I was reading a Post on Mark Bakers’ blog Web Things and he linked to here. It appears that Yahoo and O’reilly have teamed up to create a market for measuring direction of technology at Buzz Game: Markets. James Surowiecki would be proud, as he describes the use of markets to properly value things in his book “The Wisdom of Crowds”. This a great idea and if popularized could help clarify where some technologies are going. Very Cool Check out Buzz Game.
I really like the oblique Strategies cards created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. So when I found the link to Wacky Neighbor: Flaunt it Baby!: Oblique Strategies on 43Folders I was impressed. The flash interfaced is cool. It appears that the deck being used if from volume 4. If your interested you can see the text listing of all four decks at here.
I enjoy using the cards to add a unique perspective when I am trying to consider alternate views of architectures. Sometimes the cards work really well sometimes they are not as helpful. I find them more helpful than not so check’em out.
I have been going through my links as I migrate to del.icio.us and I came accross gapingvoid. I think some of the drawings are hilarious. I think some of the line art is cool also. So enjoy.
Jonathan Schwartz has an interesting article on his blog. I guess I should say that he has an interesting bullet point in the article. Bullet number 5 “Web services may collapse under its own weight” discusses the long running issues of standardization, lack of simplicity and overly diverse spec ecosystem. Now for the REST supporters this is a “No shit Sherlock” statement. I had a wonderful time working on the Web Services Architecture Working Group and personally agree that we are quickly approaching the crossroads with web services. There are to many definitions, to many specs, to many standards bodies, to many buzz words. So please Make it SIMPLE, Make it scaleable, Make it interoperable, and Make it affordable.
I have read some articles (listed below) about AJAX and have ranted about event based web apps as the future of the Internet. I love the idea of channeling information and experience to a user in continuous manner that provides for an increased continuity of experience. I love the smooth transition between action and response that makes us all feel safe. I love the beauty of not having to figure out if the windows icon in the browser corner is really moving. To quote a song “These are a few of my favorite things.”
The use of AJAX will require some time for the casual web user to grow comfortable with but I think it may not be as long as it took for some to grow comfortable with the original browser. From my experience in building web applications the “page click page” model has significant experience gaps brought on by the browser blink. Users of the web in my experience look for an experience that is as close to a local application as possible. The less we have users focusing on browser chrome and its behaviors the better off we are.
- Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications By Jesse James Garrett
Great diagrams and description of AJAX. - XMLHttpRequest, Ajax, and the customer experience By Jason Fried
- SAJAX
Welcome to WordPress 1.5. The upgrade was painless and simple as expected. I really like the new features. The default theme Kubrick is awsome and the dashboard is great. Now I just have to get into the habit of writing.
My wife and I went to a demonstration dinner at the Chopping Block in Chicago for Valentines Day. I will say this now the food was great and the Chef Susie McCall was wonderful. That said it could have been even better.
It’s about the experience and the details matter.
The meal cost $175 for two. Hmmm. I don’t know about you but any meal over $50 gets my attention.
We arrived at 7 sharp the published start of the class. We drove over 1.5 hours to get there. The dinner had 7 couples 4 seated around the cooking bar and 3 seated at a makeshift table behind the other couples.
Problem 1:
If the cooking bar only seats 4 couples only book 4 couples. Trying squeeze the additional couples in created more problems than it solved. From our second-class seating we could not clearly see the work area. How much revenue per session is enough?
Problem 2:
To seat the 3 additional couples two butcher-block tables were put together to make one table. The chairs used were bar chairs, which left the tabletop and my thighs at the same level. The tables even when placed together forced a person at each end to sit at an awkward angle. It reminded me of an over crowded family party.
Problem 3:
The meal was served family style, dishes passed from the left of the cooking bar around and then to the back table. For the most part this wasn’t to bad except that the asparagus was virtually gone. When the dish was handed to me there were exactly 6 pieces left and 3 people remaining. Hmmmm. I don’t like to do math in order to eat a $175 meal. From what I can tell the folks at the cooking bar didn’t do any math…. Asparagus was on the menu; you never know someone who likes asparagus might come to the meal (Like Me). How much does Asparagus cost? Not enough to make a difference in the profit margin…
My point is that every business must protect their customer experience with fanatical devotion. If something isn’t right the customer will notice. This is even more true for a company like the Chopping Block. After my first class I tried to convince all my close friends and associates to try the Chopping Block. Now I will still recommend but now add Caveat Emptor.
Maps, Suggest, and gMail are prime examples of event based web applications. The creators of web applications will find increasing value in building web applications that provide flicker free event based interfaces. The “page click page†construction common today is a very limited way to build a web application. Event based interfaces reduce the discontinuity of experience created by “page click page†interfaces. Builders of web applications must begin to think about event models and composite services. Google seems to have a keen understanding where web applications need to go. I hope the example set by Google inspires other builders of web applications to create amazing event based applications.
It appears the Hubble telescope is a dead man walking. So I tried to think of some innovative ways to save the best toy in space.
Tom The Architect 