On Google Chrome - the new browser on the block
Google just launched its beta of Google Chrome, the in-house browser that is said to “combine a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.” The browser comes with a lot of interesting features such as a new tab look, a neat address bar giving you the options to search for keywords or auto-completing (even partial) web addresses, anonymus web surfing, web application shortcuts and the ability to isolate browser tabs in case anything goes wrong.
So let’s have a closer look at the browser compared to the competition…
On link usability - the art of keeping call to actions consistent
Not so long ago I was asked by a client, if it was possible to change a couple of sections within their site as they just updated their product structure: the client was expanding their products to list two more categories. To make them stand out, their marketing team was thinking of using different colours throughout the main content area so that is looks much more consistent, which included changing all link colours and buttons to these new colours.
As a designer you have probably faced a similar situation before - can I or can I not change the link colours on certain pages to keep a consistent look and feel?
Yes, you can, but you shouldn’t ever. Here is why…
On Cuil, the new relevancy search engine (a rant)
Cuil, the new search engine looking for relevancy rather than popularity has seen the light of day today. Developed by former Google employees,it claims to be able to crawl through 120 billion pages (that is 3x more than Google and 10x more than Microsoft’s Live search). But what does it actually do and how does it perform?
Well I had had the chance to play around with it today, and I must say I am not overly impressed. Aside from the high server load and time-outs I managed to find either one of the two things:
- Nothing, or
- Anything but what I was after
Please read on to read more about my thoughts and usability concerns about Cuil…
On outsourcing work in the web design industry - things to look out for
Not so long ago I received an email from a former student of mine who has just started up his own design studio asking whether or not outsourcing work to contractors, freelancers or studios makes sense and what to look out for.
Especially for upcoming design studios or companies / agencies who are lacking in a certain area (such as developers or Flash animators) it makes sense looking to outsource work to keep employment costs low and not having to worry about whether or not there will be enough work to keep someone (or a whole team) employed.
Read after the fold what to look out for…
Wordpress 2.6 upgrade - small downtime, but Whatwasithinking is back!
We apologise for the 15 minute downtime last night, we have just ugraded Wordpress to version 2.6 and the Automatic Upgrade plugin died on us due to a read-write permission error (I think!). But we are back now, happy days! 
I am still working on getting my Yahoo-map-based travelblog prototype online, the Flash image-uploader is working fine, but there is an error once you have a number of users trying to connect / upload at the same time. Stay tuned for updates!
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Welcome to WhatwasIthinking.co.uk
...my Flash Development, Information Architecture & Web Design Blog. Here you will find best practice suggestions, case studies and code snippets about anything related to Web 2.0, mashups and usability and accessibility testing. And rants.
