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Maps for public transport users

Even if modern trains are getting more and more friendly to passengers, many of them are still terribly lacking if we consider this aspect, at least in Italy. As I’m writing this post I’m travelling through Tuscany on the railway.

A new use for margins

While I still read books on my way to work, I recently started reading online articles and blog posts using my phone as well. This morning, while I was reading a column on Alertbox on iPhone, I noticed with pleasure a small detail: the left and right margins of the page have more than a merely aesthetic purpose.

Pagination directions

Although pagination is a widely diffused pattern, some times it can still be a bit confusing, when it comes to blogs. Most blogs (and many news sites) have a couple of links at the bottom of the page, newer and older posts or articles.

Itsme: is the desktop metaphor really over?

Last week a friend of mine, knowing my increasing interest in interaction design, forwarded me the poster of a talk held in University of Milano-Bicocca about a new project named itsme.

Augmenting cityscape

I had the inspiration for the subject of this post this summer, while having a walk in Milan with a friend. As we passed in front of the XIV century Sforza Castle (italian: Castello Sforzesco), we noticed it was lit by coloured lights, which gave it a quite peculiar aspect.

Why Mac menus are on the top

Disclaimer: despite the title, this is not a post about fast food. 🙂 I always wondered why Apple decided to place their menu bar on top on the screen, rather than inside the window it belongs to.

Business cards v. 2

I used to consider business cards pretty much of a nuisance. Collecting tiny pieces of paper just to copy the same data to a mobile phone or contact manager didn’t seem to be practical to me.

Informed choice

I’m spending the biggest part of the day in one of those luxury hotels, the ones that are so expensive that no detail is left to chance. One significant detail: if you wash your hands in the restrooms, you can choose between using a paper towel or a fabric one.

How long will it take?

When talking about user experience, predictability is good. Some of the things we interact with in our daily life, though, are lacking from this perspective. Consider traffic lights: they are among the most widely diffused devices and they can’t be simpler.

Outsource your features!

A new trend is rising: applications which are not designed to fulfill some user’s needs but, rather, to provide some service to other web apps. Until some time ago, if you were to design your own web app, you had to write the same code, with little to none variations, to deal with pretty common issues (i.