Compare Column

Usability is all about making things intuitive - so the user doesn't need to read directions to know how an interface is supposed to function. I think ZD Net's compare column really hammers you with the compare column - something I think people have gotten so used to seeing that they need to be reminded of its value in bringing them to more information and potentially a (buying) decision. Win/Win.

When a PowerPoint isn’t….

We had an interesting meeting recently with a client who was looking to put some funk into a PowerPoint presentation that their CEO had been using on the road. Now I know what you are thinking: funk? PowerPoint? PowerPoint is about as funky as Stone Phillips doing Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag. But seriously, what they were looking for is a way to make their deck reflect their corporate personality--which is constantly turning conventional wisdom on its head. This statement itself meant that boring charts and bullets--no matter how fresh and differentiating--would negate themselves by their very format.

Now, as a creative agency, the prospect of working in PowerPoint tends to inspire yawns over enthusiastic hoots. But is this partly because we don’t understand how far we can push the tool? Or is it because we’ve all been victimized by PowerPoint countless many times by people who never claimed to be designers in the first place? In short, can PowerPoint transcend itself and get a little love from designers?

In fact, there are clever things one can do with PowerPoint. The Custom Animation tool will be familiar to the Flash designer in the sense that graphic frames can be defined and controlled along a timeline. Graphics and text can move across the screen according to a defined motion path, or custom, and images can fade, fly, dissolve, wipe and move in a sequence, grouped or upon mouse clicks. This feature in itself is significant for the graphic designer who can use the slide as her palette and can create compelling animations with little effort. But a designer will quickly see that PowerPoint’s Custom Animation feature has limitations. In these cases, embedding Flash animations, Flash video or .WMVs are easily done. And in the event that you embed a Flash file in a PowerPoint, it opens the possibility of making content in that animation external, using XML.

And this is where we reach the designer’s conundrum: at what point does a PowerPoint cease to be a PowerPoint and becomes something else entirely? In other words, by using PowerPoint to embed media, is it best to abandon the format altogether?

Maybe a better question is, what does the future hold for presentation software? Sure, for some, PowerPoint will always be sufficient, but for those looking to generate ‘wow’ and differentiate themselves, isn’t there a better way?

Suggested reading:

• Articulate Presenter (www.articulate.com)


• Adobe Ovation (http://www.adobe.com/products/ovation/)


• Adobe Presenter (http://www.adobe.com/products/presenter/)

Defrag Before It Rains

There are some tasks in life that just require attention. Cleaning leaves out of your rain gutters is one of those home maintenance items that I seem to ignore. And then it rains and I wonder why I didn't get the crud out on that dry day last week.

Disk defragmentation is another of life's required tasks, if you want to keep your system running like it did when it came out-of-the-box. I use Diskeeper 2007 Professional from the folks who wrote the defrag utility that comes with Windows.

Just the other day I discovered that my laptop's system files were not only fragmented but were scattered across the HD. Doing a regular defrag was not touching those files as they can't be moved while Windows is running.

I found the "defrag on boot" option and checked the run CHKDSK, swap file, MFT and "move folders" options and sat back while it cranked through in a DOS like mode moving and combining like mad.

Results? I could tell the difference immediately on boot up. It's like getting 1/3 of your system back again. Cool.

Interface Crud

I like stuff like this. Two up arrows. This is what you get when you have an existing interface (the button panel) and try to modify it to do something other than the intended purpose. You get something that is functional yet hacked, and some would say poor in user experience and aesthetics.

Anyway, what I was really wondering about today is that molded plastic shell that surrounds everything I seem to buy nowadays. The latest experience was when I received my new Shure E2C headphones in the mail - rather than being in a simple box or nothing (since they come with a case....maybe....ship them in the case???), they are encased in a teradactyl egg shell coating of 1/8" thick molded plastic with sharp edges and curved contours that seems to just DARE you to TRY to open it. Next thing you know you are nursing bloody stumps where your hands used to be and grooving to the new Deerhoof on blood spattered brand new headphones.

Anyway, my point is that this is just another example of a poor interface. The closer to the beginning of a project you can nail the functionality of things down, the cheaper/quicker the project is going to be, and the more successful the end result.

SEO Babel

I use no fewer than 7 different applications when compiling SEO reports for clients. I need Excel and Powerpoint to assemble and present data, Wordtracker and/or Overture/Google keyword tools to understand keyword spaces, standard analytics packages to understand and report on traffic, pay per click and other 3rd party campaign reports, and SEO specific packages (like SEO Studio) to run reports on rankings and competition. This is all supplemented by queries on sites like Alexa, Digg, etc.

This can be quite wearisome, but I am not asking for your sympathy. I believe I can typically pull the data together into a presentation that makes sense for the client, but without getting crazy and using way to much budget, I can't typically present the type of eye candy that my client would like to present to *their* boss.

Google Analytics is a good example of this problem. Although it doesn't pretend (and can't) assemble all of the data I currently get from disparate sources, this tool is clearly intended to be experienced first hand. Its snappy flash graphs and intuitive presentation really impress and demonstrate, however it's a trick to print the pages, let alone embed the charts in a presentation. To extend the point - Google Analytics probably has the BEST visuals out of all the tools I use.

I guess I will just stick with Excel graphs and verbal explanations, supplemented by Webex sessions. But it would be nice if someone would just hear my plea and design the meta-meta-ultra-analytics aggregator for me. Thanks.