upward spiral » Web

Too much security is a pain for the user experience

Kshipra — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:41:11 +0000

Had to help Dad reactivate his online trading account with PIPIP bank….boy oh boy…first we had received an activation process by snail mail. The instructions were not clear on how to reactivate, there was only activation info. Used the password in that reactivation process and logged in…it worked…grrrrr…
Then had to fill in rest of the info provided in the activation sheet…again there was no mention whether it was activation or reactivation.
On submission there was a link to login again without logging me out..how did that happen?
After I logged in….again there was no info whether my reactivation was successful or not!
Seriously who build such interfaces which is not humanized and keep you anxious throughout the process.
And don’t even get me started on the multi Browser compatibility…Come on this is 2010
Talk about virtual keyboard..yeah they are secure but Imagine i strained my eyes to get a look at the keys….imagine my Dad would have to Zoom-in and click on them
Phew….I just logged in after an hour later to check and found the profile active.
Even after all this frustration if they hadn’t activated the account…I would have just closed that account for Dad

Adobe AIR links

Kshipra — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:48:56 +0000

Here are some excerpts from an article i came across that would be useful to get to know Adobe AIR.

Adobe AIR

Published 28 May 2008 by Gil Harland

AIR stands for, the Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) and is one of the latest interesting development from Adobe.

AIR runs on Windows, Mac OS X and a very usable Beta version for Linux. It installs the first time you download and run an AIR application, much in the same way that Flash is installed on a computer if the user visits a web site using Flash and they don’t already have it installed.

AIR applications run on the desktop and are half way between web based applications (which run in a browser) and full blown desktop applications such as Word or Photoshop.

Developers can create AIR applications using the HTML, CSS, Javascript, Flash, Flex (A flash framework) and PDF knowledge they already have and AIR acts as a wrapper that allows them to run on the desktop and go beyond the limitations they would normally have if they were running in a web browser.

AIR applications differ from current web applications because AIR applications do not run in your web browser and therefore are able to use desktop features such as full drag and drop between applications, save files to the local hard drive or network and store data locally in a database.

When compared to traditional desktop applications, AIR applications are simple to deploy, easy and cost-effective to build, have better web integration and will run on all three of the major operating systems.

AIR is also smart enought to know when it is and isn’t connected so you can create programmes that work with online data and use the local database as a fallback if the connection to the internet is dropped.

more on AIR at Adobe® AIR™ Applications Wiki

Download the latest version of Adobe AIR

RefreshingApps.com – Showcase for Adobe AIR Applications and Resources

10 Adobe AIR -Must See- Applications

Adobe AIR Marketplace

How do you remember multiple logins & passwords?

Kshipra — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:47:26 +0000

Have you started with a hotmail account, a yahoo one later then rediff to rediffmail and next one to gmail?
So do you keep the same passwords for all of them? if not how would you remember?

How about facebook, flickr, technorati/delicious & linkedin accounts and many more?? Do you keep the same login? what if the name was already taken (suppose in delicious) and you have to change the login….how would you remember?

If there was an online application (i tried googling & googling) would you trust it to save such sensitive information?

I’m sure you save your password and your home PC/laptop but i’m sure you’ll need to backup somewhere else right?

where would you save it?

Fun with Adobe Kuler part II

Kshipra — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:30:55 +0000

I have graduated to 38 themes now

‘the beach‘ being highly popular, 17 downloads and favorited by 7 members;32 downloads and favorited by 13 members (Updated June 24th 2008); with ‘Fresh‘ coming in second 8 downloads and favorited by 3 members.

‘Shades of Orange‘ , ‘Proteus‘ , ‘Proteus II‘ received comments from fellow members, it is always encouraging to get feedback.

Website trivia, Design process and Icon design mistakes

Kshipra — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:59:37 +0000

The Evolution of Websites: How 10 Popular Websites Have (And Have Not) Changed

44 Days Ago
Written by Samuel in Website Building

The Role of Sketching in the Design Process
In Drawing by Sean Hodge (Spoonfed Photoshop)

10 Mistakes in Icon Design
Posted by Denis Kortunov
February 12, 2008 1:21 PM