Evan Wiener Online » design

X Marks the Spot

EvanWiener — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 12:10:28 +0000

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told by someone that they have a great idea for a website or app, and they guard it like they know the location of X on the treasure map. An idea’s terrific (well not this one guy’s idea. They already made that and it’s called Facebook).

People think you can just will good products to life, especially software. They undervalue design, development, production, user testing, market research and marketing as being worth less than the idea itself.

Are you passionate, driven and financially supporting this idea with business professionalism or are you just “going to do it one day”? If it’s the latter, your idea is worth $0. Even if it’s a good idea, someone with better planning and effort will make their version better than your version.

Capcom making retro-style original games is a cool trend

EvanWiener — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:05:21 +0000

Capcom’s embraced the era of 8-bit gaming with the release of Megaman 9 and 10, but the stroy of Dark Void Zero takes it a step further. I love the idea to release an original 8-bit Dark Void game to coincide with the PS3/XBox 360/PC release ads a level of clever viral marketing, including a fictional back story that it’s a long-lost NES era original.

The little details of extra effort make it even more interesting.

“Box” art styled like the awful Mega Man NES box art that didn’t at all match the visual style of the games:

They had Bear McCreary (Bear McCreary) do the score of the 8-bit game. and the story behind how he created the music is cool, having rigged a NES to produce that same sound:
http://www.bearmccreary.com/blog/?p=2974

Ironically, the 8-bit game received a better review than the home console one: http://ds.ign.com/articles/106/1066508p1.html

Looking forward to the wider release beyond Nintendo’s DSi digital download service.

Goodbye clog-prone scroll ball

EvanWiener — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:26:12 +0000

Just got one of these from Apple. I still think Logitech makes the best mice on the market, but this feels like a nice upgrade over the Apple (formerly Mighty) Mouse.

Oooh… Oooh… it's MAGIC!

Ars Technica review:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2009/11/you-win-some-you-lose-some-a-review-of-apples-magic-mouse.ars

Apple’s blind spot

EvanWiener — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:35:23 +0000

The Mighty Mouse is just not up to par with the rest of Apple’s hardware design quality. The scroll ball is constantly glitchy, the glossy plastic is not great for precise, non-slip mousing and an old supervisor showed me that Logitech seems to create mice way better. I would love to see this quirky thing replaced before Steve Jobs announces the new iPhone models next week.

Internet Explorer 6 is a jalopy

EvanWiener — Tue, 19 May 2009 02:16:03 +0000

Internet Explorer 6 is the most widely used browser from a Dark Age of stifled innovation, but as of April 09, 17.52% of surfers are still using it. How far down the Information Superhighway will these users need to be before they brake down and finally enjoy the free upgrade to 2006′s version 7 (or even better, IE8)? Not long, apparently. Microsoft has lost a lot of ground, and the future does not look bright for the browser once brought to you at gunpoint. The browser options are becoming more diverse by the year.

I’ve been asked why I haven’t fixed some issues with my site that come up in IE6. I’ve decided that, while I could (and maybe should), I’d like to encourage an IE6 user who checks out this site to come enjoy the tastiness of tabbed browsing and more web standards compliance. Experience the web applications that will change your future, like Gmail and Mobile Me, with unique features made possible by new browsers.

And that’s where cars differ from web browsers. While some classic cars can still be restored and have an elegant beauty and design, justifying a wave of nostalgia, few look back at old computer technology like 5.25″ and 3.5″ floppy drives, read-only CD-ROMs, and dial-up Internet access and think “Wow, I really want to go back there. It was better.”

Nope, those things are jalopies. Wikipedia states: “When a jalopy gets to a state in which its maintenance becomes too expensive, its owner would be required to make a decision about its fate.” IE6 is a resource-guzzling mess and should be retired as soon as possible. It’s becoming too time-consuming and expensive to justify resources used for hacks and fixes. We designers and developers have a responsibility to encourage its demise. Innovation depends on it. Let’s take the hand of IE6 users and pull them out of the Dark Ages.

Get Firefox, Safari, Opera, or at least Internet Explorer 8.

UPDATE: Probably the best solution on how to deal with IE6 style sheets that I’ve seen. I will adopt this method immediately, although I’ve kind of done that already by informing my clients that the site won’t match pixel-for-pixel in IE6. But I won’t ever leave them hanging on the functionality.