"When I'm writing, I want to have no distractions, so I removed all of them." When I'm reading it is the same damn thing. You have TWO flashing beacons.
They are super subtle, how are they even remotely distracting?
Codename: Svbtle by Dustin Curtis
111–120 of 164 posts
Re: Codename: Svbtle by Dustin Curtis
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's definitely bad UX. Curtis tries to brush away criticism with his claim that the "kudos" number is "an otherwise meaningless number," but this argument is fatally flawed. Plenty of things that human beings use for social signaling are, when removed from context, technically "meaningless", but within context they can hold plenty of meaning. In the case of Curtis's website, the "Kudos" counter is implied to display…
While I agree, my complaint with it is even simpler: hit refresh and you can ostensibly keep adding kudos without limit. If that's not the case, then it's a UI problem because it doesn't tell you as much. If it is the case, then it certainly removes whatever meaning it has the moment someone starts inflating the count.
The problem is really a combination of the two. People expect kudos to be tracked in a reasonable fashion for the reason that, if the counter exists, it must be taken seriously. The rest of the system is stripped down, leaving people with the impression that whatever is left must be important. This is a false impression, and that's what's disappointing about the feature. Dustin Curtis has taken a serious (read: pretentious) approach to the rest of the site, but he's left the kudos system hanging by a chad.
Re: Codename: Svbtle by Dustin Curtis
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd be interested in running my own single-user version, but I'm sure there'll be a clone by the weekend (if there isn't I'll probably hack one up at my next opportunity).
Please don't copy it just yet. I'm still working out the problems and polishing the interactions. When they're all ironed out, I'll open it to the public.
Ah, I wasn't under the impression that this would become public - I wouldn't reproduce something open to others.
Thank you for making something like this a reality - I had a blank-page type editor a while back but didn't have the chops to make it actually usable at the time (hence my interest in recreating this).
Re: Codename: Svbtle by Dustin Curtis
#1141. Kudos Button: Why the controversy? I've always viewed it as a meaningless counter that's fun to hover over. I never took the counts seriously. Sometimes I visit your site just to send arbitrary kudos. What's most concerning about the buttons is the number of readers that feel "victimized," "deceived" or "tricked" from, well...a css element. 2. Svbtle: There are few names I've come across in my career that are as p…
> A good name is a word that you can tell someone over the phone without them asking you how to spell it. Period.
The problem here is that a good name (has become) one that doesn't collide with any popular search terms, and whose URL won't be taken. This is sort of at cross purposes with being easy to spell.
Re: Codename: Svbtle by Dustin Curtis
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
this is a good reminder as to how different visual and user experience design are. just because you can make a pretty design does not automatically qualify you to design useable software.
This may be a UX/Visual issue, but how is it a usability issue?
It breaks discoverability by executing its action /during discovery/.
Imagine if you, using a new web browser, clicked on the "File" menu to see what was there and instead of dropping down a menu, it opened a file browser. In the end not a life-changing or permanent problem, but bad usability problem.
Also, usability is a subset of UX.
Re: Codename: Svbtle by Dustin Curtis
#1161. Kudos Button: Why the controversy? I've always viewed it as a meaningless counter that's fun to hover over. I never took the counts seriously. Sometimes I visit your site just to send arbitrary kudos. What's most concerning about the buttons is the number of readers that feel "victimized," "deceived" or "tricked" from, well...a css element. 2. Svbtle: There are few names I've come across in my career that are as p…
2. Svbtle: There are few names I've come across in my career that are as painful as this one to read, spell or pronounce. Absolutely. I thought that "kiln" was a horrible product name (it still is) but we've set the bar lower with this.
I think Kiln is a brilliant product name for what it is: a source code repo (kilns are designed to hold quantities of things) that encourages peer review (kilns dry or harden things).
Re: Codename: Svbtle by Dustin Curtis
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
2. Svbtle: There are few names I've come across in my career that are as painful as this one to read, spell or pronounce. Absolutely. I thought that "kiln" was a horrible product name (it still is) but we've set the bar lower with this.
So am I the only one who just reads it as 'subtle'?
Nope. How is “subtle, with a V for a U like the Romans” so hard? It does seem very apt for an exclusive blog network.
Re: Codename: Svbtle by Dustin Curtis
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's definitely bad UX. Curtis tries to brush away criticism with his claim that the "kudos" number is "an otherwise meaningless number," but this argument is fatally flawed. Plenty of things that human beings use for social signaling are, when removed from context, technically "meaningless", but within context they can hold plenty of meaning. In the case of Curtis's website, the "Kudos" counter is implied to display…
While I agree, my complaint with it is even simpler: hit refresh and you can ostensibly keep adding kudos without limit. If that's not the case, then it's a UI problem because it doesn't tell you as much. If it is the case, then it certainly removes whatever meaning it has the moment someone starts inflating the count.
I repeated this about a thousand times and he seems to have fixed it ;). Also, he seems to have reverted the count on his unkudos page. Not the actions I would have expected from someone who thought nothing of it.
Re: Codename: Svbtle by Dustin Curtis
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
This may be a UX/Visual issue, but how is it a usability issue?
It breaks discoverability by executing its action /during discovery/. Imagine if you, using a new web browser, clicked on the "File" menu to see what was there and instead of dropping down a menu, it opened a file browser. In the end not a life-changing or permanent problem, but bad usability problem. Also, usability is a subset of UX.
I would agree with you, but this is a blog. You're taking it too seriously.
Re: Codename: Svbtle by Dustin Curtis
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
He's already received complaints and sort of laughed them away: http://dcurt.is/unkudo Personally I think it's bad UX, but what do I know; I'm not Dustin Curtis.
It's easy to call it a meaningless interaction, but it's far from meaningless. He's explicitly breaking an implicit trust between himself and the reader. He's saying "Hey reader, I'm watching you." If you don't think this is a big deal, I invite you to think about a natural extension of this concept: A comment form that sends its entire contents to the server on every keypress.
I wonder how many already do that....