Apr
7
First impressions
Filed Under WebDev | Leave a Comment
fav.or.it
Just got an invite for fav.or.it’s beta from Nick Halstead. First impression is that some of the criticism not entirely unjustified.
Seems to me fav.or.it, in trying to make the world of RSS-feeds and blogs accessible for a wider audience, has attempted to do too many things in a new and innovative way, creating a user experience that is confusing for both novices and experienced users. The whole UI definitely needs reworking, and maybe they should consider leaving out some (a lot) of the (more advanced) features, in favor of simplicity and transparency, introducing them later on in a gradual manner (and after much usability testing).
Although I believe stuff like Symbaloo is a ludicrous (and potentially harmful) simplification of what the web is all about, and only serves to widen the digital divide, it certainly does a way better job of creating an accessible, idiot proof UI. Fav.or.it is a lot more ambitious, which I wholeheartedly support, and I really hope they find a way to make it work. But what I’ve seen so far, this isn’t it.
So I’ve started following some people on Twitter, just to ease back into things. (I don’t want to go back to the information overload of a few years back, with hundreds of emails per day in my inbox and constant IM’s.)
Picked Boris (Veldhuijzen van Zanten) and Peter (Robinett), more or less because they we’re the first I came across, and I’m interested in what they are up to. Immediately got my first useful twitter experience: both tweeted the fact that a metro derailed near Centraal Station. Which is kinda blocked my regular way home. Should really fix my bike this weekend.
P.s.
Although he understandably has had very little time (or energy) to maintain it, fav.or.it founder Nick Halstead has a great blog that is a must read for any (php) developer.
-
Nice bitz
