Apparently, I’m not very good about promoting the podcast Judy and I record once or twice a month, The ToolBar.
We recorded our tenth episode before the end of 2011. The previous show had been about usability. This one was on accessibility, wish special guest Diane Elkins of Artisan E-Learning.
Ten episodes in six months – not too shabby. We’ll be picking it back up at the end of January after Judy returns from ASTD TechKnowledge.
The Ultimate Collection of Professional Free Fonts (via Mike Taylor)
Why Good Writers Avoid Adverbs and Adjectives “You need not be as sparse as Hemingway but in that general direction you ought sway.” (via Jason)
Apples Does it Again – AssistiveTouch
Plagiarism Explained by Common Craft
The Inklings and Where Good Ideas Come From
Michael Winslow gets the Led out – You’ll remember him from Police Academy. Incredible.
Back to School Special from American Drink – These are great. Share with the moms you know.
Procrastination – Most excellent. Book ordered.
Judy and I recorded our sixth show last weekend, and I think it’s our best yet. We talk about our wish list features for the next great elearning authoring tool. We rant about the flood of PowerPoint to Flash conversion tools, and we drink blonde ales.
It’s going well, and we’re having a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy it as much as we are!
My weekend plans are to add a beer list, a beer recommendation form and a show topic request form to the Emergent Radio site. (And, yes, in that order.)
So. Go forth and be enlightened by Episode #6.
Remember, it’s always about the user. It’s never about you.
Enough said. One of the reasons I started Remember The User was simply to remind designers and developers, and anyone else who will listen, it’s ALWAYS about the user.
According to the Information Design Network, “Wherever relatively complex information needs to be made easier to understand, or tailored to the needs of a specific ‘specialist’ or cultural community, the ‘user-oriented’ methods of information design can be employed.” I’d say that eLearning, job aids, participant manuals and other instructional materials can benefit from the best practices of text-based information design.
These are best practices for the web and any other form of text, not just in learning. Great resource links at the bottom, too.
