I was using Microsoft Excel the other day and had that Eureka moment. I typed in a simple formula that had a closing parenthesis but forgot to put an opening parenthesis. An error message popped up and I realized that I have been getting that same error message, for doing the same mistake, ever since I have been using Excel. And even though Microsoft has released several Excel versions along these years, this specific problem has been carried from version to version without getting an elegant solution.
I am pretty sure that the same exact error happens to millions of users every day, and many of them are clueless and do the same thing – they get frustrated, delete the formula that has a minor error and start over.
So, here’s my suggestion to a very simple killer feature – AutoParenth. Excel should automatically add an opening parenthesis whenever it detects that a cell: (a) has a function (first character inside the cell is minus, plus or the equal signs) and (b) it has a closing parenthesis. This feature should be built similar to the AutoCorrect feature to give the users greater control.
If that’s too difficult to implement, Excel should at least provide an informative error message, just like Apple Numbers and Google Docs do. This is such a common error that a specific error message with clear instructions is necessary.
Apple Numbers informative error message.
Google Docs also provides enough information to guide the user.
I hope that someone at the Microsoft Office team will read this post and add this request to their todo list.
Big buzz today around the revamped Flickr mobile site (see TC, RWW, Mashable), their “universal access point for all device types.”, but a simple test that I did on my iPhone shows that the folks at Sunnyvale have missed one important and frustrating issue that mobile users experience daily when accessing Flickr urls.
This is not the first time I write about the fact that a direct link to an image does not load in its mobile version. The solution is so simple, that I am amazed no one at Flickr caught this while building the new version. All they have to do is detect the UserAgent and in the case it is of a mobile browser, change “www.flickr.com” to “m.flickr.com”. A simple manual test proves it is working.
So from now and until it gets fixed by the Flickr folks, you can use this manual hack and edit the url in safari’s address bar whenever you get a link (via email or twitter) to a Flickr image.
flickr-on-iphone-manual-hack
It seems like there are mixed feelings about this new feature. I like it though. Why? Because it allows a video viewer to avoid the need of visiting YouTube.com to search for videos, and it keeps that users for a longer session on the sites he is on. Just like Snap Shots!
Yahoo did more than just putting a custom logo for Halloween today. They also released a new homepage, currently visible probably to a small percentage of users. Lucky me…
The new home page is much cleaner and lighter that the previous one. The focus is put on search (note the yellow halo around the search bar), user’s personalized applications (mail, weather, stocks, movies, local events, etc.) and news.
A few changes to highlight:
1. Bye-bye red logo. The home page logo is also wearing purple.
2. Bye-bye white background. Say hello to the blue-gray gradient frame around the page’s content.
3. The “My Applications” box was moved to the left and increased. When you click on an application, a slider opens to the right to provide a large preview area.
4. A few boxes that existed on the old page are gone (Marketplace, Small Businesses, Today’s top searches). This helps reduce the noise and put focus on the key services – search, applications and news.
Here are couple of screen shots of the new page. More photos here.
and the old page with Halloween logo…
I am trying out a new service called PodiPodi, a command line interface for a website inspired by Enso from Humanized. Not sure yet how valuable it is, and how frequent it will be used, but I like the concept & interaction.
To try it press Shift+Space to start. Then, type a command and watch the results. For list of commands, type “Help”
Like? Dislike? Leave your feedback in the comments section.
According to Flickr Camera Finder, the iPhone is the most popular cameraphone users use to post photos to their Flickr accounts. Not that a surprise given the iPhone’s popularity and how easy it is to upload photos direct to a flickr account via email or one of the native iPhone application.
So, if Flickr is so popular among iPhone users, how come Flickr has not optimized their site for the iPhone? It is really annoying to recieve direct links to Flickr images (I get those mainly via Twitter) and see that they resolve to non-optimized pages.
In case Flickr is looking for inspiration, they should take a look at Picasa’s optimized interface for the iPhone. One thing I wish Picasa would take from Flickr is the ability to upload via email. Picasa could only benefit from this feature and see a spike in photo uploads, just like Flickr saw.
A few weeks after Israeli Dov Moran introduced the Modu at 3GSM Barcelona and teased Nokia, the Finish goliath reacted by releasing concepts of their future phone called Morph, a nanotechnolgy device that was jointly developed by Nokia Research Center (NRC) and the University of Cambridge (UK). The new concept is being displayed these days at MoMA NY.
Unlike the real & operational Modu, the Morph is still a paper prototype, although it has some very cool & innovative ideas (see video).
How soon can these get implemented?
Categories: Mobile, Usability Tags: 3GSM, Dov Moran, Elastic Design, Mobile Phones, Modu, MoMA, Nanotechnology, Nokia Morph, Nokia Research Center (NRC), University of Cambridge
I like the new “Recent Readers” widget MyBlogLog released. The glossy design shaped as an iPhone, the simple configuration process (less is more) and the ‘flyouts’ – those little nuggest of information about a reader that appear when you point to a member, very much like Snap Shots.
Check out the new widget on the right sidebar of this blog.
A few weeks ago I criticized the language inconsistency and other bugs that existed on the Apple Israel web site. It’s time to follow up and see whether things have improved:
- If you just look at the home page, then yes, the site feels more localized to Hebrew speakers. The top navigation bar uses more Hebrew labels than in the past. However, the experience across the site is still inconsistent. The home page (and many other pages on the site) serves as a simple launch pad since many of the links take the user to apple.com.
- The support section has improved and contains plenty of content in Hebrew including quick starts, PDF guides, FAQ and more.
- There are still annoying bugs that I don’t expect to find on an official Apple site, such as linked “Store coming soon” image that leads nowhere, or problems with Safari for Windows (as I wrote in the previous post).
Last note – In the past few weeks, some of the top search keywords that led traffic to this blog were “apple Israel” and “apple.co.il”. I expect this to increase when iDigital starts selling the iPhone, MacBook Air and other products. I wonder when will Rami Prashove, the owner of apple.co.il, get an offer he won’t be able to refuse.
If you are interested in user interface design and usability, I recommend reading these:
I am pretty sure that the same exact error happens to millions of users every day, and many of them are clueless and do the same thing – they get frustrated, delete the formula that has a minor error and start over.
