Most users on the web are “click happy”: they tend to rapidly click on the most eye-catching action item without paying much attention to the rest of the site.

I see this happen during the usability tests I conduct at Pearson. More often than not, participants end up clicking the first link or “next” button they see whilst missing information that is relevant to the goal they are trying to accomplish.

Here is what I find interesting about this “phenomenon”: despite the fact that part of my work as an interaction designer involves observing this type of behaviour and making sure that participants don’t miss important information on screen, it has now been proven that I am just as vulnerable as anyone else.

Thank you, James Cunningham.

Earlier this week, Twifficiency —a web site that offers to calculate your “efficiency” on Twitter based on your interactions on it— spread across the Twitterverse posting the scores of those who wanted to know their… “twifficiency”.

The problem with this site is that once you click on the big “calculate” button (and after you allow Twifficiency to connect directly with your Twitter account, of course), your percentage is not only shown on screen, but automatically tweeted on your behalf for all your followers to see.

This came to me as a rather unpleasant surprise. The first thing I thought was: how dare this site tweet for me without my permission?

Then, the “usability specialist” in me kicked in (after the fact) and decided to go back to Twifficiency’s site to make sure I had not missed anything that would have prevented me from spamming everyone with tweets like these.

And there it was. In red (the “warning” colour):

I don’t know how I missed this, but it sure reminds me of what Jakob Nielsen once said about how little users actually read on a web page.

From a user experience standpoint, one of the biggest problems here is the way this site offers its “service”. The red text reads: “Twifficiency will tweet your score in your behalf. Do not use this app if you don’t consent to this”.

Besides being presented in a rather small font, this message is teling me: “use this app exactly how I want you to use it, or don’t use it at all”. This was done to make sure Twifficiency would spread rapidly and efficiently across Twitter —and it did.

Jimmy’s goal here is evident. Unfortunately, this resulted in a less-than-gracious user experience and many annoyed Twitter users.

Having to abide by deliberate constraints in order to get the “benefit” of the end product being offered is indeed frustrating.

Twifficiency has since changed. The site now offers an “opt in” tick-box (which comes pre-ticked, mind you) next to the calculation button. This gives you control on whether you want your score tweeted or not.

I reckon enough people must have complained in order for this happen.

So, what did I gather from this “Twitter Spamaton” experience? 

-It is still easy for most people to miss informational text around actionable items on a web page. 

-The layout, presentation and location (e.g. proximity) of relevant information are all important things to factor in when designing a web page. How do you make sure users pay attention to any relevant text that is directly related to a link or a button? Clearly red text doesn’t quite cut it.

-Forcing users to use your product in a specific, undesirable way (with ulterior motives, like Twifficiency) ultimately results in many people not wanting to use your product. At all. 

Taking these things into account when designing web apps or services can prevent us from situations similat to that of spamming our Twitter feeds. Reciprocally. 

This is, of course, as long as you don’t fall prey to sites like Twifakes: this one doesn’t show any warnings at all that it will tweet on your behalf how many fake followers you’ve got (as it sure does), despite the reassuring message at the bottom promising “not to abuse your account”.

(I wonder if Gary Hustwit approves of this app)

HelTweetica is a free Twitter app for the iPad that caught my attention a while back —mainly due to it’s simplicity.

Initially, I didn’t think much of it. Then, one day whilst watching a World Cup match, I decided to use my iPad to see my Twitter stream as I worked from home with the laptop -and the match- both in front of me. If you are one of the many who experienced the biggest sporting event in the world with Twitter by your side, you know how important it was to keep up with the Twitterverse during matches.

I started by opening my iPad client of choice: Twitterific. It crashed after a while. Then I moved to Twittelator for iPad: not the best client as far as readability goes. Then I moved to TweetDeck: somehow it crashed as well. 

Then I remembered: “…oh yeah, there’s that other app…”

Here’s a Twitter iPad app that is simple. Really simple —in fact, too simple at first sight. Once I found that it won’t let you upload images, or shorten links or many of the other things more robust apps like Twittelator for iPad let you do, I knew I’d never use it regularly. 

Bur here I was, trying to watch the World Cup and none of my other apps were working, so I decided to open this one and try it during “heavy traffic” time. 

I was impressed: it didn’t crash once and it felt very “live” —meaning, it felt like it updated instantaneously. More so than all the others (which is casually one of the many reasons I chose Seesmic Desktop over Tweetie for my Mac).

I guess it lives up the philosophy behind Helvetica: simple and clear. You get a broad view of tweets: it’s not too crammed, yet not too spacious. Each tweet has a section on the far right to let you do the basics: reply, direct message, favour o retweet.

I find HelTweetica to be a great alternative to mostly consume tweets. It can be a great way to see your Twitter stream go by as you watch your favourite match or television series. Whenever I feel like having the stream “in the background” as I do something else at home, I tap on the HelTweetica icon on my iPad and off it goes.

HelTweetica does have one thing other apps don’t: the “All Stars” mode, which turns your iPad into a WWDC-like “app wall” of sorts, made out of the avatars of the people you follow.

Tapping on a small button on the top right corner generates a red square that travels randomly through all the avatars until it chooses one and displays that person’s tweet in full screen rather nicely —using Helvetica, of course.

Here’s one of my tweets after I tapped on my own icon in this collage:

What I don’t know is why HelTweetica (after a number of attempts) chose to display this World Cup-related 22-day-old tweet when it generally displays the latest tweet of any of the other people I follow. 

This may not be a “killer” feature, but it sure puts a spin on the Twitter experience I had not seen anywhere else. Think of it as a good wait to distract the mind for a minute or two.

All in all, you should give HelTweetica a try (it is free, after all). It’s a simple, yet unique Twitter app for the iPad that should at least serve as a reliable alternative to any of the others you may have downloaded so far. 

Google Reader is without a doubt my central location for reading RSS feeds. I use it to subscribe, organize and read feeds. I usually alternate between using Gruml (Google Reader client for Mac) or simply using the web-based version.

When it comes to the iPhone, no one does it better than Reeder. This application gathers all of your feeds, folders, starred post…etc —all exactly how you have it setup on Google Reader and presents them beautifully (in a paperback-like sepia colour). Besides looking great, this application has a particular way of allowing you to navigate through post, by either using a set of arrows, or swiping and holding (up or down) to see the next one, and so on.

It is the only application that has ever made it desirable to read RSS feeds on such a small screen. 

Then, the iPad came. With it, came a number of iPad-specific RSS Reader applications (some of them available even before the iPad went out on sale).

Out of the few applications available on launch-day, I decided to try Feedler (free) without being really impressed. Then I purchased Headline ($5).

Worst waste of 5 US dollars. Ever.

I won’t go into much detail  with Headline. I’ll just say that it’s the best example on how to utilize the iPad’s screen real state in the most inefficient of manners.

Quickly, I realized that Google Reader on the web (just using Safari) was my preferred way of reading RSS feeds for a few good reasons. It displays posts nicely, fonts sizes are readable and utilizes the iPad’s screen real state well. When you tap on a post, it snaps to the top of the page and everything else collapses. There is clear visual indication of what has been read and what remains unread —among other things.

But the thing I like the most about using Google Reader on the iPad’s browser is that it allowed me to read feeds by mostly using one hand (more like one thumb).

Generally, I like to read RSS feeds whilst sitting back in a sofa or leaning back on my bed. Often times I have a cup of tea or a Diegoccinno (Soy Latte à la Diego) in one hand as I am trying to navigate through various posts. Sometimes I’m simply leaning back with one hand behind my head…etc.

Whether I’m using a second hand at all whilst reading RSS feeds or not, the key thing is that I usually don’t feel comfortable dedicating both hands to holding the iPad when going through my feeds. It doesn’t feel relaxed. This is part of the reason why I prefer eBooks to regular books: I don’t like having to keep a book open (using both hands) in order to read it.

It was shortly after I had decided to only use Google Reader via Safari when the creators of the Reeder iPhone released the iPad version of the application (iTunes link). 

The creators of Reeder managed to impress me once again with this. Not only it keeps the unique user experience from the iPhone version, but it allows me to do what I could not do before with any other app I had tried: navigate using only one hand.

The following video shows Reeder in action (and why I like it so much):

It is amazing how pleasurable it is to read just about anything using this application. It offers the ability to navigate through post by pushing all the way up or down at the top or bottom of a post to got to the next (or previous) one. This is as easy to do with one hand as it is on the iPhone. Clearly there is more room to “swipe over”.

But this is where the arrows on the left com in. They allow me to grab the iPad with my left hand and simply touch up and down to see all the different posts (as seen on the video above). This is excellent for feeds that are composed of only titles (Craigslist is a good example) or when you simply care about reading the title as well as the first few lines in the first paragraph in a post.

Reeder also add some nice touches to the user interface of this application for the iPad. Tapping and holding on the post’s title offers a great number of ways to share or save the post:

Tapping on the the title alone, opens the post in a browser inside the app. You can click on anything within the browser and navigate as if you were using Safari, whilst only displaying a rather unobtrusive bar on top. When you are ready to go back to Reeder, simply tap on the arrow on the top left:

One of the features I like the most of Google Reader is how it allows me to organize groups of feeds by folders. These folders are represented in Reeder for iPad in a similar manner that Apple displays photo-albums with the iPad’s Photos app (link to Apple’s guided tour videos). Much in the same way the Photos app lets you peek to see what photos are in an album, Reeder allows to see what feeds are inside each folder. You can either tap on the folder to read all the combined feeds, or you can pinch/expand to display all the feeds inside the folder and explore them individually.

(“Lolcats” looks great using Reeder for iPad, by the way...)

Much like anything —nothing is perfect. Reeder for iPad has some very few things I’m not particularly fond of. One of them is how sensible post can be to getting swiped to the left or to the right (in portrait mode) when the finger is trying to swipe up or down. I see the idea behind allowing post to be swiped to the left or to the right only to the right, but it would be nice for this to be a feature that can be switched on/off.

Despite the one or two things I would change on this application, Reeder for iPad is a true joy to use. It has made the iPad my preferred device to use for reading RSS feeds for the way it looks and the way it allows me to interact with the news I want to read.

I like this application so much that I felt compelled to write this (rather long) post to share with you the reasons why I think this is, “single-handedly” the best RSS Reader app available for the iPad.

Not too long ago, I was extremely excited to get a Nokia N900 in my hands. I had been reading heaps about all the things it could and just how open and versatile of a mobile device this was.

The impression I gathered was that the N900 is a hand-held computer that just happens to make phone calls. In all honesty it was all that —and more. Many people asked me “Why? Don’t you have an iPhone?”

Indeed, I do. Nevertheless, one of the reasons that drew me so much to the N900 was just how open and malleable it was. With Maemo 5 as it’s operating system (which is all Linux based) and Nokia’s reputation as the best mobile device maker in the world, this was something that just felt right.

I didn’t take me long (even before buying it) to realize that the experience of downloading applications for the N900 would be diametrically different than that of the iPhone’s AppStore. We all know that Apple reserves the right to approve or reject any application available for the iPhone (unless you “set it free”). This was also rather appealing and refreshing —especially after being an iPhone user from the day it came out. I never wanted to be one of “those” people who carry two mobile phones by choice.

With the N900, it was different…

This scaled-down computer is so intrinsically different when compared to the iPhone that I never felt like I was “overdoing it” by owning them both. After all, the N900 is sold worldwide as an unlocked device, so I knew I could use my AT&T sim card with it. Don’t get me wrong I was never not going to get another phone/data plan just for the this phone.

I finally got the N900 in my hands and began exploring it, days passed as I got more and more familiar with it. I read countless forums; downloaded repositories to be able to download even more applications being developed by open source enthusiasts; took it to SXSW Interactive; even had the chance to personally thank Cali Lewis for making this informational video which aided my decision of getting the N900 in the first place:

After 6 weeks with the device, I had enough time to come up with a number of well-defined conclusions about what I liked and what I didn’t. This is primarily what I want to share with you here. Needless to say, these conclusions are based solely on my own experience with the device. For a extensive and thorough review, check out what Engadget had to say about the N900. What I Liked:

• With the Nokia N900, there’s certainly “an App for that”. I was often surprised to see what I could find app for in the various repositories available for Maemo-based devices. Among the most interesting applications I downloaded are: Joiku Spot (turns the N900 into a mobile hot spot); One that allowed the N900 to be a bluetooth track pad/keyboard, another one that made it possible to use the N900 as a PS3 or Nintendo Wii controller; WebKit-based browsers; NES and SNES emulators; a Speedometer; DUKE NUKEM; and a Python-based Pandora application that magically did away with the advertisements and the song play restrictions (you know “…in an Absolut open source world….”)
• I didn’t pay for any of the aforementioned apps.
• Firefox. It was great to be able to have a solid browser with tabs, add-ons and even a download manager. It didn’t allow for zooming in and out as smoothly as the browser that comes installed with the N900 (also Mozilla-based) but it was nonetheless good. Did I mention it even had an awesome bar?
• Customizable to the core. I loved being able to apply any themes, colours, even fonts to fit my style/mood —and of course, there’s the multiple desktops feature.
• The FM Transmitter. No need for extra cables if you need your sound amplified through a radio. It worked flawlessly with the stereo in my car. I played music and even watched a few episodes of one of my favourite TV programmes (whilst waiting for Best Buy to open on iPad day).
• Full DivX playback
• The LED flash for the 5.0 Megapixel camera. (If only the iPhone had one of these —the Apple logo in the back would be an awesome location for a small flash!)
• Full Flash capabilities. I was able to use Grooveshark, Hype Machine, YouTube.com and many other Flash-based sites successfully. Sometimes it would be “slow” (some of this sites are clearly very demanding for a device of this calibre), but overall the N900 delivered when it came to allowing the internet to be experienced the way in which it was intended, as opposed to the way Apple forces you with the iPhone.
• It had a cursor! (as in the one the you move using your mouse or track pad). How many mobile devices you know can do that?
• The ability to make contacts into shortcuts on the desktop to quickly call/IM/SMS (similar to Android phones).
• Ovi Maps. Never really got to use it, but the idea of having free, turn-by-turn capabilities for the entire world was nice.
• Sharing. I liked it because it was effective, seamless and different from what I am used to. For example, you take a photo and then you can give it whatever tags you want (so you can find it on your phone later) or quickly send it to one (or many) services at the same time: Flickr, Facebook, Evernote, Pixelpipe or sure, why notÑ Ovi Photos. If the service supports tags, they all get transferred as well.
• Multitasking. Simply put: a luxury I just can’t enjoy now will have with my iPhone this coming summer. I could be surfing the web and get a message from Google Talk, an SMS, or an Email and respond to either one of this whilst listening to music and looking at photos. Brilliant!

What I Didn’t Like:

• The Ovi Store: There was nothing wrong with it —except it hasn’t got much to offer. I hope it grows in the near future, for Nokia owners’ sake.
• Syncing with a Mac. It was indeed possible, but it required a number of workarounds. This has nothing to do with being a Mac user and being spoiled into Apple product’s “ease of use”. It really should not have been that hard. At least I’m glad it was possible to (eventually) sync all my contacts, iTunes media and calendars.
• (visual) Transitions. Overall, transitions between screens whilst surfing the web or with some of the applications looked a bit “segmented” (I will acknowledge: this *is* indeed a result of being spoiled from just how smooth the experience with the iPhone is).
• Battery life. It simply didn’t seem like it lasted very long at all.
• Installing and uninstalling applications takes ages. Once you do either of these, it appeared as if I had to wait for the entire list of applications to “refresh” for a couple of seconds.
• Two-hands vs. One. The N900 was clearly designed to be used in landscape view, which is not necessarily bad. Nevertheless, one of the things I love about my iPhone is that I can easily interact with it by using only one hand. I find my self constantly using my iPhone whilst eating, typing something on the computer, having coffee or in bed right after I wake up/before I go to sleep. I am rather accustomed to this and sadly, the N900 doesn’t allow for that unless you’re making a phone call.
• The virtual keyboard. Being an iPhone user I’m clearly not against it —but does it really need to occupy the entire screen whilst typing?
• The screen. I didn’t mind that it was resistive touch screen (as opposed to the iPhone’s capacitive screen) but it seems to scratch more easily than that of the iPhone.
• The speakers. They were loud enough, but depending on how you hold the phone, your fingers will most likely cover the sound coming out of them. *FAIL*.
• TWITTER! This was one of the big deal-breakers for me. Just as I have noted an increase in my use of Twitter thanks to the iPhone, I found my interaction with the Twitterverse virtually crippled by the available Twitter channels in the N900. I tried Witter, Mauku, PowerTwitter —all horendously-looking (take a look yourself!) TweeGo was perhaps the most “decent” of them all (even when in sub-alpha stages at the time of this post). As Twitter gains user and uses, someone will have to develop a more compelling way to experience Twitter. If I have time, I’ll be more than glad to share my own ideas with the world (now that I actually have some experience with Maemo)

-

These are some of the main and most salient conclusions I was able to come up with, given my short time with the N900. I say “short” because it was only slightly over a month and sadly, it has come to an end. Less than a week after I put the N900 for sale on Craigslist (small scratches and all) it found a new owner. Gladly he was a self-proclaimed Nokia-lover. I have sold it because despite all the good things it offered (and how different it was from the iPhone), I simply could not justify having another “smartphone”. It didn’t fill a big gap in my digital life and it didn’t exactly do anything than the iPhone doesn’t do in such an impressive manner for me to consider making it my main communication device.

In the end, this was an interesting experiment. It was exciting to be excited about a product again (since I haven’t felt the same since the day the first iPhone came out). I wasn’t even near as excited with the iPad that Saturday morning, days ago.Despite the anticipation I had for the N900, it couldn’t find a proper place for it in my media-consuming, productive or social life.

I knew buying this device was a gamble and I don’t seem to have gone all too well in the end. This is one of the risks early adopters like me usually run. Getting on board with a new and unknown gizmo can be expensive, time-consuming and nothing guarantees that you will get back all you have invested in it. Nevertheless, it was great fun and I don’t regret my “investment” in getting to know the N900 the way I did. Take it as a non-for-profit service: “I do it, so you don’t have to.”

By now, I’m convinced any pair of headphones cable manufactured by Apple is purposely design to break or fall apart after some determined amount of time. It’s a pity to have such good quality products with such poor quality accessories.  ç

Do you own an iPod? iPhone? Does your USB cable start peeling off from both ends? How about your earbuds?

On my way back from SXSW Interactive last week, I came to realize my iPhone headphones had stopped working —full stop. Not the most pleasant feeling to have mid-air when you just want to sit back and relax listening to M83.

On our stop in Houston (TX), I decided to look for a pair of iPhone-friendly headphones anywhere I could, and I found a great looking pair by none other than Creative: the EP-630i.

(something you should know about me is that I am, always have and most likely always be a massive fan of Creative for anything sound-related.)

I decided to buy these almost blindly (because they are made by Creative), despite the fact that they were in-ear headphones: something my ear anatomy has never really allowed for.

To my placid surprise, these headphones sound and feel great! They claim to be noise canceling and indeed they are, which is something I never really believed was possible with in-ear headphones.

As I mentioned before, the pre-requisite was to find “iPhone-friendly” headphones and these meet the one basic requirement: a microphone/button combo.

The EP-630i go a bit further. They may not be going with the minimalistic approach that Apple is know for (by having a “white block” that serves as microphone and a button if you squeeze it). Creative has included an actual button you can feel and press with confidence. Answering phone calls, pausing and skipping songs back and forth simply feels better with these headphones.

I constantly had one problem with my Apple earbuds: when wanting to skip a song, the “button” would stick and made the iPhone believe I was in fact pressing and holding the button, which resulted in Voice Control being activated far too often. The frustrating, interrupted experience I never thought possible with my iPhone had become a reality.

And the sound quality? indeed far superior than what the Apple earbuds can offer. Not even the U$80 in-ear Apple earbuds deliver the quality of sound Creative offers (and I know because I did buy Apple’s in-ear headphones. They were returned roughly 5 minutes after the transaction had taken place).

Simple, functional, comfortable and great-sounding headphones that work with any iPhone for U$49.99? Yes, please.

The only thing I don’t like about these headphones cannot be attributed to Creative, but to in-ear headphones in general: because they are noise-cancelling, listening to whoever I’m talking with on the phone sounds great, but once I start talking, I can hear myself uncomfortably loud. It feels weird: I don’t know if I’m talking loud enough and I’m simply not used to hearing my voice so close to my head (if that makes any sense).

Despite this, I highly recommend the EP-630i if you are looking for a non-bluetooth, iPhone-friendly pair of headphones as an alternative to the iconic-yet-poorly-built earbuds that came with your beloved iPhone.