I post a lot about specific web interfaces, documenting some of the decisions that have been made in interface design and the impact that they have on users. The only problem with this method is that you, the reader, can’t really see what I’m talking about. Sure, I can put up a few screen caps and links, but that doesn’t really cut it.

So, I had an idea. Why not use a screen recorder with integrated audio to walk through the screens? This way I’m able to speak to specific screens as you see them.

First installment: The new rules of scrolling

I’ve seen two new trends in scrolling: Automatic scrolling (on page load) and horizontal scrolling of DIV areas. In this video, we’ll take a look at a few examples and discuss how effective they are.

I’ve noticed an interesting issue with the use of Comcast’s onscreen guide, related to the fact that the channels move from low to high on the screen. To some extent, this makes sense, because we read content from top to bottom. On the other hand, when I scroll “down” through the guide, I am actually scrolling “up” through the channels, creating a visual mismatch.

For example, in the screenshot below, as I scroll through the guide I notice that the “Daily Show” is below “Dead Like Me”. If I were to want to check out both of these shows, I’d click on the first one and then click “down” on the channel button. Only problem is, if I’m on channel 59, clicking “down” will bring me to channel 58. Though it is certainly logical that when on channel 59, clicking down will bring me to 58, the visual display on the screen tricks the mind into thinking otherwise.

As I mentioned before, humans read from top to bottom, so switching the guide to read bottom to top — while solving this problem — would create another one. So, I guess I’m not really sure what the answer is here, but it is an interesting issue nonetheless.

West Chester, PA — Utter devastation. We just got use of Lotus Notes webmail, and I accidentally marked every email address in my inbox as unread. I now am unable to figure out which emails I have read and which I have not.

How did this happen? Take a look at the menu:

I was trying to mark one message as unread — my mouse must have clicked a few pixels too low… and there is no way to undo!

This is a great example of how a minor mistake can have major consequences.

I’ll admit it. I know nothing about hair care. I once went several years without even touching a brush. However, if you know me you know that I’ve been wearing my hair much longer these days, and with the winter weather the way it is around Philly, using a hair dryer in the morning has become a necessity. So, I’ve started using my HLP’s hair dryer each morning; I’m sure my technique is flawed, but at least my head gets warm.

Anyway, there is one usability flaw with this product that drives me absolutely crazy — the little “cool” button that sits just at the top of the hair dryer handle. Most people, including me, hold this thing kinda like a gun, with a hand around the bottom piece — yep — right where the “cool” button sits. Because of the placement of this button, I find myself hitting it at least once a day. My first reaction, naturally, was to recommend that “cool” become just another setting in the temperature gauge (located lower on the handle), but I am told that “cool” is something used to “set” hair after blow drying, and that perhaps it does make sense to have easier access to this button. That being said, it still gets in the way of plain old normal hair drying on a regular basis, so they really ought to put it somewhere else. And in the future, perhaps even test their products with clueless users like me before bringing them to market.