Catch My Fame » Rants http://www.catchmyfame.com A web designoper's journal Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:18:52 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Things that Google has recently changed that have pissed me off http://www.catchmyfame.com/2011/11/02/things-that-google-has-recently-changed-that-have-pissed-me-off/ http://www.catchmyfame.com/2011/11/02/things-that-google-has-recently-changed-that-have-pissed-me-off/#comments Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:34:08 +0000 admin http://www.catchmyfame.com/?p=941 (In no particular order)

Stopped support and development of their toolbar for Firefox
Maybe it’s the cynic in me, but I have to believe that this was done to get more people to switch to Chrome. I mean why else would they do this? The only public mention of this by Google says that Firefox now has most of the toolbar’s functionality built-in to the browser. Well sure, if you take the time to install a bunch of add-ons and create new bookmarks.
Removed the plus (+) as a search modifier
It used to be that when you required a word or phrase in a search term, you could just slap a + in front of it (e.g. don’t be +evil). In what looks like a move related to pushing Google+, Google has removed this functionality and now requires you to place quotes around any words or terms you require (e.g. don’t be “evil”). Google says that this is an improvement but I disagree.
Changed the look and functionality of Google reader
I don’t really care about the social features of Google Reader changing (I never used them), and Google shifting them to be more integrated with Google+, but I don’t like the new look. I’m sure I’ll get used to it in time, but what’s the deal with this new weird spacing they’re introducing? Did everyone at Google get giant new monitors to work with?
Changed the look of Gmail
Ug, see above. I’ve used Gmail since day one. Thankfully the functionality hasn’t changed, but like Google Reader the look has. Again, what’s up with the spacing? And the themes? I used Gmail’s “shiny” theme and have grown attached to it. Guess what? The new version of Gmail doesn’t have a theme that looks as good, or uses my screen real estate as efficiently. C’mon Google, get some folks with an eye for design involved and stop letting the engineers control everything.
Developed a social network that still doesn’t interest me
Once Google+ opened to the masses I tried it. Now mind you I don’t use Twitter or Facebook, so this move took some extra effort on my part. But I figured since I use most of Google’s other services that this might be for me. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be. After a few days I stopped checking my plus “stream” and don’t miss it. If I want people to know something, I’ll publish it here. If I want a select group of folks to know something, I’ll email them. I also have a hard time with the layout and the never-ending stream of data from other people without some way to filter it. Seems like a lot of noise gets through and I already have a had enough time getting through all my RSS feed items and emails in a day.
Shut down Google labs
Google labs was a cool place to check out some of the more abstract idea Google had. Granted a lot of projects in the labs never made it out of beta, but it was a place to go to see what might be coming next. As John Dvorak put it, “This is a disaster for users. I can see no real rationale for turning off the labs and re-distributing all the cool and nifty programs and projects that are found all over the site. To me, this is Google pulling a Yahoo.”
Changed the look of the search results page so that the right half of the page has a gaping hole for more page information
Let me say that I like having the ability to preview sites before visiting them, but why did the company that revolutionized slick web interfaces (e.g. Google Maps) come up with such an ugly preview feature? When you’re not using it, half of the screen is  empty. Huh? This is the best that Google could come up with? Oh, and while I’m  talking about search results, why haven’t they restored the ability to have more than 10 results per page? Ever since Google instant came out, that option has been dead.

Things they’ve done recently that I’m pleased with

Forced SSL for searches
About time. Now only Google knows what I’m looking for instead of my ISP and anyone else within packet sniffing distance.
Killed Google buzz
How long did this one need to limp along before someone put it out of its misery?
]]> http://www.catchmyfame.com/2011/11/02/things-that-google-has-recently-changed-that-have-pissed-me-off/feed/ 1 Thought of the Day: Fixed position elements are the 2011 equivalent of 1990′s frames http://www.catchmyfame.com/2011/02/18/thought-of-the-day-fixed-position-elements-are-the-2011-equivalent-of-1990s-frames/ http://www.catchmyfame.com/2011/02/18/thought-of-the-day-fixed-position-elements-are-the-2011-equivalent-of-1990s-frames/#comments Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:10:01 +0000 admin http://www.catchmyfame.com/?p=782 More and more I’m seeing the use of fixed positioning in websites to the point of it becoming a distraction. Let me give you two examples. First, the New York Times. Unfortunately I can’t give you a link because this example involved an ad, and the ads on the Times’ pages are dynamic. But what I saw today involved a large ad in the right sidebar of an article that at first glance looked normal. Then I began reading the story and like a normal person I had to scroll down the page to continue. As I did, the ad scrolled up the page with the text until the top of the ad bumped up against the top of my browser’s viewport, at which point it stopped and decided to hang around. Wtf? I scrolled up and down to make sure something wasn’t wrong and low and behold, the positioning of the ad went from relative to fixed based on whether the ad was going to be scrolled above the viewport or not. It felt a bit like walking down the street, seeing a homeless guy, passing him only to have him get up and start walking next to you until you get to the end of the block. Walk backwards and he still follows.
My other two examples are pretty much the same annoying example of positioning, but here they act exactly like frames. Both the new Twitter layout and the God awful new Gawker network layout (gizmodo, lifehacker, etc.) use a fixed positioned element on the right side of the page. This fixed element is essentially the equivalent of the old frame layouts we saw back in the 1990′s. The content on the left will follow your scroll bar while the content on the right is stuck in place. What’s especially annoying in the Gawker network of sites is that this fixed sidebar takes up valuable screen real estate that would normally be available to content. Collapsing it would be great; unfortunately it’s not an option. I’m sure there are plenty of other examples of this but these were just a recent few that caught my eye. My question is why? Why are Designers doing this? Shitty ad placement aside, let me decide whether I want a fixed sidebar. For you ads I’ll just stick with AdBlock.

]]> http://www.catchmyfame.com/2011/02/18/thought-of-the-day-fixed-position-elements-are-the-2011-equivalent-of-1990s-frames/feed/ 1 What’s Up With the Google Toolbar? http://www.catchmyfame.com/2011/01/25/whats-up-with-the-google-toolbar/ http://www.catchmyfame.com/2011/01/25/whats-up-with-the-google-toolbar/#comments Tue, 25 Jan 2011 14:48:24 +0000 admin http://www.catchmyfame.com/?p=776 The Google toolbar is pretty much the only toolbar I add to my browser.  I’ve used it since it came out but recently I noticed two annoying changes. First, the theme changed and now all my toolbar icons look like they were designed by third graders. With the new pastel colors and soft rounded look the icons feel like something you’d see on Playskool toys. Second, my weather button has been deprecated. This used to be an easy way of getting the current conditions and a three day forecast. WTF?

]]> http://www.catchmyfame.com/2011/01/25/whats-up-with-the-google-toolbar/feed/ 1 Why I Hate Smartphones http://www.catchmyfame.com/2011/01/17/why-i-hate-smartphones/ http://www.catchmyfame.com/2011/01/17/why-i-hate-smartphones/#comments Mon, 17 Jan 2011 17:56:46 +0000 admin http://www.catchmyfame.com/?p=769 Aside from the fact that I believe that cell phone carriers and makers are basically gouging everyone with their high prices and ridiculous monthly fees, wanna know why I really hate smartphones? It’s because now, more than ever, smartphone manufacturers seem to be coming out with new models every week but most of us are locked into two year contracts with no easy way to upgrade. Carriers constantly change their phone lineups as manufacturers come out with the latest and greatest so the phone you buy today may be behind the curve six months from now. Granted the phone you buy today should be more than sufficient to carry you for a couple of years at least, but should some cool new hardware come out months from now you have no way to simply upgrade without incurring some extra costs. WTF? Why can’t the two year contract include changing hardware whenever you like for some very small fee? The carriers still make their monthly vig and by giving customers extra options and flexibility they would probably gain customers which would offset the hardware costs. Plus, it’s not like the big carriers are hurting for money the last time I checked.

iPhone, iOS, Android, Gingerbread, FroYo, Ice Cream, 3G, 4G, 4Gs, LTE, CDMA, EVDO,  Samsung, HTC, Nexus, Motorola, LG, jailbreaking, rooting, how in the cell is anyone supposed to keep up? Obviously the big news in the cell phone business last week was that Verizon got the iPhone and many new smartphones  debuted at CES. This actually affects me since my piece of shit cell phone is approaching three years of age, has a crappy interface, and a battery that lasts about a day between charges. So now I’ll most likely be shopping for a new phone but what in the world do I want? Both iPhone and Android users have devoted followers so trying to find strong, unbiased evidence online of which one to pick is near impossible. Reading phone reviews on tech sites is like listening to nerds debate whether Star Wars was better than Star Trek.

Why can’t cell phone carriers allow you to test drive a phone for a week before you lock yourself into yet another two year contract? When I’m in a store playing with the demo models, I have no idea if I’ll get good reception at home, work, or wherever I go. I can’t tell if with repeated use the phone will slow down or the battery charge will last as long as I need it to. Cell phones have become ubiquitous and are more powerful than ever, yet we’re all stuck with the same ridiculous choices and forced to make guesses when laying out thousands of dollars. How do you feel?

]]> http://www.catchmyfame.com/2011/01/17/why-i-hate-smartphones/feed/ 11 Email – Abandon the Subject Line http://www.catchmyfame.com/2010/11/19/email-abandon-the-subject-line/ http://www.catchmyfame.com/2010/11/19/email-abandon-the-subject-line/#comments Fri, 19 Nov 2010 13:16:52 +0000 admin http://www.catchmyfame.com/?p=746 You may think that emails have a subject line so that you will know what the email is about. You’re wrong. Emails have a subject line so you can ignore them.

Why Do Emails Even Need a Subject Line?

I’m sure the original intent of emails having a subject line was so that the recipient would be able to tell what the message was about before reading it. Kind of a courtesy to ease you into this new technology. However, as I was driving around today I came to the realization that the subject line is no longer used for that. It’s devolved into a way to quickly determine whether to read, ignore until later, or delete an email.

Snail mail, email’s old fashioned, physical world counterpart, doesn’t have a subject line. When you get a piece of mail,  you can (almost always) easily see who it’s from, but there’s no one line summary on the envelopment as to what’s inside. When grandma sends you a letter in the mail, there’s no synopsis printed on the outside that would tell you the contents are really a thank you note for the lovely Spanx you bought her for her birthday (wouldn’t that be useful). Instead, when you get a piece of snail mail, you open it based on who it came from. So while email is considered to be the electronic version of snail mail, it isn’t, but it’s close. Email comes with some extra information that today has very little value. When you receive email, you’ll open/ignore/delete it based on where it came from and not based on the subject line. Oh, and not to go off on a tangent, but forget about importance. Does anyone open email based on what the importance level is?

Pointless Subject Lines

I can’t remember how many emails I’ve received where the subject line is “Hey” or “Re:”, usually because whoever sent it entered nothing in the subject line or entered something meaningless because whatever mail program they were using forced them to enter something. This is just another reason why subject lines are no longer needed. Now you’re probably saying something like, well how can I tell email messages apart from one another if they’re from the same person on the same day if they don’t have a subject line? Well how would you tell a bunch of letters from the same person if you received them the same day? That’s right, you’d organize them. Same for email. Folders, tags, and labels are far better at organizing (gasp!) your email then simply letting them clog up your inbox and relying on the subject lines to differentiate them. It would be nice to be able to rewrite the subject line based on what I thought the real subject of the email was about. Then instead of having an email from Ted in my inbox with the subject of simply “Meeting”, I could change it to “Looking to suck an hour out of your valuable time on Friday, interested?”.

So let’s face facts here. The subject line of email has gone from concise summary to white noise in 20 years. We continue to hold on to this vestigial organ simply because we don’t like having to organize the email we receive. Isn’t it time for something better?

]]> http://www.catchmyfame.com/2010/11/19/email-abandon-the-subject-line/feed/ 2 The Nastiest Coffee I’ve Had In A Long Time http://www.catchmyfame.com/2010/10/21/the-nastiest-coffee-ive-had-in-a-long-time/ http://www.catchmyfame.com/2010/10/21/the-nastiest-coffee-ive-had-in-a-long-time/#comments Thu, 21 Oct 2010 17:08:23 +0000 admin http://www.catchmyfame.com/?p=740 Coffee drinkers tend to stick to the same type of coffee once they find something they like.  I happen to be a Dunkin Donuts fan while my wife likes $tarbuck$. I’m not a heavy coffee drinker by any means; in fact I don’t have more then a half dozen cups a week. I usually just get regular coffee, but today I was in a fall mood and decided to try their new caramel apple latte. Sounded good. I like latte. I like caramel apples. Turns out this was the nastiest coffee I’ve had in a long time. It tasted like someone took a little apple juice and mixed it with strong coffee, added some fake caramel flavor and topped it off with whipped cream. Nasty from start to finish. Not as good as coffee, not as good as apple cider. Not as good as sour milk. I’m not sure what I expetced. Maybe something closer to like $tarbuck$’ caramel apple cider, but as soon as this disgusting concoction hit my lips I nearly did a spit take.

Just my two cents.

]]> http://www.catchmyfame.com/2010/10/21/the-nastiest-coffee-ive-had-in-a-long-time/feed/ 0 Farewell Digg http://www.catchmyfame.com/2010/09/01/farewell-digg/ http://www.catchmyfame.com/2010/09/01/farewell-digg/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:34:28 +0000 admin http://www.catchmyfame.com/?p=662 About a week ago Digg.com unveiled its latest redesign (“version 4.0“) along with some changes in the way the site works. I first noticed this when I went to check Digg’s mobile website and saw that it looked like something was broken. Little did I know that the entire site had changed, and as many people feel, changed was for the worse.

If you’ve never heard of Digg, what Digg originally was was a tech-oriented news aggregation site. Users submitted links to tech stories and stories got dugg up or buried based on their popularity, with the most popular stories making it to Digg’s homepage. In the beginning, Digg only had 14 categories: apple, deals, design, gaming, hardware, links, linux/unix, mods, movies, music, robots, security, software, and technology. It was a great place to learn about and spread news of cool tech stuff. Almost anyone with a link to an interesting story (including me) could get it promoted to the front page. Over the years Digg slowly evolved into more of a social news aggregation site that covered topics other than technology (see below) and along with it’s growth in popularity came abuses to the system. Users found ways to game the system, and advertisers used it as a way to promote their products and services. For the most part, we, the users, of Digg, were able to tolerate the various abuses that crept in. That is up until now.

With the latest release of Digg 4, the site has again changed, however its user base is not happy. In fact, between the site being down frequently with the new release and the Digg system being plagued by submission from it’s main competitor reddit.com, it’s become almost unusable. Popular stories have no relevance as anything is being promoted by a large group of disgruntled members. It’s not possible to set your Digg homepage to a specific category as you could in the past, upcoming stories are gone (they were gone but have been brought back) and the concept of following other Digg users is now a core part of the new site. As one Digg member put it:

“worst. facebook clone. ever.

i couldn’t care less about “my news” or “my friends bla”. i came to digg.com to see the digg community’s news. i don’t want to subscribe to anything. i’ve been visiting digg.com for the last years at least three or four times a day and always found interesting new stories without having to do all that crap. now, the digg.com frontpage is an emtpy, big mess. i have to klick on “top news” to actually see anything. after clicking on a story, i have to click another time to actually see any comments. that’s at least three clicks more than i needed before. and it sucks. the old digg.com was simple, unique, it was self-explenatory. now i can’t even find the upcoming stories and i feel like i’m on a strange facebook-twitter hybrid. however, i hate twitter and i don’t need more than one facebook.

meh.”

In 2005, Digg’s motto was “What’s Digg? Digg is a technology news website that employs non-hierarchical editorial control. With digg, users submit stories for review, but rather than allowing an editor to decide which stories go on the homepage, the users do”

In 2006 this changed to “Digg is all about user powered content. Everything is submitted and voted on by the digg community. Share, discover, bookmark, and promote stuff that’s important to you!”

Fast forward to today and now the first thing on Digg’s about page is “Better performing ads. Ads on Digg enable you to seamlessly integrate your content and engage everyday users and taste makers as they discover and curate content online.” How times have changed.

Digg seems to have lost its way and the spark of what made it cool in the first place. It’s been drawn into the social networking pool where not everyone enjoys swimming. Digg is now about following people and having them follow you. I may be in the minority here but I truly could care less about following other people. Why should I believe that someone I don’t know who may digg items I like will continue to do so? Why should I care? What originally made Digg great was that it allowed the masses to vote on cool tech news and the most popular ones were easy to find. Now the content is controlled by a small group of fanatical users and the rest of us are now forced to wade through the mire to find something that is of actual interest. Digg’s power users have made it virtually impossible for the average Joe to get a story to the front page, despite Digg’s claims of adjusting their system to help stop this behavior. In other words, where Digg was once a great tool to find interesting news, it has now become the same cesspool that it tried to help its users avoid.

Oh and those basic original news14 categories? Well as of early 2010, they had evolved into:

  • Technology
    • Apple
    • Design
    • Gadgets
    • Hardware
    • Industry News
    • Linux/Unix
    • Microsoft
    • Mods
    • Programming
    • Security
    • Software
  • World & Business
    • Business & Finance
    • World News
    • Political News
    • Political Opinion
  • Science
    • Environment
    • General Sciences
    • Space
  • Gaming
    • Industry News
    • PC Games
    • Playable Web Games
    • Nintendo
    • PlayStation
    • Xbox
  • Lifestyle
    • Arts & Culture
    • Autos
    • Educational
    • Food & Drink
    • Health
    • Travel & Places
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Television
    • Comics & Animation
  • Sports
    • Baseball
    • Basketball
    • Extreme
    • Football – US/Canada
    • Golf
    • Hockey
    • Motorsport
    • Olympics
    • Soccer
    • Tennis
    • Other Sports
  • Offbeat
    • Comedy
    • Odd Stuff
    • People
    • Pets & Animals

And just about a day ago, just after Digg 4.0 rolled out, Digg founder Kevin Rose has announced that he is stepping down as CEO.

On a side note, I just got an email from Digg with the subject, “We’ve Created A Monster – The New Digg Is Here”.  How true.

UPDATE #1: Seems that Digg can’t keep some folks logged in. I’m among those people and it’s beyond annoying to have to constantly login to the site after telling it to remember me and after I cleaned my cookies. This has happened across multiple computers.

UPDATE #2: Top and front page stores have very little comments and diggs. Seems that whatever Digg did to stem the reddit tide killed the way stories got promoted. That or the rats have abandoned the ship.

]]> http://www.catchmyfame.com/2010/09/01/farewell-digg/feed/ 0 Msnbc.com’s Weird Redesign http://www.catchmyfame.com/2010/06/30/msnbc-com%e2%80%99s-weird-redesign/ http://www.catchmyfame.com/2010/06/30/msnbc-com%e2%80%99s-weird-redesign/#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 01:50:59 +0000 admin http://www.catchmyfame.com/?p=631 If you’re a regular visitor to msnbc.com you may or may not have noticed the recent changes to their website. At first it appears as if there were only minor cosmetic changes to the header of the page but upon closer inspection you’ll notice something else – a ridiculous choice of content placement.

The first time you visit the page you see what appears to be a normal home page

Notice that the vertical scroll isn’t at the top of the page? It’s almost imperceptible and in fact, I didn’t notice it for a week. Why does this happen? Scroll up the page and you’ll see that msnbc.com now has a large chunk of content sitting up above what appears to be the normal top of the page. It wasn’t until I saw a link where some of the old navigation used to be that said “Where’s my navigation? We’ve moved it to the top” that I noticed this big change.

So I have to ask why would you redesign a page and place a large chunk of important content up above where the visitor will see when a page loads so that they have to scroll up to see it? This just seems completely counter intuitive to web navigation. Visit a news site and then scroll up to read the headlines? That’s like opening the New York Times and then finding that the top stores section was folded down behind the front page.

Msnbc.com explains this change by saying “We’ve moved the news menu to the top of story pages and made it easier to see what’s happening across the site. When you first get to a story, you’ll see sections and shows displayed across the top of the page. Below is the name of the section you’re in and a search box. Scroll up to see top headlines, slideshows, video and hot topics. Roll over a section name to see more from that section and click on a section name to go there.” Scroll. Roll. Click. Are they serious? Is it just me?

]]> http://www.catchmyfame.com/2010/06/30/msnbc-com%e2%80%99s-weird-redesign/feed/ 1 I Love Google Chrome But It’s Not My Default Browser http://www.catchmyfame.com/2010/05/27/i-love-google-chrome-but-its-not-my-default-browser/ http://www.catchmyfame.com/2010/05/27/i-love-google-chrome-but-its-not-my-default-browser/#comments Thu, 27 May 2010 17:22:54 +0000 admin http://www.catchmyfame.com/?p=618 Google ChromeGoogle released version 5 of Chrome this week which they claim is faster then ever. It also comes with a bunch of other updates like syncing bookmarks and preferences, incognito mode for extensions, and more HTML5 support to name a few. It’s lean, it’s mean and it works great. So why isn’t it my default browser? Glad you asked. In no particular order…

  • No print preview. While this seems like a no-brainer, apparently Google decided it wasn’t needed. No public release of Chrome has had a print preview, although I hear version six is supposed to have it (fingers crossed).
  • No Google toolbar. Really Google? You make the toolbar  and you make a browser, yet you don’t make the toolbar for the browser you make? I love your toolbar and its the only one I use.
  • No sidebar for favorites or history.
  • No way to quickly see an image’s properties. OK, this is a small one but to see an images dimensions or file size you have to either download the image or view it through the element inspector. Too much hassle for such a simple feature.

There may be extensions that solve my issues but I don’t want to use extensions for things that should be a part of the browser. I’m sure I missed a few features that other would like to see built into Chrome, so what is Chrome missing for you?

]]> http://www.catchmyfame.com/2010/05/27/i-love-google-chrome-but-its-not-my-default-browser/feed/ 2 My Smart Phone is a Moron and Pac Man http://www.catchmyfame.com/2010/05/21/my-smart-phone-is-a-moron-and-pac-man/ http://www.catchmyfame.com/2010/05/21/my-smart-phone-is-a-moron-and-pac-man/#comments Sat, 22 May 2010 01:37:36 +0000 admin http://www.catchmyfame.com/?p=613 Why is it that my stupid “smart” phone doesn’t have the brains to dial my own area code when I ‘m outside Verizon’s coverage circle? I work in an office that somehow lies about 100 yards outside Verizon’s coverage, and whenever I try to call a number in my contacts list that I didn’t enter an area code for because it’s the same as the one I live in, my phone replies with a recorded message about dialing a one followed by blah blah blah? Shouldn’t phones now have the ability to know where they are, know that they’re not in a covered area, and then append the area code to any number that doesn’t have on in my contacts? I mean really, it’s only 2010, what should it take to get this right? I hate my phone and I hate cell phone companies. every time I run up against this obstacle first I curse, then I hang up, then I redial. This has gone on for longer than I can remember.

Moving on, today is the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man. Shit I feel old. I grew up on Pac-Man. Google acknowledged this by adding a sweet Pac-Man game to their generic home page so check out google.com (don’t use the personalized version) for an awesome JavaScript version of the game. Here’s a tip, hit “insert coin” twice to add ms. pac-man to the game and have two players clear the board.

Oh and in case you missed it, Google unveiled a sweet step forward in the web fonts arena with a simple way to use non-standard fonts in your site. Check out http://code.google.com/webfonts for the full run down and some examples. If you ask me, while this is cool and could be quite helpful, I still think that this whole web fonts thing is still too open ended. There are far too may way to try and get fonts to render properly in most browsers and all these solutions and workarounds just fee like they’re skirting the real issue which is being able to use any font on the web. The font foundries fear that they’ll lose money from designers and developers using fonts on sites and visitors being able to download them and then publish their own magazines with them without paying for them. The whole thing just feels kludgy and unnatural and that includes Google’s solution.  There’s got to be a better way.

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