Comments for In usability we trust

Comment on Google Maps API 3 – The basics by GIO

GIO — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:02:57 +0000

Hi,
I have anything problem a display the map in the my page.
I resolved with
code:

I use the attribute tag position:relative, and width-height a specific value width:480px; height:465px is not width:40%

A other problem is the property option of the function Map()
is visible:boolean, both you can use setVisible(visible:boolean) after call th function Map()

Comment on Creating a Submenu in Wordpress by Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:17:39 +0000

Like many others, you’re help saved the day and I really appreciate you taking the time to share the knowledge!

Cheers!

Comment on Announcing MapTooltip by den

den — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:56:31 +0000

Hi,
I am glad to find this tooltip.
But I have the same problem as No.5.
It works for simple polygon. but I count not work out with polygon array.
I am looking forword to hearing any advice.
Thank you.

Comment on The use of buttons in web forms by John Horloges

John Horloges — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:11:24 +0000

Interesting article. Personally I always prefer to put the `ok` button on the left side. It feels the most natural that way. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we read from left to the right that makes it the most convenient that way.

This way we don´t have to read the cancel button first, which saves some time. And we all know that time is the essence on a webpage. It´s just a theory however.

Putting the preferred action in bold is a good tip from you. Keeping it simple for the visitor is key and makes it a little bit easier to choose. Thanks for that tip.

Greetings, John

Comment on Google Maps API 3 – Map settings by Craig Payne

Craig Payne — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:30:35 +0000

Hi,

Thanks for the tutorial. I am thinking of using v3 for Paragliding Map in the near future to provide better support for iPhone/Android users.

Craig

Comment on Handling Large Amounts of Markers in Google Maps by Cemal

Cemal — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:57:07 +0000

Great article! Thanks.

Comment on A Project Guide to UX Design [Book review] by Gabriel Svennerberg

Gabriel Svennerberg — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:33:15 +0000

Russ: You’re welcome! Thanks for an excellent book! I really enjoyed reading it!

Comment on A Project Guide to UX Design [Book review] by Russ

Russ — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:05:05 +0000

Hey Gabriel!

Thanks so much for the review of the book–we’re really happy that you enjoyed it!

Comment on Google Maps Api 3 – InfoWindows by Gabriel Svennerberg

Gabriel Svennerberg — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 11:45:17 +0000

Dad00: No there’s currently no tabbed InfoWindows in API 3. There are however different ways of implementing 3d party tabs in an InfoWindow. Check out this discussion in the Google Maps JavaScript API v3 group.

Jason: There’s no onClose event to my knowledge. I think you are right there are definitely cases where an onClose event would be called for.

Comment on Imagemap rollover by Gabriel Svennerberg

Gabriel Svennerberg — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 11:09:44 +0000

Kyle: Sorry for being so extremely slow to answer your question but I have now made a new example with a fade effect when the layers are shown and hidden. This way the transition isn’t so abrupt.

Comment on Google Maps Api 3 – InfoWindows by Jason

Jason — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:04:04 +0000

Does the v3 InfoWindow not have some sort of ‘onClose event’? I’m aware of the ‘closeclick’ event but I want to trigger a function whenever the infowindow is closed by any means (clicking the x or programatically).

Comment on Basic operations with markers in Google Maps by Gabriel Svennerberg

Gabriel Svennerberg — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:12:54 +0000

Paul: You could probably just use a regular marker but replace the marker icon with your sticker. Then in the click event, instead of opening an infoWindow, redirect the browser to the desired url.

To change the icon use the setIcon() method of the marker.

marker.setImage('path/to/your/image.png');

And to redirect to a different url write:

GEvent.addListener(marker, "click", function() {
    window.location.href = 'your/url/';
});

Comment on Basic operations with markers in Google Maps by Paul

Paul — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:48:33 +0000

Hi Gabriel
Thank you for this simple tutorial.
Is there a way to display a sticker on the map with a link? For example I want to display country or region names that when clicked go to a different url.
Paul

Comment on Google Maps Api 3 – InfoWindows by Dad00

Dad00 — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:47:30 +0000

Does API V3 will let us to use tabbed infowindows ? I really need this !

Comment on Google Maps Api 3 – InfoWindows by Dick

Dick — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:08:14 +0000

Hello again,

I tried to link an information window to a polygon in the same manner as for a marker, but failed. Can you see here http://liftstol.se/test.htm what I’m doing wrong?

Thank you in advance!

// Dick

Comment on Google Maps Api 3 – InfoWindows by Teo Maragakis

Teo Maragakis — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:54:05 +0000

Hwy man, I am trying to do the thing you said but I cannot Could you make the following comments code that would work?

function markerselect(id) {

map.panTo(markers[id].position);

// if tempinfowindow exists close it or whatever
// if it does not exist make it have the contents of infowindows[id]

tempinfowindow.open(map, markers[id]);
}

Thanks in advanced

Comment on Handling Large Amounts of Markers in Google Maps by Google Maps » Blog Archive » Duuużo markerów – MarkerManager

Google Maps » Blog Archive » Duuużo markerów – MarkerManager — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 16:23:33 +0000

[...] Tekst na podstawie własnych doświadczeń oraz art. "Handling Large Amounts of Markers in Google Maps" [...]

Comment on Page Load Times vs Conversion Rates by 影响网站转化率的10大误区 « Magic in The Air

影响网站转化率的10大误区 « Magic in The Air — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:33:20 +0000

[...] 　　…… 图：你以为红框中的下载按钮是这个软件的下载链接就大错特错了，但很多人真的会误点，我也小白过误点过图：性诱导和虚假界面同时出现在一个网页上，这种情况其实非常普遍，每天都有大量很傻很天真的网友上当　　这些诱导都会引诱我们采取行动，以实现诱导所期望的目的。诱导大肆泛滥，其存在一定有合理性，甚至已经成为一些网站的生存之道。但是，我相信看到这篇文章的站长们，都是安心本分的做事业的，也不是CCAV去河蟹的对象，因此我们要避免采用这类诱导。　　显然，一般我们都不会主动采用这类诱导方法，原因跟误区二一样，网友们不仅不喜欢被骗，而且他们情绪急躁容易恼怒。点击之后如果没有得到他们想要的（比如说没有看到裸体或者广告的窗口没有关闭反而打开一个新的页面），他们肯定会气愤，这不仅伤害转化，更会伤害你的品牌。　　请注意：发生诱导的情况下，最终转化都不会超过1%，或者换句话说，诱导本身不对最终转化产生效果。　　我们不会主动去做，不代表别人不会帮我们做，因此请谨记：我们一定要避免我们的广告代理或者我们选用的广告网络用这招对付我们。如何发现诱导？　　这是网站分析工具的强项：诱导会造成广告的点击率空前提高，但实际转化率却会急遽衰减。这个流量特征即意味着存在诱导流量的可能性。　　谈到这个话题的时候，我的一位读者曾经问我，如果我用类似前面路易斯·威登的虚假低折扣方法先把网友诱导到我的网站上来，然后他们被我网站上的其他商品所吸引，岂不也是一种策略？　　完全赞同这是一种策略，但不敢苟同这是一种好策略。不否认这种策略的恶劣性比搞出些马赛克的咸湿美女要低，但是仍然辜负了访问者的良好预期。也许辜负的程度不是那么深，但仍然会产生负面的失望情绪。我执着的认为商业是为积累积极情绪而构建的一种氛围，越少的负面越能够维系长久的生意。不过，为了避免我在这个问题上有偏见，我可以提出一个建议，如下：　　测试！没错，一定要做测试。如果采用这种诱导之后，转化率降低，但流量的基数增加，那么也许总的转化绝对量会提升。这也许达到了你的目的。　　啰嗦一句，也许测试的结果满足了你的期望，但别忘了还有机会成本这回事，你的确“忽悠”来了很多人，但立即又损失了很多人，而且他们可能这辈子都不会再被你“忽悠”了。这也许真的不是一件好事。所以，不管怎么样，我站在极度反对“忽悠”的阵营这边。　　与故意诱导相对应的，是流量作弊。这个比故意诱导更可恶，危害也更大。事实上，已经可以把故意诱导作为作弊的一种，但是作弊本身能够采用的方法则更多，效果也更猛烈，最终的转化率也会更低。不过由于没有站长会主动的把作弊流量引入，因此我不认为是一种误区，而应该是一种需要提防的陷阱。网站分析的作用之一，就是通过数据结构的分析来和作弊对抗，来真正净化自己网站的流量。相关的内容请看：那些虚无的网事——人工流量的8大怪现状（上），那些虚无的网事——人工流量的8大怪现状（下），案例分析–仅关注Bounce Rate是不够的。误区四：沉重的登陆页发生频率：★★★ 影响强度：★★★ 　　在互联网关注度即是金钱的氛围下，创意追求冲击力和与众不同的效果成了各个广告主的追求，因此，越来越多的flash作为登陆页面的主视觉。可惜，我不是flash控，虽然我相信flash的恰当运用能给页面带来锦上添花画龙点睛的效果，而且能够增加很多互动，但我仍然反对追求高转化率的网站大量采用flash，因为这会让登陆页和转化页变得沉重缓慢，并降低最终转化。　　适可而止，点到即可。　　原因在于，网友们不喜欢等待。而大量采用flash，即使是在网络速度提升的今天，也仍然会拖慢页面打开的速度。还记得网友等待时间的极限吗？——10秒钟，真的很短暂，但足够关闭你的页面从此再也不来。　　我的工作常常要跟各大门户讨价还价，争讨的内容当然不是钱，而是广告的物料（广告术语，其实就是广告的文件）的大小（k数）。门户网站们总是把登载在他们页面上的广告压缩到最低限度（例如35k已经是一个很“重”的广告了），以保证他们的页面足够轻快。但广告主则不以为然：汽车、房地产、时尚品的登陆页面充斥着整版的flash，载入时间仿佛成为可以挥霍不尽的资源。　　我随便翻看，就发现了“反面案例”：图：佳能的Ixus广告的登陆页面　　这是佳能Ixus的广告，我喜欢这个产品，确实是轻薄和画质的优美结合，不过这个登陆页面却不够“轻薄”。点击广告后，因为有广告监测工具在起作用，所以会经过多次跳转（Redirection），然后才进入真正的页面。一旦进入真正页面后，首先是黑屏，然后经过长达40多秒的等待，才会出现内容，在第50秒左右才会载入全部内容。　　请注意，这期间没有任何的进度提示。而我的带宽应该足够不错了——电驴能拉300多k呢！　　我想，也许是对产品过于自信，也许是因为对于网络带宽过于自信，所以才会忽略时间的问题，但是时间绝对是影响最终转化的因素！　　Gabriel Svennerberg的数据表明，对于Google，页面的下载时间每增加0.4到0.9秒，流量和收入会降低20%；对于Amazon，每增加100毫秒的页面下载时间，销售量会降低1%。同样，在我给一个包含大量图片（包括背景图片）的登陆页“瘦身”之后，成功降低了将近10%的bounce rate。所以，上面的例子中，50秒钟已经是天文数字了，我们真没有那么多“时间”可以挥霍。　　请记住：凡是能够让页面在视觉效果不变的前提下变“轻薄”的方法都值得尝试，而且一定能够帮助提升转化率。　　对于那些没有flash的页面，也不值得沾沾自喜，页面如同程序，冗余部分总是司空见惯的。最主要的问题在于页面中图形元素的优化，当图片较多的时候，采用何种压缩算法是值得反复考量的，很多页面通过合理的图片压缩缩减100k的空间是非常容易的。　　如何给页面瘦身不是我这个博客的专门范畴了，不过对于网站设计师而言，这是基本功。这里我觉得给自己的脑子中上好一根弦比如何去具体实现更重要。不是吗？　　最后，大家把Sina首页下载下来看看，它的页面有多重？别忘了，它的首页可是有六七屏之多！误区五：消失的Call To Action 发生频率：★★★ 影响强度：★★★☆ 　　什么是Call To Action？不好意思，不是想在这里卖弄英语，而是实在没有找到合适的词来对应。Call To Action是页面上强烈呼吁人们采取某种行动的元素，以按钮和醒目的文字居多，点击Call To Action元素本身就是我们希望发生的转化。　　左图中式那些我们常见的Call To Action的元素，这些对大家肯定不会陌生。　　可是，很多转化页面上却没有清晰的Call To Action告诉人们需要采取的下一个步骤是什么，因此也就失去了实现转化的机会。清晰的意思是：传递的意思要准确，明白而不存在误解和猜测。　　另一个误区是，有Call To Action，但却放在了非常不显著的位置上，结果有跟没有一样。　　还有一个误区是，有了清晰的Call To Action，但是却没有告诉访问者为什么要去做出行动。因此访问者也没有足够的动力去实现转化。　　因此，总结一下，对于Call To Action，我们要记住下面的三个原则： [...]

Comment on Google Maps Api 3 – InfoWindows by Wzhao

Wzhao — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:58:49 +0000

Does V3 support tabbed InfoWindow? I use openInfoWindowTabsHtml in V2. I hope V3 has the similar feature.

Comment on ListDJ – song lyrics in Spotify by Tim

Tim — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:42:18 +0000

Doesn’t appear to work at all on OS X.

Comment on Google Maps Api 3 – Markers by Enrico

Enrico — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:08:12 +0000

Thanks very much Gabriel, it’s long time i was looking such a article so simple and clear!

Comment on Basic operations with markers in Google Maps by Brian

Brian — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 06:22:19 +0000

Thanks for a great post! Very informative and easy to follow.

Comment on Google Maps API 3 – Map settings by Pierre

Pierre — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 22:17:00 +0000

This is a nice article, but when a use code like the examples in the demogallery :

http://code.google.com/intl/nl/apis/maps/documentation/v3/demogallery.html

The navigation controller looks a bit weird in IE.

How do i overcome this problem?

Comment on Google Maps Api 3 – InfoWindows by Gabriel Svennerberg

Gabriel Svennerberg — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:50:17 +0000

Dick: That’s is entirely possible.

Comment on Beta chapter from my upcoming book on Google Maps API v3 by Justin Ball

Justin Ball — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:35:42 +0000

I loved the chapter and I would buy the book right now if it were available. The flow was great and included the perfect amount of code an illustration. Looking forward to more!

Comment on The rise of Zooming User Interfaces by Ralph Jones

Ralph Jones — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:52:49 +0000

Along with Zoomorama and Prezi you definitely need to add http://www.ahead.com; a creative web publishing and presentation tool for zooming web sites, presentations, portfolios etc.

They provide deep zooming of hi res images and you can add most file formats incl. office and Adobe files

Comment on Working with Info Windows in Google Maps by M.sudhakar

M.sudhakar — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 06:44:48 +0000

hi.thsi sudhakar,
my Radio Frequency Engineer(RFE)
appreciate the initiative from google to enable us customise maps.

Comment on Google Maps Api 3 – InfoWindows by Dick

Dick — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:23:43 +0000

Is it possible to have a infowindow connected to a polygon?

Comment on Google Maps API 3 – Map settings by vish

vish — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:00:40 +0000

u doing well job… and thax for helping so kindly…

Comment on Google Maps API 3 – The basics by coutant

coutant — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:27:18 +0000

@Johan, I was confused same way. Like you I saved the demo file and opened it on localhost : but no map is visible.
But it’s not a matter of host! It’s a matter of css file…
Yes, if you happen to break the link to the css/style.css file, than the map is just not visible because you are missing the height definition included in the css file : #map { height:500px;}