This is a post born from spending hours trying to squash bugs and zap gremlins.

In an attempt to streamline content re-versioning in different languages, I had create a work flow that went like this:

1. Create Google spreadsheet for easy collaborative editing
2. Pull down a Microsoft Excel version of the Google spreadsheet (alas, not CSV as the Google-generated CSV wasn’t playing ball with MySQL)
3. Import this into MySQL
4. Generate static HTML with translations inserted where appropriate for each language

The process was fine, but somewhere within all these steps something was going awry. Latin characters with accents weren’t showing up properly and apostrophes were rendering in all different ways — �, `â, ? — anything except what I needed. Furthermore, Cyrillic, Chinese and Arabic weren’t even displaying at all.

I tried many things in PHP — preg_replace, utf8_encode, mb_convert_encoding, and even iconv — but all to no avail.

Finally, I spotted a snippet on the MySQL site from 2006, written by Lorenz Pressler:

after mysql_connect() , and mysql_select_db() add this lines:
mysql_query(“SET NAMES utf8″);

…and that was all I needed. In fact I didn’t even need to convert anything into UTF-8 in PHP. Once MySQL was outputting UTF-8 correctly, everything was fine. The database was encoded in UTF-8, so I assumed too much in thinking that meant it would automatically output it in that way.

So, if ever you have problems with MySQL and UTF characters not displaying, try SET NAMES and hopefully that’l fix the issue.

Apart from this being inconvenient, it struck me that being able to take screenshots — and more importantly sharing them — really adds a lot to the experience of a device.

Damn You Autocorrect! is a perfect example of this: people collecting examples of the iPhone’s quirky autocorrect and sharing them.

On Facebook many of my friends share screenshots. I often do as well when I see something worth sharing. For instance, last week I saw this bizarre image on the Malaysian Airways website and put it up on Facebook:

Oh, men! Yes we’re so trying, but you women still love us!

Had I not been on my desktop, I would not have been able to share this given the capabilities of my Android phone.

But many friends with iPhones do post screenshots from their phones.

One friend, @bendog, was recently listening to ‘Common People’ by Pulp. He wanted to make a comment on Facebook about the song, so he took a screenshot on his iPhone and uploaded it to Facebook:

Another friend, @Louiseontwitr, was looking for a Google Shopping app. But a funny thing happened: iTunes took her straightforward and innocent search and suggested something fairly inappropriate. So she took a screenshot on her iPhone and uploaded it to Facebook:


And I’ve seen plenty of weather-related screenshots from friends in London with iPhones (this one in particular from @indeox):

On iOS, screenshots are a piece of cake.

Apparently newer versions of Android make taking screenshots possible: but for other users of older Android devices the only way to take a screenshot is by rooting the phone or following this ridiculous process.

iPads too can take screenshots — but how about Android tablets? It’s not much better. And how about the iPad’s latest competitor, Amazon’s Kindle Fire? Well you can just follow these 21 simple steps. Yes, TWENTY ONE. On iOS? Hold the power button and sleep buttons. Done.

Android users could snigger at iPhone users for a while when they didn’t have copy and paste: but to me the screenshot ability is just as essential to any piece of hardware.

Just like a camera captures your experience in the real world, a screenshot does the same for any digital experience.

This problem is just as bad on game consoles. I’ve long played games on PCs, but have only just recently switched to the Playstation 3. One huge thing I miss is the ability to take screenshots.

For me, killing two people in Battlefield 2 at once was worth a screenshot, even if I died seconds afterwards

Steam understands how important screenshots are to sharing experiences. So much so they give all users 1GB of free cloud storage purely for storage and sharing of screenshots. (And beyond just screenshots, video capture for gaming is another great way to share game experiences).

Newer Android phones such as the Galaxy S2 can take screenshots: hopefully all new Android models will soon follow suit. But there are so many other phones and consoles that just lack this functionality: Windows 7 mobiles, Blackberries, Sony PSP and PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS and Wii. On some its possible, but not without connecting it to a PC in some way.

App and games publishers should be livid at these platforms not having this feature. Sharing screenshots is sharing your experience of a piece of hardware and/or software. It’s a critical feature that Apple nailed long ago.

Furthermore, it’s brand exposure: everyone knows the unique chrome of the iOS because iPhone users so often share screenshots from their phone. Android, Blackberry, webOS, Windows Mobile… sure you’ve seen these phones, but you’ve never seen screenshots shared around. However your knowledge of the aesthetics of iOS is no doubt far greater than any other one of these in part of the simple fact you can share screenshots from Apple devices.

My next phone — Apple, HTC, Samsung or other — will definitely have to have this feature. But until then, at least I can rely on my old trusty iPod.

The old chestnut of Flash banners overlaying any object on the page. But the irony here is that the Flash banner is advertising Eurostar’s flash sale. Oops.

Actually, I choose to blame UKBA — if it wasn’t for the strike next week, the info box here wouldn’t be pushing the banner down.

But kudos to Eurostar…

Stellar social media service!

It first happened to me on the IMDb. I remember my reaction — “yeah, IMDb app, great idea — I’ll use that all the time!”. I downloaded it and then I never used it again.

But this post isn’t about how pointless website apps can be if you have a perfectly good mobile website (Responsive design, anyone?)

Actually, it’s about a Kanye West-style attitude towards user experience on mobile websites.

Remember the 2009 MTV awards when Kanye West grabbed the microphone off Taylor Swift?

(And of course there’s also a gold mine of memes to go along with this.)

Kanye West was universally lambasted for this. Not only was it a bit weird, it was just plain rude. Although, to be fair, it did move the word “i’mma” into widespread use — for better or worse.

Going back to mobile UX, of course there’s nothing wrong with telling your mobile users you have an app. But how that’s communicated is often the problem.

Let’s consider Taylor Swift our content and Kanye West the promotion for an app.

Now consider some real world examples, starting with Amazon.co.uk — a good experience:

Amazon have made their app prominent, yet not obtrusive. In fact the Kindle promo is probably the only potentially obtrusive feature of this design.

But let’s look at a bad experience — from the usually brilliant Guardian website:

The worst thing about this pop up is that it’s also sale’s pitch. I totally understand The Guardian trying to make money off their app, but surely there’s a better strategy for this? I don’t feel like I’m being sold anything useful here: I’m just being harassed.

But the worst thing about this? We’ve been here before.

So please be a bit less Kanye, and think more about Taylor: it’s what your users would want.

Since this launch, I’ve noticed that Google is keen to hear my feedback on the new design.

Really keen.

At first I just hit the close button. The second, third and possibly fourth time I did the same. Possibly the fifth time it appeared, I actually gave them feedback, telling them not to worry — the new design was fine, but please stop pestering me with the pop up.

Yet it kept coming back. It’s like a zombie: it won’t die unless you shoot it in the head. But the problem is, I don’t know where the head is.

Last Sunday, I knew I was going to be on my computer most the day doing work. First thing that greeted me when I checked my email? Of course, the pop up. So between now and then I’ve been taking screenshots every time it’s appeared. Between now and then, I’ve restarted Chrome and my computer several times, logged in and out of Google, submitted more feedback begging for them to stop bugging me and even took the damn tour of their new Gmail in a vain effort to get this black box out of my inbox. And it’s the same situation on my work computer: at least a few times a day, my little black box friend will rear its ugly little head.

I’ve feedback to Google twice about this, and heck I’ve even tried tweeting Gmail. What can possibly stop this menace?

Now, this is where I’m interested to see whether this is just a personal overreaction to a tiny detail. I’m a bit obsessive about details. I have zero unread emails in my inbox, and it sends a cold shiver down my spine when I see people with even a few unread emails not attended too. Perhaps this pop up is annoying me because it’s interfering with my carefully groomed email environment?

Or maybe it’s more that when a user sees an ‘x’ icon on anything, it’s an expectation that once you have clicked on that ‘x’, whatever dialogue is attached will disappear, forever, unless the user takes action that justifies its return.

And I haven’t done anything to justify its return. Why are Google doing this? Is the code to keep it hidden broken, or is a strategy to painfully wring as much feedback out as possible?

And is this annoying anyone else as much as me?

Update, 17th November 2011: Well, seems I’m not the only one who’s been bugged by this: http://www.google.co.uk/search?gcx=w&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=google+new+look+feedback+popup

But, that said, I haven’t seen the pop up for a few days. Hooray!

Entitled ‘Flags and languages: Redux (Part I)’, I’d obviously planned writing a Part II that would deal with the entire issue in some detail.

Well, I tried, and it’s quite amazing how complex the issues involved are — which for me is just more proof as to why using flags as languages is a really bad idea.

I quickly realised there was far more than a simple blog post involved. So Part II is actually a whole new blog: Flags are not languages.

Hopefully this blog will help in someway to curtail these bad design practices, as well as exploring and promoting best practice for displaying and presenting different language content.

So next time someone suggests plonking a Spanish flag on the link for Spanish (or German, French, Arabic etc.) — hopefully you can just send them this link and they can understand why using flags for languages is wrong.

The Hen Party zombies: everyone’s favourites!

If touched by a zombie, you must stop and be ‘marked’ with a pen as infected. I survived most of the game, but succumbed during the finale of the evening. My reward: getting made up in full zombie gore after finding the final checkpoint.

I don’t want to give too much away about how the game works, but I have possibly never been so terrified in my life. When I say running from zombies, this isn’t just the odd sprint: your heart is in your mouth and your lungs are burning. I’m a bit of a zombie purist and prefer the Romero-style shuffling as opposed to the ones that run, but for sheer terror you can’t beat zombies that can keep right up with you.

The event was quite an experience. The true genius of the concept is that you are let loose with other survivors right into the public sphere: avoiding zombies is one thing, but on a Saturday night in Southwark before Halloween working out the difference between fellow survivors, the general public, the odd vagrant and of course the zombies is quite a challenge.

Throughout the night you switch between game mode and public mode: in game mode, if you see a zombie, your basal instincts kick in: you run, shove, push to get away — and probably run faster then you’ve ever run before. But minutes later you revert back to normal behaviour: like checking both ways before crossing the road.

While moments of sheer terror were very short, a very tense (yet ultimately fun) atmosphere of suspense was in the air: partially because of this duality of thinking and having to switch between different mentalities very quickly, but also because you don’t know when that change is going to take place. Every corner, wall and bush was a potential ambush location for a cunning zombie.

By far the most positive part of the game was the camaraderie between the survivors. Everyone was playing the game together, slightly terrified yet all helping each other and having a great time overall.

Next year 2.8 Hours Later is planning to run again in more cities across the UK: if you want to do something different and be absolutely terrified, definitely give it a shot.

Everyone’s talking about the new FIFA 12… but what if FIFA 12 was actually just about FIFA?

Imagine that together with some of the controversy that’s surrounded FIFA over the past twelve months…

Game review: FIFA 12 — the real FIFA!

Jack Warner, Sepp Blatter and Mohamed bin Hammam feature on the cover: but will they be friends by the end of the game?

Introduction: a brand new way of playing

I’ve only been playing FIFA 12 for a few hours, but it’s already really obvious the new format is a bold move: ditching all footballing gameplay in order to make the game a simulation about what actually happens at FIFA headquarters. Over the past year there’s been a presidential election and the awarding of two World Cups, so there’s been plenty going on to help shape the game’s new direction.

Let’s look at the new game modes one by one.
The graphics may have suffered slightly, but the diverse range of gameplay certainly makes up for it!

FIFA World Cup Bid

Every football fan’s dream is to have the FIFA World Cup happen in their own home country. In FIFA 12, you can help build your country’s bid for either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup.

Let’s try and get England the 2018 World Cup. It’s an impressive bid team! Surely a great chance?

Lobbying to get your country the World Cup sees you jet-setting around the world meeting with different representatives from world football, trying to convince them your country will put on the best World Cup possible. But is it as simple as that?

Oh dear, it seems Jack Warner wants a bit more for his vote.

You’re not going to win the Brazilian vote that easily! Ricardo Teixeira is quite the tough cookie.

Russia wins! But you were promised more votes than that! Perhaps you didn’t give enough gifts out…

FIFA Presidency

I think every football fan has dreamt about being FIFA President. What crazy initiatives could you bring in? Goal line technology? The world would be your oyster!

Who will you run as? Grant Wahl is the underdog, Sepp Blatter the incumbant… maybe Mohamed bin Hammam will have a good chance?

You’ve got to watch your back — Chuck Blazer has reported you to the FIFA Ethics committee!

Hmmm, who will you vote for?

While the campaign for presidency is quite fun, the major let down is the actual voting: I’ve played the game a few times and it always ends up only being Sepp Blatter up for election!

Vote “negotiation”

This game mode isn’t as long as the others, and is a bit disappointing: it seems you just try and fleece as much money out of potential World Cup bidders as possible. Perhaps a Sims-like interface where you can build your own mansion with all your money would make it a bit more interesting?

Conclusion

Would the bold new format of FIFA 12 work? Probably not… I give it 1/5.

Back to reality

While the real FIFA 12 is no doubt a great game, it concerns me that so many people are playing a game that bears the same name as an organisation shrouded in controversy and murky politics that’s desperately in need of reform.

Sepp Blatter has promised that reform: but as someone elected as a sole candidate, how much can we really expect?

I really hope that by the time FIFA 13 is released, FIFA has cleaned up its act. But think about the inevitable future game franchises for Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022: they will be sad reminders of the current FIFA’s legacy — not to mention the actual tournaments themselves.

But when I got home this evening and logged into Spotify, it dawned on me that Spotify and Facebook really, really want me to combine my accounts:

(Update, 27th September: this morning this same dialogue now comes with a ‘No thanks’ button. Phew.)

There’s a few things that worry me here. First: the single button: ‘Get started’. Where’s the opt-out? Or is this the point of no return? Well, to be fair, there is a cancel dialogue on the next screen when Spotify asks to connect to Facebook. But I get the impression it’s going to get harder and harder to avoid the inevitable ‘merging’ of Facebook and Spotify.

Secondly: the idea of Spotify suggesting songs based on what most of my Facebook friends listen to scares me (I’ve blogged about social media and the subject of personal taste before). Certain friends, however, I’d be really interested in keeping tabs on; but haven’t we been here before with the likes of Last.fm?

Third: there’s a signal versus noise problem here. For starters it’d be virtually impossible to keep track of all the music my friends are listening to. Secondly, how would I know if there’s something I really would enjoy listening? That brings us back to what made social media great in the first place: sharing. Human curation. A good friend of mine recently shared The Lonely Island’s latest single with me:

She knows me and knows my sense of humour. I loved the song and shared it on Facebook. Would I have listened to it if it had been a fleeting link on a Facebook update screen? Probably not. Showing what all my friends are listening too is a cool feature and all, but it will never beat person to person recommendations.

I read a great blog about this by Mark Sorrell today which really nails this music sharing business:

There are two more nefarious and subtle elements to the lack of new connections on Facebook. Firstly: sharing is boring. If I share music, by listening to music on Spotify, you see me listening to that music and you decide to also listen to that music. We sit there, both listening to that music. We were listening to different music. Now we’re listening to the same music.

He also goes on to my final point: privacy and the right to listen to eighties power ballads without ridicule.

One of the best things about the internet was how it let you be weird in private. It let you look at anything you wanted, anything at all, no matter how strange, unsavory, socially unacceptable or simply at odds with your carefully curated public image. The world had been a place of mass-production and mass consumption. There are four cars, which one do you want? There are twelve bands, which one do you want to listen to? Be normal, you have to be normal, we can only do normal.

(The rest of Mark’s blog is really worth reading, especially about the ‘social panoptican’.)

I’m sure Facebook is going to do some cool things with music and Spotify. But generally I’m worried Facebook is aggregating so much of our online life automatically that so much of what made it great in the first place is going to be lost. The serendipity is under threat: I may not talk to a few of my Facebook friends much, but I love the random links that appear on my timeline from some of them. And that’s still one of Twitter’s massive strengths: it’s fun, chaotic and with such an unfiltered stream from so many contacts (many strangers), there’s never a shortage of bizarre, interesting and fun links to enjoy.

As one friend put in a succinct Facebook update:

That time of the year has come again – Facebook layout changes

Side effects will include a barrage of posts from people who claim it has caused them distress, anxiety, agitation, blurred vision, hair loss, insomnia, diarrhoea and erectile dysfunction.

Users hate change. Redesigns at best are met with softly spoken praise; at worst with fury and backlash.

As a designer I always try to stifle my inner-user when dealing with a new design. I try to understand and appreciate the thought behind it, knowing only too well how much time, thought and discussion has been put into every minute detail.

But what also really fascinates me is after using a new design of a site, seeing what others think of it, and trying to reconcile their thoughts with not only my own opinion of the design, but what I think was the strategy behind the design itself.

Throughout the day I saw a few interesting reaction to the new design on Twitter (especially after #newfacebook started trending):

#changeisdumbmmmkay seems to be quite an apt hashtag joke in this scenario. And I think this is the crux of the problem with this redesign: of course it’s the change, but more than that it’s the reason behind the change. What is the reason?

Facebook might not have the most perfect interface in the world, and whether or not they are losing users, guess what: it works. It works well enough for Facebook to become without a doubt the most important website on the planet (well, at least in the Western world).

Look at the advice given from Twitter user Amaliada: change the language to get the previous design back.

The old design worked well enough for users to attempt to hack the settings on a new and unfamiliar product rollout in order to restore the old familiar one. That’s the sure reaction of a bad user experience.

I never thought I’d be posting the status update of a user called ‘DopeBeiberArmy’ but this next tweet is another insightful look into the despair of users being constantly cajoled from familiar to unfamiliar. (Warning: the update below links to animated Justin Beiber backgrounds — you’ve been warned).

‘Release early, release often’ is a well-known mantra. Facebook often sticks to this approach. But these large scale design changes I think are ultimately going to do far more harm than good.

Social media sites suck users in more than any other type of online medium. Users spend many, many hours inside social networks. It becomes akin to a digital home in some respects. It’s a familiar environment shaped ultimately by user’s choices: their contacts, links, filters, etc. And I think that environmental aspect needs to better understood and respected.

User ‘experiences’ are often fleeting. But when a user starts to feel comfortable and very familiar with a system, that’s when I think we need to start considering is as user environment. And when that environment is a vital connection to our friends and family, then tampering with that should not be taken lightly.