Category: Technology
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Reflecting on two years as a user experience consultant; looking ahead to working on structured content
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The latest chapter in my career has closed, as I have found an incredibly exciting new opportunity. But the past couple of years have given me a lot to reflect on.
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Busi-ness and blogging in 2024
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A busier life, and recent events on the internet, mean a new direction for my blog.
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20 years of blogging
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Today marks the 20th anniversary of my first blog post. Blogging is important to me, but it has seen many changes. The online publishing ecosystem is having a moment right now. So what’s next?
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One twit can make a service a dodo
I have complicated feelings about the apparent imminent demise of Twitter in the hands of a reckless owner.
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12 years in higher education web and user experience management
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Today I have started a new job. But while I’m looking forward, I have also been reflecting, as this moment marks my first real move away from higher education. Despite the differing natures of the three organisations I worked for, there were many parallels across them.
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Could you be our nudge intern?
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We have a fascinating opportunity for a University of Edinburgh undergraduate student to join our team as an intern this summer. The job has a cool title: nudge intern.
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Awooga! The metaverse was better 29 years ago
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What’s most surprising about the metaverse is just how lacking in ambition it is. This is a half-hearted rehash of a 30-year-old idea.
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List of things Google Assistant thinks I want to do instead of make oat milk
Occasionally I make my own oat milk. When I run out of oat milk, I ask Google Assistant to remind me later in the day to make oat milk. It normally misunderstands me. Interestingly, it misunderstands me in a variety of different ways.
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Pace layers in experience design — Stabilise innovation by understanding people’s needs
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Innovation falls flat when it doesn’t respond to a human need. Use human-centred approaches to understand people’s fundamental motivations and needs. These are the stabilising forces for innovation.
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Lessons on readability and bias — Reflections from the UCD Gathering conference — Website and Communications Blog
Back in October, I had the opportunity to attend the UCD Gathering conference, a new virtual event for practitioners of user-centred design in all its forms. Over on my work blog, I have published the first of two posts reflecting on what I learned. This first post covers two themes: Being aware of bias, and […]
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Beginner’s guide to content design
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Many people are intrigued by content design but unsure if it’s the right fit for them. So here is my beginner’s guide to being a content designer. Find out why it might be a better fit for you than you might think — and why it might not be.
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Access for all — my final plea for human-centred design — Lizzie Cass-Maran — Website and Communications Blog
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Last month our brilliant colleague Lizzie Cass-Maran left our team after more than 10 years. In her final blog post for our team’s blog, she has written this plea to keep humans at the centre of all our decision-making. For the past few years I’ve been working with Lizzie, I’ve always been impressed at the […]
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Consider the tomato — Eric Bailey — Thoughtbot
Tomatoes are a bit of an ontological mess. Why information architecture is difficult, explained by tomatoes — and not just the fruit/vegetable thing you might already be thinking.
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It’s nice to see that Google’s new Web Creators initiative has an RSS feed. Now maybe they could work on a product that helps people subscribe to those RSS feeds to foster this community of web creators…
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It’s nice to see that Google’s new Web Creators initiative has an RSS feed. Now maybe they could work on a product that helps people subscribe to those RSS feeds to foster this community of web creators…
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When you browse Instagram and find former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott’s passport number — Alex Hope — The Mango Zone
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A highly entertaining read about how someone used a photo of a boarding pass posted by Tony Abbott on his own Instagram account to find out the former Australian prime minister’s personal details including his passport and phone number. Alex Hope embarks on an adventure to find out whether he broke the law, figure out […]
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Struggling with vision loss — Stewart Lamb Cromar — Interactive Content
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My colleague Stewart Lamb Cromar has written about how a recent deterioration in his vision has impacted his work, and highlights the importance of our ongoing work around accessibility.
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Microsoft’s robot editor confuses mixed-race Little Mix singers — Jim Waterson — The Guardian
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How about this for dystopia? MSN have replaced human news editors with a robot powered by Microsoft artificial intelligence technology. The problem is, it has already begun making racist decisions. And then, in case you thought the story wasn’t already absurd enough, this: In advance of the publication of this article, staff at MSN were […]
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There will be no “back to normal” — Nesta
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This is more than a month old. In terms of the coronavirus outbreak, that’s an eternity. But I still found this list of possible future scenarios interesting and thought-provoking. It also comes with the major caveat that predicting the future is a mug’s game at the best of times, never mind during these times. This […]
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We’re hiring a Senior Content Designer — Website and Communications Blog
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The University of Edinburgh Website and Communications team is hiring a Senior Content Designer. Come and join my team! If you’re passionate about using evidence-based approaches to create great content that meets users’ needs, we want to hear from you. Read the blog post to learn more about the position and how to apply.
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UK infosec experts flag concern over NHSX contact tracing app — Laurie Clarke — NS Tech
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This is the sort of reason why I don’t trust the state with my data as much as I trust many private companies. Apple and Google have worked together (itself a minor miracle) to develop a method of contact tracing that does not collect personal data and does not invade people’s privacy. NHSX has rejected […]
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Principles and priorities — Jeremy Keith — Adactio
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What makes a good principle? How do you avoid principles that are mere motherhood and apple pie? According to Jeremy Keith, it’s all about establishing priorities. He goes on to outline the danger of prioritising the experience of developers or designers above the user experience. He makes an interesting observation about a perceived difference in […]
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How to build a bad design system — Robin Rendle — CSS-Tricks
What’s worse than design by committee? Design system by committee.
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HTML: The Inaccessible Parts — Dave Rupert
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Following on from Gov.UK’s revelation about <input type=”number”>, Dave Rupert has compiled a list of other bits of HTML that can cause inadvertent accessibility issues. There are some cases where even using plain ol’ HTML causes accessibility problems. I get frustrated and want to quit web development whenever I read about these types of issues. […]
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Why the Gov.UK Design System team changed the input type for numbers — Hanna Laakso — Technology in government
The Gov.UK Design System team have discovered that using the HTML element <input type=”number”> creates some surprising problems in certain environments. Some of the limitations in assistive technologies such as Dragon Naturally Speaking are disappointing but unsurprising. But Chrome deciding to convert large numbers to exponential notation is rather more eyebrow-raising. Then there is Safari […]
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Coding is for everyone — as long as you speak English — Gretchen McCulloch — Wired
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This year marks the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web, so there’s been a lot of pixels spilled on “the initial promises of the web”—one of which was the idea that you could select “view source” on any page and easily teach yourself what went into making it display like that. This article makes […]
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How messaging has changed human interaction — Adrian Zumbrunnen — Modus
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A fascinating history of messaging from 1996’s ICQ to the present day. It details how a series of seemingly minor design decisions have had massive privacy implications and ultimately transformed how humans communicate.
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Join our team as a Content Designer — Website and Communications Blog
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Come and work with our team! We are looking for three experienced Content Designers to join the University of Edinburgh’s Website and Communications team as we embark on major projects to launch our new web publishing platform and services. If you’re passionate about using evidence-based approaches to create great content that meets users’ needs, we […]
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Opera: Phantom of the Turnaround — Hindenburg Research
If you still have the Opera web browser installed anywhere, now might be the time to stop. With its browser business in decline, cash flow deteriorating (and balance sheet cash finding its way into management’s hands…), Opera has decided to embark on a dramatic business pivot: predatory short-term lending in Africa and Asia. The article […]
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New sim swap hacks highlight carriers’ wobbly security — Martha Degrasse — Light Reading
Researchers at Princeton University called three of the four major [US] carriers and tried to convince customer service representatives to move phone numbers to new sim cards. Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile each received ten calls from the researchers, who posed as customers. Astoundingly, in all 30 cases the fake customers successfully convinced the carriers to […]
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Dark mode favicons — Chris Coyier — CSS-Tricks
This is pretty cool. Google Chrome will begin supporting SVG favicons. And because you can embed CSS within SVG, you can use media queries to create dark mode favicons. Smart! Via Stéphanie Walter
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The complex task of simplicity — Paul Taylor
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It is human nature to add things, making them more complex. This feels like you’re doing something, but actually you’re probably making the situation worse. We see this in web design. People like adding pages to their websites because it feels productive. But actually, the most effective websites are the ones with fewer, simpler pages. […]
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We’re looking for a PhD student intern to work with us next year. This is an exciting time to join our team, and an opportunity to help us improve high-profile web services like MyEd and the University website.
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We’re looking for a University of Edinburgh PhD student intern to work with us next year. This is an exciting time to join the Website and Communications team, and an opportunity to help us improve high-profile web services like MyEd and the University website. Take a look!
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I was in a meeting once where someone pitched a really unrealistic idea. I don’t remember the details exactly. But let’s assume this idea depended on pigs being able to fly…
I was in a meeting once where someone pitched a really unrealistic idea. I don’t remember the details exactly. But let’s assume this idea depended on pigs being able to fly. “But how will the pigs fly?”, we asked. “Oh, we’ll have an algorithm.” “OK… But, we don’t understand how the algorithm make the pigs […]
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Facebook is secretly using your iPhone’s camera as you scroll your feed — Mix — The Next Web
I’m sure there’s not a perfectly innocent explanation for this.
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The handy list of human words — Deanna Horton — Curiosity by Design
Useful for those who like to write in plain language.
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The term “responsive web design” has failed — Frances Berriman
Those words (originally from a slide by Alex Russell) may seem rather provocative. But it is a fair reminder that design isn’t just about how it looks. In this case, most people (including, at times, myself) have fallen foul of the trap described here. That of thinking that setting a few breakpoints for smaller screens […]
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Agile is not a solved problem — Sam Hogarth — Scott Logic
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A reflection on the Agile Manifesto, 18 years on, “making it old enough to drink in pubs”. The point about the “subtle use of language” in the original Agile Manifesto particularly resonated with me. When you read it, its simplicity is striking, and it’s actually difficult to disagree with any of it. The problem is, […]
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Why much of the internet is closed off to blind people — James Jeffrey — BBC News
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The most notable thing about this article is the sorry list of weak excuses offered up by businesses who can’t be bothered to make their websites accessible. “…a blind person can always ring Domino’s toll-free number and order that way…” Why should they have to? “…there is no clear objective guidance on what constitutes an […]
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The flow — Simon Wilson
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Self-checkout machines may seem like an easy target for critcism. But there’s a really interesting point here about what happens when people get used to a new technology, their flow changes — but the technology hasn’t updated to adapt to people’s new behaviour. Happens all the time — people are used to these things but […]
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It would be great if smart replies were actually smart
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It would be great if smart replies were actually smart.
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I’m doing a couple of talks this week. They are both about the user research we’ve been doing for the Learn Foundations project
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I’m doing a couple of talks this week. They are both about the user research we’ve been doing for the Learn Foundations project. This evening I will be presenting at the Edinburgh UX monthly meetup. It’s a friendly meetup and it’s free, so do come along if you’re interested. Then on Wednesday I’ll be presenting […]
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BBC not so sound
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Radio broadcasters are battling each other to be the Netflix of radio. None of them seem to have asked themselves why any of their listeners would want that.
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Readability vs creativity: a false choice? — Lauren Pope — La Pope
Why “brand voice” or creativity shouldn’t stop you making your content readable and accessible. …a brilliant brand voice isn’t brilliant if it isn’t readable and accessible to all.
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Why bother with What 3 Words? — Terence Eden
What3Words may have a good publicity operation, but as Terence Eden points out here, there are many problems with it. It’s not open, it’s difficult to work across languages, and at times it’s even culturally insensitive. There are better alternatives. Such as the globally recognised co-ordinates system. Or, as noted by Dave Hulbert on Twitter, […]
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I have now implemented a dark mode for this website
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I have now implemented a dark mode for this website. Many operating systems are now offering dark mode as a preference. If you have dark mode switched on, this website now displays in a fetching darker colour scheme. Media queries to the rescue!
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The birth of Inter — Carmel DeAmicis — Figma
I’ve been using the Inter typeface on this blog (and other things) for 1½ years now.* I love it. Rasmus [Andersson, the designer of Inter] did some research and experimentation and eventually realized there was no free, high-quality text typefaces for computer UIs. That felt backwards to him given how type heavy many UIs are. […]
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Is there a way to force all mobile apps to open web URLs in my actual browser of choice, instead of the crappy WebView they make you use?
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Is there a way to force all mobile apps to open web URLs in my actual browser of choice, instead of the crappy WebView they make you use? This is one thing I am truly fed up with now.
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Apple contractors ‘regularly hear confidential details’ on Siri recordings — Alex Hern — The Guardian
Apple contractors regularly hear confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex, as part of their job providing quality control, or “grading”, the company’s Siri voice assistant, the Guardian has learned. Looks like Apple’s big claims on privacy are — like most things from Apple — a superficial marketing line.
