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Blog Entries from September 2005
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Google Turns Seven
Today marks seven years of Google (external link), praised by some and criticized by others. Google, the search engine giant who has been organizing the vast Internet's contents into one location, is slowly making its way towards one of the most powerful companies in the world. Some believe that they're aiming to take over the world, while others just enjoy their great services.
While Google may seem like the perfect company, if you haven't read the How Much Do You Trust Google? series you really should take a look:
Alas, if you need a little Google humor read about some of the hoaxes (external link) they have pulled.
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Opera Now Ad-Free!
It was expected for some time, but now it happened. Opera 8.50 (external link) is available for free. If you were always put back by the advertisements, you lost that excuse.
The menu structure should be nearly similar with the exception of registration related issues, so it wouldn't take much time to adjust custom menu setups.
"Today we invite the entire Internet community to use Opera and experience Web browsing as it should be," said Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. "Removing the ad banner and licensing fee will encourage many new users to discover the speed, security and unmatched usability of the Opera browser."
Also see the official press release (external link) and the changelog (external link).
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CSS In HTML Emails
HTML emails are crippled by the lack of standard rendering across the hundreds of email clients, desktop and online. Web designers only have to deal with maybe five web browsers, at the most, but it's ten times worse when designing HTML emails. There is absolutely no standard methods to render HTML emails, and each email client does it differently.
With the lack of HTML support, you'd think that CSS emails would be completely out of the question. Campaign Monitor has published an article about using CSS in HTML emails (external link)
According to this article, basic CSS support is possible in the major email clients. I still have high doubts about the actual support that a CSS power user would see. I think that even if email clients used Internet Explorer to render HTML emails it would open up a new world of possibilities.
So for those who work with HTML emails, or plan to, take a look at this good article to get some insight on future HTML email techniques.
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Don't Make Me Think!
Don't Make Me Think (external link), by Steve Krug, is THE book on web usability. It is praised by many web developers as the best book available on practical web usability. Recently, Steve Krug has released a second version of the book, which includes three new chapters. I won't be surprised if this book just flies off of the shelves, as the first edition was very popular.
I have yet to read the book myself, although it is definitely on my to-do list. I checked out the first edition from my library when it first came out, as it was just new in my library and about computers (enough for me to check it out), although I never read the entire book.
Usability has always been an important factor for someone seeking to be a good web designer, although most don't seem to take it as serious as they should. Designers who don't want to "reinvent the wheel" are usually the ones who create "un-usable" layouts. People expect certain things to be in certain places, don't make them look around the page for it. For example, radically different navigation can look cool, but for the typical web user it will become a huge puzzle.
Remember Krug's first rule, "Don't Make Me Think!" If you have to think about something for too long when you're on a web page, then it probably needs some usability improvements. If you cannot find what you're looking for, wonder how to use their search feature, or cannot figure out what to click on - then they have room for improvement.
Take up web usability, take a look at Don't Make Me Think : A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (2nd Edition) (external link).
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New MyOpera Community Launched
Today the new version of the MyOpera community (external link) site launched.
This new version doesn't only feature a completely new design, it also features a lot of new features. There are still forums and weblogs, but now you can also keep a gallery and a website with 300 MB of space to use! (Well, that means customising the CSS, which is all you need to completely revamp the look.)
Users can now organize into groups and record more of information about themselves, managing subscriptions to forum topics is easier, there's a quick oversight of your most favorite forum topics, and so forth.
Don't wait any longer, take a look (external link) around.
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