Jakub Pawlowicz – Thoughts on life

Updates from June, 2009 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

• Jakub Pawlowicz 8:44 pm on June 14, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: cnet, contextual search, google (2), vertical search engine, wikipedia, wolfram, yahoo (2), youtube   

  The way I search 

  In the past months I noticed a shift in the way I search things over the internet. I started using vertical search engines (like YouTube or IMDB for music/videos related topics, Wikipedia for articles, BBC for news, or Wolfram for scientific data) more often in cases when I definitely know what I’m looking for. For these tasks I don’t use Yahoo or Google search engines anymore because these give me too wide set of results often from categories that don’t interest me at all. The traditional search engines still do work fine when there is no evident place to look for a piece of information or data is scattered between multiple pages, but these are no more an entry point in searching for something.

  Some wise people foreseen such a shift a couple of years ago and I see it becomes the case for me, an experienced internet user. It probably won’t be a case for beginners and casual internet users but since Google and Yahoo start to enhance search data with more contextual results it feels the change is about to happen.

  Is this a case for you too?

  Jakub Pawlowicz, Jo B, and Psi are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Psi 9:16 am on June 15, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    Honestly, I generally still use Google even if I really indent to find something on Wikipedia… I think it’s just easier to type something in Firefox’s/Safari’s search field than to go to some website first and then do the search. So even if I specifically want information from Wikipedia, I type ” wikipedia” in the search field and click on the first result :) It’s just laziness, I guess… But this is how it works for me.

    It doesn’t work in all cases though, e.g. if I’m looking for a video, I go to Youtube, because Google will only give me 1-2 video results. Although sometimes Youtube doesn’t show me that video because of some ridiculous copyright issues, in that case I go to Google and do the search there, and it shows me results from other video sites, which aren’t as restrictive.

    • Jakub Pawlowicz 8:26 pm on June 15, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      I guess it is laziness because the same thing was happening to me. However I then realized that it’s actually a waste of time as going directly to a page where I know the information is take less time. At least for me. I type quite fast ;-)

  • Jo B 1:17 pm on June 15, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    Is it possible to get a list of vertical search engines for highly specialized/categorized searches?

    • Jakub Pawlowicz 8:31 pm on June 15, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Hi Jo! Once I read your question two things came to my mind – ask Wikipedia, and ask Google. I checked both and looks like Google gives Wikipedia as a first result. ;-) Anyway you may find these pages helpful:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_search_engine
      http://searchenginewatch.com/2156351

      And still YouTube for audio and video, Wikipedia for articles, WolframAlpha for scientific data. Enjoy!

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• Jakub Pawlowicz 7:36 am on January 20, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: goldenline (2), interaction design (2), ux (3)   

  Login screen done the wrong way – revisited 

  A few months back I wrote an article about GoldenLine.pl social networking site, where I pointed out a bad approach they have taken while implementing the login procedure. Since then I have written 3 or 4 emails to their contact box reporting this issue and suggesting I could even help fixing it. I was expecting at least a “thank you” letter, but received completely nothing. If I had received an email saying “you are a UX freak and we hate such people”, I would have understood.

  I’m certainly disappointed by their behavior, but I hope some day the change their minds. I will wait. I have plenty of time.

   

• Jakub Pawlowicz 10:29 am on October 20, 2008 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: apple (7), information visualization, mac (2), macbook, macbook pro (3)   

  Passion for engineering 

  I really like what Apple did with the latest revision of MacBook and MacBook Pro. This time they put a lot of attention into refining the external look and manufacturing process, and as usual for Apple they show passion in very every detail.

  Rather than looking at static images, go ahead and take a look at movie presenting the manufacturing process of new MacBooks. It’s perfectly well done, very well shot, and presented by Jony Ive (Apple SVP).

  PS) At the end of the movie they show how they optimized notebook packaging to reduce environmental footprint. Very nice, classic example of how combining animation with information visualization can explain complex matters the simple way.

   

• Jakub Pawlowicz 10:26 am on October 13, 2008 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: analysis, cool, cross-platform, web analytics, web statistics, woopra   

  Cool Woopra 

  This post is going to be about web analytics. Recently I needed to decide what to use, as previously I didn’t have a stats tool tracking my home page. It shouldn’t be a surprise to you if I tell you I found Woopra when actually NOT looking for it. It’s always like this – if you don’t focus on looking for something it comes to you instantly. I found it while digging into  Viewzi site (I worked for them twice) and found they use it. I decided to give it a try and I like it very much so far.

  What actually makes it different? First of all it is highly visual statistics tool. Geographic data, charts, day-to-day visits, and live stats shows very detailed info in a visual way. For example, number of visits on the world map is shown as different shades, making it super easy to track. Looks like there’s someone at Woopra knowing the information visualization is essential to gather users’ attention, and I’m really glad they did it with their tool. Enough words, just take a quick look below to find it’s even better:

   

  

  Woopra desktop tool preview.

   

   

  The second reason is they provide a cross-platform desktop client for their service, which offers superior features and usability to many web tools out there. Yes, it’s a DESKTOP tool. Call ma old-fashioned but in many cases I prefer to use desktop tools to web ones. And this is a case.

  And last but not least, the stats results are super detailed, and you can sort and browse them by all categories (operating systems, browsers, screen dimensions, entry links, exit links, etc). It often makes more fun than real analytics, but analysis should be fun also.   

  Downsides? It’s still beta and there’s much work still to be done. But it looks very promising and if you look for a web analytics tool, you should give it a try. 

  Check out Woopra home page to get a beta tester license. They will be closing the beta programme shortly, so you need to hurry up.

   

• Jakub Pawlowicz 10:37 am on October 3, 2008 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: front end (2), goldenline (2), login process, social (2), Usability (2), ux (3)   

  Login screen done the wrong way 

  Today I’m going to talk a little about GoldenLine.pl, a polish social network, one of the biggest on our market. I needed to create an account there recently, and came across their registration & login process. Registration was standard and pretty painless. The interesting things started when I needed to login for the first time.

  Here’s how the login form looks like:

  

   

  Interesting, isn’t it? The very first question that came into my mind is what’s the default action? Signing up? It should be signing in as majority of users are ones who have the account. Something like this:

  

  I noticed this, as I made a mistake the first time I was signing in. The second time I did it the “right” way, but it isn’t the case. User should not adapt to the service’s interface. This is interface role to guide user by using right information visualization (like using right colors to highlight more likely actions). 

  The second thing: they should use the information entered in the login form to check if user have an account even if he or she clicks “Sign Up”. This is because user may forget about having an account in the system or they clicked a wrong button. If user doesn’t have it, then move to the sign up form, but with some fields already filled in (like email).

  Good systems already implement such preemptive approach (see Pragmatic Programmers as an example). 

  Right now I’m going to ask GoldenLine.pl what they are going to do with this. Stay tuned.

  Login screen done the wrong way - revisited « Jakub Pawlowicz’s Weblog is discussing. Toggle Comments

   

• Jakub Pawlowicz 12:55 pm on March 31, 2008 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: user experience (3), nba, what matters (2)   

  NBA website and presenting relevant content 

  I’ve spotted this nice feature today morning. As you may know (if you are a NBA fan like me) the NBA season is moving into the final phase before playoffs start in April. I have a RSS subscription for the recent game results but I visit the website to check the league tables. There are 2 useful types of table layouts: the division one, which is more convenient in the beginning of the season, and the conference one which is useful when season ends as some teams are struggling to find their way into playoffs and it’s easier to compare their positions in two tables rather than six ones.

  And here’s a nice feature: so far by clicking “Standings” link in the website’s main menu you were taken into division tables page, but from now on (as the season ends) this link will take you directly to the more relevant conference tables. Very nice way to show info that currently matters the most.

  Jakub Pawlowicz, NBA website and presenting relevant content | NBA News, and Tina Russell are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Tina Russell 1:00 pm on March 31, 2008 Permalink | Reply

    I finally decided to write a comment on your blog. I just wanted to say good job. I really enjoy reading your posts.

    Tina Russell

  • Jakub Pawlowicz 4:13 pm on April 1, 2008 Permalink | Reply

    Tina, thanks for reading and I’m really glad you like it!!

• Jakub Pawlowicz 5:59 pm on May 1, 2007 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 37Signals, Getting Real, Ruby, The Matrix   

  Welcome to the real world 

  Yes, you are right. That’s what Morpheus says to Neo when he wakes up out of the matrix. And that’s what comes to my mind after reading “Getting Real” from 37Signals. Somewhere it’s revolutionary, somewhere it’s obvious, but puts all the puzzles in one place in a condensed and very understandable way. Plus the quotations from other authors / web developers / designers shows a big picture of how they managed to succeed in their work.
  What makes this book great is also its style of writing. Chapters are short and concise. This reminds me of style of ones in Dan Brown’s “Da Vinci Code”, where chapters are very short so the story doesn’t get boring but becomes more interesting as you read it.

  After all I’m really happy I read this book and I recommend it to all of you – even you don’t write software at all. So go and read it at 37Signals website or ask me for my paper copy.