Archive for May, 2009

May 29 2009 at 10:25pm

Universal IE6 CSS and memories of NS4

There was been a lot of controversy last week over Andy Clarke’s proposed Universal IE6 CSS. Most of the arguments against it seem to revolve around the level of IE 6 usage and clients’ needs to maintain their brand image. Valid points, in many cases.

However, as Zeldman notes:

No hammer fits all nails, and no solution, however elegant, will work for every situation. But if we’re open minded, Andy’s proposal may work in more situations than we at first suspect.

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May 07 2009 at 3:28pm

Beautiful is more usable

I finally got around to reading ALA’s In Defense of Eye Candy article from a few weeks ago. Yes, I’m behind! Anyway, while I somewhat disagree with the author’s use of the term “eye candy”, the bulk of the article is very interesting.

I first read about this in James Kalbach’s Designing Web Navigation (p. 45) just last week. The point is that people have better experiences with visually attractive things, making them easier to use. Emotions are a central part of any user experience:

“When you felel good it is easier to make decisions, brainstorm, and be creative, for instance”

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