Dubroy.com blogDubroy.com blogA blog about programming, usability, and human-computer interaction. 
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Aaand?we?re back.
2009-07-20 05:09:00 If you visited this site in the last day or so, you probably saw a 404. Sorry about that. I had to bring the site down for a bit to upgrade my woefully out-of-date WordPress installation. A few weeks ago, someone actually took advantage of the ancient version of WordPress I had, and filled up ... More About: Back
How many tabs do people use? (Now with real data!)
2009-04-13 18:15:00 For the past few months, I’ve been knee-deep in data from the tabbed browsing study that I conducted late last year. Now that I’m finishing up my thesis, I figured it’s about time that I share some of my findings. In this post, I’ll talk about one of the quantitative questions I was trying to ... More About: People , Data , Tabs , Real
301 Redirect for the search usability win!
2009-03-20 23:31:00 This morning I read an article about CloudKick, a new Y Combinator startup that provides a nice interface for managing cloud computing resources on Amazon EC2 and Slicehost. It turned out to be a good lesson in how paying attention to basic search engine optimization (SEO) techniques can also give you usability benefits. After reading the ... More About: Search , Usability , Redirect
Hire me for programming or interaction work
2009-03-11 01:42:00 In the next month or two, I’ll be finishing up my master’s degree. After that, I’m looking for full-time, part-time, or contract work doing programming and/or interaction design. What I can do Whenever possible, I like to code in Python. It’s been my language of choice for more than 6 years. Lately I’ve also been writing lots ... More About: Programming , Hire , Work , Interaction
Are short methods actually worse?
2009-03-09 22:12:00 I ran across an interesting post on programming.reddit called Anecdote Driven Development, or Why I Don't Do TDD. The article focused on testing, but what I found most interesting was the part about how long a method or function should be. I've believed for a long time that shorter methods AREN'T better, but here is some actual, empirical evidence to justify that claim. More About: Methods , Short
tlogger: Capture click-stream web browsing logs
2009-02-13 21:03:00 If you’re reading this, chances are that you’ve heard about the web browsing study I’m doing for my master’s thesis. If not, you might want to check out the summary of my talk at Mozilla, the responses to the talk from Jono and Boriss, or just check out the posts under the “research” category. Since my ... More About: Click , Browsing , Stream , Capture , Logs
tlogger: Capture click-stream web browsing logs
2009-02-13 21:03:00 If you’re reading this, chances are that you’ve heard about the web browsing study I’m doing for my master’s thesis. If not, you might want to check out the summary of my talk at Mozilla, the responses to the talk from Jono and Boriss, or just check out the posts under the “research” category. Since my ... More About: Click , Browsing , Stream , Capture , Logs
My Tab Study: Apropos Links
2009-02-05 22:16:00 There’s been lots of interest in the talk I gave at Mozilla last week on the early results of my web browsing study. I’m starting to realize that I’m far from the only one thinking about this stuff. Here are some interesting things I came across in the last week: Andy Edmonds pointed me to an ... More About: Study , Links
My Tab Study: Apropos Links
2009-02-05 22:16:00 There’s been lots of interest in the talk I gave at Mozilla last week on the early results of my web browsing study. I’m starting to realize that I’m far from the only one thinking about this stuff. Here are some interesting things I came across in the last week: Andy Edmonds pointed me to an ... More About: Study , Links
My Talk at Mozilla
2009-01-29 07:52:00 Earlier this week, I visited the Mozilla office in Mountain View and presented some initial results from the web browsing study that I'm doing for my master's thesis. The (all-meat-no-filler) title of my talk was "How Do People Use Tabs?" It went really well -- everyone seemed to be interested to hear my results, and as I expected, they asked lots of great questions and gave me some good ideas for my further analysis. I dropped the ball and didn't post my slides anywhere before the talk. Boriss and Jono have already blogged about the talk and linked to my slides, and since it's already generated quite a bit of discussion, I thought I'd add a bit more detail here. More About: Talk
My Talk at Mozilla
2009-01-29 07:52:00 Earlier this week, I visited the Mozilla office in Mountain View and presented some initial results from the web browsing study that I'm doing for my master's thesis. The (all-meat-no-filler) title of my talk was "How Do People Use Tabs?" It went really well -- everyone seemed to be interested to hear my results, and as I expected, they asked lots of great questions and gave me some good ideas for my further analysis. I dropped the ball and didn't post my slides anywhere before the talk. Boriss and Jono have already blogged about the talk and linked to my slides, and since it's already generated quite a bit of discussion, I thought I'd add a bit more detail here. More About: Talk
Sketchbook: Using Ubiquity with a mouse
2009-01-15 01:54:00 Lately, I’ve been finding Ubiquity to be pretty handy. But honestly, I only use a few of the commands on a regular basis: tinyurl, map, and define. I use Ubiquity in these cases because it’s significantly faster and easier than what I’d normally have to do. On the other hand, I don’t really find it ... More About: Mouse , Sketchbook
Sketchbook: Using Ubiquity with a mouse
2009-01-15 01:54:00 Lately, I’ve been finding Ubiquity to be pretty handy. But honestly, I only use a few of the commands on a regular basis: tinyurl, map, and define. I use Ubiquity in these cases because it’s significantly faster and easier than what I’d normally have to do. On the other hand, I don’t really find it ... More About: Mouse , Sketchbook
Sketchbook: Using Ubiquity with a mouse
2009-01-15 01:54:00 Lately, I’ve been finding Ubiquity to be pretty handy. But honestly, I only use a few of the commands on a regular basis: tinyurl, map, and define. I use Ubiquity in these cases because it’s significantly faster and easier than what I’d normally have to do. On the other hand, I don’t really find it ... More About: Mouse , Sketchbook
Could visualization help make better software?
2008-12-18 18:59:00 Writing software is incredibly hard. Every programmer knows this. The software we write is complex, unreliable, and difficult to maintain. And this isn’t a new thing — the term “the software crisis” was coined in 1968. The thing about software is that it’s remarkably easy to write a program that mostly works. And it’s difficult ... More About: Software , Visualization , Make
Could visualization help make better software?
2008-12-18 18:59:00 Writing software is incredibly hard. Every programmer knows this. The software we write is complex, unreliable, and difficult to maintain. And this isn’t a new thing — the term “the software crisis” was coined in 1968. The thing about software is that it’s remarkably easy to write a program that mostly works. And it’s difficult ... More About: Software , Visualization , Make
Could visualization help make better software?
2008-12-18 18:59:00 Writing software is incredibly hard. Every programmer knows this. The software we write is complex, unreliable, and difficult to maintain. And this isn’t a new thing — the term “the software crisis” was coined in 1968. The thing about software is that it’s remarkably easy to write a program that mostly works. And it’s difficult ... More About: Software , Visualization , Make
Sketchbook: Firefox session restore
2008-12-06 00:03:00 Since I’m doing a field study on how people use tabs in Firefox , you can imagine that I spend a lot of time thinking some of the smallest details of the Firefox user experience. One thing that’s been on my mind lately is the session restore feature. You know, when you start Firefox, and it ... More About: Restore , Sketchbook
Sketchbook: Firefox session restore
2008-12-06 00:03:00 Since I’m doing a field study on how people use tabs in Firefox , you can imagine that I spend a lot of time thinking some of the smallest details of the Firefox user experience. One thing that’s been on my mind lately is the session restore feature. You know, when you start Firefox, and it ... More About: Restore , Sketchbook
Links: Windows 7, visualizing complexity, Cruz
2008-10-30 22:32:00 Ars Technica: First look at Windows 7’s User Interface Looks like Windows 7 is going to have a bunch of interesting new task management features. (Of course, Microsoft has been pulling the ol’ bait-and-switch on things like since Memphis…we’ll see what actually ships.) The taskbar is getting a complete overhaul: thumbnails and “Jump Lists” look cool. ... More About: Links , Cruz
Links: Windows 7, visualizing complexity, Cruz
2008-10-30 22:32:00 Ars Technica: First look at Windows 7’s User Interface Looks like Windows 7 is going to have a bunch of interesting new task management features. (Of course, Microsoft has been pulling the ol’ bait-and-switch on things like since Memphis…we’ll see what actually ships.) The taskbar is getting a complete overhaul: thumbnails and “Jump Lists” look cool. ... More About: Links , Cruz
Removing debris from your interface
2008-10-22 01:59:00 There are a few things I’ve been meaning to write about for a while now, and in a burst of inspiration today, I realized I can probably tie them all together in one post. Here goes. Fennec Fennec is the name of the upcoming mobile Mozilla browser — think Firefox for your phone. I’ve been keeping an ... More About: Interface , Debris
Removing debris from your interface
2008-10-22 01:59:00 There are a few things I’ve been meaning to write about for a while now, and in a burst of inspiration today, I realized I can probably tie them all together in one post. Here goes. Fennec Fennec is the name of the upcoming mobile Mozilla browser — think Firefox for your phone. I’ve been keeping an ... More About: Interface , Debris
Google Chrome: Usability Impressions
2008-09-03 00:52:00 I spent the long weekend at my uncle’s cottage in Quebec, meaning the last three days have been filled with sun, beer, and poutine. It was already destined to be a low-productivity day, but the final nail in the coffin was the announcement of Google Chrome . There’s already been lots of talk (and speculation) about ... More About: Usability , Impressions
Google Chrome: Usability Impressions
2008-09-03 00:52:00 I spent the long weekend at my uncle’s cottage in Quebec, meaning the last three days have been filled with sun, beer, and poutine. It was already destined to be a low-productivity day, but the final nail in the coffin was the announcement of Google Chrome . There’s already been lots of talk (and speculation) about ... More About: Usability , Impressions
Blogging is the hardest ?conversation? I?ve ever had
2008-08-26 19:31:00 Yesterday, after writing my post in reply to Atul, Aza, and co., I was thinking about how much work it is to put together a post like that. You often hear people refer to blogs as a “conversation”, but if that’s true, it’s more work than any type of conversation I’ve ever had. Compare it to ... More About: Blogging , Conversation
Blogging is the hardest ?conversation? I?ve ever had
2008-08-26 19:31:00 Yesterday, after writing my post in reply to Atul, Aza, and co., I was thinking about how much work it is to put together a post like that. You often hear people refer to blogs as a “conversation”, but if that’s true, it’s more work than any type of conversation I’ve ever had. Compare it to ... More About: Blogging , Conversation
Wrestling with Tabs
2008-08-25 22:22:00 Many of you probably know that I’m interested in tabbed browsing. For my master’s thesis, I’m conducting a study to examine how people use multiple tabs and multiple windows to organize their web browsing. At the same time, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we could improve the browser interface to address some of ... More About: Wrestling , Tabs
Actually, this IS your father?s text editor
2008-07-09 23:26:00 This week, I’m doing all my coding on a borrowed MacBook. It’s the most time I’ve ever spent doing development on a Mac. I’ve done a bit here and there on my Mac Mini, but usually I just use that for web browsing, downloading episodes of Degrassi High, and such. Of course I needed a text ... More About: Text Editor , Text , Father , Editor
The future of tabbed browsing
More articles from this author:2008-06-25 14:11:00 For my master’s thesis, I’m looking at how people use multiple windows and tabs to organize their web browsing. I’m especially interested in tabs. I’m a pretty heavy tab user myself, and I while I can’t live without tabs (in today’s browsers), I also think that tabs introduce some problems of their own. In my research, ... More About: Future , The Future , Browsing 1, 2, 3 |
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