Topic: General
Google Now Indexing Flash Content
I found it hard to contain my joy when Google announced on its Official Blog that it is now able to index Flash content. Hooray!
According to Google, they have perfected an algorithm, "that explores Flash files in the same way that a person would, by clicking buttons, entering input, and so on. Our algorithm remembers all of the text that it encounters along the way, and that content is then available to be indexed."
This is not in the future; Google is indexing Flash sites right now.
While this is a huge step in the direction of having Flash files as crawlable as HTML files, some major hurdles still need to be overcome. Currently, the only content being indexed is embedded directly in the swf. "This includes Flash ‘gadgets’ such as buttons or menus, self-contained Flash websites, and everything in between," as well as URLs. It doesn’t, however, index content loaded externally from HTML, XML, or other swfs. Those files will be indexed as a separate resource and not associated with the parent Flash file.
Another major limitation is the inability to see Flash files loaded using Javascript. This is unfortunate since a large number of Flash files are embedded using swfObject. Also, they do not index non-textual content like images or FLV files; essentially, Google’s only indexing text.
As a Flash developer and designer, I’ve learned that the greatest limitation to Flash is its separation from other elements on the page. With getting information in and out of Flash using External Interface in Actionsript—and now that Flash content is now beginning to be indexed—the tide is turning for Flash accessibility.
Read more about the SEO-related benefits of this new announcement from our very own faux-hawked Josh Chambers. (And yes, Josh, a post on how to design SEO-friendly Flash is forthcoming. And no, you still can’t sit at the designers’ lunch table).
Your MOM Makes Websites
No she doesn’t, well… maybe she does (I know assuming makes an ASS out of U and Me) BUT… the likelihood that you are beyond the age of 25 and your mom truly has a grasp on what you do, exactly, is pretty slim. I have spent a remarkable number of hours explaining blogging to my mother to no avail. But it’s not nearly as fun as watching my mom’s face as my sister described her top 10 MySpace friends during my father’s birthday dinner. Neither of these two conversations held a match to my 89-year-old grandmother inquiring about my occupation ... a woman who is as sharp as a tack but has never even touched the mouse of a computer. I struggled to compare the Internet to TV and advertising and newspapers—even books—and yet I feel as though I still fell horribly short.
I ask: How do YOU describe what you do on the Internet to someone who has no concept of it?
Foundations: Revisiting “Contrast and Meaning”
It’s been about a year now since Andy Rutledge shared this simple yet fundamental article on leveraging contrast within our designs. In the article, he says:
Design is largely an exercise in creating or suggesting contrasts, which are used to define hierarchy, manipulate certain widely understood relationships, and exploit context to enhance or redefine those relationships … all in an effort to convey meaning. Contrast is important because the meaningful essence of any thing is defined by its value, properties, or quality relative to something else. That’s right: nothing has much meaning by itself, which is one reason why design is important. The function of contrast in defining meaning can be explained by comparing fundamental opposites: dark/light, soft/hard, fast/slow. Examples like these are useful because everyone understands the extremes they imply, but while there are extremes, there are no absolutes. The values are merely relative.
Just a simple reminder that, in many cases, the effectiveness of a good design can often be traced back to a recognition and understanding of the basics.
Dear Scrabulous, I Like U, and I Like UI
Dear Scrabulous-
I’m a big Scrabble fan, and I know I’m way behind by just having hooked up with you this weekend. I also know there are people fighting over you (not such a bad problem to have) and I hope you hang around. I like your user interface mostly fine, but I’m wondering if you could tidy up a few small things.
What’s the Car Equivalent of a Mac?
Driving home from Viget yesterday, I was behind an old green Volkswagen bug that had Apple stickers on the bumper and a license plate that read “MACBUG.” I dig geeks that like their Macs and express some personality via their cars. The question I had, however, was that if this guy were to go for current design, technology, and performance over nostalgia and bring his “Apple II” car up-to-speed, to which maker/car would he go? Would he stick with Volkswagen, or is there an automotive company/product that fits the Apple/Mac model more closely? I drive a silver 2005 Volkswagen Golf by the way, and I’m not a car enthusiast. Just curious.
Wufoo: UI That Really Cares
I have been using Wufoo free of charge for about a year now and have been a satisfied user. It wasn’t until last week when I had my first little hiccup that I realized how awesome this web app really is. In case you don’t know about Wufoo it is:
… an Internet application that helps anybody build amazing online forms. When you design a form with Wufoo, it automatically builds the database, back-end and scripts needed to make collecting and understanding your data easy, fast and fun. Because we host everything, all you need is a browser, an Internet connection and a few minutes to build a form and start using it right away.”
If you need anything from a contact form to an online survey, Wufoo is a wonderful solution that drops right into your site adapting seamlessly to your design. Their product, however is not what prompted me to write this post. After having a few e-mails get lost in the shuffle I decided to submit a support request. I described my problem and made it to the bottom of the form fields to find something very interesting: they wanted to know my “Emotional State”.
I clicked on the drop down and asked myself “How DO I feel about this?”, a question I overlooked asking myself earlier in the pending situation. As I scanned the drop-down menu this conversation with myself raced through my head:
“No I am not excited.
I am delightfully distracted by the Dino in the upper right hand corner of their site, but not excited about this situation. “Rarrr!” Cute.
Confused?
No, I am certain there is a problem. I troubleshot every possibility on my end and I know there is nothing I can do.
Worried?
Well, concerned. What if there is an important e-mail. I know the Chief of Staff has nothing important to talk to me about, but what if someone important like Dooce wants to get in touch with me. Oh, that is concerning.
Upset?
If I have missed something urgent in my e-mail box I will feel upset.
Panicked?
No, There must be a solution.
Angry?
Of course not. I have been using this service for free for a whole year, how can I really be angry?
Worried, Hmph.
I am surprisingly worried about this situation.”
As I made my selection and moved the curser to hit the submit button a feeling washed over me that was unlike anything I had ever felt with a webservice online. I felt like they cared. I felt confident that my problem would be solved. I felt like I was contacting PEOPLE who have beating hearts, and families, who had felt worried about their missing contact e-mails too. How very humane of them!
Shortly after this experience my problem was resolved with a giant clump of e-mails to my box and all was right in the world again.
Now here I am, blogging about an incident that could have gone downhill very quickly but was positively effected by a detail in their User Interface. A drop down menu that ignores corporate jargon, came to terms with the fact there may actually be a flaw in THEIR system, and inquired about my emotional state. Imagine if Comcast asked you how you were feeling when your cable went out. Would you think before verbally attacking that poor overworked repair guy? I would love to see a Health Insurance provider have an emotional state Check-in as part of their interface. Imagine feeling like someone actually wanted to help you. Why are humane details like this so often ignored online? I challenge UI designers and Information architects to consider this more often and maybe even track the satisfaction of their customers. As Naz Hamid said at SXSW, “Design is in the Details”.
Avenir: Font of the Future
When I asked Doug, the Viget Designer behind the typography on the Inspire Blog ,why he used Avenir he replied “because it is the greatest font ever”. Doug is not the only one to have such an opinion of the geometric sans-serif typeface, in 2004 Avenir was named one of Typographica’s favorite fonts. When Andy Budd asked Cameron Moll what fonts would he choose if he could only have 6 his first reaction was “ Avenir, Avenir, Avenir. I’ve abused this typeface in both web and print work, and it’s held up to the abuse with flying colors.”.
In French “avenir” means “future”. This hidden definition makes it a perfect choice for the Viget Inspire Blog because web designers are innovators who are always looking to push the boundaries and limitations of their medium.
Adrien Frutiger designed Avenir in 1988 and is best known for his typefaces Univers and Frutiger. Frutiger explained his reasoning for designing the San-Serif in an interview with Linotype:
“Looking back on more than 40 years of concern with sans serif typefaces, I felt an obligation to design a linear style of sans serif, in the tradition of Erbar™, Futura®, and to a lesser extent Gill Sans®. These have purely constructed characters from which the element of a handwriting movement has been removed. Obviously this could not be an outstanding new creation, but I have tried to make use of the experience and stylistic developments of the 20th century in order to work out an independent alphabet meeting modern typographical needs.”
Avenir has become very popular in web, print, identity, and environmental graphic design. As part of their national identity the Netherlands uses Avenir on their site amsterdam.nl as well as in signage and brochures about their country. You can find Avenir playing a key part in the branding systems of the Reuters and Dulles Fort Worth Airport. On the web a customized version of the font is used in the logo for Shutterfly and the book and medium weights on purevolume.com.
Frutiger describes his typeface as “modern and at the same time humane” but I find Avenir to be an inspiration.
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The capcha code was Ill and so is your work. ill....very good
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