Microsoft Office 2007’s New UI Attention
I’d like to point out the following article from one of the Office 2007 team members about carefully placing the UI elements in the latest version of Office. The placement follows a rule called Fitts Law a mathematical model of how users click on things:
The Start button in Windows is seemingly located in an ideal place for fast acquisition, and in recent versions of Windows that’s certainly true. Prior to Windows 2000, however, the Start button had a single “dead” pixel along the left and bottom sides of it in which clicking didn’t open the Start menu. The result: slower acquisition times and a startling number of missed clicks.
Windows 95: Missed by a pixel
Windows XP: Good to the last drop
It’s wonderful to know that Microsoft is actually paying a great deal of attention to little details in their user-interface. We all know that the Office 2007 ribbon is a great, time-saving idea, but this is new ground. Besides the technical interest, it’s a great PR move. Now, Microsoft consumers all know that it cares as much about user experience, design, details, etc as does a company like Apple. This is exactly what a corporate blog should do!
Exploding Dell Laptop Battery BONANZA!
This amusing video shows a couple of seemingly British comedians advertising the explosive qualities of Dell laptops inside a Dell store:
The monologue is so amusing, I can’t help but write it down here:
[In the studio]
This week my heart’s been breaking for poor old Dell computers. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with their laptops whatsoever, they’re actually perfectly good products, except for the minor inconvenience of the batteries exploding into flames. I thought the only possible solution would be a visit from the surprise spooker![Inside a Dell Store]
That’s right shoppers, come on into Dell computers! It’s our explosive fire sale! The laptop burning battery bonanza! Four million computers are walking out the fire escape! Yes, they have got to go up in your face. Real bargains, sir, that will leave you a red-hot corpse. It’s dangerously defective digital devices madness! These laptops will blow your top off! Bring your truck, bring your trailor, bring your fire-extinguisher… Look, the only equipment that needs shutting down here, sir, is these laptops!
Tamara Hoover Resigns
After a friend took photos of schoolteacher Tamara Hoover in the buff and posted them to Flickr, a scandal erupted in Austin, Texas. Rather than go through a formal hearing process and attempt to stay on at the school, Ms. Hoover opted to resign. According to The Statesman, district officials said:
“The district believes strongly in an individual’s right of free expression, but as we all know, such rights are not absolute. The district and Ms. Hoover disagreed as to the propriety of explicit nude photographs of her and others in sexually suggestive poses being placed on the Internet, and its impact on students and families, and thus, on Ms. Hoover’s ability to be an appropriate role model and effective classroom teacher in AISD.”
Not all is lost–the extra publicity may help the art show based on these events, and Tamara Hoover will probably be receiving a $14,850 severance bonus. Personally, I think it’s the wrong move. Labelling her photos “sexually explicit” is probably a gross overstatement, given the artistic and casual nature of the shots. On the other hand, this is a classic example of a conflict between private life and one’s job. You can’t be two seperate people–your real identity will some day inevitably meet with your online or private identity.