I’ve been wireframing an online mp3 player, and pondering this trivial detail: whether to use a toggle button for play/pause, or two permanent, free-standing buttons, with only their selection state being toggled.
Considerations of space militate for the first option. Why use two buttons when one will do? And the toggling nicely encapsulate the either-or logic […]

My brother invited me to watch the U.S. v. Ghana this morning.
I went for his sake, knowing he is a soccer nut. (I'm a nothing nut, and can't pass for a regular dude even momentarily).
I noticed that the soccer fields where striped along the width (mowed differently in about 10 yard increments)…when I asked […]

This spring I went to Rome for my honeymoon (first time to Rome, first time getting married).
There I met an old acquaintance, the Ugly American…and this time, it was me!
Perhaps you’ve met him: he doesn’t bother adapting himself to the locale, he expects everyone to speak English, and when they decline, he thinks increasing his […]

The designs I've been playing around with lately have all put navigation controls at the bottom of the screen (like the Mac Dock).
I was wondering why. A hypothesis: As I've become more comfortable with computers (I'm a late convert), I've started using keyboard shortcuts extensively, so in placing controls at the bottom of the screen, […]