and greybeat for keeping the pulse going here. We've had more posts here than normal, and a spark of the semblance of an actual group!

I've still got a few more things to write/finish up- so I can't promise the regularity, but it looks like the site is in good hands.

That said- I'll throw my hat back in the ring again...

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Outlook email tagging/Speedfiler

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You may have seen Mark in the comments from the "Better Outlook" posts I dropped awhile back.

He's looking for feedback on Email Tagging features you might find useful. Check out his list see if anything jives with your thinking.

...also on a related note (the other side of the Outlook organizational camp), one of the things I'm working on (in my hiatus) is a good post on "Speedfiler." for those that prefer folders.

So, stay tuned for that.

Edit- sorry Claritude for the typo.
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1 week hiatus: Turn it over to your feed reader

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I'm going on a short hiatus for a bit. Just to focus on some other projects, for example- an article that I'm long overdue in finishing for Daniel Goldman.

...but feel free to talk amongst yourselves. This is a group blog after all. Anyone can post as long as you have an Opera community account.

Also, if you've had something you've been thinking about that would go well here and don't want to post it yourself, just email me at usability at EL73.net, or here at the Opera community if you can manage that.

Check your feeds- gimme about a week or so.

-Eddie

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Names, names -what's in a name?

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UPDATE- this idea has been canned. I may keep the usermindset.com to forward to here (no masking) to facilitate verbally directing people here, but keep it on the down-low.

Not surprisingly, user-centered type domain names are pretty much taken, or have too many syllables and/or weird spellings.

So, I'd like to mask this domain under:
1)usermindset.com (running on a 'trail basis' -try it out!)
2)usermix.com

Both of which I own already- but don't know if I want to use them here. It'd be the same great Opera hosted blog, but the URL would be masked (or at least forwarded) with one of the above, all links would work as they did before, etc.

The "User Centered" title would change to match -it's pretty generic in the world of usability anyway.

Thoughts, preferences, leave it the way it is?
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While the iron's hot

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man- that would have been a much better title for this post.

Welcome!
This rag-tag band of users is enjoying a bit of notoriety thanks to the Opera Community, so I'll drop another quick intro.

This site is a conglomeration of many influences discussing the good and bad design of everyday things. If you are interested in this at all, there are actually books written on this very subject and other sites doing similar things...see the links and about pages for more info. I feel the need to mention the books in order to validate the fact that we're spending time writing about nail clippers and can openers and the like.

Stu_Pedasso has picked up the guantlet, and you're welcome to as well! If you're shy, but have something on your mind- get ahold of me and I'll take a stab at it. I'd love to hear your ideas and thoughts.

Finally- check the archives and the "You Might Like..." links. I wrote a lot of junk in here that I'm sure nobody's ever seen since I've been writing in obscurity for months.

Thanks-Eddie