Daniel Hardy

Speakers to match

This one came across my reader today and is definitely worth sharing. If anyone is feeling particularly generous don’t hesitate to drop ship a set to me to match my logo.

On Demand has Arrived

When I was growing up I remember seeing commercials by AT&T that showed all kinds of “future” technology like the smart fridge or the automated home.  The point of the commercial was that AT&T was the company that would enable you to enjoy this type of connectivity.

The one commercial that I remember being most impressed by showed two children selecting a movie from their TV.  Once the movie was selected it instantly started playing.  At the time (guessing 1996-8) there was nothing like this.  There was no Youtube or iTunes.  There was really no media streaming to speak of.  The average home was just starting to get online.

Fast-forward to present time and it appears AT&T’s commercial is now a reality.  Cox Communications recently launched an on demand service.  This is true on demand television. Simply pick out the show you wish to watch and hit play.  The show starts instantly.  From here you can fast-forward, rewind and even pause.

The system works pretty smooth overall.  This is not to say that there isn’t room for improvement.  There is no search functionality and the navigation is slow and ugly(8 bit).  Both of these could easily be resolved and may be related to my older cable box.  It would also be nice if the shows would remain available for an indefinite amount of time.  Currently they are available for a set period and after that they are replaced by newer programming.

Even with its short commings it is definetly worth a try.  If you are a Cox digital tv subscriber simply turn to channel 01 and enjoy.

To Be a Designer

“As a designer, your job doesn’t stop when you leave the studio at 5 p.m.  That’s why our environment is key – it provides constant input, a constant stream of ideas,” – Jae Min, Audi Chief Designer, Audi Magazine 02/08

This statment rings true for me.  While I may not be designing something as complex or complicated as an automobile, I certainly look for a constent stream of input and ideas.  This consent search allows me to find solutions to problems I have yet to encounter.  It also helps continuously refine ideas and views I have had about previously completed designs.

One Upgrade Down

This weekend I decided it was time to try an upgrade to Hardy.  Usually I just back everything up and do a fresh install as it tends to be faster and have less problems.  But in the interest of checking out how the experience is improving I decided I would update my quad-core.

Overall it went better than expected.  The quad-core made quick work of the install, completing in about an hour and a half.  After the reboot there was a few problems to take care of.

First up is a known bug with 8xxx series Nvidia cards and Compiz.  Basically all the drop shadows are pink and/or yellow in color.  Needless to say this is a bit annoying.  To fix it simply create a new symlink by entering the following code into your terminal.

sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/nvidia/libwfb.so.xserver-xorg-core /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libwfb.so

After this all you need is to restart Xserver with CRTL+ALT+BACKSPACE. Of course make sure you have properly closed any open applications that might suffer data loss.

The other mildly annoying piece is the upgrade of Avant Window Manager (AWN). It appears that the version in the repository isn’t directly compatible with the plugins of yore and there is no plugins available from the repository. For now I have decided to live with out the plugins.

Besides these minor problems that where related to either 3rd party apps (AWN wasn’t in the repository in Gusty) or proprietary drivers (come on Nvidia, open it up! everyone is doing it) the install went very well.  With today’s announcement I think Hardy may be staying on the quad-core for a long time to come.

Ubuntu Hardy Heron Released

Ubuntu has released the successor to Gusty Gibbon (7.10), Hardy Heron (8.04).  While they are known for having some of the fastest servers on the block there is something about millions of people trying to download 700MB files at the same time that just brings them to a crawl ;-)

Be patient and enjoy!

The often forgoten user

Often in usability the focus is on the “lowest common denominator” which is to say the least experienced user.  This is because generally people only consider something usable if they (an unexperienced user) can pick it up and instantly be a power user.

The problem with this is that when looking at something complex like large scale system management the user is required to have some background knowledge on how the system works.  If you where to design the system for a user with no knowledge you will most likely be hampering the systems ability to complete its tasks. You may also make it more difficult for experienced users to access the functionality they desire.

On occasion a company will say “Minimize the novice user’s experience and maximize the experts experience” and by doing so find great success.  I would argue that a great example of this is Adobe’s Photoshop.  There are lots of products that are considerably easier to use yet Photoshop has become the gold standard of image processing software.  This standard is not only in the professional world but runs deep into the amateur/home-user world as well.  Most people who have any interest in digital image processing have a desire to own this application even if they have never done it before and may not find it easy to use.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe Photoshop is a difficult program to use but for a completely novice user it is bound to be intimidating and have a fairly steep learning curve.  But by choosing to focus on the advanced user Adobe has ensured that their product is the best one.

WordPress 2.5 Upgrade

I decided to take a minute and update my WordPress install to the new and improved WordPress 2.5.  I must say I really like the new look and feel.  It is light, clean and appears to run a bit faster.  It is clear that they had input from a usability expert as it utilizes many techniques I employ daily.

The only change that I am not sold on is the idea of having the categories located below the post.  To me this just makes it easier to forget to adjust/add the proper categories for each post.  For many users this information will be below the fold making it difficult to find.

One area major advancements where made in is the handling of pictures and other media types.  There is a new multi-file uploader that is simple and easy to use.  It even gives you a preview after the upload allowing you to verify that the proper files where uploaded.

If you are a current WordPress user or are considering starting a blog, I highly recommend upgrading to the newest version.

Ubuntu Stats

Just stumbled across this site.  It is great way to view all the happenings of the Ubuntu world.

Check it out at www.ubuntustats.com

Searching for the Impossible Experience

There are two concepts that everyone in the usability field should learn early. First, some things by their very nature are not simple and straight forward and no matter what you do they will be difficult to understand. Second, you can never make all of the users happy all of the time.

The first concept is one that I continually struggle with as it begs the question of, “when is enough, enough?” For every product and designer this point is different. Sometimes you may have the resources to continue to refine it over and over. Other times you may need to make the decision to stop grinding the wheels and move forward with the application.

For my self I find that doing a complete design of something more than three or four times becomes counter productive. Typically somewhere in those first designs is the core of what the interface should be. From there it can be shaped into the best solution possible. But this shaping can only happen with a clear and detailed direction. Once that disappears all design work should cease. If the stake holders still have concerns they should provide a detailed direction for the project and refinement can then resume. If they cannot provide a detailed direction then the product should be reviewed by users (assuming time allows) or released to the public with the understanding that some fast fixes will need to follow.

While the second concept seems obvious it requires you to ask a few questions. The fist one that is often asked is, “is it better to make all of the people happy some of the time or some of the people happy all of the time?”  I would argue you cannot do either of these. The best you can hope for is to make most of the people happy most of the time.

The tricky part then becomes defining what “most” and “happy” means. I believe “most” is as close to 95% as economically possible. “Happy” is really a measure of contentedness with the product in question. Again the issue becomes relaying this information to stake holders who would like to see all customers happy all of the time.

Similar to the first concept, refinement work should cease when detailed direction stops flowing from the stakeholders, even if there are still members who feel the product isn’t “ready”.  This is because it is not productive to simply say something is wrong and not provide any explanation of why it is wrong or more importantly how to fix it.

Finally the hardest part about both of these concepts is that they feel like an admission of failure.  You have to stop work when you may feel like it could be better.   If you are anything like me this is a hard pill to swallow.

Hardy Heron (Beta) First Experience

The upcoming Ubuntu release, Hardy Heron had its first beta release today and I decided to take it for a spin.  Overall there is a lot of improvements to the user experience and the product continues to grow at great rates.  As with any beta software try it at your own risk.   Here are some more thoughts form the first hour of use.

The good

• Smoother boot… the screens blend together with out the jarring resolution changes
• Love the new background used on the GDM and desktop.  I think this is the best one yet
• Theme in general is a lot more polished
• Love the package manager icon in the task bar that lets you know when it is being used.
• Firefox 3 is fantastic
• System Monitor looks 100x better
• Avant Window Navigator is in the Repository
• “Add to Panel” redesign is great

The bad

• A change in the Intel 3945 wireless driver prevented me from connecting to a hidden SSID network.  I had to set the SSID to visible to connect.  After the first connection I was able to turn it off again.
• 3D doesn’t seem to work as smooth on my 945 graphics
• The initial install had a large increase in idle memory footprint.  This is mostly because of several new features that are probably pretty handy for most users.  Idle was about 325Mbs. (I have eliminated several items I don’t use and it is down to 285Mb)

The ugly

•  Firefox 3 is blends with the operating system… I miss the old look and when a theme is available, I will be adding it.
• I would have liked to see more advancements in the general theme for this release but it just did not make it in time.