Version targeting shakes our browser-agnostic faith. Its default behavior runs counter to our expectations, and seems wrong. Yet to offer true DOM support without bringing JScript-authored sites to their knees, version targeting must work the way Microsoft proposes, argues Jeffrey Zeldman.
Topic: Usability
Put Your Content in my Pocket, Part II
Screen size matters. And now that Apple is embedding mobile Safari in more iPods than the iPhone alone, it matters even more. Concluding his remarkable two-part series, Craig Hockenberry covers the down and dirty details of designing and coding with the iPhone (and its brethren) in mind.
Never Use a Warning When you Mean Undo
Are our web apps as smart as they should be? By failing to account for habituation (the tendency, when presented with a string of repetitive tasks, to keep clicking OK), do our designs cause people to lose their work? Raskin’s simple, foolproof rule solves the problem.
Inside Your Users’ Minds: The Cultural Probe
Drawing on the field of ethnography, Ruth Stalker-Firth introduces a method for studying user behavior and motivations outside the lab.
Ruining the User Experience
Anticipating your users’ needs is the key to making a good impression; it’s the little things that matter most. ALA technical editor Aaron Gustafson explains why progressive enhancement means good service.
Where Am I?
It’s 2006 and we’re still messing up global navigation. Derek Powazek gets back to basics and offers a few simple guidelines for getting it right.
Anonymity and Online Community: Identity Matters
Most community managers want to offer a comfortable level of anonymity without spending too much time battling hooligans who aren’t invested in the community. John Grohol offers advice on striking the right balance.
Flywheels, Kinetic Energy, and Friction
You want your users to do something, buy things, beg you to work for them, learn how they too can achieve inner peace. So how do you get them to do what you want? Try getting out of the way.
Home Page Goals
Home pages may get plenty of design attention, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need improvement.
Web 3.0
Web 2.0 is a fresh-faced starlet on the intertwingled longtail to the disruptive experience of tomorrow. Web 3.0 thinks you are so 2005.
