kaypearl's journal

This @kaypearl account is terminated. If I create a positive impact in your life, I'd like to keep in touch with you from @alexisbrille.

2011-09-08T11:17:00.001-07:00

Cheers

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adidas King of the Road in Jakarta! WHO'S WITH ME for a 16.8km run? :D

2011-09-08T01:06:00.001-07:00

http://adidaskingoftheroad.com/id/index.php

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Doing Hip Abduction while the cleaner is right in front of you is awkward

2011-09-07T23:33:00.001-07:00

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Why should I give money to my grandmothers? I give out my money to those who REALLY need it.

2011-09-07T20:51:00.001-07:00

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Nicole Scherzinger's Orgasm

2011-09-07T06:20:00.001-07:00

on "Scream" with Timbaland and Keri Hilson

I've always wanted to hear the acapella version

Cheers

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A lady just replied me today to my accommodation request in Canberra in May '10

2011-09-07T03:58:00.001-07:00

From: "Tip Suthinee Muangsaen" <ragaa94@hotmail.com>

Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2011 02:33:20 +1000

To: Alexis Brille<alexis.brille@gmail.com>

Subject: Fw: Accommodation

Hello Alexis

As it turns out my current boarder is being transferred to Townville hence one bedroom with ensuite is now available if you're interested. It is $A250 per week. Feel free to call me on 0402 116833 or contact me via this email address.

I hope you're enjoying your study at ANU.

Cheers

Tip

From: Alexis Brille

Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 7:40 PM

To: Tip Suthinee Muangsaen

Subject: Re: Accommodation

Hey, Tip!

Thanks for the comment and photos! I sincerely appreciate it.

The house does look homely, I must admit.

My question now is why is the bond so expensive and the rental price $275 for a one storey building? Because of the ensuite and built in closet?

On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 8:43 AM, Tip Suthinee Muangsaen <ragaa94@hotmail.com> wrote:

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Hello Alexis

Thanks for your interest in becoming my boarder. You have indeed an extremely impressive portfolio.

I have only just advertised on the ANU website and with All Homes -- in fact, it's only been a few days. There has been a few enquiries already, which is good but I have not committed the room to any one yet. Are you still in Wollongong or nearby, perhaps we could arrange to meet ? Being artistic as you are, I'm sure you'd enjoy the house -- single storey, very

homely, a few minutes walk to Embassies (this might not top your priority) -- France, Indonesia, Malaysia etc...., a couple of minutes' walk to bus stops. The house is situated in an excellent area, lovely street scape, and massive native birds. My address is 94 Schlich St, have a look on the map. My concern is that you are not going to be here until July, however, I'm really looking for someone nice to share my house with. So, if you're that person, then we should 'debate'...

By the way, I'm an ex-ANU and I'm still maintaining contacts with them professionally.

Look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best wishes

Tip

0402 116833

From: Alexis Brille

Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 3:36 AM

To: ragaa94@hotmail.com

Subject: Accommodation

Hi, Pete (or Tip)!

Do you know if your place will be available in July 'cause that's when I'll arrive in Canberra to study MIS at ANU. Perhaps, if possible, get someone to live there until early July first?

Are you able to take photos of the place?

Would you please be able to provide the exact address of the place in order for me to be able to check bus routes?

More about me: http://alexisbrille.magntize.com

By the way, I'm of Chinese descent.

Suburb	YARRALUMLA
Rent	$275.00
Bond	$1100.00
Ensuite?	Yes
Furnished?	Yes
Heating?	Yes
Car Accommodation?	Yes
Air Conditioning?	No
Built in Wardrobe?	Yes
Smoking?	No
Contact Name	Pete or Tip
Contact Phone	0402116833
Contact Email	ragaa94@hotmail.com
Additional Information	20 minutes bicycle ride to Civic and ANU Short walk to Bus Stop, Shops, Lake Beautiful embassy area Suitable for mature student or young professional

--
Sincerely,

Alexis Brille
http://alexisbrille.magntize.com

Get Windows Live Mail to create your own photo e-mails

--
Sincerely,

Alexis Brille
http://alexisbrille.magntize.com

See the full gallery on Posterous

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Icon Jar. The Never-Ending Icon Set

2011-09-05T20:19:00.001-07:00

http://www.iconjar.com/full.html

Cheers

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Living life at 1000 miles/hour!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-09-05T18:39:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

I'm not belly dancing. I'm stretching.

2011-09-05T18:38:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Indonesia consists of 17,508 islands. WOW.

2011-09-05T10:30:00.001-07:00

Cheers

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Great color for mosques!!! Looks like it's colored by a sunset always!

2011-09-05T03:25:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

You make the environment. The environment doesn't make you.

2011-09-05T02:50:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

I want to be able to walk into a mall and get a list of all the stores in it on my phone automatically.

2011-09-05T02:09:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Raotfalmfao: Rolling all over the floor, absolutely laughing my fuckin' ass off!

2011-09-05T01:48:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Umm. Who ever is above up there, thank you for the great and beautiful (spiritually and physically) friends.

2011-09-04T23:16:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

I feel like a warrior whenever I kill a mosquito.

2011-09-04T09:57:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

What's the point of going to the gym when you're there to gossip longer than you are working out?

2011-09-04T01:27:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Étienne Aigner: $800. Armani Exchange: $200.

2011-09-03T21:49:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Appreciating the beauty of Indonesian money and making art out of it with Mommy :)

2011-09-03T09:15:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

They say "Doneness" for steak here? WOW.

2011-09-03T05:50:00.001-07:00

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The Toyota Fortuner isn't that expensive but has a nice look. Good consideration.

2011-09-02T20:53:00.001-07:00

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I'm thinking of buying the Toyota Fortuner for myself. What do y'all think?

2011-09-02T20:52:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

My Mom's spending habitsssssss T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T

2011-09-02T02:36:00.001-07:00

Cheers

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

I'm not happy when during Eid, I have no drivers, have to depend on my parents to drive me to meetings and they make me show up 1hr late!

2011-09-01T20:46:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Consensus decision making is killing me slowly. No wonder white people have been winning.

2011-09-01T20:42:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Does money make her happy? Do men make her happy? Is it possible for her to be truly happy? Is she ever happy?

2011-09-01T10:20:00.005-07:00

Cheers

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Most people want successful results without caring about the process. Those people fail.

2011-09-01T10:20:00.003-07:00

Cheers

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Put yourself in my shoes. Being in a Chinese Indonesian family having grown up with a Western mindset. Wide generation gap.

2011-09-01T10:20:00.001-07:00

Cheers

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Hard Wok Cafe! Haahahhaha

2011-09-01T03:42:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Ahhhh! All the 'luxurious' Western food there are in Jakarta I can make myself! BORINGGGGGG

2011-09-01T03:16:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Eat your product, dream your product, absorb your product until it becomes a part of your mind, body and soul.

2011-09-01T00:39:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

"Is it diamonds?" "Ah, no, it's just gold." "JUST gold?"

2011-09-01T00:29:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

"If you're rolling on the floor laughing your ass off, I would pick it up, carry it around my pocket to squeeze it anytime!"

2011-08-31T22:20:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

"I really thought I would have a harder time leaving you but I'm walking on just fine."

2011-08-31T12:13:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

"Have you been making juice lately?"

2011-08-31T06:50:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Is 18 years too much for school? Should we be delving into real life jobs at 12 instead?

2011-08-31T06:17:00.001-07:00

Cheers

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

The Simple Way to Avoid Social Media Failures

2011-08-31T05:43:00.013-07:00

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/08/the_simple_way_to_avoid_social.html

The Simple Way to Avoid Social Media Failures

8:43 AM Wednesday August 3, 2011
by Jeff Stibel | Comments (36)

This post is part of the HBR Insight Center Marketing That Works.

With each new technology, there are always a great many mistakes made, at least until we get the hang of it. Richard Nixon, who had great radio appeal, lost the first televised Presidential debate (and subsequently the election) in 1960 to John F. Kennedy because he looked like a train wreck on the small screen. Many of us have fallen prey to the more mundane mistakes that come from accidental emails, texts, and tweets.

The good news is that many of us learn from our mistakes, but only if and when we own up to them. One embarrassing email is usually all it takes for you to triple check your outgoing messages for years. On a larger scale, the death rate from automobiles was 90% higher in 1925 than it is today, because we've learned from our mistakes and have figured out myriad ways to make car travel safer. Even Nixon learned quickly and cleaned up for the remaining debates against Kennedy and eventually won a Presidency (of course another technology — the telephone recorder — ultimately brought him down again).

At the corporate headquarters of my current company, we have a large white wall affectionately named "The Failure Wall." There are a dozen Sharpies fastened to the wall, and the instructions are simple: (1) describe a time when you failed, (2) state what you learned, and (3) sign your name. Our team feels that it's important to create a culture of celebrating mistakes because we believe that mistakes are the predecessors to both innovation and success.

When I read the news, I can't help but think of what certain newsmakers would write on The Failure Wall if they visited our offices. Perhaps "I lost to the Mavericks despite my predictions of innumerable championships. I learned to keep my mouth shut. Signed, Lebron James." Or maybe "I tweeted wildly inappropriate pictures of myself to all my followers. I have since learned how to use an @ sign. Signed, @Representative_Weiner."

While admittedly low tech, The Failure Wall could be considered a social medium as it bears more than a few similarities to a Facebook wall or a Twitter stream. For one, it's public, seen not only by coworkers but also business partners, guests and visiting friends and family. It's also permanent; there is no taking back your comments once you've inked them. The best posts on our wall are sincere and honest, with a dash of humor and humility. I would argue that the same goes for online social media.

Though still in its infancy, social media is permanently changing the game for individuals, politicians, corporations, and governments. It's creating a new kind of winner and a new kind of loser, and it's high time we learn from our collective mistakes and failures.

We've had some epic social media failures. Anthony Weiner is not the only one who didn't give enough thought to the unintended recipients of his private information. A Canadian woman lost her disability benefits when Facebook vacation pictures contradicted her claims of debilitating depression. Divorce lawyers now frequently monitor Twitter and Facebook posts to find dirt on their clients' exes, to be used in alimony and child custody negotiations. One mom even lost custody of her children because her Facebook profile showed she was spending too much time on Farmville. And not a day passes without a handful of people's poor social media judgment getting them fired (for posting party pictures on alleged sick days, for example), or simply not hired (most employers shy away from candidates whose profile pic includes a bottle of tequila in each hand, Cinco de Mayo or not).

Companies, even those with stellar public relations records, often make similar social media gaffes. Consider this tweet from Kenneth Cole (@KennethCole) during the height of the revolution in Egypt: "Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at http://www.bit.ly/KCairo -KC." Unsurprisingly, the insensitive remark was re-tweeted like wildfire, drawing contempt from thousands.

In all of the above cases, the blunder occurred because of a failure to realize the breadth and depth of social media. Your boss, your constituents, your customers, and yes, even your ex-wife's divorce lawyer are all connected to you. They are removed from you not by six degrees of separation, but by one little mouse click. In addition to breadth, companies and institutions must acknowledge the depth of their social media friends, followers and subscribers. The people who choose to follow you via social media are the ones who really care. They are Malcolm Gladwell's mavens, and the most social ones are also connectors. If you were a rock star, they'd be your groupies. Ignore them — or underestimate them — at your peril.

Clearly, the idea of your groupies turning against you is terrifying. But there's no need to fear.

Many are forging a path to successfully navigate this brave new world. Kanye West's clan largely forgave him when he offered a tweeted apology for snatching the microphone from Taylor Swift. Pepsi quickly apologized via Twitter for an insensitive Pepsi Max ad that depicted "one lonely calorie" committing suicide. By using Twitter instead of traditional media, Pepsi and Kanye were able to reach out quickly and directly to those who cared most — their own tribe.

Because it is informal, personal, and immediate, social media is well suited for apologies and brand damage control efforts. If you face negative publicity in new media, there is zero chance of turning it around with old media techniques. A formal company statement just can't compete with a 1 star rating on Yelp or a Facebook group called "Boycott Your-Company-Name-Here." In 2009, Domino's was blindsided by a YouTube video showing two disgruntled employees contaminating the food they were about to deliver. It was a PR nightmare for the company, until they fired back through social media — uploading their own YouTube video explaining what they were doing to fix the situation and creating a special Twitter account to specifically handle customers concerns about this issue. Because of their quick and appropriate responses directly to the people most concerned, Domino's was able to diffuse what could have been a catastrophic event.

Similarly, Taco Bell recently combated a traditional attack (a class action lawsuit charging that the restaurant's meat isn't really beef) with new media techniques. On Twitter, Taco Bell linked to comedian Steven Colbert's musings on the controversy; on Facebook, they offered free tacos, encouraging customers to make up their own minds about the beef in question. And while overall sales have taken a hit, its seven million loyal Facebook "friends" are as enthusiastic as ever — and the lawsuit has been dropped.

We are seeing the full extent of this politically as well as commercially. Ten years ago, it was easier for a dictator to survive with massive disconnects between what he promised verses what he delivered; there was no real vehicle to tease that apart en masse. Now there is a vehicle, and in recent months we've seen analysts credit social media with helping Middle Eastern protesters organize demonstrations, share information and report to the rest of the world. Social media, by its very nature, promotes democracy and presents challenges for dictators attempting to pass off as fact anything other than the truth.

So what have we learned? The difference between those who fail and those who succeed in the age of social media is simple. Success is no longer about fancy packaging and carefully controlled messages. When everyone can see what you're doing, the most essential values are transparency, honesty and credibility. Even with advanced privacy tools — like private lists, tweets and circles — the most foolproof way to stay safe on social media is simply to be who you say you are. Pretending to be something you're not, or attempting to conceal or manipulate the truth is a surefire way to lose. You win by matching your image with reality, acting with integrity, and sincerely apologizing when you're wrong.

Cheers

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Managing Yourself: How to Cultivate Engaged Employees

2011-08-31T05:43:00.011-07:00

http://hbr.org/2011/09/how-to-cultivate-engaged-employees/ar/1

Managing Yourself: How to Cultivate Engaged Employees

by Charalambos A. Vlachoutsicos

Successful managers depend on the capabilities of their subordinates: George’s marketing skills, Maria’s ability to run the numbers, Michael’s local knowledge, Dimitra’s IT expertise. Shelves and shelves of books offer managers’ advice on how to mobilize their people to achieve overall performance targets.

Although most upwardly mobile managers know that an empowered team enhances their performance, the everyday reality of corporate hierarchy and a compulsion to control their own fate can cloud that awareness. Many companies, particularly in the U.S. and western Europe, are abandoning the top-down, command--and-control model. Nevertheless, lots of managers still apply it, triggering a vicious cycle. When confronted with such a boss, employees respond by jealously guarding their only source of power—their distinctive experience—and the team is driven apart. The members may remain functionally interdependent, but that interdependence is ineffective, which means that a lot of value is squandered.

I have spent much of my career in companies and countries where this cycle of control and disengagement was especially vicious. For more than 30 years I worked for and then managed a family enterprise, founded by my grandfather in 1880, that traded extensively in Russia, eastern Europe, the Black Sea states, and elsewhere. After selling the business in the mid-1980s and for decades thereafter, I became an investor, researcher, and consultant for companies that were looking to enter those regions, as well as an educator.

In these roles, my biggest challenge was teaching bosses how to glean contributions from, and thereby promote engagement by, their local employees. Their job, I explained, was to ensure that every interaction with a subordinate fostered a sense of mutual dependence, or what I call “mutuality.” To help in that effort, I developed a set of lessons, which I share in this article.

The events I shall recount took place mostly in central and eastern Europe, but they can be applied universally, particularly at companies that still cling to top-down leadership and rigid hierarchy. Indeed, many of the managers I helped came from the U.S. and western Europe, and despite their formal management training they cultivated little more from their employees than their Soviet predecessors had done.

The lessons I share will seem familiar in the abstract, but the real value, as always, is in the details (although names have been changed to protect the innocent—and the guilty). Those details will help you compare what you and others in your organization are doing with what you know you ought to be doing.

1: Be Modest

Modesty, virtue though it is, often clashes with basic fears. Many new managers are nervous about proving themselves, so they end up discouraging their subordinates from speaking up and thereby fail to benefit from their experience. Consider Kurt, the German CEO of a privatized Albanian canned-fish packing plant that I consulted for in the 1990s.

I sat in on one of the daily management meetings led by Kurt and attended by the heads of sales, production, finance, procurement, and government relations. The reporting part of the meeting went well. But then Kurt started talking. Both his words and his manner said, “Given that I know everything and you know nothing, here’s what you should do.” Condescending, absurdly detailed instructions were supplemented by irrelevant stories about how he had succeeded in solving problems. When he finished, an hour later, and asked for questions, the room seemed ready to ignite with one lit match. No one spoke, and the senior managers left silently and sullenly.

Cheers

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When Entitlement Meets Unemployment

2011-08-31T05:43:00.009-07:00

http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/mcafee/2011/08/when-entitlement-meets-unemplo.html

Cheers

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An intelligent person aspires to be a manager. A wise person aspires to be a supporter. business

2011-08-31T05:43:00.007-07:00

Cheers

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

The best mindset a UI Designer could have: "Remember I'm designing for idiots."

2011-08-31T05:43:00.005-07:00

Cheers

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Management a profession? Where's the proof?

2011-08-31T05:43:00.003-07:00

http://hbr.org/2011/09/management-a-profession-wheres-the-proof/ar/1

Column: Management a Profession? Where’s the Proof?

by Jeffrey Pfeffer

A few years ago a compensation committee I was serving on was deliberating about the use of stock options for the senior executive team. As it happened, Penn State’s Donald Hambrick had just published some revelatory research on how stock options affect a company’s risk behavior. When I asked our compensation consultant if he knew about the article, he said no. When I offered to send it to him (along with other important articles from the volumes of research on the topic), he had no interest.

How could someone we were paying so dearly for advice be so indifferent to evidence that might inform our decisions? And why didn’t my board colleagues see this as cause to question our selection of adviser? I was disappointed—but not surprised. To be fair, our adviser’s behavior was hardly unusual. When I tell this story to others in the HR consulting industry, they often suspect I’m talking about someone from their company.

Harvard Business School’s Rakesh Khurana has embarked on a campaign to make management more of a true profession, and he’s right to bemoan that it isn’t. But Khurana’s focus is on one aspect of professionalism: the adherence to “higher aims” than self-interest or economic benefit. In fact, professions have another defining feature: a specialized body of knowledge that practitioners are obliged to apply in their daily work.

In law, people must pass an exam to gain admission to the bar. In medicine, continuing professional education is required of doctors. What is important, though, is not the licensing and courses themselves but the overall mind-set that effective practice depends on awareness of advances in the field.

In business, the movement toward using the best available scientific data to make decisions—evidence-based management—seems to be growing. It has the strong support of the Academy of Management and the Conference Board. The idea of competing on analytics is catching on. The venture capital community is investing eagerly in start-ups offering solutions that mine raw data for practical, strategic information.

But setting higher knowledge standards for managers will require action from many more constituencies.

Start with business schools—which are the leading source of management research and have reason to believe in its power. As Wharton’s J. Scott Armstrong and others have shown, research is the differentiating factor that makes some schools’ degrees more valuable than others’. Many need to shore up that strength. Rigor can be eroded, for example, when students demand more- enjoyable instructors for electives (often in leadership and entrepreneurship) and schools hire practitioners. There’s nothing wrong with the voice of experience—it often leaves a stronger impression. But if those instructors aren’t proponents of science-based practice, their influence may weaken the intellectual foundations of business training.

Management publications also have their part to play. Too many books and articles—even in scholarly journals—purport to offer important new insights but fall short. When editors ignore prior research, they undercut the idea of cumulative knowledge building. When they fail to challenge methodologies, they publish invalid findings. (One question that apparently isn’t always asked: Did the measurement of outcomes come after the measurement of the factors that allegedly produced them?)

Cheers

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I love Revlon nail polish but they take forever to dry!

2011-08-31T05:43:00.001-07:00

Cheers

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Top Ten Guidelines for Homepage Usability ui

2011-08-31T05:42:00.011-07:00

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20020512.html

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, May 12, 2002:

Top Ten Guidelines for Homepage Usability

Summary:
A company's homepage is its face to the world and the starting point for most user visits. Improving your homepage multiplies the entire website's business value, so following key guidelines for homepage usability is well worth the investment.

Homepages are the most valuable real estate in the world. Each year, companies and individuals funnel millions of dollars through a space that's not even a square foot in size. For good reason. A homepage's impact on a company’s bottom line is far greater than simple measures of e-commerce revenues: The homepage is your company's face to the world. Increasingly, potential customers will look at your company's online presence before doing business with you — regardless of whether they plan to close the actual sale online. (Update: ourstudies of B2B usability found that this is the predominant behavior of business users.)

The homepage is the most important page on most websites, and gets more page views than any other page. Of course, users don't always enter a website from the homepage. A website is like a house in which every window is also a door: People can follow links from search engines and other websites that reach deep inside your site. However, one of the first things these users do after arriving at a new site is go to the homepage. Deep linking is very useful, but it doesn't give users the site overview a homepage offers — if the homepage design follows strong usability guidelines, that is.

Following are ten things you can do to increase the usability of your homepage and thus enhance your website's business value.

Make the Site's Purpose Clear: Explain Who You Are and What You Do

1. Include a One-Sentence Tagline

Start the page with a tagline that summarizes what the site or company does, especially if you're new or less than famous. Even well-known companies presumably hope to attract new customers and should tell first-time visitors about the site's purpose. It is especially important to have a good tagline if your company's general marketing slogan is bland and fails to tell users what they'll gain from visiting the site.

2. Write a Window Title with Good Visibility in Search Engines and Bookmark Lists

Begin the TITLE tag with the company name, followed by a brief description of the site. Don't start with words like "The" or "Welcome to" unless you want to be alphabetized under "T" or "W."

3. Group all Corporate Information in One Distinct Area

Finding out about the company is rarely a user's first task, but sometimes people do need details about who you are. Good corporate information is especially important if the site hopes to support recruiting, investor relations, or PR, but it can also serve to increase a new or lesser-known company's credibility. An "About <company-name>" section is the best way to link users to more in-depth information than can be presented on the homepage. (See also my report with70 guidelines for the design of "about us" areas of corporate websites.)

Help Users Find What They Need

4. Emphasize the Site's Top High-Priority Tasks

Your homepage should offer users a clear starting point for the main one to four tasks they'll undertake when visiting your site.

5. Include a Search Input Box

Search is an important part of any big website. When users want to search, they typically scan the homepage looking for "the little box where I can type," so your search should be a box.[Make your search box at least 25 characters wide,] so it can accommodate multiple words without obscuring parts of the user's query.

(Update: Based on more recent findings, my recommendation is now to make the search box 27 characters wide. This and other new guidelines are covered in my tutorial on Fundamental Guidelines for Web Usability at the annual Usability Week conference.)

Reveal Site Content

6. Show Examples of Real Site Content

Don't just describe what lies beneath the homepage. Specifics beat abstractions, and you have good stuff. Show some of your best or most recent content.

7. Begin Link Names with the Most Important Keyword

Users scan down the page, trying to find the area that will serve their current goal. Links are the action items on a homepage, and when you start each link with a relevant word, you make it easier for scanning eyes to differentiate it from other links on the page. A common violation of this guideline is to start all links with the company name, which adds little value and impairs users' ability to quickly find what they need.

8. Offer Easy Access to Recent Homepage Features

Users will often remember articles, products, or promotions that were featured prominently on the homepage, but they won't know how to find them once you move the features inside the site. To help users locate key items, keep a short list of recent features on the homepage, and supplement it with a link to a permanent archive of all other homepage features.

Use Visual Design to Enhance, not Define, Interaction Design

9. Don't Over-Format Critical Content, Such as Navigation Areas

You might think that important homepage items require elaborate illustrations, boxes, and colors. However, users often dismiss graphics as ads, and focus on the parts of the homepage that look more likely to be useful.

10. Use Meaningful Graphics

Don't just decorate the page with stock art. Images are powerful communicators when they show items of interest to users, but will backfire if they seem frivolous or irrelevant. For example, it's almost always best to show photos of real people actually connected to the topic, rather than pictures of models.

Full List of Homepage Guidelines

My recent book, Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed, contains the full list of 113 usability guidelines for homepage design, as well as recommendations for how to best design 40 common homepage elements to meet users' expectations.

Learn More

My newest usability guidelines will be presented in the tutorials on Fundamental Guidelines for Web Usability and Web Page Design: The Anatomy of High-Performing Web Pages at the annualUsability Week conference.

Cheers

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Plain spoken words are better than made-up terms and branded descriptions

2011-08-31T05:42:00.009-07:00

From: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/fancy-formatting.html

Beyond banner blindness, the major reason this homepage failed is that it used made-up termsor branded descriptions rather than plain-spoken words. Terms like "Population Clock," "Population Finder," and "QuickFacts" are not as descriptive as a simple line of text that says:
Population of the United States: 302,740,627 (as of Aug. 31, 2007)

More: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/search-keywords.html

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, August 28, 2006:

Use Old Words When Writing for Findability

Summary:
Familiar words spring to mind when users create their search queries. If your writing favors made-up terms over legacy words, users won't find your site.

"Speak the user's language" has been a primary usability guideline for more than 20 years. The fact that the Web is a linguistic environment further increases the importance of using the right vocabulary.

In addition, as my new book documents, Web users are growing ever-more search dominant. Search is how people discover new websites and find individual pages within websites and intranets. Unless you're listed on the first search engine results page (SERP), you might as well not exist. So, the first duty of writing for the Web is to write to be found.

There are many elements to search engine optimization, but SEO guideline #1 is our old friend, "speak the user's language." Or, more precisely, when you write, use keywords that match users' search queries.

Winston Churchill said that "short words are best and the old words when short are best of all."Churchill was talking about how to write punchy prose, not about SEO. To be found, precise words are often better than short words, which can be too broad to accurately describe the user's problem. For example, people are more likely to search for "usability" than for "easy" -- at least those people who are in the market for my research reports and seminars.

But Churchill was right that old words are best.

Old words rule because people know them intimately. Familiar words spring to mind unbidden. Thus, users are likely to employ old words when they boil down their problem to a search query, which is typically only 2-3 words long.

How New Words Ruin Your Search Rankings

Many forces pressure Web writers to diminish a website's value by filling it with words that are unlikely to appear in search queries. Here are some guidelines for writing to ensure that users will find your site:

Supplement made-up words with known words. It's tempting to coin new terms because you can own the positioning if the term catches on. But, more likely, people will continue to use their old terminology. It's long been a usability guideline to avoid made-up words in navigation menus, because users scan them for words they know. In full-text content, you can include new words for effect, but make sure to supplement them with legacy words -- that is, words that your customers know and use in everyday business practice.
Play down marketese and internal vocabulary. Call a spade a spade, not a digging implement. Certainly not an excavation solution. Many marketers like to embellish products to make them seem grander than traditional fare. But customers define their needs in known terms, so be sure to use them, even if you don't think they're exciting. The very fact that a word is unexciting indicates that it's frequently used. People search for terms like "cheap airline tickets," not "value-priced travel experience." Often, a boring keyword is a known keyword.
Supplement brand names with generic terms. If people know and already like your brand enough to search for it, wonderful: you're halfway home. This is particularly true if you're a B2B site, where a main goal is to simply survive the sales funnel's initial discovery and research stages and make it to the shortlist. You should of course include your brand name when describing your products so that fans can find you. But don't abandon the other 95% of prospects who are searching for their problem and don't know the name of your solution. In the funnel's early stages, people tend to use non-branded search terms, because they haven't yet decided which companies to put on the shortlist. This is exactly the time when you have the potential to influence them.
Avoid "politically correct" terminology. When writing about accessibility, for example, talk about blind users or low-vision users, not visually challenged users. First, nobody searches for a made-up phrase like "visually challenged." Second, "blind" and "low-vision" are more precise: they refer to two separate groups of people. Each group uses different assistive technologies and has a different experience of your website. They therefore have distinct usability needs.

If you fill your pages with fancy new words, you'll lose the most powerful tool in Internet marketing: the ability for users to find you in search. Making the search listings is a crucial first step, but it's not the only step: users must also click your entry, and your site must have a good conversion rate.

We know from eyetracking studies that users often scan right past high-ranking listings when the headlines don't make sense. And we know from hundreds of usability studies that users abandon websites with product pages that are confusing or fail to answer their questions. These two problems definitely also deserve the attention of your writers and your usability studies.

There's more to website success than simply being found, but it is the first step. Use old words and you'll be that step ahead of the competition and their useless new words.

Learn More

Full-day seminars at the annual Usability Week conference:

Cheers

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Trying to format important information on a website as fancy actually makes users ignore it

2011-08-31T05:42:00.007-07:00

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/fancy-formatting.html

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, September 4, 2007:

Fancy Formatting, Fancy Words = Looks Like a Promotion = Ignored

Summary:
One site did most things right, but still had a miserable 14% success rate for its most important task. The reason? Users ignored a key area because it resembled a promotion.

Putting the answer to a typical user's main question in big red type at the top of your homepage would guarantee high usability, right? Wrong — at least for the U.S. Census Bureau's homepage, where 86% of users failed to find the country's current population when it was presented in large red numbers.

Homepage for www.census.gov, as tested.

In a reduced screenshot, the population count is the only information that's clearly readable, so it makes the task easier than it is in real life. On the actual site, users often ignored the big red characters.

The following heatmap from one of our eyetracking studies shows how users looked at this homepage. Their task was to find the current population of the United States.

www.census.gov" width="500" />
The areas users looked at the most are colored red;
the yellow areas indicate fewer views, followed by the least-viewed blue areas.
Gray areas didn't attract any fixations.

At first, the heatmap seems fine:

users scanned the main parts of the page,
the categorization of the main content area worked particularly well, and
users gave considerable attention to the Population Clock and the Population Finder.

On closer inspection, however, it's clear that users only fixated on the first third of the numberthat shows current population. In other words, people scanned that area, but didn't actually readthe number. (Only a small percentage — as indicated by blue coloring — looked at the last 2/3 of the number.)

Where People Looked

As the following pie chart shows, only 14% of participants used the Population Clock to answer the question. None of the remaining users found the correct answer, though most did find the population for an earlier year somewhere inside the site.

How users reacted to the Population Clock in the upper right of the Census homepage.
Only 14% of test participants used this feature when asked to find the current population.
Most people saw the feature, but didn't use it to complete the task.

Although it's not the major reason this homepage design failed, banner blindness does play a role here. Users tend to ignore heavily formatted areas because they look like advertisements. Thus, about 1/3 of users never even saw the Population Clock. However, most people did fixate on this area because it's not as overly formatted as most promotional features. So, most users saw the Population Clock; they just didn't use it, even though it contained the exact information they were looking for.

Beyond banner blindness, the major reason this homepage failed is that it used made-up termsor branded descriptions rather than plain-spoken words. Terms like "Population Clock," "Population Finder," and "QuickFacts" are not as descriptive as a simple line of text that says:

Population of the United States: 302,740,627 (as of Aug. 31, 2007)

Search-Dominant Users and Other Behaviors

The heatmap above is averaged across users, so it's not the best way to analyze the Census homepage's usability. In this case, there were 4 distinct user behaviors at play, and we need to analyze each separately.

The following gaze plots show examples of the 4 main classes of user behavior:

Each gaze plot shows one user's eye movements:
each blue dot is a fixation, with bigger dots indicating longer periods of looking.

Plot A shows a classic search-dominant user. This user looked around the page briefly and then went straight to search. This was the predominant behavior in this study, accounting for57% of users. The specific user shown in gaze plot A didn't look at the Population Clock at all; other search-dominant users had a few fixations in that area, but quickly abandoned it in their dash for the search box.
(Note that even this very search-dominant user took a quick look at all the other parts of the page — such as the left-hand navbar and the main content categories — but never looked at the right column with the ad-like areas. The user also stopped scanning the navbar when it turned into a graphical promotion and stopped scanning the content categories above the banner promoting a new survey. Banner blindness in action.)
Plot B shows a navigation-dominant user. This user looked at the navigation options — both in the center of the page and down the left-hand navbar — before clicking on the most promising link. Navigation-dominance was a rare behavior in this study; it's more common on sites that don't feature homepage tools, such as those that attracted users in plots C and D.
Plot C shows a tool-dominant user attracted to the drop-down menus and type-in fields of the Population Finder. Many sites don't have such interactive features, but when they do exist, they tend to attract a good proportion of users: people like parts of websites where they can do something and thus feel in control (even though they often fail, because of poorapplication usability).
Plot D shows a successful user who found and used the Population Clock to answer the question. This specific user was actually a search-dominant user, as indicated by the many early fixations in the search area. However, just before searching, the user was drawn to the Population Clock screen area and gradually engaged with it enough to realize that it contained the answer, freeing the user from having to search.
(Also note the long fixation on the "Census 2000" logo in the upper left of the content area: many users considered — or even clicked — this option, but of course it led to numbers that were 7 years out of date.)

Sadly, in this case, neither search, nor navigation, nor the Population Finder led the majority of users to the correct answer. Indeed, search was particularly bad on this site. One user said, "I know where I can probably find it faster: Google," and promptly abandoned the official Census Bureau site's own search. (In fact, she did find a reasonable — though less accurate — answer on another site using an external search.)

Although most users found some population number, whether from 2000, 2005, or 2006, it wasn't the current number. As one might expect from the Census Bureau, the site was rife with population statistics. The problem was that the outdated statistics weren't supplemented with links to the current numbers, violating the guideline to situate follow-ups in context.

Conflicting Usability Guidelines?

The Internet manager in charge of this losing design might defend the work by pointing out that it complies with #4 of my top-10 guidelines for homepage design: Offer a clear starting point for the main tasks users will undertake when visiting the site. Clearly, something was done right, with a task analysis that concluded that it would be a primary goal of visitors to this site to identify the current population of the United States and to have an easy way to find the populations of individual states and cities.

Even better, the site follows several recommendations from the full list of published homepage usability guidelines:

Guideline #4: Emphasize the highest priority tasks so that users have a clear starting point.
Guideline #29: Use examples to reveal the site's content. Rather than just describing what the site offers, the Census homepage states the actual population number. Juicy content for this type of site.
Guideline #53: Offer tools for high-priority tasks directly on the homepage. The Population Finder is exactly such a tool, and obviously attracted users. (We also asked people to find the population of Texas, and the success rate was much higher for this task.)

(This site does many other things right; here I'm listing only those guidelines directly related to finding the population number.)

Despite obeying so many usability guidelines, the site has the miserably low success rate of 14% for its most important task. The site fails users because it violates several other guidelines for homepage usability:

Guideline #19: Don't use clever phrases and marketing lingo.
Guideline #63: Limit font styles and other text formatting.
Guideline #91: Don't look like an ad.

So what good are usability guidelines if — as this example seems to show — they are always in conflict?

Actually, the guidelines don't contradict each other when it comes to the Census homepage. (Sometimes we do have conflicting guidelines, as in the matter of intranet staff directories. That's why we call them guidelines: because they aren't always firm and sometimes require interpretation or, in rare cases, deviation.)

In this case, though, it's possible to feature the high-priority tasks, show the main number directly on the homepage, and have a tool for the rest without using marketing-style terms, heavy formatting, and otherwise making the important area look like an ad or a promotion. That is, the designer could have followed all 6 guidelines simultaneously.

In many studies of corporate and e-commerce sites, we observe users ignoring the very page sections that have the most business value because the site is selling them too hard. Learn from the Census Bureau's mistake: try a softer approach with more straightforward, user-centered information. Let go of the fancy formatting and the fancy words.

Learn More

What users want and what they avoid are discussed in much more depth in my full-day seminar on Fundamental Guidelines for Web Usability at the annual Usability Week conference.

The conference also has a full-day seminar on Page Design that goes into detail about homepage usability as well as other types of Web pages.

Cheers

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Eyetracking Web Usability by Jakob Nielsen and Kara Pernice ui usability

2011-08-31T05:42:00.005-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0321498364?tag=useitcomusablein

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321498364 | ISBN-13: 978-0321498366 | Publication Date: December 14, 2009 | Edition: 1

Eyetracking Web Usability is based on one of the largest studies of eyetracking usability in existence. Best-selling author Jakob Nielsen and coauthor Kara Pernice used rigorous usability methodology and eyetracking technology to analyze 1.5 million instances where users look at Web sites to understand how the human eyes interact with design. Their findings will help designers, software developers, writers, editors, product managers, and advertisers understand what people see or don’t see, when they look, and why.

With their comprehensive three-year study, the authors confirmed many known Web design conventions and the book provides additional insights on those standards. They also discovered important new user behaviors that are revealed here for the first time. Using compelling eye gaze plots and heat maps, Nielsen and Pernice guide the reader through hundreds of examples of eye movements, demonstrating why some designs work and others don’t. They also provide valuable advice for page layout, navigation menus, site elements, image selection, and advertising. This book is essential reading for anyone who is serious about doing business on the Web.

Cheers

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content ui design

2011-08-31T05:42:00.003-07:00

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, April 17, 2006:

F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content

Summary:
Eyetracking visualizations show that users often read Web pages in an F-shaped pattern: two horizontal stripes followed by a vertical stripe.

F for fast. That's how users read your precious content. In a few seconds, their eyes move at amazing speeds across your website’s words in a pattern that's very different from what you learned in school.

In our new eyetracking study, we recorded how 232 users looked at thousands of Web pages. We found that users' main reading behavior was fairly consistent across many different sites and tasks. This dominant reading pattern looks somewhat like an F and has the following three components:

Users first read in a horizontal movement, usually across the upper part of the content area. This initial element forms the F's top bar.
Next, users move down the page a bit and then read across in a second horizontal movement that typically covers a shorter area than the previous movement. This additional element forms the F's lower bar.
Finally, users scan the content's left side in a vertical movement. Sometimes this is a fairly slow and systematic scan that appears as a solid stripe on an eyetracking heatmap. Other times users move faster, creating a spottier heatmap. This last element forms the F's stem.

Obviously, users' scan patterns are not always comprised of exactly three parts. Sometimes users will read across a third part of the content, making the pattern look more like an E than an F. Other times they'll only read across once, making the pattern look like an inverted L (with the crossbar at the top). Generally, however, reading patterns roughly resemble an F, though the distance between the top and lower bar varies.

Heatmaps from user eyetracking studies of three websites. The areas where users looked the most are colored red; the yellow areas indicate fewer views, followed by the least-viewed blue areas. Gray areas didn't attract any fixations.

The above heatmaps show how users read three different types of Web pages:

an article in the "about us" section of a corporate website (far left),
a product page on an e-commerce site (center), and
a search engine results page (SERP; far right).

If you squint and focus on the red (most-viewed) areas, all three heatmaps show the expected F pattern. Of course, there are some differences. The F viewing pattern is a rough, general shape rather than a uniform, pixel-perfect behavior.

On the e-commerce page (middle example), the second crossbar of the F is lower than usual because of the intervening product image. Users also allocated significant fixation time to a box in the upper right part of the page where the price and "add to cart" button are found.

On the SERP (right example), the second crossbar of the F is longer than the top crossbar, mainly because the second headline is longer than the first. In this case, both headlines proved equally interesting to users, though users typically read less of the second area they view on a page.

Implications of the F Pattern

The F pattern's implications for Web design are clear and show the importance of following theguidelines for writing for the Web instead of repurposing print content:

Users won't read your text thoroughly in a word-by-word manner. Exhaustive reading is rare, especially when prospective customers are conducting their initial research to compile a shortlist of vendors. Yes, some people will read more, but most won't.
The first two paragraphs must state the most important information. There's some hope that users will actually read this material, though they'll probably read more of the first paragraph than the second.
Start subheads, paragraphs, and bullet points with information-carrying words that users will notice when scanning down the left side of your content in the final stem of their F-behavior. They'll read the third word on a line much less often than the first two words.

Detailed Scanning Behaviors

It's fascinating to watch the slow-motion replay of users' eye movements as they read and scan across a page. Every page has reading issues beyond the dominant F pattern I'm discussing here. For example, users scan in a different, more directed way when they're looking for prices or other numbers, and an interesting hot-potato behavior determines how users look at a list of search engine ads. We also have many findings on how people look at website images.

Full-day seminars at the annual Usability Week conference:

Writing for the Web 1: Foundations of Web Content
Writing for the Web 2: Presenting Compelling Content
Writing for Mobile Users: Content Usability for Mobile Websites, Apps, and Email Newsletters
Content Strategy, 2-day seminar (select cities only)

The biggest determinant for content usability is how users read online — and because people read differently, you have to write differently.

Cheers

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

BUT Left side navigation virtually ignored ui pattern

2011-08-31T05:42:00.001-07:00

Left-Side Navigation Virtually Ignored

Related to this are the studies that have demonstrated the “F-Shaped” pattern for reading web content, shown below.

F-Shaped Pattern for Reading Web Content

Even though two of the screenshots above show sites that have left-hand navigation, those elements on the pages did not draw the users’ eyes as often. In fact, the top sections of the pages were more successful in drawing the eyes than were the left sidebars. Therefore, expanding the content area to fill the left side of the screen is usually a better approach, since the user’s eyes aren’t going to bother with the navigation bar anyways.

Cheers

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Horizontal Navigation Menus: Trends, Patterns, and Best Practices

2011-08-31T05:41:00.009-07:00

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/09/07/horizontal-navigation-menus-trends-patterns-and-best-practices/

The horizontal navigation menu has become a mainstay in Web design. It is safe to say that nowadays most websites use some form of horizontal navigation to facilitate content browsing. The dominance of horizontal navigation over vertical (i.e. down a sidebar) is obviously due to the design and content limitations of the latter. Notably, CNN discovered those limitations before switching from vertical to horizontal a few years back.

There are, however, many styles of horizontal navigation in modern Web design. Some offer usability advantages for certain types of websites, while others are aesthetically better.

In this article, we will focus on a variety of techniques and best practices to improve the usability of horizontal navigation bars, and we will note less effective styles. We’ll also look at several trends that developers can choose from when working on the navigation design for their next project.

Use Familiar Names For Links

Let’s start off with a usability tip that applies to any navigation bar. When a user visits a new website, one of their primary points of focus will be the navigation bar. If that element has been well designed, the user will look to it first for help with their task. Almost every website has certain sections that are “expected” by users, such as “About us,” “Services,” “Products,” and “Contact us.”

Impulse Development

Because of the nature of the Web, users get frustrated if they cannot immediately find the content they are looking for, even if the delay is momentary. So, the “About” link should be labeled “About” or “About us.” The “Services” link should be labeled “Services” or “Our services.” Being creative in this case detracts from usability.

Except in the most unusual circumstances, don’t call your “About” page “Company info.” Don’t call your “Services” page “What we do.” And don’t call your “Contact” page “How to reach us.” Users instantly look for recognizable terms when searching for content, and so avoiding any design or content that would slow them down ensures for them a positive experience.

Clearly Distinguish Primary And Secondary Sections

Once you figure out what parts of your website are “primary” and what parts are “secondary,” you can establish a visual hierarchy that enhances usability.

Primary links (e.g. “About,” “Services,” etc.) should be clearly distinguishable from secondary page links, which are usually accessible from every page and located near the primary links. The designer’s job is to clearly indicate the difference so that users understand which parts of the website have the most important information.

Consider the following example:

Edwards & Hampson

Edwards & Hampson’s website has a nice clear horizontal bar that serves as the user’s primary means of navigating pages. While it includes the standard links (“About us,” “Our services,” “Products”), the bar has a number of other links that are not as “primary” but are important enough to include in a prominent area.

A similar example:

Deliciouslyorkshire

The Deliciouslyorkshire website links to primary sections (“Home,” “About,” “News and events”) next to what seem to be secondary sections (“Recipes,” “Promotions,” “Useful links”). Both types of links have the same tabbed style, with no indication of hierarchy.

If, in fact, some of these links are less important, then designing the section to reflect this hierarchy would have been wise. Of course, these companies may have compelling reasons for designing their navigation in this way, so these are not necessarily bad examples; they serve merely as case studies to illustrate the importance of a visual hierarchy in navigation bars.

Conversely, here are two examples of websites that show this visual distinction but still keep secondary links easily accessible:

Designers Couch

Designer’s Couch has primary navigation links along the main bar (“Home,” “Gallery,” “Jobs,” etc.) and then secondary links on the same bar to the right but kept visually distinct (“Find a designer,” “Get involved”).

J Taylor Design

J Taylor Design makes a similar distinction by placing secondary links below the main navigation bar and using a different color, font, and size. In these examples, the user has no trouble distinguishing between primary and secondary sections. Yet, the secondary links are not buried on the page or in drop-down menus. They’re still easy to access.

Put “Action” Links On Right

If you’re building an e-commerce website or one that has shopping cart functionality, user registration or log-in, then putting links to those sections on the right side of the horizontal navigation bar (or somewhere else on the right, near the top) is best.

Here are a few examples of websites that visually separate “action” links, while keeping them in the main navigation bar:

Sharify

Xero

Sharify and Xero, above, put their “action” links on the same navigation bar as their primary links. But they maintain the hierarchy by pushing the secondary links to the far right.

Users expect to see these action links on the right side of the bar, so reversing the pattern would impair usability.

Include A Search Box

Another common practice that improves usability is to include a search box on the right, as part of the navigation bar. The search box is like the functions mentioned earlier because it requires some sort of unique action from the user.

Users are accustomed to seeing this action-oriented functionality — including the search box — on the right side of the page, so allow sufficient room in this part of your design for a search bar, inside the main navigation bar if possible.

The J Taylor Design website above puts its search box on the right side of the navigation bar, as do these:

Washtenaw Community College

Westcoast Poppin

Avoid “Surprise” Drop-Down Menus

Drop-down menus in horizontal bars are quite prevalent in modern design because they simplify cluttered layouts. Visually indicating whether a navigation link will reveal a drop-down menu when the user mouses over it is best practice. This is best accomplished with a simple downward-pointing triangle.

Below are some good examples of horizontal menus that visually indicate drop-down menus within them:

QN5 Music

Kinder-aktuell

Unfortunately, many websites do not feature this simple yet effective marker. Below are a few examples of“surprise” drop-down menus:

webstudios

billoneil.com

Various Trends And Styles

Finally, here is a showcase of horizontal navigation bars, to give you an overview of the different styles on the Web and how they fit their layouts.

These examples do not necessarily represent best practices but are worth considering when designing your own horizontal navigation bar.

Conclusion

The practices recommended in this article do not apply to every context and may not be right for every design, niche or industry. But they do highlight the need to give users a better experience and avoid potentially confusing navigational setups.

Web users usually behave based on learned habits. Creating a layout or pattern that unnecessarily disrupts those habits will only weaken your website’s conversion rates.

So, before you design a horizontal navigation menu, consider link names, section hierarchy and any other factors that could affect usability. In doing so, you will create a smooth user experience that allows visitors to find the information they want quickly and efficiently.

Grouped links under horizontal navigation ui pattern

2011-08-31T05:41:00.007-07:00

Grouped Links Under Horizontal Navigation

Render

Auditude

Cheers

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#UIDesigners #UNITE! Take advantage of today's pervasive wide screen resolutions and put navigation on the left if suitable!

2011-08-31T05:41:00.005-07:00

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/firefox_browser_for_android_tablets.php

http://www.usability.gov/articles/newsletter/pubs/040106news.html

http://www.webpronews.com/website-usability-breadcrumbs-and-leftside-navigation-2004-12

http://developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns/navigation/bar/leftnav.html

http://uxmovement.com/navigation/top-navigation-vs-left-navigation-which-works-better/

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/11/the-case-against-vertical-navigation/

Cheers

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

I hate Mr. Bean but I love Rowan Atkinson

2011-08-31T05:41:00.003-07:00

Cheers

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

The 5 Most Over-Hyped Cloud Technologies According to Our Readers

2011-08-31T05:41:00.001-07:00

http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2011/08/top-5-most-over-hyped-cloud-technologies.php

The 5 Most Over-Hyped Cloud Technologies According to Our Readers

By Klint Finley / August 8, 2011 3:00 PM / 4 Comments

This post is part of our ReadWriteCloud channel, which is dedicated to covering virtualization and cloud computing. The channel is sponsored by Intel and VMware. Read the white paper about how Intel Xeon processors help organizations get unprecedented levels of performance.

Last month we asked you what you thought the most over-hyped cloud technology was.

The results are in.

What's over-hyped and why? Read on.

1. NoSQL

I'm not surprised to see this take the top slot. NoSQL is a bit of a misnomer, and has led to somemisunderstandings. Some vendors have tried to distance themselves from the label, though they also benefit from it. (Couchbase now seems to be embracing the NoSQL tag, though.)

Part of the problem is that there are several different technologies, ranging from key-value stores to graph databases that get lumped under this term - and many of these technologies are dedicated to solving very different problems. Still it's a convenient and recognizable shorthand (I still use it all the time).

2. Software-as-a-Service

Not all SaaSes are created equal, and it sounds like readers are getting a bit tired of hearing about them. Still, given the success of certain services like Salesforce.com, WebEx and Google Apps I'm surprised this so high on the list.

3. Private Clouds

I figured private clouds would vie for the top spot with NoSQL. I personally don't call into the "private clouds are just data centers" camp - there are some real architectural differences between a "cloud" data center and a normal data center - but I do think that it's over-hyped, probably as a way to try to lure customers into hybrid or public clouds eventually. However, like all of the technologies listed here, I think there's a real value here even if it is over-hyped.

4. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (tie)

I was surprised to see this make the list, considering how many companies are already taking advantage of Amazon Web Services and other IaaS hosts. But maybe the AWS outage set IaaS' reputation back.

4. Platform-as-a-Service (tie)

I'm not surprised to see PaaS on the list, since so far PaaS has been more bark than bite. It's something that just seems to be waiting to happen. The AWS outage knocked Heroku, one of the most visible PaaS providers, offline may have temporarily damaged the reputation of both IaaS and PaaS. However, with great apps like Simplenote (built on Google App Engine) and GetSatisfaction(built on Engine Yard) taking advantage of PaaS, maybe we'll start to see more developers using these services. Our reader have, after all, expressed interest before.

The Least Hype

"Infrastructure apps" received the fewest number of votes, probably because it's not that common a term. It was coined by Gary Orenstein. "NewSQL," another new term, was low on the list as well. Of the various technologies that have actually received much press, "APIs and data-as-a-service" had the fewest votes.

Cheers

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Is the relational database doomed? @osamanasir

2011-08-31T03:48:00.001-07:00

http://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2009/02/is-the-relational-database-doomed.php

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10 most ridiculous tech lawsuits of the century

2011-08-31T03:30:00.001-07:00

http://www.infoworld.com/d/the-industry-standard/10-most-ridiculous-tech-lawsuits-the-century-170372

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Scala: The Android programming language you didn't know you had

2011-08-31T03:27:00.001-07:00

http://www.infoworld.com/d/application-development/scala-the-android-programming-language-you-didnt-know-you-had-170999

AUGUST 29, 2011

Scala: The Android programming language you didn't know you had

Statically typed Java language pushed as alternative to JRuby and Groovy for building mobile Android apps

By Paul Krill | InfoWorld

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Scala, a statically typed language running atop the Java Virtual Machine, is emerging as a development option for building Google Android applications.

While developers already are aware of Java and C++ language usage for Android, they also can use other JVM languages because Android leverages the Java-compatible Dalvik VM, reasoned developer Mike Burns, of Thoughtbot, a Web and mobile application development company. "There's a growing community of people [developing] with Scala," he said.

[ Scala has been in need of more tools to boost enterprise usage. | Keep up with the latest developer news with InfoWorld's Developer World newsletter. ]

Members of the Boston Android Developers Group, for instance, have begun to leverage Scala for Android development, said Burns, who runs the group: "Scala lets you write the code more quickly and share the code more easily than you can in Java." Burns will be presenting on the notion of Scala as a replacement for Java on Android at the Android Open conference in San Francisco in October.

Scala founder Martin Odersky vouched for Burns's claims: "I can confirm what he says: Scala is an attractive development language for Android. I should also mention that there's tool support in the form of an Android plug-in for SBT, Scala's standard build tool." Google declined comment on the subject of Scala development for Android. But the Google Project Hosting website features a Scala-Android project for tools to build Android applications via Scala.

For mobile applications, Scala enjoys advantages over other JVM languages, such as JRuby or Groovy, because statically typed languages run faster, consume less memory, and generally are better optimized, said Burns. Android, he stressed, runs on embedded devices with slow processors and little memory.

In a blog post this past spring, Burns touted Scala's programming characteristics: "Scala can be thought of as a better Java. To start with, you don't need as many semicolons. But Scala gives you the power of modern abstractions. Traits, implicits, type-checked null, blocks -- everything you really need to get some solid coding done."

The Dalvik VM, said Forrester analyst Jeffrey Hammond, uses its own byte code format to execute applications. Google uses Java as the intermediate language that gets compiled into the .dex format, he said: "Looks like what Mike is trying to do is set up Scala as a way to write apps and generate .dex byte-code as an alternative."

Burns said he has written some Scala programs for Android, including one based on the Umbrella Today weather predictor. He lists benefits of Scala development for Android as speed, easier programming, and the existence of a vibrant community around it. Downsides, though, include unknowns, with the practice being uncharted and lacking documentation.

Android, of course, is the subject of a lawsuit by Oracle against Google, alleging infringement of Java patents in Android. But Burns is not dissuaded by the litigation. "I don't really follow that closely," he said.

This article, "Scala: The Android programming language you didn't know you had," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in business technology news and get a digest of the key stories each day in the InfoWorld Daily newsletter. For the latest developments in business technology news, followInfoWorld.com on Twitter.

Paul Krill is an editor at large at InfoWorld, focusing on coverage of application development (desktop and mobile) and core Web technologies such as HTML5, Java, and Flash.

Tags: android, java programming, mobile development, JVM (Java Virtual Machine)

Cheers

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So my Mom and I chose a new name for a drink called "Bacardiri" (bakar diri = burn one's self). It has to be Bacardi with sthg. Thoughts?

2011-08-31T00:33:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

My Mom used to drive me crazy. Now, the only way to truly cope with her is to become crazy yourself!!!

2011-08-30T23:01:00.001-07:00

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My Mom is trying to turn our dog into a vegetarian T.T. Kill me. Kill me now.

2011-08-30T22:58:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

OH MY FUCKING GOD! I JUST FUCKING DIED MOTHAFUCKASSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #wacominkling #freakingout

2011-08-30T14:09:00.001-07:00

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End of daily deals

2011-08-30T14:07:00.001-07:00

http://mashable.com/2011/08/30/one-too-many-daily-deals/

Are We Approaching the End of the Daily Deals Era?

3 hours ago by Ben Parr25

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The Social Analyst is a column by Mashable Editor-at-Large Ben Parr, where he digs into social media trends and how they are affecting companies in the space.

The golden age of daily deals, led by the unprecedented growth of Groupon, seems to be coming to its end.

That’s not to say daily deals won’t be sticking around for a long time — clearly there is a business in it — but when two major players withdraw from the space and its biggest player experiences a 50% traffic decline, it’s a clear sign that the daily deals market is no longer in its heyday.

Last week, Facebook killed off Deals, its Groupon competitor, after just four months. “After testing Deals for four months, we’ve decided to end our Deals product in the coming weeks,” Facebook told

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David Blaine: How I held my breath for 17 min

2011-08-30T10:00:00.001-07:00

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Derek Sivers shows research on people who talk about their ambitions may be less likely to achieve them

2011-08-30T09:55:00.003-07:00

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Derek Sivers shows research on people who talk about their ambitions may be less likely to achieve them

2011-08-30T09:55:00.001-07:00

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Psychologists have found that the moment you talk about your goals, your mind is tricked into thinking it's already done.

2011-08-30T09:53:00.001-07:00

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YES! YES YES YES YES! A personal principle I've applied and believed since I was 9 -- KEEP YOUR GOALS TO YOURSELF:

2011-08-30T09:50:00.001-07:00

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Obvious to you. Amazing to others. How your ordinary ideas in your own head may be the next big thing for others

2011-08-30T09:39:00.003-07:00

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Obvious to you. Amazing to others. How your ordinary ideas in your own head may be the next big thing for others

2011-08-30T09:39:00.001-07:00

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David Guetta - Nothing but the beat. Go get it. That is all.

2011-08-30T09:21:00.003-07:00

http://itunes.apple.com/au/album/nothing-but-the-beat/id457937190

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David Guetta - Nothing but the beat. Go get it. That is all.

2011-08-30T09:21:00.001-07:00

http://itunes.apple.com/au/album/nothing-but-the-beat/id457937190

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Learn Python the hard way

2011-08-30T08:34:00.003-07:00

http://learnpythonthehardway.org/

Learn Python The Hard Way

By Zed A. Shaw

"The world needs more weird people who know how things work and who love to figure it all out."

Have you always wanted to learn how to code but never thought you could? Are you looking to build a foundation for more complex coding? Do you want to challenge your brain in a new way? Then Learn Python the Hard Way is the book for you.

The Hard Way Is Easier

LPTHW emphasizes precision, attention to detail, and persistence by requiring you to type each exercise (no copy-paste!) and make it run, as well as to read up on outside topics and to return to exercises and ideas that you don't understand, and understand them.

At the end of LPTHW, you'll know the basics of coding, and be ready to move on to more challenging books. Or at least you'll have tried something new.

Get The Book

The HTML version of the book is free to read online and you can give it to anyone you want so long as you do not charge for it, and do not modify it.

You can also buy PDF, ePub, Paperback, and Hardcoverversions.

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Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

Learn Python the hard way

2011-08-30T08:34:00.001-07:00

http://learnpythonthehardway.org/

Learn Python The Hard Way

By Zed A. Shaw

"The world needs more weird people who know how things work and who love to figure it all out."

The Hard Way Is Easier

At the end of LPTHW, you'll know the basics of coding, and be ready to move on to more challenging books. Or at least you'll have tried something new.

Get The Book

The HTML version of the book is free to read online and you can give it to anyone you want so long as you do not charge for it, and do not modify it.

You can also buy PDF, ePub, Paperback, and Hardcoverversions.

Cheers

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

It's called Programming, motherfucker.

2011-08-30T08:33:00.003-07:00

http://programming-motherfucker.com/

The Motherfucking Manifesto
For
Programming, Motherfuckers

We are a community of motherfucking programmers who have been humiliated by software development methodologies for years.

We are tired of XP, Scrum, Kanban, Waterfall, Software Craftsmanship (aka XP-Lite) and anything else getting in the way of...Programming, Motherfucker.

We are tired of being told we're autistic idiots who need to be manipulated to work in a Forced Pair Programming chain gang without any time to be creative because none of the 10 managers on the project can do...Programming, Motherfucker.

We must destroy these methodologies that get in the way of...Programming, Motherfucker.

Our Values

They Claim To Value	They Really Value	We Fucking Do
Individuals and interactions	Tons of billable hours	Programming, Motherfucker
Working software	Working unit tests	Programming, Motherfucker
Customer collaboration	Bleeding clients dry	Programming, Motherfucker
Responding to change	Instability and plausible deniability	Programming, Motherfucker

We think the shit on the left, is really just the con in the middle, and that we really need to just do the thing on the right...Programming, Motherfucker.

Signed,

Zed A. Shaw And The Programming Motherfuckers

Becoming A Programmer, Motherfucker

If you can't code, and you want to learn, then I recommend my book Learn Python The Hard Way. It's written so anyone can get through it and at least understand the basics of...Programming, Motherfucker.

Cheers

Posted via email from I AM ALEXIS BRILLE.

It's called Programming, motherfucker.

2011-08-30T08:33:00.001-07:00

http://programming-motherfucker.com/

The Motherfucking Manifesto
For
Programming, Motherfuckers

We are a community of motherfucking programmers who have been humiliated by software development methodologies for years.

We are tired of XP, Scrum, Kanban, Waterfall, Software Craftsmanship (aka XP-Lite) and anything else getting in the way of...Programming, Motherfucker.

We must destroy these methodologies that get in the way of...Programming, Motherfucker.

Our Values

They Claim To Value	They Really Value	We Fucking Do
Individuals and interactions	Tons of billable hours	Programming, Motherfucker
Working software	Working unit tests	Programming, Motherfucker
Customer collaboration	Bleeding clients dry	Programming, Motherfucker
Responding to change	Instability and plausible deniability	Programming, Motherfucker

We think the shit on the left, is really just the con in the middle, and that we really need to just do the thing on the right...Programming, Motherfucker.