widgets
at my latest gig, ideum, we've been doing some serious tinkering with widgets. we're interested in them because they provide a direct way to view great collections of images over the web, using a small footprint out of the browser. today we launched a widget that displays the latest image from the national science foundations media feed. you can check it out at: nsf latest image. the solar viewer has over 39,000 downloads and the recently released solar viewer mini has over 13,000 downloads.
i think these widgets are popular because the content is compelling, if not stunning. i am currently finishing up donald norman's book, emotional design: why we love or hate everyday things, and the widgets represent the ultimate in visceral design. i wonder if the images displayed in the widgets evoke a response at a more personal level, or what norman calls the reflective level. for me, i think its the visceral appeal that draws me in. the sun just looks too cool!
- 2.22.06
ugh.. it's been busy
since i last wrote in life has been a whirlwind. i started a new job at ideum in the middle of december. ideum is a cool little company that is based in corrales, new mexico -- about 25 minutes away from my house in albuquerque. in their own words: "we specialize in providing media services to museums, educational institutions, nonprofit organizations and socially responsible companies." i was drawn to ideum due to the range and quality of their work. my position is programmer/interaction designer -- though i am also referred to as the information architect. so i'll have a myriad of responsibilities, including trying to install and properly configure ruby on rails on their dedicated servers -- it's been a bear.
another cool project we completed a few weeks back, was the creation of our first yahoo widget. you can find out more about the widget we built on the ideum blog and look for the post i wrote on the ideum blog describing how we built the widget. widgets are pretty neat.
i still have to work on the engine of this blog, so hopefully i'll get to it soon...
- 1.16.06
working on the engine...
excitement is abound with the realization of another stage of internet evolution: web 2.0 is right around the corner or so they say. i can't miss this bandwagon, so i'm finally getting down to business to develop my own little blog application. i'm working on this to try out new things and because i'm too stubborn to use or pay for anyone else's blog app -- hey, i can build it myself.
maybe i'll get real or maybe i won't. i definitely won't be using ruby on rails, not because i'm opposed to it -- it's really the coolest thing since sliced bread -- but because i don't have the time to switch to another a host that supports it and i'm only half way through the book! so, i'll stick to what i know, coldfusion, it get's the job done!
while i'm building my little blog application, i'm going to explore integrating some ajax into the mix. i'm planning on using rico for my javascript engine. i have successfully created an ajaxyfied web page on my own; the data passed back and forth was encapsulated in javascript objects. but, i'm looking for a simpler solution and as always i ran into a snag. today when i was integrating rico into my fusebox 4.1 framework i ran into a 500 error from the server. what could it be? i'm not sure. so i'll be pulling out what ever is left of my hair tomorrow trying to figure this out, which get's me to my point of this post:
as i develop my little blog application i'm going to track my progress on this blog. i'll purge my thoughts, frustrations, and triumphs. i will also rationalize my critical design decisions -- i'll try. so here i begin, my own little space on the greater web community... and remember: "all blogging is global!"
- 11.03.05
coming soon...
in the meantime, be sure to check out my resume and portfolio.
- 9.11.05