Dyeweb.com is the site for Scott Dye of Murfreesboro, Tennessee to share his thoughts on web design, the internet, and life in general - as well as a place to display a portfolio of his work in print and web design.
The new iPod shuffle by Apple.
The new shuffle now features the ability to talk to you as well, which is a clever/necessary/gimmicky (take your pick) way to offset the fact it has pretty much no interface. I’d be interested to see how well this works, or if it’s just annoying. The new shuffle now comes in silver or black aluminum.
From what it appears, you must use the earbuds that come with it, because the controls are on the earbud cord itself. I’m not sure what I think of this. Lots of people have a very personal relationship with their earbuds, and I think it’s key to allow people to use earbuds of their own choosing. I’ve got to give credit to Apple, though – when they do something so bold as to force you to use their own earbuds exclusively, they at least give you a compelling reason why you should. It doesn't hurt that forcing the use of the iconic white earbuds is a marketing coup for Apple as well.
There is an ironic thing about the direction Apple is going with some of their UI, though...they are eliminating buttons, but adding all sorts of clicking schemes to offset the lack of buttons. Short click, long click, double click, click and keep holding...is that really better than just having a couple more buttons? It’s funny to me, because the reason Jobs & Company always said they wanted the one button mouse is because two buttons confused the user...they never knew when to use which button. Well, at least in that case they could see the options...if you don’t read the manual (and who does), I’m sure lots of people will not even realize what various types of clicks this new controller has, because they will assume it has only one button, when in reality, it has multiple buttons, depending on how you click it.
I thought this new iPod thimble was pretty cool, and then, when I told my wife “Hey, Apple announced a new iPod Shuffle like the one you have, except this one is even smaller.” She responded immediately with a simple “Why?”
I still haven’t come up with an answer to her...
For various reasons while creating Applescripts, I've had a need for the script to know which computer it was on, since I am writing scripts for several co-workers to use. The easiest way to do so for me was to use each computer's username (the shortname OS X uses for the home directory). It's a pretty easy thing to extract from the home path:
[code lang="applescript"]
set userHome to (text of word -1 of (path to home folder as text))
display dialog userHome
[/code]
This has worked well for me to be able to purge the script's property settings whenever the script gets passed on to someone else (otherwise it seems to keep the property assignments on the new computer as well. Also, it's set up just in case I ever need to fork code for a particular user if their computer setup happens to have something that just won't work with the way the rest of the other computers are set up (hopefully that will not be necessary, but you just never know).
edit:
Well as usual, there's an easier way:
[code lang="applescript"]
set userHome to (short user name of (system info))
display dialog userHome
[/code]
I am very soon to be a proud owner of the new Palm Centro smartphone, to replace (and combine) my existing standard flip-phone and my Palm TX.
I've considered before trying to "converge" all my various tech devices into one device. I had previously melded my previous PDA and my iPod into just the Palm TX, since it does a great job (for my uses) as a music and video player. I've always thought the Treo was too big for a phone, and didn't compare to the quite large screen of the TX, which is great for viewing videos in widescreen format. I have been using my TX daily at work to listen to several Podcasts a day, and to watch downloaded TV shows on it while I'm on the bike or treadmill at the gym (the only thing that's successfully convinced me to stay on a treadmill for 45 minutes).
As soon as I heard about the Centro, it intrigued me like no Treo ever had. It would allow me to combine my phone, PDA, and audio player into one device that is just barely larger than my current flip-phone. It will still work with my Bluetooth Stereo headphones, so I won't have to dodge earphone cords all day while listening to my podcasts.
The only real tradeoff will be having a much smaller screen, especially being used to the extra screen space the TX allows. I'll probably still use the TX for video watching at the gym, but otherwise, I'll happily have one less thing in my pockets.
Overall, I really like the new changes in iTunes 7. The new Cover Flow view is really great - being a visual person this appeals greatly to me. I even re-discovered several songs that I had forgotten I had just by flipping through the album art - it feels much more akin to the traditional way of looking through your CD/Album collection.
However, one thing I am very unhappy about is slow but steady slide toward "the new Apple way" - and making iTunes more of a proprietary experience, instead of an open experience with the iTunes store as an added value. This is especially apparent in how iTunes 7 handles Audio books. read more...
I feel cheated...like I've been lied to all my life. What do you mean Pluto isn't a planet? Scientists are now saying Pluto isn't a planet...it's a dwarf planet.
Huh?
That's like saying "We're not going to call it a ball any more...now it's called little ball."
In doing web design - especially for smaller sites and/or smaller companies - I often run into clients who want to have one list of navigation links.
Since websites have such a large number of links associated with them, it is common to create multiple navigation areas, loosely grouped by priority and/or intent. It is well documented from extensive user testing that online users “scan†a webpage to find what they are looking for as opposed to “reading†it. Also, from past experience the typical user expects to find links either along the top, left, or bottom of the page.
read more...
After lots and lots of nudging, begging, and (mostly) waiting on my part...my father has finally taken the leap into OS X. Thank goodness!
read more...
While browsing the other night, I ran across a post by Dan Wood (creator of the fabulous - and currently in limbo - Watson), titled Starting a website is like buying a turtle, in which he discusses the phenomenon created by the Google cache and the Wayback Machine.
To me though, it's more like getting a tattoo when you're young. I sure hope you'll still like what it looks like (and says about you) many, many years from now. Soon after a site is created, it's pretty much a permanent fixture of the web, and there's not much you can do about it, which means be careful what you say, and be ready to stand by it from that point onward. read more...
Welcome to the online home of Dye Design. This current site is in the process of a complete redesign, so some things may be a little wonky - you have been warned. If you are in need of some design, feel free to send me a note, and I would be happy to talk to you about your creative needs.
I had to go to New Hampsire to meet with a client, and went to Atlanta to watch some friends play in the US Open Volleyball Nationals in Atlanta. Since the flight my boss booked returned through Atlanta, I decided to stay for a couple of days, instead of flying back to Nashville, and turning around and driving back to Atlanata.
Boy was it an experience. read more...