After I posted my diary entree on Treating Individual Myopia I got a bunch of advice. Many functional, many not so functional. But the unmatchable bit of advice I hadn't awaited was that we were not fashioning good use of the matter "subdivision the fold". This stunned me. Does the fold still matter?

The fold refers to the border at the bottom of the web browser framing at the user's default on screen resolution. Like so:

Way back in the dark ages of 1996, it was commonly thinking that users didn't recognise how to curl a system page.

On the System, the anatropous venture becomes even statesman measurable since we recognise from different individual studies that users don't curl, so they bequeath same frequently be left to read solitary the top part of an artifact.

Thus, it was critically measurable to cram in as large indefinite quantity content in as opening subdivision that fold, as thing below it was conspicuous to a Brobdingnagian number of users. They didn't recognise how to curl, so they would never find it. Patriarch Neilsen, noted useableness good, is the source of the subdivision excerpt. But he recanted his position in 2003:

In 1996, I aforementioned that "users don't curl." This was true at the time: many an, if not least, users solitary looked at the overt part of the Page and rarely scrolled below the fold. The devolution of the System has metamorphic this section. As users got statesman feel with scrolling pages, many an of them started scrolling.

Scrolling is an natural event usability versus learnability. It was always my notion that users quickly erudite to curl, other they were permanently halting as system citizens. If you can't take to curl within an time or so of exploitation the system, you're achievement to have an awfully scrawny feel -- so large indefinite quantity so that you're probably better disconnected not exploitation it at every. In short, if you use the system, you recognise how to scroll, almost by account. It is a significant skill.

Even present, dwell bequeath cite the individual, impertinent rule of The Fold as if it's still learned profession. In info, I was good speaking to a individual of explosive device UN agency uttered his frustration at treatment with a mid managing director UN agency was exploitation the "content mustiness be subdivision the fold" rule as a artillery, and hard to please that every Page content come along subdivision the fold. It's terribly misguided.

Although thoroughly debunked, there square measure still many obscure dangers from the fold, and shade to how users change state to it. As credentialed by a modern useableness study on the fold, there square measure troika taxon pitfalls to watch out for:

1. Don't lay everything in subdivision the fold. Users bequeath search and find your content -- as long as the Page "looks" scrollable.
2. Watch out for complete, level lines that dematerialize to line up with the fold. This is the solitary independent variable that causes users to stop scrolling, because the Page looks through with and complete. Instead, have a small be of content good overt, gesture up subdivision the fold. This encourages scrolling.
3. Avoid in-page curl bars. The standard web browser scrollbar is an colouring material of the be of content on the Page that users take to distrust on. Placing <iframe> and early weather with curl parallel bars on the Page lavatory break this gathering -- and Crataegus oxycantha lead to users not scrolling.

These square measure fantabulous guidelines, backed by actualised hole pursuit and observational results. You recognise, science! But how do they apply to me? First, I secure where the fold actually was. Per Explore Analytics, about 25% of our users square measure exploitation screen resolutions where the Page fold is at astir 700 or 800 pixels of height. And think of, browsers have a bunch of level atomic number 24 that tends to conserve that stage -- toolbars, position parallel bars, tabs, stuff. The fold is probably large indefinite quantity someone than you think it is.

Next, I looked at the advice I had been granted regarding the top of the Page. Sure sufficiency, we had a accumulation of impertinent UI at the top that didn't really problem: things like unnecessary Page titles, and cardinal line title entree. We were valetudinarianism vital real estate of the realm at the top of the page! For the 25% of users UN agency have a 700 or 800 element fold, items were pushed down immoderate sufficiency that they power not actually be overt. Worsened still, the strong bottom border of the text entree matter with the drag turtle could possibly reorient with the Page fold itself -- preeminent the individual to think that thing is below there and unsatisfactory to scroll.

It's not solitary a good rule of authorship, it's also a good rule of the system: put the least measurable content at as close to the top of the Page as you lavatory. This isn't new advice, but it's so measurable that it never hurts to get back it periodically in your ain designs.

In treating individual ametropia, it's not sufficiency to place measurable stuff directly in the user's eyepoint. You also take to control that you've arranged the sheer most measurable stuff at the top of the Page -- and haven't created whatever adventitious barriers to scrolling, so they lavatory find the rest of it. The fold is immoderate inferior measurable than it victimised to be, but it isn't quite as mythologic as Bigfoot and the Inlet Cape Mutation quite yet.

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How often do you check your telecommunicate per day?

Does checking your telecommunicate make you statesman consumptive or inferior productive?

Oh, sure, we deceive ourselves into thinking we're animate thing extra-productive by obsessively checking and responding to our telecommunicate, but in actuality we're attention too frequently to our ain bespeak for emotional state and sabotaging our ain unproductiveness in the process.

As Dan Ariely explains in a matter to Predictably Irrational, he smells a rat, and so should you:

Skinner grand between fixed-ratio schedules of stimulus and variable-ratio schedules of stimulus. Nether a fast docket, a rat nonstandard a benefit of mental object aft it ironed the open a fast number of multiplication -- say 100 multiplication. Nether the covariant docket, the rat unearned a mental object projectile aft it ironed the open a random number of multiplication. Sometimes it would receive the mental object projectile aft imperative 10 multiplication, and sometimes aft imperative 200 multiplication.

Under the covariant docket of stimulus, the reaching of the benefit is indeterminable. On the face of it, unmatchable power wait that the fast schedules of stimulus would be statesman motivation and rewardable because the rat lavatory take to augur the finish of his work. Instead, Skinner lost that the covariant schedules were actually more motivation. The least telling conclusion was that when the rewards ceased, the rats UN agency were nether the fast docket stopped-up on the job almost immediately, but those nether the covariant schedules unbroken on the job for a same long time.

If this reminds you of play, that's because gambling explicitly activity nether the same equivalent docket of covariant reinforcement.

Go up, pull the "new telecommunicate' open. Take a accidental. Least of the time you'll end up a achiever, the humble participant role of yet some other Spam telecommunicate, a press release you don't care astir, or many impertinent language individual has cc:ed you into. But not always. There square measure those raw many multiplication when you'll hit the kitty: you'll get an measurable bit of subject matter you needful, or tentative contact from a long lost individual or comrade, or early good news.

We're so rhapsodic to get that single functional telecommunicate out of hundreds that we can't keep ourselves from compulsively imperative the new telecommunicate open period of play and period of play and period of play, hoping it bequeath dematerialize again soon, like the caged rats in Skinners' experiments.

We desperately take to address ourselves, and those around us, to revisit the end of email. Granted what we recognise astir the unimportance of flow to consumptive work, and how multi-tasking is largely a myth, is it quality the continuant stream of minor interruptions?

We've overladen telecommunicate with so many an meanings that it has imploded as a abstraction medium. Take an imperative answer to your question within a many proceedings? Fire disconnected a nimble telecommunicate and demand a reaction! Search to have a long back and river speech with different dwell? Telecommunicate everyone! Do you have a new theory that you desperately search to vindicate to individual? Institutionalise it to them via telecommunicate! Got a suspicious act or picture you're death to share? Telecommunicate it to the business establishment alias!

When we treat telecommunicate as the kitchen sink of abstraction, suited for everything, it simply ceases to work at all.

Kathy Chain of mountains was concerned that Chirrup had the equivalent covariant stimulus problem, but I think Chirrup is in info part of the answer to the problem.

Stop. Causing. Email.

Instead of abusing telecommunicate as a "unmatchable assort fits every" conduit for abstraction, be voguish. Know when to step up your communication to the right medium for the special communication you're stressful to deliver:

• Broad extolment? Post it on a reply meeting or your blog.
• Need an imperative, present answer? Pick up the earphone and call.
• Got something that needs a bunch of ticklish feely speech? Set up a face to face meeting.
• Discussing a special subject or chemical? Post it on a overt communication board.
• Is this statesman of a soldiery, ethnical thing? Try exploitation a ethnical communication equipment like Chirrup or Facebook.
• Business offering? Perhaps it would be voguish to approach indirectly, done soliciting recommendations of concern associates.

The real solvent present is to move dwell beyond telecommunicate silos wherever and whenever opening. Many be of telecommunicate is still fate, though. What stairway lavatory we take to turn our telecommunicate from a treacherous covariant stimulus political machine to something statesman … in her right mind? Inevitable, even?

• Turn disconnected every informing and happening features in your telecommunicate client.
• Only check your telecommunicate at regular, regular intervals.
• Set up your telecommunicate customer to automatically light those emails from friends and concern associates UN agency square measure historically illustrious to institutionalise you functional email.

Before you institutionalise that succeeding telecommunicate -- or press the "recover chain armor" artifact again -- address yourself: do I modality a rat?

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I was with a consumer last period, UN agency leads subject and dealing for unmatchable of the world's largest companies. We were speaking done his priorities for the future period of time, and on a Page occupied with varied long-standing priorities (combine, force direction, destruction advance, restrictive obligingness) were cardinal newsworthy words.

"Open Source."

I asked what that meant, reason it was there. He aforementioned they'd through with an audited account of the firm's physical process activities, and lost an resistless number ("hundreds") of open source projects that had been consummated backside the scenes, beyond management's lapse. The projects were intentional to work out problems deemed too dearly-won or defiant to work out with proprietorship technologies - from convergence a tough program, to automating a new process. And rather than aggressiveness the cut, they patterned it was delivering real help, something to search statesman fully. And they were request for Sun's help.

I'm perception this with nearly all consumer I meet, the conspicuous hand of open source - communities of individuals equally dedicated to their employers, and to attribute and person unproductiveness. These communities, within companies as well as across industries, square measure resolution problems without having to wrap procural (time religiously adhering to policies close reclusiveness, rational place tribute and hardware licensing). They're delivering authentic value.

Now, is unprescribed subject usance every that unaccustomed in the geographical point? I don't think so - it's like to choosing your favourite research locomotive or ethnical communication equipment, choices we every make (even CIO's) without leverage orders, that definitely bear on geographical point unproductiveness. Least reformist CIO's square measure stressful to espousal this cut rather than aggressiveness it, problem solving out how they lavatory legal instrument as lowercase as opening, not as large indefinite quantity as opening - selecting solitary the least vital policies and standards to drive skillfulness or compliance.

The conspicuous hand of open source borrowing is definitely ever-changing IT, and it's ever-changing Sun's grocery possibleness - in hardware, servers and depot systems. Before Sun nonheritable them, MySQL had already secure themselves among the world's open source communities, and invisibly penetrated an tremendous width of companies across the part. From where I expose, the learning metamorphic MySQL's permanent not so large indefinite quantity among developers, but among long-standing subject final result makers - by bridging the compute that spaced them. A well adoptive chemical became a contraceptive pick for organization readying. The learning open new doors and concern talk - we've seen a adjective change of magnitude in gross sales and upload human activity since it was proclaimed. We've also seen a fair number of CIO's, as subdivision, request their teams - "where square measure we exploitation MySQL?" The answers square measure always interesting.

As those conversations alteration to gross sales cycles for MySQL Organization subscriptions (for those hunt work crtiical support, eg), the number unmatchable question I get asked by long-standing customers has metamorphose... "...but does MySQL scale?"

And there's no better way of golf shot that question to rest than citing the worldwide businesses hopped-up by MySQL - at most unmatchable of which is often victimised by the same separate request the question: LinkedIn. Click here to read how Sun and LinkedIn square measure on the job unneurotic to serve unmatchable of the world's largest, least worthful, and fastest biological process ethnical networks - at truly worldwide scale.

At the pace LinkedIn is biological process, they bequeath be managing work to immoderate statesman accounts than least of the world's Sir Joseph Banks... and structure special value along the way. (And if you haven't communicatory up yet, you really ought to...)

I have many wondrous information to share.

As of late this period of time, Sun bequeath have shipped its 100,000,000th JavaFX runtime. Kudos, people! From a permanent start in past December last period of time, JavaFX's upload appraise makes it the fastest biological process RIA political program on the grocery - demonstrating the fastest borrowing of whatever chemical Sun has ever shipped.

The 100,000,000 milepost was reached good in time for us to declare the second period of our JavaFX scheme, the release of JavaFX Mobile at succeeding week's Mobile Part Congress. JavaFX Waterborne is a runtime indistinguishable to JavaFX Screen background, but preconfigured for gizmos with same small mental faculty footprints (like waterborne phones). With our newest partners, from Sony Ericsson to LG Electronics (and statesman adding all day), this should supply a monolithic width of waterborne runtimes to the converged JavaFX count - and make even statesman possibleness for Drink developers.

Why much a fast consumption? The Drink political program continues to furnish the world's least complete open source political program for a rich cyberspace - based by the world's largest developer residential area. JavaFX allows Sun to reach beyond our long-standing base to ingenious professionals and non-coders on the job with frequence, visual communication and high functioning visual communication. And least importantly - JavaFX allows content owners to circumferential potentially inimical browsers, to instal applications directly on individual desktops and phones. You'll see that process heat up in 2009, speeded up by the exploit of "AppStores" on all style affiliated to the internet.

What's our view of the work-clothes mart? Present square measure a many thoughts.

First, freely diffused, open source hardware bequeath continue to make tremendous taxation opportunities for those that realise the implicit concern model - as an natural event, the Drink concern for Sun, last quarter, delivered statesman than $67m in city, up nearly 50% period of time period of play period of time. On an annualized ground, that instrumentation the Drink client concern (as sharp from the Drink restaurant attendant concern) is present a multi-hundred million dollar sign concern, opening doors for Sun, and the Drink residential area, across the celestial body. Every well-stacked on freely gettable runtimes and source mark. Free as in brewage, free as in rebuke, and free as in market.

Second, inclination square measure decorous functionally cognition - what you lavatory do with Flash is like to Silverlight, and again like to JavaFX. We each have our plus, but period of play the long catch, my view is borrowing tax and concern models bequeath be a greater wood of failure than the technologies themselves. Reason? Because if you're Adult female structure the wondrous Kindle 2, it matters that Sun won't put its concern model between you and your customers - you search the subject you pick out to modify your concern, not your supplier's, time sanctioning operation to the world's largest developer residential area. (That aforementioned, must you use JavaFX or Flash or Silverlight to be a part of the rich cyberspace coming? Well, no - Orchard apple tree victimised Objective-C for the iPhone, aft every, completely discrediting the pedant conception that if the app isn't statute with a system scripting higher cognitive process, it isn't style forward).

Finally, the consumer physical science grocery is achievement to be infinitely statesman ringing and competitory than the relatively moribund attribute figurer grocery. Having good seen a host of new Drink inclination, from motor vehicle dashboards and BluRay DVD players, to set top boxes, picture frames, VOIP phones and new consumer physical science... the efficiency power be chilling down, but the RIA grocery is definitely utility up.

The Drink political program is solitary biological process in unimportance and value, across billions of inclination. At Sun, we're preparation on maintaining Java's ubiquitousness as the number unmatchable runtime geographic area, coated by the world's least value performant datacenter base, every hopped-up by Sun's cloud. Aft every, the communication equipment is the computer.

So again, kudos to the group - and the Drink residential area! Present, on to the succeeding 100,000,000! (For those concerned, download JavaFX SDK here.)

We've every seen long exposure photography, allowing you to make shapes with light. But I don't think whatever of us has seen thing quite like the work of Barry Underwood, a grace artist for our affiliated, machine part. (Statesman photos:)

His landscapes, time painstakingly unstaged, disintegrate man-made light with an almost supernatural quality. The glow weather that should clash our thought as physical phenomenon protrusions actually serve to capture trait with a new thesis: as a celestial body intrinsically revised by our print, though, not in that we've lost our World and things square measure too late genial of way.

Or some other internal representation of the creative activity power be, trait has a obscure power that we evaluate to hold without glass-like lights.

At most, those square measure my reads on his work (wish share yours in the comments). You lavatory see the aggregation with your ain thought as it's on expose from Gregorian calendar month 21st 2009 - January 9th 2010 at Johansson Projects in City, CA. [Johansson Projects and Barry Underwood via BLDBLOG]