The Soldier Song

The Soldier Song

SourceForge.net: Project Info - FCKeditor

SourceForge.net: Project Info - FCKeditor

.NET: Introducing Generics in the CLR

.NET: Introducing Generics in the CLR

Virtual Server 2005

Welcome to WinToolZone!

pop3 and other useful components up the ying yang - get em!

Welcome to WinToolZone!

User Info for Epiphany Anon

Epiphany Anon

The Meaning of Life!!

The Meaning of Life!!: "ve"

Windows Embedded Home: Welcome to the Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 2 Technology Preview

Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 2 Technology Preview
Windows Embedded Home: Welcome to the Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 2 Technology Preview

Also, check Windows Embedded Home: Download or Order an Evaluation Kit

Contextualegance

To enter a context for performing arbitrary task T, how much information must one be exposed to that is not relevant to T?

Let's call our starting point "Context Zero." Context Zero is the place when a user sits down at a generically configured computer. In a conventional hierarchical framework, optimality is achieved when - starting from Context Zero - T can be performed in the least time and with the least thought required.

Conventional hierchical frameworks tend to create shorter lines from Context a to Task b by introducing visual clutter. For example, the application menus used in Windows seldom run more than 3 deep. File... Open. View... Toolbars... Favorites. And so on. Some of the cost of the visual clutter is mitigated by its familiarity to the users; window menus are ubiquitious enough that experienced users don't expend much mental energy visually searching for the words across the top of the screen, or on trying to figure out what clicking on one of them will do.

Steps * average((User Cycles + Processor Cycles) / step)

Predicting a user's perception of efficiency may require individualized weighting of time factors vs. visual clutter factors vs. number of step factors.

Beyond Equilateralism.
I'm using the term Equilateralism to refer to achieving balance between the amount of use versus the cost of use of levels versus elements in a hierarchical user interface. This doesn't necessarily describe the shape in which one would visualize the interface itself; a menu hierarchy doesn't achieve this when it looks like an equilateral triangle, but rather when it resembles
a very obtuse triangle. There are often six to twelve or more menu items on a menu bar, and again at each level of the menu.

The next step in optimizing the user experience is to arrange the hierarchy so as to make it obvious which top-level menu will lead the user to the function he or she ultimately wants to perform.

So far, most optimization of the user experience has come from:
-Brute geometry
-Increasing public familiarity with common interfaces

What's needed is a means of accumulating a semantic base of knowlege about usage patterns, starting at context zero. What correlations might exist that could help a programmer guess what the "next step" is for a user? Even in Context Zero, there is always contextual information. There is, at a minimum, the time of day, the day of the week, and the geographical location of the computer. How much guesswork could an intuitive developer work into an application using only those three variables?