What’s going on? It’s a sunny weekend and still there’s loads of great posts? What were people doing all weekend, sitting inside writing?
Oh yeah, it was snowing on the east coast, wasn’t it?
This week we’ve got posts on what kind of links you need, positive news about Internet Explorer (I know!), Google Analytics for Facebook, and iPad usability reports. Whadda week.
Internet Marketing and SEO
- We start the week with a source we haven’t cited in a while: SEOMoz whiteboard Friday looking at what kind of links you need.
- Next up HuoMah on how to ramp up your marketing program.
Technology
- Last week Bumptop’s website announced that they have officially been bought out by Google. For those of your unfamiliar with bumptop, see their video demo. Bumptop was one of the early (and oddly, the last) UI systems designed around user interaction metaphors instead of command metaphors, and it’s purchase by Google is actually incredibly promising for the development of such interfaces.
- Here’s something you don’t hear every day: five things IE(9) is doing right. In fact, IE 9 is looking pretty good, though it may be too little too late.
Web Analytics
- Displeased with Facebook metrics? The clever kids at webdigi have found a way to install Google Analytics on Facebook Fan pages.
- Speaking of Google Analytics, Google has opened up their Google Analytics Application Gallery.
User Experience
- Usability guru Jakob Nielsen has a 93 page usability report on the iPad. Though the size is intimidating, you should read the linked summary page, which illustrates his key points of discovery.
- The design cubicle has a look at how to improve typography through space. Most of this is just being uniform with your spacing, but it also illustrates how nice large line spacing can make blocks of text more pleasing to look at.
Miscellaneous links of the week:
- Kevin Ertell has a great article on the difference between bought and earned loyalty. In it he argues that techniques such as sales, coupons, etc. can, on their own, actually cause counterproductive user behavior, while loyalty earned, especially when combined with bought loyalty, can have really great outcomes.
- Smashing Magazine hates bad infographics, and uses a series of bad infographics to illustrate how understanding your data is as – if nor more – important to a designer than aesthetics.
