Comments Evolved
Comments are back, and I've also made some changes to how I use Campfire. Going forward, depending on the context, some articles will have a time-boxed live chat, some will have comments, and some will have both.
Comments are back, and I've also made some changes to how I use Campfire. Going forward, depending on the context, some articles will have a time-boxed live chat, some will have comments, and some will have both.
If you've visited the site in the last week or so, you may have noticed that I'm experimenting with Campfire as a replacement for comments. This is a quick retrospective about how it's gone.
One of the easiest ways to improve an interface is to use ambient indicators to help set user expectations and effectively communicate and reinforce simple concepts. OS X does this rather elegantly with its close buttons on windows.
Too often we rely on color, whitespace, or icons to indicate hierarchical relationships. The New York Times, however, uses typography, and it just goes to show that there are plenty of ways to simplify and accomplish the same goals.
Even the longest journeys begin with a single step. The redesign of this site is just that—one step. It isn't meant to be revolutionary or flashy. Instead, it's meant to enable and focus on the creation of better content.
We take a good look through SimpleLog, a Ruby on Rails weblog application that does less. It's designed to be simple, as the name indicates, and focuses on writing above all else.