More Needless Fanfare - Carousel Merry-Go-Round

Ok, latest offender in animation that goes beyond annoying and creates a sense of wooziness in the user -- Vignette Media.

Here is a screencast of this carousel gone wild.



What is happening is if you move the cursor to the dead center (horizontally) the animation will grind to a halt. If you move to the right it will rapidly get faster until it gives the true sense of the merry go round from the playgrounds of my childhood. Same if you move to the left. Doubt users will discover this "control" and even if they did it is really, really hard to use.

Needless is all I have to say. Thanks Theresa for sending it my way.

UPDATE: Forgot to mention the tagline "Your consumers want it: An engaging experience." Wow.

Rich Web Experience coming in December

Excited to be speaking at the Rich Web Experience Dec 1-4 in Orlando, Florida.

If you sign up before Nov. 2nd you can save $200. Hope to see you there!

Mental Note Cards - Stephen Anderson

I mentioned a great talk a while back by Stephen P. Anderson. In that talk Stephen teased us with a project he had started for capturing design principles/patterns in a deck of cards. The good news is you can actually pre-order a set now at a discounted rate! Already ordered mine.

Check it out at getmentalnotes.com. He also is offering a preview set of 7 cards in PDF format.

I am Hiring! Looking for a Ninja Web UI Engineer - Oct. 7th 2009.

New opportunity as of today (10/7/2009).

I will add the official job posting later this week. But if you are interested please contact me at the email shown on the t-shirt.

NOTE: This is not a UX Design role. This is a UI Engineering role. Looking for very sharp DHTML engineers (you can bend Javascript, CSS & HTML to do your bidding) with a strong background in OOP (Some Java experience or other OOP is desired).

Update: Details can be found at the official posting on the Netflix jobs site.

Job opportunity at Togetherville for UI Web Dev

I am an Advisor for the startup Togetherville.com.

Togetherville is an early-stage, funded startup that is centered around ways for kids and parents to engage online. If you are excited about getting a ground-floor startup experience and are a sharp UI engineer then please contact Rajveer Singh Tut (raj _AT_ togetherville DOT com).

Here is the job posting.

Are you interested in using your web dev skills to change the world? Togetherville is building our founding tech team. This is your big chance to get into a very early startup and help build its foundation. We want someone who is tired of the same ol’ same ol’ and wants to take their skills and capabilities to the next level as a technology leader and company builder.

You will begin your Togetherville experience working alongside the stellar engineers at Pivotal Labs (www.pivotallabs.com). This will help you build your skills (and show them off) as we rapidly build out an amazing new way for kids and parents to engage online.
If you are somebody who has:

• The skills/potential to build an amazing interactive social web environment
• Strong experience with the LAMP stack
• Comfort with Javascript/DHTML/CSS/AJAX
• Strong collaborative skills and ability to work in multiple roles both locally and with offshore development teams
• Experience with/ interest in Agile Software Development
• Passion, Strong values, Likability, Intellect and Skill

Then, WE WANT TO TALK TO YOU!

Togetherville (http://Togetherville.com) is an early-stage, funded startup that is sitting at the crossroads of learning, technology and society. Starting with our highly-respected and successful Funders and Advisors, we are building a team that is excited about getting a ground-floor startup experience and is capable of consistently meeting and exceeding the high expectations of success we have set for ourselves.

We are extremely passionate about what we’re doing and just as passionately looking for focused and fun people to join our team. We are not hung up how many years of experience you have. We’d rather start with your potential and what you can do and then go from there! If you think this job description was written with you in mind, contact us. We’ll tell you more about Togetherville, the job opening and the change we are making in the world!

Slot Machine Tabs (Needless Fanfare)

Ok, one more in this vein. Please indulge me as I find it humorous what abuses can be foisted on the user.

Jumping Tabs (Needless Fanfare)

Another example of the Needless Fanfare anti-pattern. Do we really need tabs leaping up to meet your mouse?

Silicon Valley Code Camp Talk - DHTML Prototyping

For those at the Silicon Valley Code Camp (and anyone else :-) here is the talk from today. I added references that I mentioned to the end of the slides. Also I mentioned CSS Specificity via Star Wars. This is a great way to learn the rules for CSS Specificity.

DHTML Prototyping: Silicon Valley Code Camp

View more documents from Bill Scott.

You can also download the PDF for a larger version here.

'Designing Social Interfaces' Book Available

Designing Social Interfaces by Erin Malone & Christian Crumlish is finally hitting the store shelves. It should be available on Amazon for direct ordering in the next day or so (still on pre-order when I checked).

I had the privilege of reviewing early versions of the book and wholeheartedly recommend the book.

Erin & Christian do a thorough job of cataloging a large number of design patterns covering all aspects of designing interfaces with a social dimension. It works on two levels. First it is an excellent reference book. With dozens and dozens of patterns it's easy to pick up the book and read any pattern in isolation of the others. But it also works when you come from a specific problem. Wonder about building community participation? Or the merits of tagging? Or just need to add some "social" to your site? This book covers all aspects of social interfaces.

In interest of full disclosure I must mention that I worked closely with both Erin and Christian at Yahoo. Erin Malone, Matt Leacock and others created the Yahoo! Design Pattern Library. After I joined Erin's team I took over pattern curation for a short while and Erin & I launched the public version of the Yahoo! Design Pattern Library. When I left the pattern curation role Christian Crumlish was wisely brought in to be the pattern curator. While I focused the library on rich interactions (at the start of the Ajax wave), Christian, Matt, Erin and others begin to supply many social patterns. It was from that work that this book is born. It was greatly extended via their Designing Social Interfaces Wiki site (you know make the book on social patterns via social mechanisms!).

If you are designing sites with social features or are just curious about the idioms and patterns in this space then go buy the book!

Also you might want to check out this presentation on the material from this past year's IA Summit.

Designing Social Interfaces - IA Summit 09 Talk

View more documents from erin malone.