Oscar Wilde: Every great man has his disciples, and it is always Judas who writes the biography.

The title of this post merely serves to remind everyone, myself included, that it's very easy to be a smartarse and criticise other people's works and efforts. It requires almost no effort to mock carefully crafted arguments with a well-timed cry of "Bollocks". Particularly when said work or conversations are taken out of context and without the original environment from whence they sprung. I try not to do this. Just as I try not to read and thus encourage yellow journalism. Lord knows I'm only human and so should you read something hereafter that has a slight buttercup hue, I only ask that you please forgive me.

I haven't written for a while for which I can offer up my sincerest apologies (God - I suddenly felt twelve again, when I used to keep a diary and felt guilty if I didn't write - as if my diary were some sort of authority figure). We live in strange times and much of my day-to-day instances have been occupied with slightly more altruistic - humanistic - spiritual questions than usability research that I can feed into web design.

(This and the fact that Google insist on attempting to make me open an account in order to access my blog and that, Sir, I find intrusive, oh yes I do. I've given in, rolled over and showed my belly. This is what being a grown-up means? Well Google, you may have won this battle but the war is not over yet.)

That's not to say that I haven't been thinking about usability but, with the world pausing on it's axis, all questions seem to take me meandering down routes (and I imagine this might be the case for most people) that are far too raw and that I think are best privately aired!

Because writing is and always has been such a personal and private pleasure, I find it hard to write outside of how I feel and how I'm applying myself in general. Thus my posts may have been, if published, even more self indulgent than usual. Articulate at speed, repent at leisure?

Of course, I am not for a moment suggesting that when I am writing a website proposal at work it is filled with philosophical questions, begging answers from our behaviour as individuals, communities and global all-consuming societies. Have we finally realised that growth at the pace of an out of control juggernaut, sans brakes and hurtling down Mount Snowden, is neither sustainable nor desirable. Progress? My eye. My favourite quote on this subject is from a book that is very dear to me. When outlawing slavery in a far-off province of the kingdom, the King concerned is berated for hurting the economy by stopping this inhumane practice.

"Have you no idea of progress and development?"

"Yes, I have seen them both in an egg. We call it 'going bad' in Narnia."

(The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C.S. Lewis, fifth installment of the Chronicles of Narnia).

Wonderfully put.

One thing that I can always talk about is shoes. Specifically heels. Specifically works of art that should be as beautiful as the perfectly designed feet that they encompass.

This week has been about Pedro Garcia (stunning designs and incredibly comfortable to wear) and a pair of knee high stiletto boots. The latter pair have heels that are tipped in metal which strike up brimstone-scented sparks of blue fire from the pavement. When I wear these boots, I feel I should have the same wallet as Samual L Jackson in Pulp Fiction.

Back to advertising, otherwise Drew will kill me (untrue but he's not here to defend himself - hah! Emma 1, Drew 0). Who, by the way, gave me a lovely introduction in his blog that I found really touching (http://tinyurl.com/c5v5j3). Check out his blog anyway, the boy's got chat - www.andrewspencer.biz/blog

Q's Cruise:

The following points are questions (some of them via my Twitter postings in their original and abbreviated forms), statements and comments. I have left in original article references so as not to seem cleverer than I actually am.

• Is there anything that Twitter can't do? Except make money, that is.

I simply cannot wait for their business model. Twitter enables me to keep up with industry and creative news – and have cool stuff brought to my attention in lovely bite-sized chunks. Quicker than almost any other news channel. And I’m the one who personalises it! Lovely. It is not for letting people know what I'm having for lunch or that I'm sleepy or hungover. Or vice versa.

• Doesn't writing content specifically for Kindle (http://tinyurl.com/dflvpy) create a new medium rather than just making books electronic? (Kindle creating new medium Kindle 2 usability review, thanks www.useit.com\! http://tinyurl.com/8fnqkm

Are books the new tapes? OK, not quite but you can see where I’m going with this – CDs and then software like iTunes has completely changed the way we listen to music. How often do you now know the artwork of an album, or even always listen to them in their original order of play, or even in their entirety?

• The most successful brands attitude to social media* is to go with the flow. Coke did exactly the right thing regarding their initially unauthorised Facebook page. They are 2nd only to Obama (article includes top ten FB pages) http://tinyurl.com/d78tyg

*Aside - should this movement be renamed social mafia? I'm sure some brands think so - although Domino’s conducted themselves quite admirably. I’ll come back to you on this one.

• Art - Advised further 'reading' to a friend re upper echelons of the street art movement.. Antony Micallef.. Can’t get over this guy’s work. http://tinyurl.com/d3zjc9

• Today's petty annoyance: Facebook asking me what's on my mind in an effort to glean a status out of me... Sooooo subversive..

Leading neatly on to the following:

• RT @michelletripp Proof Facebook is Censoring You. As tested by @ariwriter. http://bit.ly/VSOKW (evj *gasp* Bad FB!)

Let's be honest, Facebook is not owned by Mark Zuckerberg, it's owned by the CIA and they are watching us.

• The only good drop down menu is a.... MEGA drop down menu! User testing results hot off the press... http://tinyurl.com/cgbup8
  

It wouldn’t be too harsh to say that I have a hatred of drop down menus. They pop up when they are not wanted and are as slippery as algae covered eels. The mega drop down menu is a joy because it makes the navigation… usable! Ta da!

• Still loving articles discussing Facebook Vs Twitter... Is this the web heavyweight bout of the year? http://tinyurl.com/d5afed

Nothing like a good ruck! Hang on, is this the grown-up equivalent of inciting a riot in the playground by shouting ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’?

• I love www.tinyurl.com BUT using this tool does mean you don't advertise the actual site name upon the first instance of your audience's attention. Not so cool for the site, right?

Subsequently, I quite often 'thank' the website or post the article's original online appearance when I post on Twitter. Seems fair this way. Often, when citing an article buried in a website, the URL is so long that, aesthetically, it's offensive. Is there not a way that individual websites can create their own shortened URLs but so they retain their site address?

Finally:

• With all my obsession on why usability testing is not only justifiable (CX Partners write this up so much more eloquently (http://tinyurl.com/c4mleg) but imperative, I'd like you to consider the following line of thought: that you can't always listen to your users - innovate and lead from the front http://tinyurl.com/dn7fgc (thanks www.techcrunch.com)
  

My two cents (AKA the even more self indulgent bit):

At the end of the day, it is leaps of creativity that move us forward and make us ultimately, infallibly, and so enchantingly human. This, my friends, is what separates us from the animals. We are gifted with a level of consciousness that, unlike animals and for better or worse, transcends the grace of our day-to-day existence and all that goes with it, and allows us to create gratuitously. Thus bestowing our lives with more beauty and wonderment than perhaps we have a right to. Try not to take it for granted because whilst the property market may still drop further, more financial service companies may topple and consumerism as we know it (*dare to hope or is this too far? *) may be looking at oblivion, this ability may be 'all' we end up with.

Footnote:

I promise that my blogs will start being more focused and concise. Eventually. And yes, of course I am aware that this post, in parts, somewhat contradicts my last post – what do you think I am? Schizophrenic? Of course I know. I wouldn’t say that the value of creativity versus usability is a battle that rages constantly in my mind; they are two different things that can co-exist and stand utterly independent from each other. It just so happens that some days, on a personal level, I am more in love with, or preoccupied with one, the other or both at the same time. Fucking hell, I find writing exhausting. Do you have any idea how much energy it consumes when, articulately, one is incontinent? I’m off to make tea. Hope that wherever you are, there is hot sweet tea for you too.