racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

I’ve been using my Nokia E51’s browser extensively since I acquired the phone a few months back. It lets me check emails, post blog entries, and even read my feeds while mobile. I can do this both thru WiFi hotspots or even via 3G/GPRS. My old LG had a browser, too, but the phone was simply too, well, simple for my growing needs. I installed Opera Mini on the LG and it made a big difference in terms of functionality.

And so having grown quite bored of the same old Nokia browser I use everyday, I decided to install Opera Mini. The diminuitive browser is well-praised for its speed and ability to render pages nicely on small screens.

However, I do have issues with speed. I don’t know if it’s a limitation on the part of my phone, or the software itself. Frankly, I find that Nokia’s built-in browser is just faster in most cases. From startup, to loading pages, to the general responsiveness of the interface.

I guess this is how it is with built-in software vs. add-ons.

Am I alone here?

I’ve stuck it out with Bloglines even when there were other RSS readers touted to be more cool (okay, I also used Vienna when I used my Powerbook as my main work machine). Even though the interface was a bit dull, I found beauty in the simplicity (and the lack of snazzy AJAXy effects).

Now, Bloglines has redesigned and has released its new features and interface as a beta.

Why I like it:

• Drag and drop reorganization of feeds
• Feeds are marked as read when they are actually shown in the window, not when the whole page is loaded (meaning you might have missed those posts at the bottom of the page)
• Quick switch to quick and full views
• Less page refreshes
• Seems spiffier, overall. Not like Google reader which takes forever to load.

Bloglines plasn to release this new version in full before the year ends. You can try the beta yourself by logging in to beta.bloglines.com—use your existing Bloglines login!

[via 901am]

There are a few ways to effectively get people to notice and read your blog, and that includes being all snarky, downright funny, satirical, or truly informative, like some bloggers I know. These people have a way with words such that their writings can really drive deep into your soul or your sensibilities. Most of the time you’ll end up laughing your guts out. That’s unless you’re the unfortunate victim of snarkiness or if you end up the butt of all jokes. In this case you will probably get annoyed—unless it’s all written in good faith, that is.

Sometimes you’ll scratch your head, asking yourself why didn’t I think of that?

And I think this last one is good.

Discussion vs. Readership

I’d prefer to quantify and qualify attention better through the number and relevance of comments that blog posts get rather than just the raw number of pageviews for that entry. Why? Sure, you may get a lot of readers loading up your articles. But unless you can get a good discussion going from your post then there’s probably something wrong, which can be any one of the following.

• Your blog software or design is crappy and people are having a hard time submitting comments.
• Your post is worth the few seconds of reading, but that’s about it.

When readers talk back, it means they like what you’ve written and would like to contribute their two cents’ worth. This means your blog post is worth ranting or raving about or on. At the very least this would mean that your readers feel proud to tell the rest of the world that they read your blog!

Style and Substance

However, it’s usually not enough to be just funny, snarky, or satirical. Sometimes this kind of writing might be interpreted as being attention-seeking or bordering on despair, with the writing’s or the blog’s raison d’être being just that—to seek attention. Your writing should be backed with substance in order to be truly worth reading and writing about.

Here are a few tips I can offer from what I’ve learned in the course of my pro-blogging. Let’s not focus on picking themes or niches for your blogs for the meantime, and let’s narrow in on writing one single blog post. Pretty soon you might want to apply this to each and every blog post you write.

1. Pick an interesting topic and learn all there is to know about it. This may be a current event or a hotly-contested issue. But I think it’s best to be unique and try to zero in on something no one else is noticing, but you know you can write effectively about. Be creative.
2. Make a strong point and take a stand. If you will just echo what everyone else in the blogosphere is saying then your post is probably not worth the fuss. True, it may make for good reference, but that’s just about it. Express your opinion and express it clearly, concisely, and unequivocally. Speak up.
3. Write with conviction and confidence. Readers love it when they see someone expressing their own opinion and doing so with passion. You are more likely inspire your readers to do the same. Move mountains.
4. Invite discussion. Your readers would hate it when you shoot down each and every dissenting comment on your posts. Agree to disagree. Welcome even the people who don’t share your own opinions. Talk and talk back!

Controversy is good

I’m of the opinion that a blog is only half-complete without active discussion from its readers. This is why I’d rather allow commenting without moderation and clean up spam post-fact—those that slip through spam filters at least. I’m thankful for all of you who have been actively posting here. I’m actually also happy that the J Spot has had a higher comment-to-post ratio since I moved from i.PH to my own hosted WP installation. Somehow my old design, layout and blog software were just not comment-friendly. I’ve changed the format of my blog, too, since then. I’ve focused on writing more substantial material rather than just simple “read this, this is cool,” posts.

Here’s a case I’d like to highlight my point with. A few days ago, I wrote on FG about something I read up regarding Wikipedia (as pointed out to me by Corsarius). I made some strong assertions, and I drew some flak from commenters who thought otherwise. They had good points—some probably better or more valid than mine. But I chose to take a stand. True, I downplayed some points by responding with humor, but that’s to entertain the dissenters and not turn them off.

Controversy is good. And it’s even better when you have great arguments to back up each and every side. That’s how you can blog and get noticed!

Do check out the campaign site of a certain Eric J. Gunderson from Montana, who’s running for a seat in the US House of Representatives this year. I commend whoever developed and designed Mr. Gunerson’s site for the great concept and design. Remember, folks, this is 2006 we’re talking about here. According to the DIGG link, it’s the awesomest campaign site, ever!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you YOUR next congressman from Montana. All done with CSS positioning—but with vintage mid-90’s flavor and an authentic myspace aftertaste. Take note of the wicked LP-rip that loops on the homepage. I hope he wins!

Here’s a screencap:

It’s the 1990’s all over again. Heh!

I remember my old homepages (here and here, and old J Spot writeup here).

And who could forget my sister’s old homepage and high school class homepage?

Warning: looping MIDI alert!

Ah, the good old days!

Here’s what I think about designing for usability. Design your product / service / software / website with the stupid person in mind. I assure you then, that your site will be the ultimate in usability!

Of course by design, I do not mean only style, which only pertains to the aesthetic aspects of design. Design is everything about the functionality, aesthetics, and concept behind any creation.

Make things as simple as possble. Make things as usable, intuitive, and uncluttered as possible, with the stupidest of people possible in your mind. That’s unless you’re designing an aircraft control panel—but still, you have to remember that your pilot should be comfortable with controls lest you want him to crash the plane.
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It takes more effort to design with usability in mind than just putting in all the bells and whistles in one place. For one, you may have to trim down your work reasonably—in some cases, you may have to hold off on that cool feature you’d been working on for months. And in most cases, it boils down to only keeping the basic stuff (or at least reserving/hiding the snazzy stuff only for advanced users to explore). What’s important, after all, is that your creation works the way it’s intended to, and that your user won’t have to read hundreds of pages of instructions to learn how to work things.

I’m of the opinion that if something is well-designed (hopefully elegantly-designed, too), then there should be no reason for the user to RTFM.

Check it out at ForeverGeek. I do hope you usability advocates out there would agree with me on this one!