Diana Zink: Web Business, Engineering & User Experience

A Little Secret on Performance and Perception

2008-08-21T16:21:27Z

No matter how long of a history you hold with a person, if asked about your performance in the end they will likely remember not the averages of your work, but the highest of HIghs and the lowest of LOWs you've delivered. This post puts the Hi-Low concept of performance into perspective for businesses, employees, and brands.

Wanna ride a new market wave? Pay attention to the sharks.

2008-06-26T13:29:03Z

Have you ever wondered why Apple and Microsoft have such a big market share difference even though they started at about the same time? How about why Apple’s Intel-based Macs are picking up speed in the last several years? In any new market, including Web 2.0, there are opportunities in developing new platforms and in developing of supporting elements to existing platforms, there are potential competitors and allies. No matter who drives the boat in a new venture, engineers or business people, someone should be watching the surrounding waters at all times [...]

Why is it so hard to find good developers?

2008-06-03T13:48:00Z

Ajax, accessibility, Flash, ActionScript 3, and Flex, are familiar to many but well known by few. Here are some tips on the conditions of the web industry, the effects they have on finding quality People 2.0, and some ideas on how to go about identifying good developers [...]

Recruiting and Retaining People 2.0

2008-07-10T13:55:28Z

There is something special about Web 2.0 professionals, especially those who come in from the recent generation: Generation Y. This article takes a deep look in the general tends, motivational factors, and best practices in recruiting and retaining People 2.0 [...]

Cashing out on Web 2.0

2008-06-28T00:44:00Z

The Web may have evolved to a second version, but so have its users. It's time for those who are targeting Web 2.0 customers to adjust accordingly...

On Web 2.0: User Experience, Product Development & Entrepreneurship

2008-06-03T13:49:05Z

This year's Y Combinator Startup School and some of the recent Google Tech Talks shared top of the line advice from the thought leaders in User Experience, Product Development, and Entrepreneurship. After watching the separate presentations over a period of a few weeks, I could not help but to connect the three topics. Those disciplines together shape and the Web 2.0 environment and its current leaders and will more likely than not affect the industry for years to come. This my summary of recurring themes and notes interconnecting the three topics that and I hope will provide inspiration to Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs, Marketers, Brand Managers, and Product Leads alike [...]

Web translators need accessible content too

2008-05-10T17:46:47Z

Here’s a piece of news: only about 20% of the world’s population speaks English (about 30% or so of web users). And guess how the remaining whooping 70% of web users would be able to read your content? Web translators! Those useful little tools use the same technology to traverse through web content as some of [...]

Can enabling be debilitating? What would we do without electronics?

2008-06-21T16:45:49Z

Can you imagine living your life in a world without electricity or modern electronics? How about the acts of doing math, writing, entertaining yourself and your family, cooking, without the centrally supplied tools and utilities of modern life we are used to today? What would you do in case of a war, an adventurous trip [...]

20 Habits That Can Damage Your Career

2008-05-27T03:46:08Z

A great book by Marshall Goldsmith outlines 20 often-unconscious habits that can damage your relationship with colleagues, family, or people that work with you closely. These traits can often also impact careers and opportunities for promotion as they put you in negative light despite hard work, devotion or talents that could make you [...]

Discretion 2.0

2008-04-13T16:44:49Z

One cannot know everything or be able to read everything at once, but if you really try, you can get pretty damn good and being able to find information fast, from the wrong sources…

Speed is inversely proportionate to perspective

2008-04-10T03:23:42Z

Being in the flow of development can be both satisfying and energizing as days and nights of excited work pile into months and series of great projects. Yet getting used to the stress and pressure of oncoming work can seriously limit ones ability to see outside the stream. Just as driving at high speeds narrows one's focus into a smaller area to boost reflexes and reaction times, sinking into fast paced projects can rarely allow a good view of the big picture.

Curiosity and Web 2.0 Social Networking

2008-05-28T05:04:41Z

Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, bloggers, YouTube, and many of the other pillars of attention online gain their strength because of tapping several major representations of curiosity online: 1. Need for Attention: seeking of action and reaction. From pokes to blog posts, odd status messages, Video posts, and profile pictures many strive to be noticed. Knowing that [...]

Slaves to Curiosity

2008-05-28T05:07:38Z

Guess what are the three things in common between e-mail, snail mail, blogging, social networking, computer games, games period, tabloids, sports, You Tube, and successful advertising? (Playing Jeopardy tune here)… Not to keep you guessing for too long, here are the top answers: 1. All of them, worldwide, attract a significant amount of attention 2. All of them, worldwide, suck in enormous amounts of time 3. All of them, worldwide, feed off of our insatiable curiosity and need for feedback Now, even though we all know curiosity has nothing to do with dead cats (most of the time), it has everything to do with wastes of time and making of money. That is why this article strives to unveil some of the origins and applications of the above-mentioned phenomenon.

Best sources of knowledge in web design and engineering

2008-03-24T00:44:30Z

If you want to stay current with web matters, but have no time to explore all opportunities this list is for you. The categories below will be updated with the most interesting sources in each category to match your favorite style of learning. Enjoy! 1. Relevant Web Sites, Articles and Blogs There are brilliant collections of knowledge [...]

What the heck is a web professional?

2008-05-10T17:59:14Z

FACT: The Internet is powerful playground for Advertising, Marketing, Retail, Software Companies, Media, Entertainment, Travel and any other industry worth speaking of. FACT: The development of the World Wide Web and the user experience behind it is entrusted to groups of individuals who follow a set of shared standards of professionalism, raise the bar to social [...]

Designer-friendly JavaScript and Ajax Learning

2008-03-19T14:25:05Z

Here is a common problem: barriers to learning. Whether we’re talking about the walls between design and development or development and engineering or crossovers between many other web related disciplines, we are talking about walls. We are in the Web 2.0 era and everybody wants to learn a little bit, and sometimes a lot [...]

Wake up from that layoff

2008-03-17T00:16:29Z

Today, out of the blue, a layoff at a company I know sent 13 very smart and successful people out to the job market. Layoffs are normal, the job market takes and gives and, often enough, being sacked benignly may be one of the best things that ever happened to you. All of your former colleagues [...]

One post already stolen

2008-03-13T07:03:52Z

An interesting Google search today revealed that the first post I wrote for this blog had been replicated 100% without credit or links on a host news site. If you’re curious, or just feel like writing a good hosting post and you wonder where it would end up, run a google search on any phrase [...]

SXSW get all the details over twitter, podcasts, and blogs.

2008-03-13T06:33:31Z

For those of us unable to catch the interactive event of the year, live, here are some places where you can get the spiel for free: 1. Twitter: SXSW has been an amazing phenomenon for the status listing app. All participants from presenters such as Zeldman, Aarron Walter, Dan Cederholm, Cameron Moll (and much more) [...]

How a great deal can make you cry: Overseller Hosting

2008-03-13T03:50:29Z

It seems intuitive to think that a site will be only as fast as its host. Speed of download is a pretty important factor in the usability of a site, in return of users and customers, and yet most shared web hosts pray on users seeking not speed, but the biggest host size for [...]