Gary Has Done It

"He has finally created an RSS feed for his site. Jenny and I are now doing her patented happy dance. For those into News Is Free, he has a feed up there as well." [Library Stuff]

Sorry, can't hear you over the sound of my feet doing the happy dance (think Snoopy in A Charlie Brown Christmas)! Thanks, Gary!

Another Interview with Morbus Iff

"I've really tried to make AmphetaDesk easy all-around. There's no install program... when you extract it from the download, it's installed and raring to go. I try not to mention RSS anywhere, or force the user to understand what XML is. I try to include documentation right on-screen, so that users don't have to run scurrying for a manual. I try not to use terms I can't easily define, again, on-screen. I've also tried to make it easy to get in touch with me - there's an 'Email Support' link on every page you'll see.

It's imperative to me that users aren't confused or feel like they have to learn something new. There are other programs that are specifically tailored to the web-browsing elite, those who live and breathe this stuff, and they have immense learning curves for people who haven't been around the block. I hate knowing that all this wonderful technology is being lost to the normal crowd.

All of my work in any project is catered to 'everything for everyone'. If I'm worried that one person is going to miss out on something, it has to change - it's rather hard for me to justify losing someone because I don't want to take the effort to make things easier. The 'Email Support' is there as a lifeline, I want you to 'phone a friend' and get the answers you need when you're stuck." [WebWord, via Library Stuff]

This is exactly the kind of thoughtful attention to interface design, usability, and de-jargoning software that RSS news aggregators will need to move into the mainstream. It's great to hear that Morbus is putting so much energy into this, as well as the next evolution of aggregating feeds to let the user take more control of the flow:

"The amount of work still left to do doesn't surprise me in the least - relatively, RSS is an emerging technology that's just beginning to catch on. It's been around for a decent amount of time, but using RSS and manipulating the data in various ways is still in its infancy. RSS needs to become a lot more personal - the user needs to say "hey, I like cats" and the reader needs to say "well, hey, I know you're not reading this feed right now, but they've been talking about cats lately.

Motivation comes from within - I'm a news junkie and I love knowing everything I can about anything. Jack of all trades, master of none, and all that hoohaw. I created AmphetaDesk to save time from visiting hundreds of sites a day. Instead, I find that the time I saved is now filled reading even more sites than I had before. There needs to be another evolution - AmphetaDesk needs to start showing me news I'm more interested in, while pushing the garbage toward the bottom. It really needs to become my Personal Shopper and Librarian."