I did a slight friends-cut just now. Most if not all of you reading this on your flists should be entirely unaffected, since as far as I know I kept the people I've actually communicated with--here on LJ or anywhere else--within the past year or so. If, however, you can see this and you can't see the entry I posted about half an hour ago, and this distresses you, drop me a comment! I will add you back right away...

...unless you are one of the people who I removed because I no longer had any idea who you were! In which case, you fall roughly into Category #2 of people: strangers who have somehow found me (hi!) and would like to be friends. I'd like to know why, and probably where you found me, and anything else interesting about yourself you'd like me to know.

(Note: LJ and its notification system have been glitching pretty badly on me lately. If I don't reply right away, that doesn't mean I'm ignoring you, it means the comments have gone screwy again.)

Dear Wealthy, Faceless Corporation:

So you've decided you need to have a website. Maybe you make furniture, or create software, or sell hobby items. Maybe you commission work from freelance writers, or are looking for suggestions on replacement graphics for your site. Regardless of exactly what you do, you need your website's viewers to be able to find what they're looking for. It is in your best interests to have a well-laid-out website with a clear, easy-to-follow, and, if at all possible, intuitive path to information.

For example, if your website has a section devoted to support on user issues, it would be a good idea to have a means of contacting someone who works for your company mentioned conspicuously, instead of in very small type close to the color of the background at the bottom of the page. Additionally, once the user has found the "Contact Us" link, contact information should be provided.

Or, as another example, if you sell products, it is frequently considered helpful to list the prices of the products along with the photograph and description. I have had to navigate multiple websites, who presumably have an interest in exchanging their goods for my money, who manage to neglect this.

I have also encountered the website of a certain organization which provides multiple different services. Among their less iconic products are novels related to their other products; I was attempting to discover what the guidelines for these novels are and whether they were currently accepting submissions. It took me, literally, over an hour of clicking every link I could find on the site that seemed like it could be even remotely connected to user-generated content in order to find the answer to either question--as it was, the only question that was answered was the second, but, since it was answered in the negative, the first was no longer urgent.

When designing a website, you should attempt to anticipate the needs of your users and provide appropriate content. This means not having a complicated and beautiful Flash presentation (did you know that many people either disable Flash for security reasons while browsing the internet or use products, such as some phones, which do not support it?) with very little actual information, and no information that could not be gathered elsewhere. Many authors' websites in particular do this; when I worked at a bookstore in my hometown I occasionally needed to find specific information about release dates or publication order, and found nothing useful.

You should consider the purposes of your site (for example: provide users with information about purchasing and supporting Brand X programs/widgets; explain a current or historical event for the edification of users; provide a place for users with a common interest in a certain thing to gather and discuss it). What are you trying to do? What, therefore, would the people using your website expect to be able to do? What can you do to make this as easy as possible? What does the current means of structuring the website and producing content for it imply your purpose is, and imply your opinion of your users is?

Hoping for a more intuitive internet future,
Sincerely,
me.

This entry was originally posted by akatari @ dreamwidth, where there are comments. It would make my life a bit simpler were you to comment there using OpenID.

There's a community that's sprung up to raise money for the earthquake victims in Haiti--it's called help_haiti, and I love the idea because I'm flat broke but want to help anyway. Sometimes the internet is the best thing ever.

The thing is, they want samples of one's work, and while I have an icon journal, I don't have anyplace I keep the other graphics work I've done for myself or friends. So I figured I'd throw a representative sample of the (more recent) stuff I've done up over here, and then link to it there, and then link there back to here so that those of you reading this from my actual friendslist can go bid on me if you want. (If you don't, that's fine; I won't be in the least offended.) [ETA: set of icons auction here; smaller set of icons & 2 banners auction here.]

( obviously, there are IMAGES below this cut. Dialup users, ye be warned.Collapse )

So for some demented reason, I want to make icons relating to Arthurian legend now. This is in no way related to me listening to the music of Heather Dale a lot lately. Nope. Totally not at all. The problem is, I don't know that much about it*, and I probably wouldn't ever use them myself. So.

If any of you have requests/suggestions/ideas, feel free to babble away. Favorite quotes about people, artwork you want me to use, things you can't believe anyone ever got to the age of 19 without reading/seeing about Arthurian legend...


* compared to the people who actually know and care about Arthurian legend. Compared to the 99.99% of the rest of the world, I know a lot. I can even remember which of the Elaines was Astolat and which was Carbonek. Not that I can actually recite any of "The Lady of Shalott" except the bit quoted at the beginning of the Agatha Christie novel, but there you have it. And I'm hopeless at remembering the Knights of the Round Table. Arthur, Lancelot, Kay, Bedivere, Galahad, Gawain... uh... yeah, that's all I know. Oh! Wait. And Tristan. I keep forgetting he's Arthurian. (I can keep track of my Isoldes too!)

...Uh, and most of what I know about Arthurian legend I learned from Arthur, King of Time and Space, so. Uh.

A few days ago I wrote on my whiteboard

There are 10 kinds of people in the world:
1. Those who know this doesn't have to be a setup to a binary joke.
2. Those who don't.
&
10. Those who aren't reading this at all.

Base three: it's math, too!

A short while later, I had people commenting on base eight ("base 8 is like base 10 if you have two fewer fingers!"), making digit puns, and so on. Bits got erased as people ran out of space. Currently the whiteboard looks like this:

There are 10 kinds of people in the world:
1. Those who know this doesn't have to be a setup to a binary joke.
2. Those who don't.
&
10. Those who aren't reading this at all.
11. Those who can't count.
E. Those who know Hex is the best.

(I couldn't decide between this icon and my nerd icon. Finally settled on this one.)

So I encountered--somewhere, can't remember where--a meme where one selects quotes from twenty of one's favorite movies and posts them, and people have to guess the movies. The problem is that I kind of hate watching movies and so know very few of them. I picked ten. There should be 20, though. Uh... pretend there are? ( Quotes are from Wikiquote and may be wrong.Collapse )

(edit: guessed quotes have been crossed out but not identified here, so as to permit latecomers to test themselves anyway.)

If there is one person or more on your friends list who makes your world a better place just because they exist and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

Amazon thinks it's a good idea to remove sales rankings of books dealing with GLBTQ issues--thus also removing those books from searches on the site.

No, really; I'm not making this up.


And--all hail the power of Google--

Amazon rank

I just spent almost fifteen minutes trying to explain a question to my psychology professor so that he could figure out how to answer it. And I failed in said attempt. argh.

I have been in a meme-y mood lately.

Put your music player on shuffle. Write down the first lines of the first fifty songs [I did 75, because I was bored]. Make your flist guess them. Please don't Google songs (well, please don't Google songs and then post the title as if you'd guessed it--you can Google and keep the information to yourself).

Exceptions, as invented and/or used by me: the song has no lyrics. The song has no lyrics in a language that you can understand enough to accurately write down. The entire first line is the title (use your own discretion here--if it doesn't sound like a title, it's okay; if it's "oh hey, title", then you can leave it out). The song has a verbal introduction and you can't figure out where the song starts.

( songs!Collapse )

Yes, I have widely varying tastes in music. There are whole genres I have that didn't even turn up, too. (Also, my iTunes really likes some things, apparently...)

Why are some of my icons showing up wrong, and others not at all?

Well, actually, to get a student identity-card out from the radiator it fell into. But lightbulb jokes were mentioned.

Answer: four and a half.

( Read more...Collapse )

Terry Pratchett gets a knighthood!. So now it's Sir Pterry. ^____^

Phantom of the Opera (the musical) sequel.

...D:

Pros:
Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Cons:
Sequel.
CONEY FREAKING ISLAND.
Sheer what-the-hell quotient is through the roof.
I'm sorry, but the Phantom is Michael Crawford. I'm going to hate the voice of whoever they cast for it unless it's almost identical.
They're doing this for the money, right?
Also, in case I didn't say it loudly enough the first time: SEQUEL to PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

Verdict: *headdesk*

We're stripping the wallpaper (teddy bears and primary-colored stars and such) off the walls in my room. It will soon be painted. This means I got to frolic among the paint samples! \o/ And they have such cool names, as well as being pretty. (Granted, there are some stupid names too. I only share the awesome.)

( it looks almost like poetryCollapse )

*considers poetry*

So, Ben and Jerry's (Vermont-originating ice-cream company, for those unfamiliar with it) finally caught on to the stereotype/idea/whatever of brokenhearted women retreating to their rooms to sulk in solitude over a pint of ice cream. (According to my roommate, such ice cream must be Ben and Jerry's brand, but I don't think I'd ever heard that one before... I mean, I've seen it, but not that it's ESSENTIAL OMG.)

Therefore: chocolate therapy. No, really, Chocolate Therapy™: See? Not making it up. It's quite tasty, too, actually, even though it's not quite as distinct as it sounds.

I have a horrible suspicion I am about to become a D&D player. Because I didn't already lose enough immense amounts of my time on unproductive things, y'know.

Blast Kat's handbook for being so shiny!

I mentioned last night in spork chat that I had "Carol of the Bells" stuck in my head, so then KD said she'd love to hear me sing it, and Midge found me recording software which I should be able to figure out somehow although I still have no idea how I'll get the files to Sporkers.

So then I figured, hey, if I'm already doing one holiday song, I might as well take requests. I will be strongly limited by whether I know the song or not, so most or all Hanukkah songs will be out (I think I know the basic dreydl song, period) as will a lot of non-English Christmas music, much of the random secular Christmasy stuff--especially the more modern ones, and any Kwanzaa or Solstice songs.

...Actually, if there's any non-holiday music request anyone has, I might as well do that too. Again, if I don't know it, I won't sing it. (And if I don't like it, I also won't sing it, because... yeah.)

best NY Times front-page photo evar y/y?

To quote my roommate, "That needs to be captioned 'Kiss me, you fool!'" It is so unintentionally, hilariously awkward.

50,000!

Yes, we can!

( Barack Obama elected president. Election has been called by the AP, CBS, CNN, FOX, NBC, etc., etc. Kate's reactions below cut.Collapse )

Edit: Also, my commendations to McCain for his concession speech, which was rather touching. "This man who was my rival and is now my president." No immaturity, no selfishness, no complaints, and no accusing the vast left-wing conspiracy of stealing the election from him.

I can worry tomorrow about backlash. Tonight? I am a citizen of America and the world. And I am proud to be so.

Copy this sentence into your livejournal if you're in a heterosexual marriage/relationship (or if you think you might be someday), and you don't want it "protected" by the bigots who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.