Sam’s random musings

My first few days with Leopard… (so I have been working with the seed but only for dev testing) What follows are the things in Leopard that are an issue for me now, I do anticipate some of them clearing up in the next few weeks/ months but…

• GPGMail - Ok I know I should of anticipated that a ‘mail’ plugin would stop working with a whole new ‘Mail.app’ but man this is a drag, my workaround for now is ThunderBird and Enigmail (Note I did have some issues with downloading enigmail for some reason but at some point it just downloaded and installation was perfect). Word on the GPGMail site is that a new beta for Leopard is underway, but hey GPG mail is a pia to begin with now this.
• Time Machine - now for some reason it doesn’t want to set up the first back up, keeps reporting that it failed. Now fine but what part is failing in this, is it the source drive that has a problem, the destination drive. A little more information would be nice!
• NetInfo Manager - kind of a bummer I did like managing my dev machine addresses this way, oh well back to hosts file editing…

Screencast for, well, screencasts:

Filed under: Multimedia, Software

Screencast is the latest entry in the OS X screencast making sweepstakes (joining iShowU and old champ, Snapz Pro X among others). One of the nice things about Screencast is its built-in support for showing keystrokes and mouse clicks, without the need for extra software like Mouseposé. When you type a keyboard command while recording, a bezel will pop up showing what you typed. The specs and price sound good (30fps and less than $30), but it’s hard to tell how well it will work for longer screencasts since the demo is limited to 1 minute (and prominently watermarks the video).

Screencast is $29 and the demo is available.

Ok so if this is so cool and works so well why don’t they have a screencast of screencast… on the site?

(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).)

Creating a Visual Language:

Amazon has a clear visual language for shopping-related buttons. (Figure 1) While the buttons vary in size, color, text, and iconography, they clearly share enough of the design elements that the variety enhances their purpose rather than complicating it.

• Color
• Iconography
• Context & Flexibility
• Copywriting

Worth reading if you do things like buttons and pretty things in your work. I tend not too, I’m the guy who builds the pigs I don’t put the lipstick on them

(Via Garrett Dimon.)

lAsk 37signals: What is the best way to get customers who signup to actually use a product?:

This reminds me of the old “hosting a party” metaphor for web apps. Just because you’ve invited someone over to your house/app, doesn’t mean your hosting duties are over. You still need to welcome your guests, show them around, offer some introductions, and make sure they get into the flow.

That’s why the blank slate, the first screen people see, is so key. If it’s unwelcoming, people may not stick around.

This is a big deal for services/sites that have self sign, or have anykind of unguided experience. It is said that a ui should be self teaching, but have you ever seen one. The on the web we are so free to make unique user experiences that are not tied to interface guidelines or even native control widgets. In this is a great danger there are advantages to things like the Apple Human Interface Guidelines as limiting and restrictive as they may seem. To be able to leverage the vast experiences that your user has had (remember that a user is a human not a thing) has immense value. It speaks to using native widgets (or at least try to give the same sense of purpose as the native widget)

But let it be said that what you do for your user on their first experience in your app will reap great rewards (I mean $$) if you leave your user hanging they will not ‘hang’ out and find all your cool stuff. Assume that your mental model of how the app will be experienced is wrong, show them they way.

(Via Signal vs. Noise.)

T-shirt:

(Via Bug Bash.)

Upgrading Radiant to Prototype 1.6:

Mislav has written up an excellent overview on upgrading Radiant (which used 1.5) to Prototype 1.6. The article does a great job of showing how 1.6 is superior to 1.5.

Got a couple of sites pending for this, got to read this over… do you?

(Via EncyteMedia.)

Gmail IMAP and the iPhone:

Lifehacker offers a couple of useful pieces today about the new IMAP functionality that some users are getting access to today. For what it’s worth, I am still not IMAP worthy with my Gmail account…

When I do go live with gmail imap I want to find this FAST

(Via Mac Net Journal.)

A pair of Lego skyscrapers (made from 250,000 pieces and inhabited…:

A pair of Lego skyscrapers (made from 250,000 pieces and inhabited by 1000 Lego people) are on display at the Storefront for Art and Architecture in NYC through November 24. Dennis Crowley’s got some pictures and a short movie. Details include a wee Banksy piece on the side of the building and tiny iPod ads. Here’s a timelapse video of the construction. (thx, dens)

(link)

Cool beans from one lego nut to many…

(Via kottke.org.)