Archive for the ‘Usability’ Category

Changing StumbleUpon Password

November 4, 2008

So you, just like me, want to change your StumbleUpon account password and are experiencing frustration. You logged into your StumbleUpon account and spent a few minutes going through the available options without finding the simple option to change your password.

The simple answer is you cannot find an option if it is not there. StumbleUpon decided that it will provide all the options and settings in your online account profile except changing your password. This is ridiculous.

To change your password you need to download and install the StumbleUpon toolbar in your browser and then from the Tools drop-down menu choose change password. I might be wrong, but to me this seems like a marketing ploy to force users to download and install your toolbar. I for one won’t bother to download and install any toolbar.

I like the whole idea of StumbleUpon and this password changing decision goes against the grain of online communities. First of all, I do not like to load my browser with myriad toolbars, hence the Minimalist Geek, and secondly if I want to change my password while not on my personal computer and haven’t the option to install toolbars, how will I manage to change my password.

Please StumbleUpon listen to your community and let them be free to choose whether to download and install your toolbar. Add the change password option to our online profile.

SQL Server 2008 Management Studio Express

September 24, 2008

I am writing this post to save your precious time if you happen to be looking for the Management Studio of SQL Server 2008 Express Edition.

Recently I upgraded my 2005 express edition of C# to 2008. As part of the installation they include the 2008 version of SQL Server Express. I thought since the installation is upgrading my current 2005 version to the 2008 versions it will include everything I already have installed. Unfortunately, it turned out I was assuming too much from an installation.

C# 2005 and SQL Server 2005 Express editions were both upgraded to the 2008 version but the Management Studio was not. Surprisingly, or not, the 2005 management studio could not connect to the new 2008 installation. So I uninstalled it and went looking for the management studio version 2008.

Read more…

Google’s simplicity vs Yahoo’s complexity

April 19, 2008

I continued to think about what I wrote in last Wednesday’s post, The Minimalist March to Success, and did some more research on the internet. While doing so, I came across two interesting posts one by Jeff Atwood of Coding Horror fame, and the other one by Prof. John Maeda, associate director of MIT’s Media Lab, on his blog simplicity.

Read more…