Note — — 68 words

Media

Can publishers just please stop it with all this video? I just declared bankruptcy on the long list of videos I told myself I was going to watch.

Probably only about 20% of links I click are worth my time. With videos, there is no good way of scanning to find out. You just have to sit through it to find out — by which time it’s too late.

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.

Note — — 67 words

Personal

Hello there. Trying to get to grips with this Blogger stuff. I think I’ve got it now. Anyway, this all should be added to the main page very shortly, so look out.

Now playing: “Incunabula” (Autechre).