Matthew Haughey on the development of Metafilter

May 20, 2006 12:39 AM

Usability: The Site Speaks For Itself has an interesting chapter by Matthew Haughey on the development of Metafilter.
posted by booksprite to Bugs at 12:39 AM (13 comments total)

Sorry, this was meant as a reply to an earlier post asking about books on Metafilter - please redirect, if possible.
posted by booksprite at 12:43 AM on May 20, 2006

hey, speaking of bugs, nice job there, booksprite. it's a metametatalk post.
posted by Hat Maui at 1:01 AM on May 20, 2006

Hmm - this has done something strange to the front page. Comes out fine within the thread though.
posted by greycap at 1:15 AM on May 20, 2006

No, it's broken within the thread if you are not logged in. Basically, the second line (w/ URL) doesn't appear until below the Google ad box on the right side (not seen by logged in users).
posted by Dunwitty at 2:11 AM on May 20, 2006

To be more precise: the line with the URL in it won't linebreak (break the line in the middle of the URL), so it has to be pushed down below the Google box. The Google box is always shown on the Front Page, but only shown within the thread if you are not logged in.

All of this will depend on the width of your browser window, of course. And your font sizes...
posted by Dunwitty at 2:28 AM on May 20, 2006

Links are one of the things that make the web usable.
posted by Wolfdog at 3:41 AM on May 20, 2006

Point taken, Wolfdog!
posted by booksprite at 3:55 AM on May 20, 2006

Mod note: fixed the link
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:26 AM on May 20, 2006

*quietly snickers*
posted by quonsar at 5:30 AM on May 20, 2006

*quietly butterfingers*
posted by cortex at 7:43 AM on May 20, 2006

I really wanted to comment in this thread but the site was down
posted by matteo at 9:05 AM on May 20, 2006

I'm kidding, matt
posted by matteo at 9:05 AM on May 20, 2006

Well I agree with the author of the book. these "Usability" gurus are a bunch of voodoo witchdoctors quacks peddling unscientific snake oil on a boat ride to the Shangri-La of seamless web utopias
posted by delmoi at 12:51 AM on May 21, 2006