Mojave, a local Vancouver band, has just released their debut album, Stories.
Here's why you should buy it.
Mojave is a great local Vancouver band.
If you support the Vancouver indie music scene (and you should), get behind Mojave. I'm a friend of the singer, and if you give them a listen you'll agree that she's a fantastic vocalist.
Mojave is helping the environment.
From their website:
"mojave is at the forefront of creating a green music scene. their debut album 'stories' is offered exclusively through digital retailers (cds are not recyclable or biodegradable), and all travel made by the band is carbon offset through tree canada. mojave are also members of 1% for the planet and donate a portion of their profits to environmental charities."
Mojave is anti-DRM.
Well, I don't know if that's actually part of their philosophy, but I do know that Stories is available DRM-free, and that's good enough for me.
What else is there to say? This is a mellow, moody album that's perfect for software development. It gets the creative juices flowing. If you don't believe me, try some of the freely available tracks, such as Faultline.
I've got a ton of games to review, so I'm just going to give quick summaries of each.
Review: BlackSite: Area 51
(2.5 / 5 stars)
An excessively short and mediocre shooter that's saved by a few excellent set pieces.
Review: Crysis
(4 / 5 stars)
The only thing keeping Crysis from true greatness is the system requirements, which are so steep that they render the game almost unplayable.
Review: Mass Effect
(5 / 5 stars)
Easily the most engrossing RPG I've played in a long time. Although it's got some irritating bugs and gameplay imbalances, the story is so engrossing that you'll have trouble putting it down.
Ideas fly fast and furious at Vitrium, and we're always torn about which features should make the cut into our next version. Most other software companies are in the same boat. So how, then, do you determine how new features will affect your application's usability?
Here are some of my usability philosophies. Applying these heuristics has helped me make the right decisions with docmetrics. Before you add a feature to your application, I encourage you to ask yourself if it's in line with these principles.
Usability and simplicity are one and the same.
Keeping your application simple almost guarantees a high degree of usability. I'm working on a theory that usability is basically just another way of looking at simplicity.
So what is usability's worst enemy? Complexity. The more complex your application is, the worse its usability.
Many times you'll be pressured by clients or internal forces to add a new feature to your application. Most of the time, this is because a small faction - sometimes even a single person - wants or needs that feature. Sure, adding that feature may placate that one faction, but it increases your application's complexity, which is a disadvantage to everyone else.
If a feature would add significant complexity to your system, you might want to omit it. It's almost always better to reduce complexity, even if it means fewer features. Most users would prefer to use a simple system that does 80% of what they want, as opposed to a complex system that does 100% of what they want.
If you absolutely need more complexity, you may want to consider using tiered complexity.
Every screen element you add takes attention away from the others.
This is an important rule that applies to all aspects of interface design. Every element you add makes the others less noticeable. If you're trying to guide your users down a particular path (which you usually are), you'd do well to avoid cluttering your screens with elements.
Your most important action on any screen should always be the most visually obvious. The easiest way to make an item visually obvious is to remove all the others. So any item that isn't necessary on a page should either be removed or downplayed.
There's usually no such thing as an "advanced user."
All users are inherently simple. That doesn't mean they're stupid; it just means they have better things to do than reverse engineer your interface.
If you're adding a feature "for the advanced user," you should consider axing it. Very rarely are there legitimate "advanced users" for a product. There's the target market, and then there's everybody else. Everything your target market needs to achieve should be handled simply. If a particular task is very complex for your application and requires an extra interface for the "advanced user," there's a very good chance that those users just aren't part of your target market.
Rather than bloating the application with features that only a fraction of your users would need, you'd be better leaving them out.
Help text is unnecessary.
That's right. Not undesirable, but unnecessary. Help text is usually used as a band-aid fix to poor interface design. Help text is a crutch that designers rely on when their interface is too complex to speak for itself.
The truth is that nobody reads the help, so why even bother? As a rule, I try to avoid writing help text as much as possible. I do this not out of laziness, but out of discipline: if my interfaces are sufficiently well designed, they shouldn't require extensive instruction.
Usability is not the most important thing to your users.
Don't get too caught up in usability. Superior service is the most important thing any company can provide to its users. Sometimes talking someone through a problem on the phone is more helpful than a good interface.
Whenever possible, use your application to solicit feedback from your users. Make them part of the development process. A good interface may lead to user satisfaction, but good support leads to user commitment. If your users feel actively involved in the development of your product, you'll both be happier.
Xbox 360 and wireless "Extender Not Found" Media Center issues
(December 4th, 2007 - 2:20PM)
I finally bought an Xbox 360. Not so much for the games (although Mass Effect is awesome), but for the Media Center capabilities.
Since I have Windows Vista Ultimate, my PC acts as a Windows Media Center. The Xbox 360 can then act as a Media Center Extender, meaning that I can stream movies from my computer to my Xbox 360. Then I can watch them on my TV instead of my monitor. This is incredibly handy, as I download most of the shows I watch.
I did encounter wireless problems while setting up my 360. I kept receiving an "Extender Not Found" error on my 360 when attempting to connect to my Media Center PC. This was despite the fact that my PC could see the 360 on the network, and Xbox Live worked fine.
But I found the problem: I had both my 360 AND my Vista Media Center PC connected wirelessly to my router. Microsoft says that it's fine to connect your 360 wirelessly, but recommends that you use a wired connection for your Media Center PC. What I didn't realize is that this isn't really a "recommendation." It's a requirement. If your PC is using a wireless connection, there's a good chance that it will fail to sync up with your Media Center Extender.
So a word to the wise: If you're getting an "Extender Not Found" message on your 360, make sure your Media Center PC is using a wired connection.
