Ramblings
August 21, 2003
Edward Tufte writes in Wired that PowerPoint Is Evil. I totally agree, but for a different reason. Tufte doesn't like what PowerPoint can do to visual representations of data:
My reasons for hating PowerPoint are strictly from a user/UI standpoint. I won't go into details here, because I'm in a good mood today and don't want to ruin that (plus, if you've used PowerPoint at all, you know what I'm talking about). But PowerPoint is such a nightmare to use and is such a pile of crap — it makes Word feel iTunes-intuitive.
Still, the story's subhead "Power Corrupts. PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutely" is great...
Applying the PowerPoint templates to this nice, straightforward table yields an analytical disaster... To sell a product that messes up data with such systematic intensity, Microsoft abandons any pretense of statistical integrity and reasoning.I don't think Microsoft is totally to blame for this. Sure, PowerPoint can turn the data into total chartjunk. However, people don't have to do that to their data: they could create simple tables in PowerPoint, but they'd prefer to wow their audience with pretty pictures. I've done PowerPoint slides in the past that the presenter was disappointed with because it was boring — they preferred that I "jazz" it up and make it cool...or, perhaps, hide the actual numbers behind pictures. Whatever.
My reasons for hating PowerPoint are strictly from a user/UI standpoint. I won't go into details here, because I'm in a good mood today and don't want to ruin that (plus, if you've used PowerPoint at all, you know what I'm talking about). But PowerPoint is such a nightmare to use and is such a pile of crap — it makes Word feel iTunes-intuitive.
Still, the story's subhead "Power Corrupts. PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutely" is great...
August 19, 2003
Why Apple is So Tempting (Wired)
To change an industry once is impressive. To do it as many times as Apple has -- popularizing innovations like the graphical user interface, the mouse, multihued hardware, and edgy industrial design -- is phenomenal. For three decades, Apple has blazed a trail for the computer world. Now, the music business is watching slack-jawed.
August 14, 2003
For you Mac OS X users who also have to access a Windows PC, I highly recommend Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection Client. It's a free download that enables remote connection and control of Windows computers. I use it all the time & it's great.
August 13, 2003
Today Amelia turns one month old, so I thought I'd post this. I've been meaning to put this on the site to share a little about her birth & let people know that there's more than one option when having a baby.
Amelia was born at home: no hospital, no drugs, no doctors. This came as a surprise to anybody who knows us -- and, actually, it was sort of a surprise to us, too. Even after we decided not to have a hospital birth and go with a midwife instead, a home birth wasn't an option for us; instead, we'd go to a birthing center. Home births were a little too hippy/new-agey for us.
We had the same concerns you're probably thinking of ("What if something goes wrong?" "Isn't it going to be messy?"). But the more we learned about it and discussed it with our midwife (who was great), the more it actually made more sense to have our baby at home than anywhere else. So, long story short, Amelia was born at home, and it was a great experience -- it felt more spiritual than clinical.
A home birth might not be for everybody, but for those of you expecting a baby, look into your other options -- hospital vs. birthing center vs. home -- including midwives and doulas. I always assumed that you just go to the hospital to have a baby, because that's what everyone does. But there actually are other options -- choose the one that works best for you.
If anyone has any questions about having a home birth or how ours went, feel free to contact me.
Amelia was born at home: no hospital, no drugs, no doctors. This came as a surprise to anybody who knows us -- and, actually, it was sort of a surprise to us, too. Even after we decided not to have a hospital birth and go with a midwife instead, a home birth wasn't an option for us; instead, we'd go to a birthing center. Home births were a little too hippy/new-agey for us.
We had the same concerns you're probably thinking of ("What if something goes wrong?" "Isn't it going to be messy?"). But the more we learned about it and discussed it with our midwife (who was great), the more it actually made more sense to have our baby at home than anywhere else. So, long story short, Amelia was born at home, and it was a great experience -- it felt more spiritual than clinical.
A home birth might not be for everybody, but for those of you expecting a baby, look into your other options -- hospital vs. birthing center vs. home -- including midwives and doulas. I always assumed that you just go to the hospital to have a baby, because that's what everyone does. But there actually are other options -- choose the one that works best for you.
If anyone has any questions about having a home birth or how ours went, feel free to contact me.
Labels: amelia
August 12, 2003
August 11, 2003
Information Pollution (Jakob Nielsen)
Most instruction manuals are littered with "important" warnings that caution against obvious stupidities, burying actual dangers amid a mass of irrelevancy. An out-of-control legal system has made a joke of the entire warnings concept; products are now less safe because nobody bothers to read warnings anymore.I've always thought this, but now more than ever after assembling baby products: I think it's pretty obvious that instruction manuals are not there to help us use things and warn us against misuse. They're basically just legal documents that the company can use as defense against any stupid lawsuits (such as a person who didn't know they weren't supposed to mow their feet with their new lawnmower).
August 7, 2003
It looks like a name for what I do for a living has been coined: interaction architecture. (It definitely sounds better and is more descriptive than "product designer".)
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