robert hoekman, jr. / blog
Note: This is the old blog for rhjr.net. The new one is here.
On-Demand Interfaces
The term "on-demand interface" (ODI) is how we (33Inc, that is) refer to all the AJAX- and Flash-based applications being created as part of Web 2.0 to change the web and produce a paradigm of productivity, contribution, and control on the web. Instead of being able only to read, see, or do, users can now produce, contribute to, and control their own web spaces in a way that enables them to use the web to genuinely improve their daily lives. And they're doing it with on-demand interaces.
Read all about it here.
Read all about it here.
33Inc: The beginning of a Web 2.0 partnership
Well, it's official - my new venture now has a website. 33Inc is a new partnership involving me and Kris Hadlock (recent author of "How to Use AJAX" over at InformIT.com). Here's the scoop, straight from the information on the site itself:
* * * * *
What is 33Inc?
33Inc is a two-person web application development partnership. The two people are Robert Hoekman, Jr., and Kris Hadlock.
Robert is an established Web designer and author who has contributed to several books on Flash, written one of his own titled Flash Out of the Box (O’Reilly), authored the Flash Player Detection Best Practices article for Macromedia’s Developer Center, and authored Flash User Experience Best Practices, a movie-based training course, for Lynda.com.
Kris is a seasoned Web developer who has recently established himself as a strong voice on the subject of AJAX-style web applications. A recent article of his, titled How to Use AJAX, was featured on InformIT.com’s homepage and received 55,000 hits in its first week.
Between the two of us, we’ve done work for United Airlines, Ford Motor Company, IKEA, America West Airlines, Cisco, 3M, Sun Microsystems, and many others. We’ve learned from the best – and the worst – and we’ve learned what it takes to create a web application that works. Together, we make an expert usability and interaction design team with the programming skill to back it up.
33Inc’s mission is to create best-in-breed productivity and organizational tools for the web by providing simple and intuitive on-demand interfaces, listening closely to its customers, and iterating application versions constantly to refine and improve the tools based on customer feedback.
Is the name “33Inc” a rip-off of “37signals”?
In a word, no. We have great respect for 37signals, but the number 33 appears in our name for very different reasons. Maybe we’ll tell you the story someday. Maybe not.
What is 33Inc about?
We're about "building simple".
We believe that web applications, for the most part, suck. We believe we can do better. And we're out to prove it.
'Nuff said.
How do you intend to prove you can do things better?
Very soon, we'll be launching our first product, Dashboard HQ, which is aimed at being the best personal homepage product on the web. Better than Google Personal, better than NetVibes, and most certainly better than what we've used ourselves.
We think you'll like it so much that you'll be willing to spend $5 a month for the ability to upload files, create multiple pages, and create and share custom content with other Dashboarders. And if all you ever want is one page, you can continue to use the free version. We're generous like that.
Where can I read more incredibly interesting stuff like this?
Head to our blog at www.33Inc.com/incBlots.
We'll be posting there regularly about user experience, things we like, things we hate, and things in general.
* * * * *
Cheers to Web 2.0!
* * * * *
What is 33Inc?
33Inc is a two-person web application development partnership. The two people are Robert Hoekman, Jr., and Kris Hadlock.
Robert is an established Web designer and author who has contributed to several books on Flash, written one of his own titled Flash Out of the Box (O’Reilly), authored the Flash Player Detection Best Practices article for Macromedia’s Developer Center, and authored Flash User Experience Best Practices, a movie-based training course, for Lynda.com.
Kris is a seasoned Web developer who has recently established himself as a strong voice on the subject of AJAX-style web applications. A recent article of his, titled How to Use AJAX, was featured on InformIT.com’s homepage and received 55,000 hits in its first week.
Between the two of us, we’ve done work for United Airlines, Ford Motor Company, IKEA, America West Airlines, Cisco, 3M, Sun Microsystems, and many others. We’ve learned from the best – and the worst – and we’ve learned what it takes to create a web application that works. Together, we make an expert usability and interaction design team with the programming skill to back it up.
33Inc’s mission is to create best-in-breed productivity and organizational tools for the web by providing simple and intuitive on-demand interfaces, listening closely to its customers, and iterating application versions constantly to refine and improve the tools based on customer feedback.
Is the name “33Inc” a rip-off of “37signals”?
In a word, no. We have great respect for 37signals, but the number 33 appears in our name for very different reasons. Maybe we’ll tell you the story someday. Maybe not.
What is 33Inc about?
We're about "building simple".
We believe that web applications, for the most part, suck. We believe we can do better. And we're out to prove it.
'Nuff said.
How do you intend to prove you can do things better?
Very soon, we'll be launching our first product, Dashboard HQ, which is aimed at being the best personal homepage product on the web. Better than Google Personal, better than NetVibes, and most certainly better than what we've used ourselves.
We think you'll like it so much that you'll be willing to spend $5 a month for the ability to upload files, create multiple pages, and create and share custom content with other Dashboarders. And if all you ever want is one page, you can continue to use the free version. We're generous like that.
Where can I read more incredibly interesting stuff like this?
Head to our blog at www.33Inc.com/incBlots.
We'll be posting there regularly about user experience, things we like, things we hate, and things in general.
* * * * *
Cheers to Web 2.0!
Express Install tutorial added to the Developer Center
My article, Best Practices for Flash Player Detection, has been updated. It now includes a quick tutorial on how to implement the Express Install so you can take advantage of the smoothest Flash Player upgrade mechanism available.
Since the article launched (three weeks prior to the release of Studio 8) I've received quite a bit of email from people wondering how to implement the Express Install. The article discusses and recommends the solution, but there simply wasn't enough space (I was limited to 3,000 words) to include a tutorial at the time I wrote it. Later on, though, Macromedia decided to let me add one. So I whipped it up, turned it in, and now it's live.
So, for all of you looking for hard details about using Express Install, go read the article again. It should help clear things up.
Since the article launched (three weeks prior to the release of Studio 8) I've received quite a bit of email from people wondering how to implement the Express Install. The article discusses and recommends the solution, but there simply wasn't enough space (I was limited to 3,000 words) to include a tutorial at the time I wrote it. Later on, though, Macromedia decided to let me add one. So I whipped it up, turned it in, and now it's live.
So, for all of you looking for hard details about using Express Install, go read the article again. It should help clear things up.
One big point for simplicity
This blind search-engine taste test has been getting a lot of attention in the past week or so, and I'm finding the results very interesting.
The test compares the relevancy of search results between Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Google, as you would expect, is winning, but not by much. Yahoo and MSN are doing just fine. Yahoo is only a few percentage points behind Google and MSN is only a few points behind Yahoo. But in the real world, Google has snatched up something like 68% of the search market, with Yahoo running a distant second (at roughly 30%, give or take). MSN only has about 5% of the market. But if the search results are so similar between these three giants, why is Google so far aheaad of everyone else in market share?
Because Google is about simplicity. And ease-of-use is the single most important thing you can work into a web application. Yahoo and MSN crowd their homepages with everything anyone could possibly want, except, of course, for an easy experience. The one thing that's most important to users is the one thing you can't find on those two homepages.
Google, on the other hand, has it nailed. They keep it clean, simple, and effective. Google offers you nothing more than exactly what you need. And that's why they're killing the competition.
The test compares the relevancy of search results between Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Google, as you would expect, is winning, but not by much. Yahoo and MSN are doing just fine. Yahoo is only a few percentage points behind Google and MSN is only a few points behind Yahoo. But in the real world, Google has snatched up something like 68% of the search market, with Yahoo running a distant second (at roughly 30%, give or take). MSN only has about 5% of the market. But if the search results are so similar between these three giants, why is Google so far aheaad of everyone else in market share?
Because Google is about simplicity. And ease-of-use is the single most important thing you can work into a web application. Yahoo and MSN crowd their homepages with everything anyone could possibly want, except, of course, for an easy experience. The one thing that's most important to users is the one thing you can't find on those two homepages.
Google, on the other hand, has it nailed. They keep it clean, simple, and effective. Google offers you nothing more than exactly what you need. And that's why they're killing the competition.
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