Why Craigslist Is Such a Mess
Intriguing article in Wired Magazine on the history of controversial Craigslist.org, the largest community site in the US. From the interface design and usability perspective, Craigslist is notoriously well-know for its old-style, link-heavy, basic interface that does...
Why Adults Have Fed Twitter
Very interesting results from a study on twitter usage. It turns out older people are using twitter more than young people - not the results you would expect from a new social networking experience. "The tech industry has been perplexed by the fact that Twitter has...
Above and Beyond: Airplanes ARE social media
It's time for user experience designers to break out their wings! Airlines are beginning to realize that air travel is a shared experience where travelers can share informaton and experiences and the airlines can learn more about their customers! Jay Vidyarthi, a User...
Healthcare Usability: Physician Resistance to German e-health Cards
While hospitals are implementing EMRs throughout Germany, they are resisting the German government's push to roll out health cards for individuals. So far, they have refused to purchase the systems necessary to read the cards, saying that the paper process works...
Usability Problems with “Cash for Clunkers” Forms
New York Times (August 20, 2009) reports automobile dearlers are having trouble using the rebate forms the government designed. Yet another example of unusable forms!! "In many cases, the administration says incomplete forms or errors in the information submitted by...
Web Accessibility Day – September 22, 2009
The National Federation of the Blind and the Maryland Technology Assistance Program present Web Accessibility Day, September 22nd, 2009. The event will be held in Baltimore, MD. The Maryland Technology Assistance Program and the National Federation of the Blind...
Classic “This is Broken” Seth Godin Video
Seth Godin, bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent of change in his Gel 2006 video. Why are so many things broken? In this entertaining talk - one of the favorites of Gel 2006 - Seth Godin gives a tour of things poorly designed, the reasons why they are that way,...
Theo Mandel invited to present Keynote at 2009 User eXperience Russia Conference
Theo Mandel, Ph.D., founder and principal of Interface Design and Development, LLC, has been invited to present a keynote session at the 2009 User eXperience Russia conference in Moscow on October 26-28, 2009. Mandel's keynote presentation is titled "The (New) Golden...
Chicago Company Sues Woman for $50,000 over a Tweet!
The ultimate in bad legal strategies!! Chicago's Horizon Realty, a property management company, filed a $50,000 libel lawsuit Monday against a former tenant, Amanda Bonnen, over one of her alleged Twitter posts. Horizon argues that Bonnen libeled the company with her...
Let’s take back the beep from cell phone companies
Please join David Pogue's effort to organize users everywhere to tell cell phone companies to turn off their gratuitously long voice mail intro-messages ("At the tone, please record your message. When you have finished recording, you may hang up, or press 1 for more...