Andreas Haugstrup Pedersen | solitude.dk

Thank you SilverFast scanner software. Just as I had forgotten what it is like to install software on a Windows machine you come to help me and my Mac.

So thank you. Thank you for placing that quaint shortcut on my desktop to the SF Universal Launcher and thank you for also placing an icon in the dock so I have have two ways to launch your program. Most of all I must thank you for crashing the Finder so bad I had to reboot to bring it back. I had forgotten what it was like to experience data loss due to system crashes.

It would appear that you failed to place a scanning indicator in the system tray, leaving me a little disappointed.

This is a very long entry. Don't say I didn't warn you.

On both the videoblogging group and the Show in a Box (SIAB) working group the question of How do we best present video on the internet? has come up multiple times over the past 3-5 months. It is a vital question for the average videoblogger who wants to improve his or her site and especially for groups like Show in a Box which are trying to create software and designs that help present videos in their best light.

However, the discussions on those lists are mixing together three separate issues to answer the question of how to best present video on blogs. I will outline the three issues below and attempt to explain why it is important to solve these separately.

When I logged into Twitter this morning I was greeted with this message:

Please, Twitter. Drop the cuteness and just give it to me straight. What does this message mean? Can I send updates or can I not send updates? Will my messages really go through if I type slowly or are you just lying? Realize that messages like this one aren't cute in the “aww, look at the sleeping puppy.”-sense. They are cute in the “look at the newlyweds in their matching pink tracksuits. I think I just vomited in my own mouth.”-sense.

Next week: How not to design your helpsection. A case study of the Twitter FAQ.

Update the morning after

I was just greeted by this. I guess they will never learn.

Thanks to Raymond I signed up to Twitter yesterday. Besides eating one too many burritos it was the most painful thing I did all day. I had to go through the signup form three times, selecting a logo from my harddrive all three times. Take a look at this screenshot

Advice to Twitter:

• Notice the highlighted help text next to the username field? Guidelines are great, but list all your limitations, not just half. When you can't handle usernames over 15 characters let me know
• Don't force me to upload my picture three times. Once is enough. You can save a temporary copy while I try to guess what I'm allowed to write in the username field.
• You do not need to list GMT+1 20 times in the timezones field. Once is enough.
• Don't make me do the captcha everytime your signup form breaks. Once is enough.
• Rethink your help section. It's not helping one bit. I'm a reasonably technical person and I still don't know if I'm supposed to use your IM service to recieve updates, send updates or both (I know I haven't been recieving any).

As for the service itself? It feels like a chat room where you can only see what your friends are saying, not who they're talking to. That could be a usefull feature in the real world, but I'm not convinced that it works online. A nice fellow made it possible to post to Twitter from Quicksilver and that's awesome. Now I don't have to try and figure out how to use the Twitter IM service.

Note to vending maching companies: Use a focus group next time and give Anders his coin back.

My local supermarket has a built-in bakery. I go there occasionally because freshly baked bread and very tasty. Sometimes I make the mistake of going there when it's crowded.

To control customers the bakery, like most bakeries and post offices in Denmark (libraries and banks too), has a number system. You draw a number from a machine, and the person at the counter calls out your number when it's your time to order. In theory this works perfectly because you can draw a number upon entering the store, and spend the waiting time browsing the merchandise instead of standing in line.

This system is ruined by old ladies, mothers with small children and middle-aged women with shopping carts. These people must have some form of genetically determined paranoia for being lost in the queue. Instead of waiting in the background until their number comes up they clog up the counter before their number is announced. This fear of someone running to the counter and presenting a number higher than theirs is destroying the system. Their fear is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. The counter is blocked for those (ie. me) whoose number has been announced by customers who should be waiting in the background. By fearing than other customers are “cheating” they themselves are instigating even more anarchy at the counter (now I have to battle by way through).

We need a new system. Perhaps a special line for the mentioned groups of customers. Or maybe just prohibit the selling of fresh bread to old ladies and single mothers (or only allow fathers to buy fresh bread).