Simplicity Rules

Lifestreaming Needs More Context

4. June 2009

We’re all creating a lot of content these days. We write blog posts, share our location, store links, microblog on Twitter, and more. Others can see the latest stuff, subscribe to updates in RSS, and view individual chunks of content. In many cases, seeing old content in context is difficult. I can look at one blog [...]

There are only so many ways to make Mexican food

2. June 2009

2 Comments

If you’re lucky enough to have a Chipotle near you, chances are you already appreciate the simplicity of their menu. There are only a few ingredients, so there are only a few options (okay, well technically there are over 60,000 different combinations, according to Chipotle ). Taco Bell, on the other hand, keeps inventing new [...]

Couples Rolls the Dice on a Simpler Lifestyle

31. May 2009

0 Comments

When I spoke at the first Ignite Portland, I said simplicity is two-fold. It’s about making things easier on your users, but it’s also about making things easier on yourself. When you’re lucky, you get to do both at the same time. That’s the case for Ken Anderson and Janice Flint, husband and wife owners of [...]

Give Meaning to Technology With Stories

18. February 2009

3 Comments

It’s easy for technologists to get lost in the technology. We’re around it so much, we start thinking like technicians. Sitting at my favorite tea house the other day, I was picking Andy’s brain about memcached, a back-end technology that’s really beyond the type of web work I usually do. It turns out that what I thought [...]

Tomorrow’s Feed Reader Should Look Like Email

7. February 2009

4 Comments

If you don’t read frequently updated websites using a feed reader, you really should. I assume most of you are probably reading this outside of adamduvander.com, but if not, go learn how to get automatic updates from a feed without having to visit the site. Nothing will simplify your online life more. I’ve used a number [...]

Create Some Ground Rules

18. November 2008

8 Comments

How do you decide what features to include in a new product? The simple answer is to reduce to only the essentials. That’s a lot of what I write about here, so there are many methods, such as the 60 second deadline. Portland-based site Shizzow has a set of rules that it uses to determine whether [...]

The Online Store Around the Corner

8. November 2008

4 Comments

It’s late in the evening and you’ve been working so hard you forgot to eat dinner. By now you’re tired and really don’t feel like cooking. Is your favorite restaurant open? If you’re naive, you check out their website, but you probably already know that’s a useless endeavor. Except in rare circumstances, restaurants don’t have much [...]

You are a curator

22. September 2008

1 Comment

If you want to make a simple website, or have a simple product, you need to become well-versed in letting the good in and keeping the bad out. You can’t do everything and you can’t have every feature someone could possibly want. You are a curator, and Jason Fried has a great talk (15 minute video) [...]

Simple radio or complicated controls?

7. September 2008

4 Comments

There’s a hidden radio concept design that’s been making the rounds. My friend Nathan sent it my way and said it reminded him of the unopenable mint container. The radio’s volume is controlled by pulling up the lid, showing more speaker. It is tuned by twisting the entire lid. Once you know this, it’s wonderfully simple. [...]

Simplicity of being efficient (or not)

25. June 2008

2 Comments

I hate doing the same stuff over and over. Since I’m a technical guy, I often create ways to make myself more efficient. Outside of work, this looks fairly mundane: stuff like buying only one type of sock, so I never have to search for a pair. Michael Lopp writes about the geek phenomenon of being [...]

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Lifestreaming Needs More Context

There are only so many ways to make Mexican food

Couples Rolls the Dice on a Simpler Lifestyle

Give Meaning to Technology With Stories

Tomorrow’s Feed Reader Should Look Like Email

Create Some Ground Rules

The Online Store Around the Corner

You are a curator

Simple radio or complicated controls?

Simplicity of being efficient (or not)

Automatic Updates

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