Note to self: It’s not just about the solving a problem, but how you solve the problem.

What I really like is how these guys have made sure they keep the touch interface easy to navigate with fingers by not crowding it and keeping the “hit area” big enough.

Someone gave me a demo of the Mutewatch at a conference last month and it was really as impressive as the video claims. Although at $299 I can’t really justify buying it to try it out, so I’m gonna stick to my Mondaine for now.

I actually tried something like this a while back. If you have any two from iPad, iPhone, iPod (atleast one has to be camera enabled) – download the “Camera for iPad” app on both. You should now be able to use one of your devices as a “lens” and the other as a “viewfinder”. It won’t be even close to the awesomeness of the WVIL but it should give you a feeler

I’m tempted to think of a camera that can work on it’s own and at the same time, can be completely controlled wirelessly by a phone/tablet/computer interface as well.

WVIL Concept Camera by Artefact

• When in doubt, make it simple.
• … apply the 80-20 rule to the design of your application. Estimate that the largest percentage of users (at least 80 percent) will use a very limited number of features in an application, while only a small percentage (no more than 20 percent) will use all the features.
• Note how elements at the top of each screen make it easy for users to know both their current and previous location in the application.(a very important cue that I find missing in a lot of custom interface applications)
• A great user interface follows human interface design principles that are based on the way people—users—think and work, not on the capabilities of the device.
• … a good product definition statement doesn’t just focus on features, it also describes the intended audience
• It’s especially important to eliminate those elements that don’t support the product definition statement, because iPhone applications have no room to spare for functionality that isn’t focused on the main task.

Usability suffers when users type in passwords and the only feedback they get is a row of bullets. Typically, masking passwords doesn’t even increase security, but it does cost you business due to login failures.

He noted two interesting problems with the password fields

• Masking raises scope for error, makes people less confident and discourages people from trying your services.
• Makes it likely that people use less secure passwords or less secure mechanisms to manage multiple passwords

I agree with the case he presents, but find it hard to agree with his solution of just unmasking the password field and showing the passwords in plain text. He does recognise the risks associated with this and offers a solution:

It’s therefore worth offering them a checkbox to have their passwords masked; for high-risk applications, such as bank accounts, you might even check this box by default

Some of my notes on this:

• many users will not take that extra step of masking their passwords if it’s not masked by default and thus they would depend on the application creators to pre-empt how critical the security at this point is
• many users use the same passwords for their high-risk as well as low-risk applications (masking only high risk applications wouldn’t ensure security)
• a checkbox in a form usually conveys an input and runs the risk of confusing the users

But still, the thought that masking passwords is not such a smart solution holds strong. Related to this I found two interesting experiments by Chris Dary (arc90).

HashMask

visualizing a hashed representation of the password as a sparkline with color – the intent being that the user would become familiar with this image and be able to easily confirm that they typed the right (or wrong) password.

HalfMask

obscuring the password with semi-visible random characters in the background. The intent is to only allow the user who typed the password to easily read it

Both very interesting ideas—not there yet though.

Usernames and passwords present too much work:

• remembering too much information (website, username & password)
• retrieving the correct set of information
• counteracting human error

The problem though is, making it easier and more secure to authenticate needs to be done with a lot of caution—because easier (and automated) authentication raises much larger risks IMO.

Another interesting bit I noticed was that it is going to have it’s own OS called “litl OS”. They say it’s a webOS and nothing gets stored on your local hardware.

You’ll notice that a search box has replaced all file management because today we don’t drag files around as much as we search for them. Gone are menus, folders, and icons. Instead, we show you your web content neatly.

As with most webbooks that I’ve seen in the past, I’m afraid that this might be another halfbaked toy—but their approach to things is definitely making me look forward to it. ]]> http://www.navjotpawera.com/blog/2010/09/29/litl-webbook-smart-one-this/feed/ 0 http://www.navjotpawera.com/blog/2010/08/25/cv-on-a-poster/ http://www.navjotpawera.com/blog/2010/08/25/cv-on-a-poster/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 03:03:43 +0000 Admin http://www.navjotpawera.com/blog/?p=109 A friend of mine had been thinking of re-doing her website recently and asked me for feedback on her ideas. She’s an interaction designer by profession and I hold her to be one of the more creative people that I know. She wanted to make her website look nicer, feel more organised, hold her portfolio and represent her identity. She got too caught up in too many things and, sadly, came up some really run of the mill stuff. I told her so, and she tried again, but after going at it for quite some time I think she gave up.

Her new portfolio is now online, and in IMO, is as bland as the oatmeal that I eat every morning. Doesn’t come even close to the standards that I hold her up to.

I just stumbled upon this totally radical CV created by designer Greig Anderson – check it here.

It immediately made me think of my friend.

The most impressive part to me is the way they rotated the machine 90º to enhance privacy:

Keeping the line of waiting people in the corner of your eye, instead of behind your back, let’s people feel safe on a rational and subconscious level.

Takes me back to a quote I once read somewhere:

Creativity is the defeat of habit by originality
- Arthur Koestler

*Screenshots taken from TUAW