Dear Everyone
This one is dedicated to every HR person, every over thinker, every person that fancied themselves, at one time or another, a designer.
Or to the web developers that have never heard of a Mac, a browser other than Internet Explorer and still think Front page is a cool thing to use.
Or to the architects. Wherever you are.
Please take a minute the next time you create something that one of your customers, potential employees or anyone in the general public could possibly interact with and let someone else look at it before you pull the trigger making it live.
Please.
You HR people. I understand there are rules and that you need a ton of information when an applicant applies for a job. I do. How about making the process make sense? How about paying a designer with some idea of user experience planning to design the forms for you? How about a little beta testing to make sure that the forms work?
You that build large corporate websites used for support and to serve customers other important information (verizon.net, I’m looking directly at you). Why not follow the links you create to make sure they go somewhere? Again, beta test that cool new feature of the site to make sure it works before rolling it out to the general public. And, hey? Why not take a few minutes to add a little consistency to your entire web presence?
Finally, you architects. I realize that you don’t always get to see your projects to completion. Still, why not visit a property you designed to make sure ‘it works’ correctly and things are easy to get to and find. Essentially, test the navigation. See how fucked up it is and take that back to your drawing table to make things better. Make sure to account for trees and parking structures if they aren’t already in place.
Through the course of each and every one of my days I’m constantly coming across things that could have be fantastically awesome if only someone would have taken a little bit of extra time and planning to make sure it worked correctly. To make sure the navigation was consistent. To ensure that it looked cool, no matter how it was viewed.
I’m less than a genius. I’m also the first person to admit that I’m not always the smartest person in the room. But I do know how stuff should work. Sometimes I can even do something about the stuff that you made to make it work the way it should.
Anyway, I would really appreciate it and owe you a solid if you could do something to help me out here. Just stop making things that suck.
You rule, as always!
xoxo
db
What’s going on?
Seems like I’ve been ignoring you for the past 2 months, doesn’t it? I mean, with all the MINI stuff I’ve been doing lately plus regular work stuff, I’ve been busy.
To recap, in the last 30 days I’ve driven from San Diego to Denver. I flew to Philly to attend a MINI dealer grand opening and helped Todd install graphics. I might have had a little too much gin too, but you’ll never get me to admit that. I did get a few minutes to help Mr. Paulsen out with a post about backing up your mobile device.
Otherwise I’ve been playing catch-up. I let some things lapse that I shouldn’t have. I ignored a few things. I even didn’t do a few things because, and I quote, “I didn’t wanna”.
I’m at the tail end of being all caught up right now, and then the issues of the Stig and the BBC came up. Like I had time for that. I mean, can’t a guy just go out on a nice Sunday afternoon and drive a car around a track without everyone getting all up in my face about it? Honestly.
I do have some notes about Froyo on the Dinc I might share with you. I also have a few things I wanted to talk to you about social media too, but that will keep for another day as well.
I just wanted to drive. Is that so bad?
The Problem with Twitter
I’m a fan of Twitter. You guys know this already. I mean, I’ve been using it since it was an Odeo product about 5 years ago. You could say that with Twitter, I was a very early adopter.
Most of the time I find it helpful, entertaining and quite informative. The nice folks that I follow usually share quality items that interest me or say funny shit that makes me giggle.
That said, there are times when I absolutely fucking hate Twitter. Hate that burns with the heat of 1,000 suns friends. Hate that would turn the average person green with rage.
Yesterday (and I’m sure today) was one of those times.
You see, for those of you that are living under a rock on one of Saturn’s moons, the new Apple Telephone Device was being delivered yesterday. And all 408 of the people that follow me got one. And all 408 of the people that got one did nothing but fill my Twitter feed with post after post after post about the line, the phone, how great Apple is and how the device has changed their lives.
All day. Nothing but ATP posts.
Here’s the thing. While I’m sure the device is awesome and made from rainbows and pure unicorn fur, when all I have to read on Twitter is nerdgasm after god damned nerdgasm about it gets a little old. I even unfollowed a few people yesterday because of it.
I get your excited. Awesome! I get that you are in puffy pink heart love with the damned thing. Hooray! I get that you want to gay marry Steve Jobs and bare his puffy pink heart love child. I do, really. You are really excited. Good for you.
I, however, don’t care.
So, you can expect more Android news and retweets in my twitter feed. As long as you guys are going to do it to me, I’m just going to do it back.
And enough with the FourSquare. I don’t care where you are or how many others are there with you. If I did care, I would follow you within the FourSquare app (yes, I’m there, search for me). I for realz don’t want that crap in my stream any more.
As always, thank you for your time.
The Sunday Post #80: Words
It is actually much too late on the day before Sunday. No, scratch that. It’s much too early Sunday. I’m tired, a little loopy and having a hard time keeping my eyes open, but for some reason I am compelled to put words to screen.
This could go anywhere
Honestly. I’m sitting at my desk letting my fingers just dance across the glorious Apple keyboard that sits directly in front of my 20″ iMac. There are cables connecting the two that constantly get in the way, but I’m just too damned cheap to pony up the $80 for the bluetooth keyboard.
I’ve mentioned this keyboard many times in the past. I really enjoy using it. I mean, really enjoy it. I actually like this one better than the one that I have at the office, which is about 2 weeks old. Why? This one is all broken in. The buttons finally work as I expect them too. The keys are smooth and silky and have a pleasant feel about them as my fingers press. The action is fluid, quiet and yet, at the same time, slightly mechanical in a very satisfying way.
Yes, I do love my keyboard.
Don’t get me wrong. That old IBM keyboard that came with my 286 back in the early 90′s was a wondrous piece of gear. It was loud, solid and keying on that board was almost the same as using a typewriter back in high school. Connected with a tightly coiled cable that was forever getting in the way of something, it was still an awesome keyboard. You could get a serious rhythm going with that board and once in the groove, man, the places it could take you.
Between the boards, there have been others. I even tried one of the Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboards for a spell. While I didn’t dislike it, I’m a lazy typist that doesn’t know where the numbers are without looking, and taking a hand off of that thing to work the 10 pad was inconvenient and really slowed things down.
There was also a slew of Logitech boards with the myriads of PCs that I have used over the years. Not too bad either. Satisfying sounds and feel, wireless, comfortable and good to type on. Hell, most of the posts on this site and this one before ’07 were made with a Logitech board. And there was some good stuff.
But, and this is just my own humble opinion, not as good as the stuff that came after.
Yes, I do love my keyboard. Is that strange? Maybe. If you don’t love yours, then perhaps you should take some time out of your day today and get to shopping. If your computer is a tool, then the keyboard is the handle and you really should find something that works for you, fits well in your hand and is pleasing to use. Otherwise, you might as well use a pencil. I shudder at that thought.
You should be able to use a keyboard like you use your car. When you reach for something, it’s just there. You didn’t have to look because your hands knew what it would find when it landed. A good keyboard is exactly like that.
And I love mine.
On Being Sick, part 2
I swear I’m crazy from this damned fever I’ve had most of the week. It’s like I’m going through menopause or something, which I’m really not because, you know, I have a penis.
So, a fever plus 90 degree temps in SoCal plus a cough so bad I think I might have cracked a rib or two. Add in a few idiot drivers and suddenly I’m Mr. Crankypants. Sheesh.
This is the other reason I don’t get sick very often. I don’t handle it well. Nope. No sir. Not even a little bit. Not.
Worry if you see me walking around with a baseball bat. If you see said bat, running might be a good choice of actions. At me or away, your pick. I’m really not that accurate with a bat.
