Geizhals is a quite popular consumer-product site here in Austria. It can tell you where you will get your PC hardware, software, HiFi-stuff and so on for the cheapest price (I’m sure there are quite a lot of these sites around, so you will know what I’m talking about).

It also offers a nice feature for users who want to buy more than one piece of equipment: it lets you create so called “wish-lists” where you can store the interesting items for later use. However, one encounters at least two usability problems when using this cool service.

First of all, the site seems to store your ID by using a cookie by which it can identify you and find the suitable whish-list (you don’t have to create an account for using the wish-lists). This is fine on the one hand since you don’t have fill out a registration form and remember your login/password for future use.

On the other hand, you can’t access your wishlist from another PC, something I do quite often.
So an additional possibility for creating a “real” account would further enhance this useful functionality.

Next problem: the wish-list can be renamed or deleted. Great thing since this means that you can have different wish-lists for you PC hardware, your HiFi-stuff, your DVDs….
But the implementation of this functionality can be considered as a usability disaster. Look at the screenshot below:

Below the wish-list, there’s an input field as well as a button. You might think that the button and the field might belong together. The input field lets you enter the new name for your wish-list (labeled “rename this wish-list to:”). The button below the input field lets you delete your wish-list (labeled “delete”).

What happens?
Each time I want to rename my list, I hit the button below automatically, thereby deleting my list! It happens to me everytime I use this thing.

In order to rename your list, you just have to enter a new name and hit ENTER on your keyboard afterwards.

What should they do? They should seperate renaming and deleting on the interface. That’s all. And I’m sure I’m not the only one that unintendedly deletes his wish-lists all the time .

I just read Rashmi’s article on the cognitive aspects of tagging. She explains the process that takes place inside one’s head when tagging an object (be it a website as on del.icio.us or a photo as on flickr) very comprehensible. I think there’s at least one aspect missing in that article (she mentioned it but didn’t go into further details): the system’s interface surely does play a great role in the categorization/tagging process.

For example, look at these two screenshots (two different ways of posting a site to del.icio.us):

Both screens show recommended tags as well as a list of all my tags. What I would like to see additionally is a list of websites that are tagged with the same word I intend to give to my new site. For example, when I type “music” as a tag for fm4.orf.at (example from above), I would like to see a list of all the sites I tagged with this word. This of course should happen dynamically and without page reloading or waiting (I guess it should be no problem using some AJAX magic). This way I could decide if the choosen tag is optimal or not. The system would reinforce my tagging behaviour.

It’s also an example of knowledge in the world vs. knowledge in one’s head (“Recognition Rather Than Recall”, Donald Norman: “The Design of Everyday Things”): seeing which sites I previously tagged with a word, I can decide if the current site should be tagged with the same word more easily.

I think that the list of sites using the same tag would show me (the user), if my taxonomy is OK or if it could be improved. It would lead to a better understanding of my tags.

Well, it seems as if I’ve overlooked at least one great solution for reading RSS-feeds on my mobile phone (which is a Nokia 6630, btw):
Bloglines offers a great mobile interface that can be accessed via your mobile phone browser. The address is http://www.bloglines.com/mobile.

One cool thing about Bloglines is of course that you can also integrate the blogroll into your site – something that Litefeeds doesn’t offer.

Ich bin gerade in Lienz (Osttirol) und muß zu meinem Erstaunen feststellen dass es hier offenbar ein UMTS-Netz gibt (mein Betreiber ist One).

Wie das?

Ich dachte UMTS wäre im Moment noch auf die Landeshauptstädte beschränkt?

Allerdings ist da irgendetwas merkwürdig: am Vormittag hatte ich noch die UMTS-Anzeige am Handy (Nokia 6630), am Nachmittag nur mehr GPRS. Könnte aber auch an meinem Handy liegen. Auf jeden Fall ist UMTS in Verbindung mit meinem One 100MB-Datenpaket eine feine Sache

Was finden bloß alle am Begriff “Zen”?
Es gibt Presentation Zen, CSS Zen, einen MP3 Zen-Player, ein Shopping-System, ...
Gar nicht zu sprechen vom Zen des Bogenschießens, des Motorrad-Reparierens, des Golfens , des Schreibens usw.

Das mit dem Bogenschießen versteh’ ich ja noch, das hat auch seine Berechtigung. Aber Zen als Bezeichnung für einen MP3-Player? Im Mahayana-Buddhismus haben ja alle Wesen Buddha-Natur, aber ob das auch für batteriebetriebene Unterhaltungsgeräte gilt?