adrian holovaty

May 29, 2004, 6:21 PM ET

Enabling MP3 support in Fedora Core 2 Linux

I suspect few of the folks who read this site are deeply interested, but I've posted an addendum to the Unofficial Fedora FAQ -- how to enable MP3 support in Fedora Core 2. (Fedora is an otherwise-outstanding Linux distribution that removes MP3 support in order to avoid patent royalties.) It'll be linked-to from the FAQ shortly.

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May 28, 2004, 11:58 AM ET

Photo expansion on mouseover could get disruptive

Steve Outing over at E-Media Tidbits has suggested a "better technique for enlarge-this Web photos". I agree that displaying "enlarge this photo" links usefully is an unsolved problem, but I don't know if the technique pointed out there -- using mouseovers to expand photos -- is the best way to do it. It's a good idea in theory but could get disruptive in practice.

The problem is mouseovers get in the way. For example, if I'm moving my mouse cursor from one end of a page to the other -- say, to go up to the navigation bar -- my cursor crosses every part of the page between here and there. And if any parts of the page are set to trigger onmouseover events, they're triggered, despite my not wanting to trigger them.

That exact scenario happens almost every time I visit CJOnline.com, which relies heavily on mouseovers to dynamically change content on its home page. When it doesn't happen, it's because I have carefully considered the path my cursor should take to get from one area of the page to another -- an experience not unlike avoiding minefields. (Disclaimer: CJOnline is a competitor of the site I work for.)

The crux: With a mouseover image, you can never tell whether the reader explicitly wanted to mouse over it, or whether his or her cursor was simply en route to another part of the page. That's why the click makes more sense -- the act of clicking signifies intent to do something.

Of course, I'm basing this on my own Internet usage and observation of friends and colleagues -- not on any sort of study.

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May 28, 2004, 11:57 AM ET

Return to writing

I'm back writing after a month-long hiatus, caused mostly by traveling and working 14-hour days (voluntarily, believe it or not) on some new features for Lawrence.com and our other sites at work.

I just got back from the Poynter Institute, where I attended a seminar for online journalists. I'm more energized and excited about doing great online journalism than I've been in a while. Highly recommended.

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