Note — — 68 words

Technology — User experience

I have a problem with cutesy copy, particularly when it comes to error messages. I understand that they are trying to be friendly and personable, but it’s usually not what the user wants or needs. Often, a friendly error message just leads to more confusion.

Dialogue box: "Well, this is embarrassing. Firefox is having trouble recovering your windows and tabs. This is usually caused by a recently opened webpage."

Take Firefox’s “well, this is embarrassing”.

I was once asked for advice about this error message.

“Should I be embarrassed?”, I was asked.

Article — — 817 words

Technology

Google has never quite worked with social media. After buying Blogger, it never seemed to know what to do with it. Then there were the high-profile flops Google Buzz and Google Wave. It was tempting to think that the mighty Google had lost touch completely while Facebook and Twitter gain more ground all the time. […]

Article — — 629 words

Technology

Is there anything more annoying than those security questions you need to login to certain websites? I cannot understand how they are supposed to make websites more secure. I understand that passwords can be cracked and the security question is a safety net. But let’s face it. All the advice on passwords is that they […]