September 2003

The Archives

• Uncategorized

  UEFA online soccer games

  09.30.03 | Permalink | 2 Comments

  The UEFA has a great website and I use it a lot. Last year, they posted video highlights of all Champions League games online. They also offered live commentary. These things aren’t unusual for the big sporting leagues but very nice for a fan who lives in North America where soccer is still nowhere on the radar screen.

  I just found out today that the UEFA is also posting videos of entire champions league games online this year! Sure, it’s 90 minutes after the game and it costs $39US/year but that’s definitely worth it! It’s about time somebody clued in how to deal with sporting events online. There’s a real user need for live broadcasts of games. By delaying the broadcasts, TV revenues are protected and extra revenue is generated from subscriptions. Win/win. Can’t wait for tomorrow when Ajax plays Club Brugge.

  
  

• Uncategorized

  VanUE

  09.30.03 | Permalink | Comments Off on VanUE

  Last Night was the inaugural meeting for the newly formed Vancouver User Experience Group in the newmic . I was very impressed with the turnout of about 30-40 people.

  The panel of speakers was also very good. The topic of discussion was Intersecting Experiences: Defining and Defying Common Language. The panel pointed out that User Experience is still in it’s infancy. The User Experience also has to be viewed in a larger context outside of the screen environment. The experience doesn’t start there and it doesn’t stop there either. It’s only part of it. Couldn’t agree more. The panel offered some great insights in the value of involving user in the development process, the importance of building teams consisting of the right people who care about the project, and some innovative methodologies to get the job done.

  If you consider yourself a User Advocate and User Experience professional, the next meeting will be October 23 at the newmic.

• personal

  News silliness

  09.25.03 | Permalink | Comments Off on News silliness

  While waiting for the bus last Friday, I read an article on the front page of the National Post. I had to laugh out loud, because the article is very, very funny. It makes fun of CNN’s reporting of the Hurricane Isabel. The best line by far is:

  The hurricane had made landfall at North Carolina. Wolf called the action as though Allied soldiers had made landfall on the beaches of France.

• Uncategorized

  The Business Value of Web Standards

  09.20.03 | Permalink | Comments Off on The Business Value of Web Standards

  Jeff Veen is a smart guy. His new essay makes some exellent arguments why web standard matter.

  • Speed of Development
  • Simplified Maintenance
  • Accesibility
  • Reduced Bandwith Costs
  • Increased User Expience

  To get the full scoop, read Jeffrey Zeldmans Designing With Web Standards. And after you’re done, pass it on to your graphic designers, engineers, web managers and user experience professionals.

• Uncategorized

  Missing the pop-unders

  09.19.03 | Permalink | Comments Off on Missing the pop-unders

  I absolutely can’t stand most online advertising but I can relate to this article. I installed the Google toolbar which blocks all pop-ups and pop-unders. It works very nice and I love the other features as well. But without pop-unders, I feel that I’m missing out on the Orbitz ads. But now I have a link to oversized versions so I can still play when I choose to.

  Creative Director Mark Rattin of Otherwise Inc. makes some intelligent comments:

  I think the problem with the medium is not that there’s an oversaturation, but there’s a lot of real crap out there. If the advertising was a little bit more thoughtful, it wouldn’t be so annoying to encounter.

  So I did some Googling to find out more about Markieboy. Found some interesting metrics about the Orbitz ads and a weblog from Matthew Mercer, a designer who worked on the Orbitz ads. But I also found out that they’re responsible for the invention of the over-the-top intrusive “kick through” ads (where a rollover is enough to open up the website). And Mark defends the strategy as well. To bad, thumbs down for Mark after all.

• Uncategorized

  Trouble for MS and Web authors

  09.15.03 | Permalink | Comments Off on Trouble for MS and Web authors

  Microsoft lost an appeal recently related to a patent-case that has a potential to impact on Web authors all over the world. It demonstrates how stupid the current patent system is.

• Travel & Tourism

  Best Travel Sites part I

  09.14.03 | Permalink | Comments Off on Best Travel Sites part I

  People ask me often what the best travel/tourism website is. The answer is “it depends”. A website is a success when it is relevant to it’s users and meets the objectives of the person or organization who produces it. But there are definitely best practices out there.

  So the first best practice is New Zealand for visual design/branding. New Zealand’s PureNZ brand is very well represented on their website. The site looks pure, has stunning visuals and great content. I’ve spend a lot of time on this website over the last few years and New Zealand made it on my list of places to visit after my first or second visit. The recently launched new homepage gives me a headache though, I like the old one better.

• personal

  New Painting Finished

  09.11.03 | Permalink | 2 Comments

  
  Why is my website still looking dull? Because I’ve been busy painting my mothers portrait.

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• Uncategorized

  A little colour

  09.05.03 | Permalink | Comments Off on A little colour

  So I started my “design live” project last night. I’ve modified some of the default template and started working on the stylesheet. I’ve removed the time a new entry was posted. I’ve kept the link to the archive for bookmarking (the four dots next to the headline). I also changed the default colours and fonts. I chose Verdana for my default font because it’s the most legible font for screen reading and it’s supported by most operating systems. I changed the default body color to a dark gray (#666) to create a more friendly appearance. The blue headlines are probably temporary. Hopefully I’ll have some time to do some major decorating soon.

• Travel & Tourism

  Want a sense of how savvy travelers are?

  09.03.03 | Permalink | Comments Off on Want a sense of how savvy travelers are?

  eMarketer has an interesting article today about the continuing change in behaviour of travelers because of the Internet. It’s includes demographic data and an interview with David Turnbull from Nurun.

William Bakker's Destination Marketing blog