Usababble

Usability, Design, and the Rambling Man.

Secure design and Usable design - March 11, 2005

Now that I'm hip deep in J2SE security warning dialogs I've taken to searching for best practices and literature on how to broach the issue of security, trusted sources, etc. with the diverse range of users that come in contact with J2SE by way of plugin and webstart. Aiming for the LCD of computer literacy bumps straight into some of the techological assumptions that are made by security professionals -i.e. real people couldn't give a rat's ass about the details of security, they just want to.
http://blogs.sun.com/usababble/entry/secure_design_and_usable_design

Tasks by Email Clustering - March 10, 2005

This story on research being done at the University College Dublin in Ireland and sponsored by IBM caught my eye. Something similar (though maybe more ambitious) to the Team Mail project some folks at CMU did in conjunction w Sun last year. Not much more to say on this other than it sounds like a step in the right direction. I like the idea of clustering mail around threads -not that I actually use threaded displays in my mail programs that much, but it does provide a useful way of collecting.
http://blogs.sun.com/usababble/entry/tasks_by_email_clustering

Geekdom in Primary Colors - March 9, 2005

Just saw this link and thought it was too cool not to put up. (Besides, if I'm going to be true to my effort of updating this more often then I guess I need something to post). These guys color all sorts of gear. Notably Apple hardware but also game consols. I keep getting this image of a an apartment full of all this great gear and geeked out in primary colors... kind of Matrix meets Pee Wee's Playhouse.
http://blogs.sun.com/usababble/entry/geekdom_in_primary_colors

Carcassone - March 9, 2005

So the better half and I have been spending hours plaing Carcassonne. As with most things new to me they are probably not new to most other folks but all the same, this game is great fun. It's so much fun that even my non-gaming S.O. thinks it's great fun and will insist on forgoing sleep to play just one more round. Always, just one more round. For those out there who've not played it it's a tile laying game where you get points for placing a limited number of followers on the tiles and...
http://blogs.sun.com/usababble/entry/carcassone