This is just too juicy to not share with everyone. Here’s a 2003 email from Bill Gates in which he vents his frustration with the Windows interface…in quite excruciating detail. Epic Bill Gates email rant Throughout the email Gates continually voices his frustration in trying to perform what he thinks should be straightforward tasks. My […]

Continue Reading: Bill Gates upset with Windows Usability

In part I of my interview with Yahoo’s Bryce Glass, Bryce explains the basics of Reputation Systems. In the following part II, Bryce digs deeper into the strategic decisions around patterns, like how to determine which pattern to use and who is using reputation patterns best. 6) So let’s say I’m building a site with […]

Continue Reading: Social Design Patterns for Reputation Systems: An Interview with Yahoo’s Bryce Glass (Part II)

Of all the social software built on the web in the last two decades, none are as important yet as little talked about as reputation systems. Reputation systems have driven the entire business at eBay.com, much of the business at Amazon.com, drives activity at Digg.com, powers the moderation system at Slashdot, etc…and yet for all […]

Continue Reading: Social Design Patterns for Reputation Systems: An Interview with Yahoo’s Bryce Glass (Part I)

As more and more companies “go social”, we’ll see a growing need for well-designed reputation systems.

Continue Reading: 5 ways to improve reputation systems

While it’s easy to imagine negative reviews leading to lost sales, they more often lead to increased sales of good products and increased customer happiness resulting from helping people make smart decisions.

Continue Reading: Why You Shouldn’t be Afraid of Customer Reviews

The mere threat of social interaction changes our behavior…if you know your work is going to be put on public display, you’ll be much more motivated to make it good. There is a moment in every blogger’s life when they realize that yes, other people are going to read what they have to say. Perhaps […]

Continue Reading: Learning 2.0: The Threat (and promise) of Social Interaction

Well, if you’ve never run across one of the wonderful lists of Smashing Magazine, here’s your chance to not only check them out but also win a book in the process. Smashing Magazine is holding a books giveaway that includes the following titles: Transcending CSS by Andy Clarke Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach […]

Continue Reading: Free Books: Smashing Magazine Books Giveaway

In September, I’ll be speaking at the dConstruct Conference in Brighton, England. The conference is billed as the affordable one day conference for people designing and building the latest generation of social web applications. Last year, dConstruct sold out in 6 hours! Several reasons why I’m excited: The topic is social. For Bokardoans, you’ll know […]

Continue Reading: Speaking at 2008 d.Construct

It’s happening slowly, but surely. Design is becoming news. Take the example of Facebook’s recently redesigned Profile pages. Huge news both for the users of the site as well as the developers Facebook is trying to court. The design decisions made in and around the profile are paramount to the future of Facebook, who is […]

Continue Reading: The growing importance of Design

The big shift to social design is that people are now talking to each other through software. (illustrated)

Continue Reading: A simple illustration of social design