Calls-to-action

The hard fact is that they just don’t care.

Or more precisely, they don’t care yet. They’re interested, but they do not know enough to care. We have not given them enough of a reason to care. They are not ready to take that step.

A good read on “why you should bury your sign up button”. I’ve considered similar things as of recent. When someone tells me to “make it pop so it stands out and people will click it” I think, the user isn’t stupid (well, mostly) and making things “pop” more is just not going to make them click it. They know it’s there. They will click it if you make them want the product, not because the call-to-action button is fire-engine-read (as the article puts it).

You don’t need to “bury” the sign up button exactly, but you certainly don’t need to pull out every visual cue under the sun to try get people clicking.

5 months ago  1 note

Windows Phone 7

Just the other day I walked into the Optus shop, asked if they had an LG Optimus 7 (the phone that I had scoped to be the best WP7 phone available) and after discovering they did in fact have one or more in stock, I asked if I would have to pay anything up front, changing from my Telstra account to Optus (as a recently-graduated student I am still considerably poor, you see).

To cut a long story short, I now have a Windows Phone 7 device, the LG Optimus 7, and these are my thoughts. Note that I am writing this as an iPhone 3G user of the past two years.

So, my early impressions.

The good

  • The finish of the interface and the product itself is really good, I’m happy with how it works as a whole and the Optimus 7 itself
  • People hub – this works quite well, although importing Facebook as well as Live contacts can be problematic
  • Photos/camera – firstly, I love the physical camera button, the lack of such a button on the iPhone was always a bummer for me; secondly I love how you can activate the camera when the device is locked (although it doesn’t always seem to work); thirdly I love how the photos and camera ‘apps’ are beautifully sewn together in that when you are in the camera and your photos are just a swipe away (instead of being separate a la iPhone)
  • Lock screen – a great amount of useful information set in beautiful typography on top of a nice big photo thanks to the adequately-sized display
  • Video seems nice, especially since I could never take video with my 3G (well, I could take 15 seconds of poor-quality video at a time with that free app…)
  • Zune/Zune software – never used it or even seen it until now, was a breeze to use and sync with the device
  • On-screen keyboard – if that is what you call the non-physical keyboard on smartphones these days, the WP7 one is quite good, nice and responsive, and has good auto-correcting

The not-so-good

Not completely-polished applications, such as:

  • Twitter – way too easy to accidentally scroll left/right when intending scrolling up/down; a little slow and unresponsive at times
  • Facebook – seems to be missing search functionality and generally slow and unresponsive at times
  • Internet Explorer – does this only display in 256 colours or something? Need additional controls/settings to allow for popups, etc.
  • Battery life – it might be too early to tell, but the battery life doesn’t seem very good on this thing, or maybe I haven’t properly fully-charged it yet, and then that might be because it seems to take a damn long time to charge…
  • The small size of the power button – combined with the fact that the ‘home/start’ button doesn’t turn the device on makes for an annoying experience at times
  • Using the Optimus 7 as a phone is actually really annoying because I’m always pressing buttons while trying to hold it up and talk on it (the camera and search buttons in particular get in the way)
  • The cover thingo for the USB connection is very annoying for someone who has no fingernails to open it with
  • The camera in low light is bollocks (I had actually read this in reviews before buying the phone, but never really cared)

Undecided

  • Navigation – navigating WP7 can be a little confusing at times because you’ve got controls inside of the interface, then you’ve got the back and search buttons which are a part of the physical device

Microsoft: good work so far, you’ve created something good. At the moment it seems to be kind of a tease, so let’s see some updates very soon, and I’ll be happy (and many others, I’m sure!)

More to come.

1 year ago 

Metro Design Language

“It’s a bit more daring and informal than the tight, sterile icon grids and Rolodex menus of the iPhone and iPod Touch.”

- CNET on the “Metro Design Language”

I was just reading about the Metro Design Language that can be seen in the Zune HD and Windows Phone 7.

This quote pretty much sums up how I feel about WP7 (I haven’t had the pleasure of using one yet but I intend on checking it out ASAP). Don’t get me wrong, just because it’s a bit more “daring and informal” that doesn’t mean it is “better” by any means, but I am quite excited to see that Microsoft has done something that is not simply a rehash of what Apple and the other big players are doing (which are all basically the same thing).

Again, just because it is different, doesn’t mean it is better. But come on, just look at the interface (and the phones): gorgeous.

I reckon we’ve seen this before: Microsoft aren’t afraid to take some risks and try different things. Sometimes it backfires entirely, sometimes something awesome comes out of it.

I’m not an Apple or a Microsoft fanboy here and I’m generally unbiased. I’m a Windows user with an iPhone which is a solid device, but I’ve had it for two years now and am ready for something different. The way we use these devices has evolved, and I’m psyched to check out WP7 in stores and if it is good I’ll be acquiring one (probably the Mozart).

Any thoughts?

1 year ago  2 notes

Calls-to-action

The hard fact is that they just don’t care.

Or more precisely, they don’t care yet. They’re interested, but they do not know enough to care. We have not given them enough of a reason to care. They are not ready to take that step.

A good read on “why you should bury your sign up button”. I’ve considered similar things as of recent. When someone tells me to “make it pop so it stands out and people will click it” I think, the user isn’t stupid (well, mostly) and making things “pop” more is just not going to make them click it. They know it’s there. They will click it if you make them want the product, not because the call-to-action button is fire-engine-read (as the article puts it).

You don’t need to “bury” the sign up button exactly, but you certainly don’t need to pull out every visual cue under the sun to try get people clicking.

Windows Phone 7

Just the other day I walked into the Optus shop, asked if they had an LG Optimus 7 (the phone that I had scoped to be the best WP7 phone available) and after discovering they did in fact have one or more in stock, I asked if I would have to pay anything up front, changing from my Telstra account to Optus (as a recently-graduated student I am still considerably poor, you see).

To cut a long story short, I now have a Windows Phone 7 device, the LG Optimus 7, and these are my thoughts. Note that I am writing this as an iPhone 3G user of the past two years.

So, my early impressions.

The good

  • The finish of the interface and the product itself is really good, I’m happy with how it works as a whole and the Optimus 7 itself
  • People hub – this works quite well, although importing Facebook as well as Live contacts can be problematic
  • Photos/camera – firstly, I love the physical camera button, the lack of such a button on the iPhone was always a bummer for me; secondly I love how you can activate the camera when the device is locked (although it doesn’t always seem to work); thirdly I love how the photos and camera ‘apps’ are beautifully sewn together in that when you are in the camera and your photos are just a swipe away (instead of being separate a la iPhone)
  • Lock screen – a great amount of useful information set in beautiful typography on top of a nice big photo thanks to the adequately-sized display
  • Video seems nice, especially since I could never take video with my 3G (well, I could take 15 seconds of poor-quality video at a time with that free app…)
  • Zune/Zune software – never used it or even seen it until now, was a breeze to use and sync with the device
  • On-screen keyboard – if that is what you call the non-physical keyboard on smartphones these days, the WP7 one is quite good, nice and responsive, and has good auto-correcting

The not-so-good

Not completely-polished applications, such as:

  • Twitter – way too easy to accidentally scroll left/right when intending scrolling up/down; a little slow and unresponsive at times
  • Facebook – seems to be missing search functionality and generally slow and unresponsive at times
  • Internet Explorer – does this only display in 256 colours or something? Need additional controls/settings to allow for popups, etc.
  • Battery life – it might be too early to tell, but the battery life doesn’t seem very good on this thing, or maybe I haven’t properly fully-charged it yet, and then that might be because it seems to take a damn long time to charge…
  • The small size of the power button – combined with the fact that the ‘home/start’ button doesn’t turn the device on makes for an annoying experience at times
  • Using the Optimus 7 as a phone is actually really annoying because I’m always pressing buttons while trying to hold it up and talk on it (the camera and search buttons in particular get in the way)
  • The cover thingo for the USB connection is very annoying for someone who has no fingernails to open it with
  • The camera in low light is bollocks (I had actually read this in reviews before buying the phone, but never really cared)

Undecided

  • Navigation – navigating WP7 can be a little confusing at times because you’ve got controls inside of the interface, then you’ve got the back and search buttons which are a part of the physical device

Microsoft: good work so far, you’ve created something good. At the moment it seems to be kind of a tease, so let’s see some updates very soon, and I’ll be happy (and many others, I’m sure!)

More to come.

Metro Design Language

“It’s a bit more daring and informal than the tight, sterile icon grids and Rolodex menus of the iPhone and iPod Touch.”

- CNET on the “Metro Design Language”

I was just reading about the Metro Design Language that can be seen in the Zune HD and Windows Phone 7.

This quote pretty much sums up how I feel about WP7 (I haven’t had the pleasure of using one yet but I intend on checking it out ASAP). Don’t get me wrong, just because it’s a bit more “daring and informal” that doesn’t mean it is “better” by any means, but I am quite excited to see that Microsoft has done something that is not simply a rehash of what Apple and the other big players are doing (which are all basically the same thing).

Again, just because it is different, doesn’t mean it is better. But come on, just look at the interface (and the phones): gorgeous.

I reckon we’ve seen this before: Microsoft aren’t afraid to take some risks and try different things. Sometimes it backfires entirely, sometimes something awesome comes out of it.

I’m not an Apple or a Microsoft fanboy here and I’m generally unbiased. I’m a Windows user with an iPhone which is a solid device, but I’ve had it for two years now and am ready for something different. The way we use these devices has evolved, and I’m psyched to check out WP7 in stores and if it is good I’ll be acquiring one (probably the Mozart).

Any thoughts?

Calls-to-action
TechCrunch complaining about Facebook ripping off MyPad
Windows Phone 7
Metro Design Language

About:

Ramblings and miscellaneous rubbish from Eli Burford, 21-year-old web designer person from South Australia.