peace on the web, too

This is a great usability article and tool from Thomas Baekdal.

User testing is great for getting the finer details right, not as a general usability measurement.

Instead
you need a tool that help you analyze the work ahead of you - before
you start doing anything. This is one of the strong points of the
“Fast, Efficient, Simple and Focused” concept.

The Analyzer

I have made an Excel analyzer (freebie) to help
you do this. I have been using this successfully for the last 5 years -
for both analyzing the best solution to a problem or when evaluated
other people’s work.

Technorati Tags: baekdal, usability, tool, analyzer

Slow down, take a deep breath and relax. Read slowly.

Woooowwwww my site is beautiful :)
Check it’s look through a graph view.
I am feeling calm and relaxed.
Let there be peace on the web, too. Or web 2.0? Anyways.

Ok. Now go back, slowly, to your previous state of mind. Bye.

I saw recently the announce of the RailsDay2006 event. For those who are not aware of the last year’s edition, this is a 24 hours geek event taking place online and about Rails. The purpose is to allow teams of up to 3 Rails programmers to create a web app from scratch, in 24 hours. You can make plans and prepare ideas, docs etc. but no code prior to start.

I am tempted to try to participate, just for the fun of it. Lately I didn’t find the motivation or the time to advance in Rails, so an event like this could focus me for 24 hours on the thing. Too bad is a Saturday, but that’s it.

The only surviving app from the RailsDay 2005 edition seems to be YubNub. It is a simple and clever idea: the web’s command line. You can use and add commands to acces web content, from dictionaries to search engines, online games, translators etc. etc. etc. All packaged with Firefox extensions, Konfabulator widgets, Ajax homepages integration and a hot community. Cool stuff.

Updates: I just found a couple of other RailsDay2005 survivors:

• YubNub.org
• barguide.dk
• nasa.versionfest.com