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[link] That page proves two things :

- Most captchas are useless
- All captchas are ugly

[link] Nice article by John Gruber based on Mozilla's study about Firefox installation problems encountered by some users. Gruber prefers the .zip way and explains why.

In the dedicated thread on Hacker News, there are comments like "With apt-get." or "Lack of package management was one of the reasons I dumped OS X."… Remember we're talking about the average user, my mother and my grand-father. Not you, Linux shell geek.

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[link] Just replace "KevinBongart" by your Twitter screen name.

We all agree : Twitter should have implemented this feature long time ago.

[link] Shawn Blanc explains his chart of software scalability :

"In my mind I imagine the scalability of an app as being two dimensional — stretching both horizontal and vertical. “Horizontal Scalability” means the app is useful and helpful for basic users and power users alike. It doesn’t matter if you’re a total noob or a total nerd, the app works great for you.

“Vertically Scalability” could mean two things: First, that regardless of if you utilize one feature or all of them the app sustains its ease and joy of use. Meaning, you aren’t missing out if you only use a few features, nor are you held back if you use many. Secondly, it could mean if you use the app all day every day, or only once in a while, you still get a bang for your buck."

[link] What's interesting : in 1995, The New York Times' website was much better looking than Facebook and YouTube ten years later.

Note also that, in 1995, Microsoft was already publishing big ugly commercial banners on its own website.

[link] Photos on how Nutella is made. NSFW.

[link] Aza on productivity :

"I can only think about one thing at a time.

Any girl reading this just going to roll her eyes and think, “Of course. You’re a guy!”. But it’s not just true for me, it’s true for everyone. It’s true for you."

Things and a 13" screen help me to focus on one single task. I use one app for each specific task and hide all other apps. Don't try to multitask at home, kids.

[link] Delicious Library's awarded developer Wil Shipley about software experience:

"Heuristics are the key to designing programs that work well with humans, that make humans smile. In college computer science classes, we learn all about b*trees and linked lists and sorting algorithms and a ton of crap that I honestly have never, ever used, in 25 years of professional programming. (Except hash tables. Learn those. You'll use them!)

What I do write – every day, every hour – are heuristics that try to understand and intuit what the user is telling me, without her having to learn my language.

The field of computer interaction is still in its infancy. Computers are too hard to use, they require us to waste our brains learning too many things that aren't REAL knowledge, they're just stupid computer conventions."