Andrew Wirtanen is a usability specialist in Cary, NC More »

So why don’t you slide?

Despite efforts like the reCAPTCHA project, we still hate CAPTCHAs.

Famed web form guru Luke Wroblewski posted on his blog about an alternative from They Make Apps. All you do is slide to submit a form. I can’t believe this would actually work. It’s pretty simple, but Luke notes that we still need an accessible alternative for those that can’t use a mouse. Anyway, this technique already has a theme song:

Do you wake up on your own/and wonder where you are? You live with all your faults/../So why don’t you slide? (Goo Goo Dolls – “Slide”)

If Mario Was Designed in 2010

This blog post by a game designer was intended to poke fun at contemporary trends in games. But, I think it also applies to a trend in usability. In usability, it’s cliché now to joke about putting something in the manual. Everyone in the field pretends that manuals don’t exist when they’re designing products (unless, of course, said product is the manual). But, I’ve never heard anyone discuss providing too much help or guidance. Sometimes when you don’t provide any guidance, the end user has the most fun and they learn more quickly how do things (like in Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros.).

My suggestion: Provide visual cues when appropriate. Allow for some exploration if it’s not a one-time-only or walk-up-and-use interface (like an ATM or grocery self-checkout). Users are smart and will figure some things out on their own. Don’t interrupt them frequently with tips–put all the help you want in a sub-menu.

Chatroulette Improv

Ben Folds is playing with the NC Symphony this week, and I just ran into a fun video from March 20th of Ben having fun with Chatroulette in Charlotte (I love the irony):

Chatroulette is a very simple site that sets you up in a webcam chat with a random stranger. The site was created by a high school student in Russia and was launched in November 2009. It only took off recently, and on March 11th the first piano improv video was posted by Merton. The video has since gotten over 3 million views on YouTube and Ben Folds took notice, probably because a lot of people thought Merton was Ben Folds. Here’s the original video:

Chatroulette brings me back to the early days of the Internet when a lot of simple sites existed. You could have your own web page on Geocities and live virtually in a community with neighbors. AOL and Yahoo Chat were both pretty big, and it was fun to talk to people around the world. It’s nice to have a website that makes the Internet personal again. I feel like so often I’m using the Internet, not signed on to chat, and not talking (or twittering) to anyone in particular.

A Taste of Chicago

I visited Chicago for work (again) from March 3rd-8th. I didn’t have time to explore a lot of the city, but I did stop at some unique places this time around. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Billy Goat Tavern – Ah, the history. My colleague kept calling this place “The Stinky Goat”, which was pretty accurate. We went to the original location, which is hidden in the depths of Chicago below Michigan Ave. It was pretty cool trying to track it down, but it wasn’t too hard because of all the signs. According to history, a goat fell off a truck and wandered in the tavern. The owner, Billy Sianis, adopted the goat and then brought it to Game 4 of the 1945 World Series at Wrigley Field. Because of the goat’s odor, Sianis was kicked out of the park and supposedly placed a curse on the Cubs.I didn’t make it to Wrigley Field (which is nowhere near the Billy Goat Tavern by foot) on this trip, but I hope to someday.

• Ed Debevic’s – When I was on vacation in the Florida Keys, I watched a little bit of the Food Network and saw a special on Chicago. They mentioned Ed Debevic’s and showed how the waiters and waitresses would be rude to you. I thought it was hilarious and wrote down the name of the restaurant.My colleague and I didn’t get picked on that much… I got called a “nerd” when I called a waitresses buttons “flare” (as made famous by Office Space). The group of guys behind us weren’t so lucky. One got called four eyes and the other was called “an old Tom Seller” due to his mustache and curly hair. When they brought out a pitcher of water, the cups were face down in the pitcher! Pretty clever.

  It’s a 50s style restaurant and the waitstaff will take turns singing songs… sometimes they will dedicate songs to their table. On our night, one of the waiters dedicated a song to his table and then sang “The Lady is a Tramp”.

• Cloud Gate aka “The Bean” – Just finished in 2006, “The Bean” has quickly become one of the top symbols of Chicago. It is the centerpiece of Millennium Park, which has many impressive features including an ice rink and the very intriguing Crown Fountain. The Crown Fountain is a video sculpture of two different faces. There is a hole near the mouth of both faces that will spot water out in the summer.

  I find it hard to believe that “The Bean” is made of stainless steel welded together and highly polished on the outside. I now understand that it took a couple years to build. It’s very cool to walk around and underneath.

  Across the road, we wandered in the Chicago Cultural Center, which is home to two impressive domes. One is the largest TIffany Dome in the world and the other is a yellow-toned stained-glass dome.

We did try to go to the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower), but it was cloudy so we decided against going up. Check out my full set of Chicago photos on Flickr.

Bill Gates on innovating to zero CO2 emissions

TED 2010 was held on February 9th-13th this year. To attend TED, you have to fill out an application and be invited for the privilege to pay and $6000 to spare (a tax-deductible donation, but a heavy one). Luckily for us normal people, all of the talks from the conference are posted online.

For the past two years, I’ve enjoyed watching Bill Gates. His keynote talks for Microsoft were always pretty boring, but his TED talks are informative and inspiring. Last year, he famously released mosquitoes into the audience. This year, he released fireflies (they didn’t quite leave the jar though). His speech was on why it’s important for us to innovate in energy production, whether you believe in climate change or not.

“If you gave me only one wish for the next 50 years… I can pick who’s president, I can pick a vaccine–which is something I love, or I could pick that this thing that’s half the cost with no CO2 gets invented, this is the wish I would pick. This is the one with the greatest impact.” – Bill Gates

[via TED.com]