Web usability guru Jakob Nielsen has just released some eyetracking research about how people read websites (with nice graphics).
Nielsen has always advocated:
- short and snappy text
- with sub-headings and lists
- in a very clear/ large font.
These findings back that up and he is saying readers tend to scan in an F pattern.
The Google example he shows suggests that sponsored links do get a lot of attention but that it will pay to be at the top of the list.
Also interesting, Adsense on a Google partner site didn’t get noticed on this other example. They probably aren’t high enough.
Love it? Hate it? We want to know: Leave us a comment (0 so far)
What is it with light sabres? It started with the Star Wars Kid (nicknamed the ‘Phatter Menace’) whose comical video was posted on the internet without his knowledge and due to massive popularity was then reworked in a number of varieties. Much more slickly choregraphed and sfx’d Jedi battles are now appearing on video sites such as this one and while a quick search on Google Video reveals about 100.
Some people must have a lot of time on their hands.
Love it? Hate it? We want to know: Leave us a comment (0 so far)
It is accepted that librarians are having to deal with huge change much of which is beyond their control, but are they identifyng the opportunities? This week’s Freepint newsletter has some practical advice that could easily apply to life in general:
1. Embrace beginner’s mind, and get comfortable with not knowing
2. Develop a sense of adventure
3. Work on being more open to opportunities for growth
4. Get used to letting go
5. Be patient with the unfolding, rather than rushing to closure
6. Develop a ‘corner of calm’ to deal with chaos
7. Let go of perfection
8. Learn your risk-taking style
9. Invest yourself in the process, not the outcome
10. Develop an expectation of personal resiliency
Love it? Hate it? We want to know: Leave us a comment (0 so far)
Google has provided an easy to read poster giving tips on how to use their search engine more effectively.
Love it? Hate it? We want to know: Leave us a comment (0 so far)
The publishing industry may well be waiting for the ‘iPod of the book world’ but I just don’t see it. The astronomic success of the iPod took people by surprise but it came at a time when lots had been downloading digital music and napster was shut down. Music gets listened to repeatedly, tracks are short, and they can be shared. The iPod was like the portable radio and tape player we’d all been using for years only better.
Sony’s Reader is small, light, apparently allows for easy reading and can carry lots of titles but it doesn’t share that kind of history. Take-off will be slow.
Love it? Hate it? We want to know: Leave us a comment (0 so far)
With the jury still out on the extent to which customers want to watch video on their mobile phones, it will be interesting to see how many will take advantage of the 1-minute Dr Who downloads (or ‘Tardisodes’) being made available by the BBC.
The first one is a nice teaser but it is hard to see why viewers will want to pay to watch an advert.
Love it? Hate it? We want to know: Leave us a comment (0 so far)
There are so many security and privacy threats on the net that it is hard to keep up. Like many I run a firewall, anti-virus, spyware, automatic updates and take extreme care with emails and downloads.
I’ve also started using the free and excellent siteadvisor which has tested and rated almost every website on the net. It can be downloaded to work seamlessly with Firefox and uses an immediately understandable traffic light system to idenitfy potentially threatening sites. Best of all it labels search hits on Google and Yahoo.
Yesterday it was acquired by McAfee so I guess we’ll see it rise in prominence over the next year or two before McAfee start bolting on some functions that undermine its usability and start charging for it.
Love it? Hate it? We want to know: Leave us a comment (0 so far)
The UK’s RAE (Research Assessment Exercise) is regarded as a burden by most academics so they may welcome the Chancellor’s announcement that the last one is to be in 2008 and will be replaced by “metrics”.
However, £billions of research funding currently depend on the results of the RAE so they had better start lobbying hard now for metrics that are fair and reasonable.
Love it? Hate it? We want to know: Leave us a comment (0 so far)
