12/18/09 11:15 - 19ºF - ID#50600

It seems so impossible

I found this at

a while back when researching Niagara Falls. It seems incredible we could shut off the American falls. I wonder how huge the other falls look to the right of there?

Permalink: It_seems_so_impossible.html
Words: 42
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: art

12/18/09 03:55 - 26ºF - ID#50595

Fun experiments with CSS

I made these when I was first mixing PHP with CSS positioning back in early 2000. Now I recognize there was no need for the PHP part as it could all easily been done with javascript.

Permalink: Fun_experiments_with_CSS.html
Words: 63
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: christmas

12/16/09 11:39 - 22ºF - ID#50581

Big Christmas lights

We finally got the big ones (e:Matthew) always wanted.

Permalink: Big_Christmas_lights.html
Words: 15
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: gay

12/16/09 11:32 - 22ºF - ID#50580

Hot guys kissing

I wish I had a jawline like that.

Permalink: Hot_guys_kissing.html
Words: 12
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: web

12/16/09 07:51 - 21ºF - ID#50578

I hate facebook

I am so sick of hearing about how everything has to be exactly like facebook in terms of webdesign.

I worked on an inline editor widget for some internal project at work and it allowed you to just double click to edit and hit return to save. Esc to cancel out.

Apparently, people "would not be able to get that" even though the title text clearly stated it so I had to make it "more like face freakin book" It has to be like facebook because that is the only thing people could possibly understand.

I through in an even stupider cancel button for people who can't handle the esc button.

metalpeter writes at 07:36:47 12/17/09 - Comment #53750: Here is the thing with Social Networking sites in my view.

Myspace exploded because of Music and Buzz and what ever. I was the first really big one that everyone was on. Myspace is all about the blogs and keeping up with bands and they have forums and all kinds of discussions.

Facebook you used to only be able to use it if you had and .edu email. It was made for college kids to keep in touch with each other. Facebook is for short little quips and nothing deep like a blog.

Ok Cupid. Yes it is a dating site. But so many people use it for the tests. I have ran into a few (e:peeps) on it in fact.

Fubar is all about Ratings Pictures and Buying Virtual drinks. Oh yeah and there is more then that because they have a paid service and you can buy people that and it is aimed to be kinda an online bar. You can set picture to private and have NSFW pictures and let everyone see them or just friends.

Yes there are other places like live journal and and friendster but I don't know how those places work.

What has happened over time is that each site has added things to try and be like the other sites. Face book quizes and gifts. Myspace has added heavy updates like face book. These sites try to be like other sites so they don't lose anyone. But myspace isn't face book and vice versa. But what they should do is stay different since they are. I would guess that I have around 7 times the number of freinds on myspace vs. facebook.

On myspace if you wanted to change how your page looked or leave messages you copy and paste code into the right spot and everything changes. But facebook it is all buttons. Everything you do is right in front of you. There are a lot of people who use it and that is all they do. So to them they use buttons. They don't know anything about code. They don't even know about right clicking or left clicking or other options.

I'm not saying everything should be like facebook in fact it shouldn't. I myself like drop down menu but that is because that is what I learned to use but some like buttons. When I was learning about windows I learned there where multiple ways of doing most things but is that true on the web. What if the mouse breaks does Tab still move you around the page? Are there ways to use alt or ctr keys to do things on line? If there where would anyone know? I know I don't. If I went on line and there was no form of mouse I would be lost.

In the end when you design something it should be made in the way that it works the best. It terms of how it looks that is your call for how it looks best to you. But user friendlyness is a key. Maybe there is a way that something can be made so the novous to the feature can use it and the andvanced person can also use it and do more stuff with it?

tinypliny writes at 01:30:29 12/17/09 - Comment #53738: Heh, check this out if you are feeling overly geeky.

Hartmann J, Sutcliffe A, De Angeli A. Investigating attractiveness in web user interfaces. In: CHI '07: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems. New York, NY, USA: ACM Press; 2007. p. 387-396. Available from: :::link:::

jim writes at 09:23:38 12/17/09 - Comment #53735: Yeah that sucks Paul, instead of Facebook you should make things more like Apple!

tinypliny writes at 09:05:20 12/17/09 - Comment #53734: Hehehe, I am not on facebook either and quite possibly, never will be. Additionally, I seem to have abandoned twitter because my tweets are getting so infrequent. It lacks the personal charm of chatting with (e:Jim) here for me. ;-)

However, I would like to point out that having "Cancel" and "Save" buttons are way more user-friendly than having keyboard and mouse gestures for editing functions. If your audience is going to be mainly scientists and other non-computing staff at Roswell, it makes all the more sense because we seldom use any kind of keyboard shortcuts apart from the most common ones.

Even if the instructions are right there for a rather unfamiliar keyboard editing combination, the preference would always be to look for visual cues because are they are just more intuitive to a non-computing audience.

I don't think it's about aping facebook - its more about being the design being intuitive and universal to people who have not been trained in a keyboard intensive environment.

boxerboi writes at 07:38:22 12/17/09 - Comment #53730: If its a slight consolation, I don't use facebook and have no intention of signing up. I'd prefer the original way to wrote the widget. Bummer

lilho writes at 09:49:47 12/16/09 - Comment #53718: im pretty sure i just posted about how i hate facebook too, im with you bro. for life.

Permalink: I_hate_facebook.html
Words: 115
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: web

12/16/09 06:05 - 22ºF - ID#50576

Flight 3407

I feel bad for the families but does WGRZ channel 2

really still need it in their news tab dropdown - right at the top. Is there any new coverage, ever?

Permalink: Flight_3407.html
Words: 43
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: food

12/14/09 10:23 - 40ºF - ID#50563

Mikes' cute penguins

Last night (e:mike) made some cute penguins from olives for the potluck.

Permalink: Mikes_cute_penguins.html
Words: 34
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: food

12/14/09 10:20 - 40ºF - ID#50562

James' worm cake

Fir the potluck, (e:James) made a delicious wormy cake. I am eating
some leftover slices now.

Permalink: James_worm_cake.html
Words: 20
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: body

12/14/09 02:57 - 38ºF - ID#50552

swine flu shot

After my success with the flu shot, I decided to give the swine flu
shot a shot. I figured enough people have had it at this point, that
if there was a problem, we would hear about it.