Tag web design

Entries 4 Total

Age of Slang, Idea and Design

Jan 29, ’10 3:27 PM

A couple years ago, my friend Don and I had an idea while spending way too long debating the origin of a piece of slang.

The idea:
A crowd-sourced slang dictionary that would let you browse your way back through the history of language’s oddities, define terms, and otherwise waste away a workday. Think Urban Dictionary, but for word-nerds. Here’s my designs of how it would work (click images to see full-size).

This would be the screen you would see at the site, which would be called “Age of Slang” or perhaps “Slang Ages”. The latter of which lends itself to being said as “Slangages”. Give it a try, it’s fun to say. Worth noting on this view are the ability to skip between words (of a similar type? age of creation? letter? who knows), and the ability to add words before and after the word you’re examining.

This is the screen that shows one parent. The phrase “Word” perhaps came from “I Concur”, noting agreement. That’s probably wrong, but it’s just to illustrate the design.

Here I’ve added some interface features:

  • View date of “creation”
  • Close word (eliminates from view if the “stack” gets too high)
  • View descendant/ancestor (not “child” or “parent” which was deemed to be too, well, child-like…)
  • Add descendant/ancestor

Hopefully you can see now how this might work out.

If you click the word (it’s underlined, so it’s got to be a link, right?), you get to see the definition.

And here’s what it would look like if you wanted to add a slang word or phrase. Note the somewhat “angry hipster” instructions.

And here’s the second screen, if you wanted to take credit for your addition to the database.

And I even went so far as to create a footer, with search and a dedicated “add phrase” button.

And explained the joke about “Web Two-Point-Greg”, which Don and I came up with after being annoyed over people saying “Web 2.0″ too frequently. Probably a little too far.

So hey, digital friend! Want to help me out? Care to help build this thing, or at least help me make it real? I think it’s something that the world should have. Urban Dictionary is hardly the proper repository for the world’s slang.

Comments (3)

The Interwebs Presentation

Dec 9, ’08 10:01 AM
The Interwebs

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: internet marketing)

I’m giving this presentation today at a lunch-and-learn at Hoffman York’s Chicago office. I do a lot of talking about the internet, usually in a really unstructured way (which suits me), and I’m looking forward to seeing how I do with some guidelines. Also, my presentations usually get stuffed into the middle of someone else’s presentation, which won’t be the case today. All web, all the time.

You’ll note that there are plenty of:

  • Stolen ideas (thanks, web-friends Paul, Noah and Faris, for much of this. Not sure where to attribute your thinking, but I think there’s a lot of Russell and Iain in there, too, and a bit of Aaron)
  • Screen grabs
  • Big fonts (I am loving DIN right now)
  • Real words

And I have avoided the use of:

  • Jargony words (I think I say user once but “people” sounded funny)
  • TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms)
  • Exclamation points
  • Numbers (60% of the time, it works every time)

Let me know what you think. Thanks to Kevin, Eric and Jen for talking to me about this in advance.

Comments (15)

Design Features I Like: Large Search Boxes

Nov 4, ’08 9:16 AM

Large Search Fields - exitcreative

I’ve noticed some web design features that I’m digging. Primary among these is the emergence of enormous search and data entry fields on some major sites. Sure, big fonts are a sure-fire Web 2.0 design tactic, but extending larger fonts and larger spaces to data entry fields and buttons just makes sense, and people are picking up on it.

Why?

People who design have exceptional mouse skills.

People who use websites do not. Have you ever sat behind your mom while she uses the computer?*

Design for real people. Don’t design for yourself. Nike & MTV are the best examples I could find of rather mainstream companies that are using this feature, while Tumblr & umbrellatoday.com are web-only properties that you’d expect would be on the leading edge.

*No offense, Mom. I wasn’t talking about you. After all, you blog and twitter. Kudos to you.

Comments (6)

3 reasons why I dig the new Flickr

Sep 22, ’08 4:41 PM

Flickr - Snowglobe

I scrolled to the bottom of my Flickr page on my new big monitor, and saw a link.

Psssst! Want a sneak peak at your new homepage?

Um, of course I do.

And this screen came up. It a midi-tastic version of Girl from Ipanema and rained down little Flickr logos with a little message about the redesign. And then the screen went blank. Clearly, Flickr’s designers were taking a cue from the NES games of the 90s. This is how all redesigns should be unveiled.

The New Flickr

Here’s why I dig it:

  1. What a pleasant reveal. From the kitschy music, to the messages, to the screen going blank for a while before the new page came up, everything was on point for the Flickr brand. And…
  2. They didn’t change too much. Facebook’s change was BIG, and sudden. I do like the new Facebook, but they changed a lot of things on a bunch of people, most of whom aren’t that web-savvy.
  3. The changes are smart and probably metrics-driven. The fonts for the key nav elements are bigger, which is easier for most people to use. There’s a subtle link to my stats, which I hardly ever look at. A nice discovery awaits. And more pictures from my contacts, along with placing the important stuff on the left bar. But the whole thing doesn’t look a whole heck of a lot different. Just better and easier. Which leads me to believe that more than a little UX thought went into it.
Comments (1)