Category Archives: Best Practices

Why does Radio Shack ask for your phone number when you buy batteries?

For some reason, that quote from Seinfeld’s Kramer has always stuck with me. Perhaps due to my short career as a retail sales staff at a Radio Shack owned store and having to listen to fat guys wearing suits that flew in from Texas lecture us on the importance of selling batteries, batteries, batteries…
Or maybe […]

Flickr + Target = A Good, Right, and Easy Digital Print Experience

Up until a couple weeks ago, if we wanted prints of our digital photos we’d, well, hit ‘Print’. But, we’re moving and I packed up the printer when I packed up our offices. And we needed a couple dozen prints - quick.
This was the slickest buy-online-pick-up-in-store experience I’ve had since last-minute Christmas shopping at Best […]

ABC to offer free TV show downloads

Yet another sign that TV industry is ‘getting’ this whole internet thing, ABC has just announced that several of its top shows will now be available for free for downloading in an ad-supported format.
Unlike the music industry, the TV industry sees that the best way to stem unauthorized downloading is to offer products in a […]

Hangover (Fly-out) Navigation Part II

A while back I commented on Hangover Navigation–my new preferred term for javascript based fly-out navigation. I really hate fly-out navigation 90% of the time. It’s often a pain to use–even for abled bodied folks, very often completely inaccessible, can actually add to user confusion, and rarely offers decent wayfinding devices.
All that said, there are […]

Why Sharing Ideas is Better Than Not

A question was brought up at the recent UPA-MN conversation on Web 2.0.
The idea that giving ideas away for free was in some way detrimental to business success. That in fact, sharing is worse than not.
My problem with that perspective is that I also believe:
“…value is in creating the thing, not simply having the […]

Above the Fold is obsolete (and digibuy is a good company)

We’ve been working on a major overhaul of our new website for about a year now. One of the big issues with this redesign has been trying to figure out our audience. As a branch of government, we finally came to the conclusion that we simply have a gigantic audience to deal with. As such, […]

Best Practices Guide

Roger Johansonn of 456 Berea Street has put together a rather exhaustive best practices for web developers site. A good read.

Live operators are standing by. Why not live email responders?

No one likes to be a customer service phone representative. You typically have to deal with the irate, the rude, and just plain tired folks. It’s a thankless job.
And few customers like to deal with the phone bank either. Long waits on hold, getting passed from person to person, etc.
At work, I’m the main contact […]

TV is Dead, Long live TV (Downloads)

Running across this interview with Jeff Zucker, pres. of NBC, really says something. Some monster media companies are starting to see the light.
Can you put the Apple iPod deal into perspective?
It is part of our overall digital strategy, something Bob Wright had laid out for us for more than a year now, which is to […]

Skype, Remember The Milk, Interface Design That Makes You Smile

I’ve been using Skype more lately - aside from being the easiest way to turn long-distance conversations into podcasts it’s a decent instant messaging tool.
My favorite part of Skype’s IM tool is the smiley button. Its placement in the border between the chat pane and the compose box always makes it look like the […]