Thursday, May 15th, 2008
Typesites has reviewed sixteen websites with interesting typography so far, and it’s come time to reevaluate what the site is now that its had some time to settle and evolve. Four months may not seem like a terribly long time, but since the idea behind the site was relatively fresh I had no idea how it would be received, or used. Thankfully, the site has proven quite popular, and I’d like to take the chance to thank everyone who has taken the time to stop by. I’m extremely grateful for all the wonderful emails, comments, and guest authors; without you the site wouldn’t be possible. Cliché, I know, but it’s true.
I’m working on some updates to the design, as what exists currently was a bit rushed and doesn’t quite accomplish the goals that it should. To make use of the opportunity, this is a good time to add additional features as well—reviews still being the focal point of the site. As Typesites exists by and large from its readers and guest authors I think it’s only appropriate to ask you what type of content you would like to see on there.
So I’ll keep this short and sweet. What do you love about Typesites? What do you dislike? How would you feel about a side-blog that spotlights web typography techniques? How else can the site be improved? The floor is yours…
Posted in Design, Personal, Typography | 22 Comments »
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
I was extremely excited today to receive an email from Clearleft that I had been selected to be a beta tester for their new application, Silverback. Silverback is a user testing application for Macs only that makes use of the hardware available to create a pseudo-user testing environment on demand.
I ran a few tests on coworkers this morning using the application and was simply blown away by its ease of use and useful features. Within 60 seconds I had my first project setup, my first user profile created and was running a test of Clockwork’s products. The most exciting part came when I ended the first test and exported the Quicktime movie file that was created.
Opening up the movie I was greeted by a full scale representation of my desktop, along with a picture-in-picture view of the user in the lower right hand corner. The application recorded everything that the webcam could see for facial reactions as well as audio from my Macbook Pro’s built in microphone. The screencast of the entire desktop allowed for me to watch what the user was doing as well as reported any clicks with small overlaid circles.
This type of basic user testing functionality built into my laptop and organized neatly in one application simply blew me away. It’s a great substitute for anyone without a dedicated testing lab (which few small scale companies have available), and even if you do have one; it makes for an awesome portable test station, no extra cameras or one way mirrors needed.
I’ll be posting more about my beta experiences in the near future, but it would be suffice to say that Silverback will be a must have application for anyone working on creating websites or interfaces for web applications. Since it allows for full desktop usage I’m sure it would also be super useful for anyone testing desktop applications as well.
For the latest on Silverback, you can follow the Silverback Twitter Account.
Enjoy the screenshots! Click them to view a larger version on Flickr:
Posted in Design, Personal, Usability | 24 Comments »
