xBlog: The visual thinking weblog
5th January 2000

First Look at IE 5.0

“…Internet Explorer’s implementation of iMac/iBook styling has been pulled off surprisingly well. When looking at the masthead buttons and the window borders, you may catch yourself thinking that the app’s interface is made out of plastic. Microsoft has also done an excellent job making the interface look more clean and offering more screen real-estate for viewing web pages…”

posted in Apple/Macintosh | Permalink | Comments Off

5th January 2000

Mac OSX Preview

“We started out with two design goals for our new user interface: create an operating system that’s appealing to look at, and make it a pleasure to use. And, as you can see, the pleasing Apple esthetic — the same design sensibility that gave the world the iMac, iBook, Power Mac G4 and PowerBook-inspires the Mac OS X interface.”

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5th January 2000

Microsoft preps new Office, IE for Macs

“Today, Microsoft finally officially announced software support for the upcoming version of the Macintosh operating system, called Mac OS X, a move that should help solidify further software development as well as soothe fears customers may have about migrating to the new operating system. Microsoft said it is developing a new version of its popular Office suite for release in the second half of 2000, with a Mac OS X native version available at a later date. Also, Internet Explorer Web browser and the Outlook Express email program will be available in native OS X versions, presumably later this year whenever Apple officially makes OS X available.”

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5th January 2000

Apple Corporate Rebranding Confirmed

“Apple [is] in transition to a major corporate rebranding that should be completed and announced or made evident at January’s Macworld Expo. According to sources, Apple will indeed follow in the footsteps of the Sonys and Nikes by alter its name from ‘Apple Computer, Inc.’ to ‘Apple Inc.’ or just plain ‘Apple.’ All Apple products from that day forth will be marked with the new brand. Additionally, there was talk of some changes being made to the Apple logo, though according to sources this will be no more than what most Apple folks have already been exposed to.”

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5th January 2000

The Viridian Movement

The dropdown menu contains everything you need to know. Um, I think.

posted in Art | Permalink | Comments Off

5th January 2000

Apple Corporate Rebranding Confirmed

“Apple [is] in transition to a major corporate rebranding that should be completed and announced or made evident at January’s Macworld Expo. According to sources, Apple will indeed follow in the footsteps of the Sonys and Nikes by alter its name from ‘Apple Computer, Inc.’ to ‘Apple Inc.’ or just plain ‘Apple.’ All Apple products from that day forth will be marked with the new brand. Additionally, there was talk of some changes being made to the Apple logo, though according to sources this will be no more than what most Apple folks have already been exposed to.”

posted in Branding | Permalink | Comments Off

5th January 2000

Salon on CHARLES SCHULZ

“With his globally recognized ‘Peanuts’ characters, he delved into the psyche of children and created daily morality plays that became part of the public consciousness.”

posted in Comics | Permalink | Comments Off

5th January 2000

Flag as a symbol of language

“Fundamentally, a flag is a symbol of a country. (It could also be a symbol of an administrative area or a society or organization or movement, but such flags are not used as symbols of languages, with rare exceptions like Esperanto.) Naturally one could use a flag a symbol for the country e.g. in a list of links to information related to various countries. Whether it is wise to do so depends on the context. Typically people know names of countries better than their flags, so usually a flag isn’t such a great symbol communicatively. What we discuss here is the use of flags for languages, and such usage is plain wrong.”

posted in Language | Permalink | Comments Off

5th January 2000

Flag as a symbol of language

“Fundamentally, a flag is a symbol of a country. (It could also be a symbol of an administrative area or a society or organization or movement, but such flags are not used as symbols of languages, with rare exceptions like Esperanto.) Naturally one could use a flag a symbol for the country e.g. in a list of links to information related to various countries. Whether it is wise to do so depends on the context. Typically people know names of countries better than their flags, so usually a flag isn’t such a great symbol communicatively. What we discuss here is the use of flags for languages, and such usage is plain wrong.”

posted in Logos/Symbols | Permalink | Comments Off

5th January 2000

D’music SM-200C MP3 / CD Player

Features: “Play Audio CDs and CDs/CDRs containing MP3 files; CD Digital Audio MPEG Type; 10 Second Anti-Shock; Equalizer: Flat, Pop, Classic, Jazz and Ex-Bass; Stereo Headphone and Line Output; Remote Control (optional); Built-in Charger; Battery: 4xAA (Rechargeable or Alkaline); Dimension: 130(w)x138(d)x31(h) mm.”

posted in Music | Permalink | Comments Off

5th January 2000

Comparison of Usability Evaluation Methods (UEMs)

overs Think Aloud User Testing; Constructive Interaction; Focus Groups; Expert Review; Expert Walkthrough; Heuristic Evaluation; Heuristic Walkthrough; Guidelines; Guidelines Walkthrough and Cognitive Walkthrough.

posted in Usability | Permalink | Comments Off

5th January 2000

How to use images in communication in general and on the Web in particular

“This document discusses how images should be used, partly as regards to human communication in general, but mainly as regards to publishing on the World Wide Web. The key questions here are why and what.”

posted in Visual thinking | Permalink | Comments Off

5th January 2000

First Look at IE 5.0

“…Internet Explorer’s implementation of iMac/iBook styling has been pulled off surprisingly well. When looking at the masthead buttons and the window borders, you may catch yourself thinking that the app’s interface is made out of plastic. Microsoft has also done an excellent job making the interface look more clean and offering more screen real-estate for viewing web pages…”

posted in Web design | Permalink | Comments Off

5th January 2000

How to use images in communication in general and on the Web in particular

“This document discusses how images should be used, partly as regards to human communication in general, but mainly as regards to publishing on the World Wide Web. The key questions here are why and what.”

posted in Web graphics | Permalink | Comments Off