timoni.org: Archive

“The designers fixed the problem simply. They took away the Register button. In its place, they put a Continue button with a simple message: “You do not need to create an account to make purchases on our site. Simply click Continue to proceed to checkout. To make your future purchases even faster, you can create an account during checkout.” … It didn’t need to be a complex message. All we did was change a button.” —

[ The $300 Million Button ]

Getting rid of one button and replacing it with another button does not change fuctionality or user flows, and both of these would have had to change in order for the users to checkout with having to register. I’m not sure if Spool assumed his readers would know this was an integral (but not noteworthy?) part of the process. The bombastic title indicates he’s deliberately simplifying this example; unfortunately, now the anecdote doesn’t make sense.

Jan 30, 2009

“Is that Ray Liotta? A question I found myself asking over and over again throughout the gruelling half-hour I attempted to watch the film like this.” —[ Virgin: the world’s best passenger complaint letter?, in the Telegraph ]

Jan 27, 2009

#quote

“A Fire Upon the Deep (1992) is a science fiction novel written by Vernor Vinge, an award-winning space opera about superhuman intelligences, well-developed aliens, variable physics, space battles, love, betrayal, genocide, and Usenet.” —[ about A Fire Upon the Deep, via Wikipedia ]

Jan 27, 2009

#definition

so spot on.

I am a Virgo. This description of a Virgo is basically…me. (Both practical and fussy, yup yup!)

CAPRICORN The Go-Getter (Dec 22 - Jan 19)
Patient and wise. Practical and rigid. Ambitious. Tends to be Good-looking. Humorous and funny. Can be a bit shy and reserved. Often pessimistic. Capricorns tend to act before they think and can be Unfriendly at times. Hold grudges. Like competition. Get what they want.

AQUARIUS - The Sweetheart (Jan 20 - Feb 18)
Optimistic and honest. Sweet personality. Very independent. Inventive and intelligent. Friendly and loyal. Can seem unemotional. Can be a bit rebellious. Very stubborn, but original and unique. Attractive on the inside and out. Eccentric personality.

PISCES - The Dreamer (Feb 19 - Mar 20)
Generous, kind, and thoughtful. Very creative and imaginative. May become secretive and vague. Sensitive. Don’t like details. Dreamy and unrealistic. Sympathetic and loving. Kind. Unselfish. Good kisser. Beautiful.

ARIES - The Daredevil (Mar 21 - April 19)
Energetic. Adventurous and spontaneous. Confident and enthusiastic. Fun. Loves a challenge. EXTREMELY impatient. Sometimes selfish. Short fuse. (Easily angered.) Lively, passionate, and sharp wit Outgoing. Lose interest quickly - easily bored. Egoti stical. Courageous and assertive. Tends to be physical and athletic.

TAURUS - The Enduring One (April 20 - May 20)
Charming but aggressive. Can come off as boring, but they are not. Hard workers. Warm-hearted. Strong, has endurance. Solid beings who are stable and secure in their ways. Not looking for shortcuts. Take pride in their beauty. Patient and reliable. Make great friends and give good advice. Loving and kind. Loves hard — passionate. Expresses themselves emotionally. Prone to ferocious temper-tantrums. Determined. Indulges themselves often. Very generous.

GEMINI - The Chatterbox (May 21 - June 20)
Smart and witty. Outgoing , very chatty. Lively, energetic. Adaptable but needs to express them selves. Argumentative and outspoken. Like change. Versatile. Busy, sometimes nervous and tense. Gossips. May seem superficial or inconsistent. Beautiful physically and mentally.

CANCER - The Protector (June 21 - July 22)
Moody, emotional. May be shy. Very loving and caring. Pretty/handsome Excellent partners for life. Protective. Inventive and imaginative. Cautious. Touchy-feely kind of person. Needs love from others. Easily hurt, but sympathetic.

LEO - The Boss (July 23 - Aug 22)
Very organized. Need order in their lives - like being in control. Like boundaries. Tend to take over everything. Bossy. Like to help Others. Social and outgoing. Extroverted. Generous, warm-hearted. Sensitive. Creative energy. Full of themselves. Loving. Doing the right thing is important to Leos. Attractive.

VIRGO - The Perfectionist (Aug 23 - Sept 22)
Dominant In relationships. Conservative. Always wants the last word. Argumentative. Worries. Very smart. Dislikes noise and chaos. Eager. Hardworking. Loyal. Beautiful. Easy to talk to. Hard to please. Harsh. Practical and very fussy. Often shy. Pessimistic.

LIBRA - The Harmonizer (Sept 23 - Oct 22)
Nice to everyone they meet. Can’t make up their mind. Have own unique appeal. Creative, energetic, and very social. Hates to be alone. Peaceful, generous. Very loving and beautiful. Flirtatious. Give in too easily. Procrastinators. Very gullible.

SCORPIO - The Intense One (Oct 23 - Nov 21)
Very energetic. Intelligent. Can be jealous and/or possessive. Hardworking. Great kisser. Can become obsessive or secretive. Holds grudges. Attractive. Determined. Loves being in long Relationships. Talkative. Romantic. Can be self-centered at times. Passionate and Emotional.

SAGITTARIUS - The Happy-Go-Lucky One (Nov 22 - Dec 21)
Good-natured optimist. Doesn’t want to grow up (Peter Pan Syndrome). Indulges self. Boastful. Likes luxuries and gambling. Social and outgoing. Doesn’t like responsibilities. Often fantasizes. Impatient. Fun to be around. Having lots of friends. Flirtatious. Doesn’t like rules. Sometimes hypocritical. Dislikes being confined - tight spaces or even tight clothes. Doesn’t like being doubted. Beautiful inside and out.

[ via byronic: oldfilmsflicker:cherrylolita:skysignal ]

Jan 27, 2009249 notes

#reblog

who am i to keep the people from their gradient bevels

timoni: http://shelbot.tumblr.com/post/73304458/im-bidding-on-this-part-for-my-subaru-which-was
timoni: what do you think?
heather: i agree. most any design preference is a class thing
heather: only people in positions of privilege can take the time out to care about that stuff, mostly
timoni: true, but i always assumed, as a designer (and norman really takes this view in his books) that those who _do care_ bear the entire responsibility for good design. nobody else should have to think about it--which is why people want to outright ban comic sans.
timoni: then nobody can use it, and it's no longer a problem.
timoni: like only designing doors that are clearly made to be "pushed" or "pulled" instead of confusing ones.
heather: ok, but calling it a "problem" is like... genocidal
heather: what about elementary school teachers?
heather: do they have to use helvetica for things in their classroom?
heather: hideous as it is, comic sans makes a lot of people happy
timoni: i wonder if it really does?
heather: for sure it does
timoni: shouldn't designers have made a better typeface?
timoni: if people want a "cheerful" typeface--and it's clear they do--and all they got was comic sans, then somebody failed, really.
timoni: the reason most documents are written in times new roman is not that most people prefer it but because it was the default in MS Word for _ages_.
heather: i guess. but you gotta keep in mind that there are tons of people in the world itching to put this stuff on their myspace profiles: http://cooltext.com/
heather: it's all really ugly. and not well designed. but still it survives
timoni: good point. when people are given options...
timoni: true.

“

The upper and lower case typeface was developed as an outgrowth of an all-caps logo. Certain design decisions that were made in the brilliant interests of a two-word piece of display type had to be followed to make the font work as a unified collection of characters. As a result, the lower case characters are squeaky clean distortions of other slightly less geometric sans serif fonts like Futura and Univers. In fact, Avant Garde has the most geometrically- perfect rounds and truely straight strokes of any typeface I can think of. A collection of such extreme shapes causes fatigue at text sizes and cannot help but draw attention to itself, which is arguably the greatest sin a typeface can commit.

Its strength has always been its all-cap ligatures. Avant Garde should be used as it was originally intended: as a display face where its ligatures can be carefully crafted into magnificent letterform gems. The pity is that none of the digital Avant Garde versions with which I am familiar include any of the ligatures. So we only have access to the least interesting aspect of the fonts.

” —[ Alex White on Herb Lubalin’s Avant Garde ]

Jan 24, 2009

#quote #design #typography

Jan 24, 2009

#art #design

“blogs are great for everybody to express, ‘this is what i’m into. this is what my taste level is. this is the stuff that inspires me.’ and then now instead of stuff i send through my e-mail, i’ll send through my blog. sometimes if i’m looking for an apartment, i’ll send stuff out and look through my own blog. it’s stuff i’m into.” —

kanye west (via sarazucker)

Nice! That’s exactly what I think my Tumblr is.

Jan 24, 20094 notes

#quote #reblog

amazon recommends exactly the books i already bought at an actual store.

[ via mareen ]

My first thought: “Wow, Amazon’s recommendation system really is incredible.”

“It’s easy to design usable interfaces that enable people to complete tasks. It’s much more interesting and challenging to design things that make people want to perform those tasks. Truly achieving that can take a lot of work, but it’s usually work worth doing.” —[ Defining that “one thing”, in rhjr.net ]

Jan 22, 2009

#UI #design #quote