Mulberry: Tribute to the Greatest E-mail Program of All Time

Posted on May 21st, 2008 by Chris.
Categories: Chris, General/Misc., Product Design, Programming, UI Design.

For years I have used and loved Mulberry, perhaps the best e-mail client in existence. So I was greatly saddened to hear that Cyrusoft, the company behind Mulberry, declared bankruptcy a year ago.

[more (full article)]

I was just as much shocked as dismayed. Mulberry was hawked by so many colleges that I assumed its destiny was all but sealed. College students, as early adopters, would all be exposed to Mulberry and see how wonderful it was, and they’d take it to their jobs, promoting an almost viral spread.

I guess the Thunderbird/Outlook duopoly was just too strong for Cyrusoft to handle. However, all is not lost, as Mulberry is available for free now.

Let’s take a look at all the wonderful features of this program! (full article)

[originally started a long time ago]

0 comments.

Today I failed my Turing Test

Posted on April 27th, 2008 by Chris.
Categories: Chris, Product Design, Thinking Outside the WTF.

Captcha

1 comment.

Where Do Choices Come From?

Posted on March 20th, 2008 by Chris.
Categories: Chris, General/Misc., Tim, UI Design.

[14:38] Me: http://headrush.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/04/06/featuritis.jpg
[14:38] Gas: lmao
[14:38] Gas: funny thing about the downslope
[14:39] Gas: the problem is that[sic] the features aren’t discoverable
[14:39] Gas: in my mind though, that’s a solvable problem
[14:39] Gas: the real problem
[14:39] Gas: is that the more features you have, the more spread your engineering effort is
[14:39] Gas: testing, bugfixes, etc.
[14:39] Me: hmm
[14:39] Me: i think they’re both part of the problem
[14:39] Gas: the first problem is an essentially UI problem
[14:40] Gas: in theory, i think all UI problems can be solved
[14:40] Me: why?
[14:40] Gas: if a person can explain what they want to do, and assuming that feature exists, then a person should be able to explain to a computer what they want to do
[14:40] Gas: this is of course at a very theoretical level
[14:41] Me: a person can’t always explain what they want to do
[14:41] Gas: that’s a requirement
[14:41] Me: ?
[14:41] Gas: if they can’t explain what they want, they aren’t going to get it no matter what
[14:41] Gas: so it doesn’t matter whether the feature exists or not
[14:42] Gas: unless we know what they’re going to want and tell them what they want
[14:42] Me: it’s like a menu
[14:42] Gas: feature != menu item though
[14:42] Me: i may want duck a la’range
[14:42] Me: but not know what i want
[14:42] Me: infinite features are possible in a restaurant
[14:42] Gas: duck a la’range?
[14:42] Me: idk
[14:42] Me: it was in a sbemail
[14:42] Me: i forget which
[14:42] Gas: lol
[14:42] Me: anyways
[14:43] Me: i could tell the chefs what i want and how it should be made
[14:43] Me: but, for whatever reason, that doesn’t work except for chefs (programmers)
[14:43] Me: alternatively, i could have a menu with every conceivable item
[14:43] Me: but that’s ridiculous - the menu would be 1 billion pages
[14:43] Me: so the menu has a limited selection of items
[14:44] Me: and makes it easier for me to find something i want
[14:44] Gas: that’s an interesting analogy
[14:44] Me: it may not be perfect
[14:44] Gas: but
[14:44] Me: but it’s something i like
[14:44] Gas: here’s another analogy
[14:44] Gas: that manages to bind the two
[14:44] Me: ooooooooooh
[14:44] Gas: so you know that gas station
[14:44] Gas: that serves the food
[14:44] Gas: what’s it called?
[14:45] Me: sheetz
[14:45] Gas: thanks
[14:45] Gas: yeah
[14:45] Gas: sheetz goes one step closer to being a chef
[14:45] Gas: rather than a menu
[14:45] Me: sheetz….umm, sheetz has a menu
[14:45] Gas: and there’s no reason it has to be a physical menu being displayed
[14:45] Me: i’ve been there
[14:45] Me: the menu is just a touch screen
[14:45] Me: and instead of asking you if you want pepper
[14:45] Gas: yes, and everything is customizable
[14:45] Me: there’s a pepper checkbox
[14:46] Me: that’s all
[14:46] Gas: ok
[14:46] Gas: now extend that one step further
[14:46] Gas: no explicit menu
[14:46] Gas: but a voice recognition system
[14:46] Gas: “i want a burger with cheese”
[14:46] Gas: adding new features clutters no old features
[14:46] Gas: it’s a UI problem
[14:46] Me: well
[14:46] Me: your UI model works
[14:47] Me: let me try and explain where it differs
[14:47] Me: lets say i’m at a restaurant with no menu
[14:47] Me: i tell the waiter i want a burger
[14:47] Me: i can order whatever i want
[14:47] Me: and there’s no limitation
[14:47] Me: right?
[14:47] Me: but, there IS a limitation
[14:48] Me: where did i come up with this idea of “burger”?
[14:48] Me: from my own head, of course
[14:48] Me: so, we’ve basically moved the set of available actions
[14:48] Me: from a screen, where i don’t have to remember it
[14:48] Me: to my head, where i do
[14:49] Me: the UI will always be simple, since it only does what i want it to do
[14:49] Me: but i’m limited by what i know how to want
[14:49] Me: http://www.bluej.org/mrt/?p=31

0 comments.

Security in UI

Posted on March 15th, 2008 by Chris.
Categories: Chris, General/Misc., Product Design, Programming, UI Design.

One of the most common ways to secure a computer is by using a username/password combination. (In fact, we don’t have to look far to find an example). However, this system is clunky, primarily because it requires you to remember or write down the user name and password for every site (or alternatively use the same password everywhere).

Security is not just about locking down a system from a list of attacks. The way you design a UI dictates how people behave, and people’s behavior is responsible for 90% of attacks. [citation needed] Defaults matter. No one forgets to lock an automatically locking door.

The fact is, while a security system must be set up to prevent hacking attacks, guesswork, and theft, it must also be designed in such a way that leads people to behave more securely. When you have a system where keys are hard to create but easy to copy, naturally, people will end up using the same keys at eBay that they do at Flickr.

The need to “educate users” is an indication of design failure.

2 comments.

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