When the publishers of ReadWriteWeb, a popular web technology blog, decided to redesign their site, they probably knew they’d receive some negative criticism.
You’ve heard the saying. Humans are creatures of habit, and they fear change. Many of the comments on the blog post about the redesign confirm that. The biggest recipient of criticism was RWW’s new logo, called everything from “awful” and “really, really bad” to “amateur” and “unrefined.”
The new design also suffered from comment system bugs and browser compatibility issues, causing difficulties for some visitors.
Richard MacManus, founder and editor of RWW, took the critiques in stride, writing a follow-up post addressing the problems and criticism, and thanking readers for their opinions, both positive and negative.
“In hindsight, we probably rushed the new design out too soon,” he admitted, “and as publisher I have to take responsibility for that. I was so focused on getting the new design up before [Christmas]. So to all the publishers and designers out there, my advise to you is: don’t rush the launch.”
So, what can be learned from RWW’s redesign and the reactions to it?
No matter how good a new design is, you’ll always receive mixed reactions. While some people will applaud your efforts and compliment your achievements, others will complain about the changes and express their hatred of every nuance.
The best you can do is to try to make the changes you feel are best for your site, keeping the interests of your readers in mind wherever possible. You cannot please everyone.
MacManus hit the nail on the head in his post about the redesign.
“I’d much rather have a bold design that gets different reactions,” he explained, “than a bland one that gets no reaction.”
A Detroit federal judge denied The Romantics’ request to stop the use of their song “What I Like About You” in ‘Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s.‘
The band filed a lawsuit against Activision, Inc. in November claiming improper use of the song in the video game. Though Activision had obtained rights to make and use a cover version of the song, The Romantics claimed the imitation was too close to the original, and infringed on the group’s right to their own likeness.
Activision followed all proper copyright procedures, the judge ruled, and sales of the game will continue.
Activision said in a press release it “is pleased with the ruling,” and felt the lawsuit was “without merit.”
Two Colorado teenagers have been charged as adults with killing a 7-year-old girl while wrestling and imitating moves from the video game ‘Mortal Kombat.’
The teens, 17-year-old Lamar Roberts and 16-year-old Heather Trujillo, were charged with felony child abuse causing death. The two were baby-sitting Trujillo’s half-sister Zoe Garcia while her mother was at work.
Roberts and Trujillo allegedly hit, kicked, and body-slammed Garcia in imitation of the video game.
The girl lost consciousness and stopped breathing. The teens to attempted to revive her by placing her in a bathtub under running water, and attempting CPR. They also cracked an egg and placed it in her mouth to make sure the girl was not “messing with them.”
After waiting 15 minutes, fearing “the cops were going to get mad,” the teens called 911 and the girl’s mother.
Garcia died at North Colorado Medical Center.
An autopsy revealed the gruesome details. Garcia had a broken wrist, at least 20 bruises, brain swelling, and severe internal bleeding.
The girl begged the teens to stop wrestling her, according to a witness. Police asked Roberts why they didn’t stop.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I was drunk.”
The two are being held in the Weld County jail, and each teen faces up to 48 years in prison if convicted.
These days, there’s a digital solution for just about everything, and it’s not often that a manual medium is more practical or more convenient than its digital counterparts.
An address book, for example, is a pain to use in comparison to the built in contact lists on even the most basic of mobile phones. It’s an extra step that is no longer necessary.
Music is much better in its digital form, as well. We can carry so much music on such tiny devices that it’s hard to call it anything but a welcome convenience.
But there are certain things aren’t improved by making them digital.
Notebooks fall into that category.
PDAs are nice, but I’ve never considered them practical devices for taking notes. You have to deal with a variety of inconvenient input methods, usually a tiny touch-screen keyboard or the painfully awkward “Graffiti” pad. They have built-in programs for to-do lists and calendars as well, but they require more effort than they’re worth.
A lot of mobile phones have PDA capabilities, and utilize a mini-keyboard setup to do the same things. It’s simpler, but still impractical.
For these simple tasks, nothing is easier or more effective than pen and paper.
That’s why I’ve given up on some of the high-maintenance digital organization tools in favor of Moleskine notebooks.
Certainly, any brand of notebook would do, I just found I had a preference for the quality and feel of Moleskine.
Upon making the transition to these notebooks from my digital organization tools, such as Google Calendar, I noticed an immediate increase in productivity. It’s much easier to pull out a 12-month planner notebook to mark an important date than it is to try to and remember to log on to Google Calendar and make the addition the next time I get to a computer.
The pocket-sized notebook also serves as a convenient depository for random thoughts, reminders, and to-do lists.
I often have trouble keeping up with the updating of digital calendars and agendas. It’s much easier to stay current with the notebooks.
Plus, there’s something firm and definitive about writing something down rather than fumbling with a PDA or mobile phone.
Originally posted on July 14, 2007
Social networks are everywhere. There’s MySpace, Facebook, VIRB, LinkedIn, Bebo, MyYearbook, and countless more. One of the more notorious aspects of some of these sites is the user’s ability to customize your profile.
Naturally, when you put full customization into the hands of a novice user, the results tend to be less than favorable.
One of the most common customizations done by users is the sharing of music that they like. This ranges from a network’s built in music player to a flash embedded player. In theory, it’s a nice idea, allowing people to show their friends what they enjoy listening to.
The problem is, many of these music players are able to begin playing as soon as the page is loaded.
The autoplaying of music is one of the biggest annoyances on the web. As much as you might like that song that your favorite band just released as the first single from their newest album, I don’t want it to be suddenly blasted at me the moment I load your profile.
I tend to be listening to my own music, podcasts, or a video playing in the background as I browse the web. The very last thing I want to happen when I come to respond to your comment is to have to rush to click a pause or stop button so that I don’t have to listen to the cacophony you created for me.
Even if I’m not listening to anything else, suddenly going from silence to hearing a band you heard in concert last week and mistakenly thought was good is more than unsettling.
The point is, if I really want to listen to the music you’ve got on your profile, I’ll press the play button. I promise.
Besides, a much more effective way to share your music tastes is by using a service such as Last.fm or iLike. I prefer the former by far, and the embeddable widgets it provides work very well to communicate what you listen to. Give those a try.