World Usability Day

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Rick Boardman, User Experience Team</span><br /><br />When was the last time you visited a website where you couldn't find what you wanted? Happens way too often, doesn't it? Or perhaps you've recently had a bad experience with another piece of technology -- a mobile phone, DVD player, or household appliance that you just couldn't figure out how to use. Well, there is a whole group of people called "user experience professionals" who sit up late at night thinking about naughty technology and how to make it better for you -- and there's even a whole day dedicated to improving technology.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7609/900/1600/WUD_logo.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7609/900/320/WUD_logo.jpg" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /></div><br /><a href="http://www.worldusabilityday.org/">World Usability Day</a> is an annual event that highlights the fact that millions of people around the world encounter technology problems every day, and so promotes the work that user experience professionals do to make technology easier to use. The day starts at midday NZST in New Zealand and ends 32 hours later at 11PM PST in California, with events on every continent (except maybe Antarctica!).<br /><br />Events focus on a wide range of technologies and users: Not only do we work on travel websites, search engines, and email programs, but we also study how to best support people with special needs (from jet pilots to people with visual impairments) and improve the usability of everything from ATMs to operating rooms.<br /><br />Google has a sizable team of user experience professionals who are constantly working to improve the usability of our products. We test them in lots of ways, like doing statistical analyses of which of two versions of a webpage gets more clicks and usage. Another one of our favorite techniques is inviting people to come into our labs to give us feedback in person. Sometimes, we ask them to sit in front of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_tracking">an eye tracker</a> so we can follow where they are looking on the screen. We continually take the results of all these study types and make changes in the way our software behaves. For instance, we recently made changes to <a href="http://googlebase.blogspot.com/2006/09/redesign-of-google-base-homepage_19.html">Google Base</a> and <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/new-groups-experience.html">Google Groups</a> specifically to make those products easier to use. But while we pride ourselves on the usability of our products, we know that there's always more to be done. Whenever you have a question or complaint about the usability of one of Google's products, we want to hear about it! Use the "contact us" feedback link within a product's <a href="http://www.google.com/support/">help center</a>, and send us the details.<br /><br />If you're a user experience professional or student interested in working here, please check out our <a href="http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/topic.py?dep_id=1091&loc_id=1100" title="jobs">jobs</a> page and get in touch. And lastly, here are some World Usability Day events which caught our eye:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.worldusabilityday.org/event/show/184">MakingLifeEasy.Org and Red Balloons on the Streets of Auckland & Wellington</a> (New Zealand)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.worldusabilityday.org/event/show/174">Navigation in the operating room. An example of a successful design process</a> (Switzerland)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.worldusabilityday.org/event/show/143">Usability Make-over for Nonprofit Websites</a> (USA)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.worldusabilityday.org/event/show/65">Access to Books for People with Print Disabilities</a> (USA)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.worldusabilityday.org/event/show/110">Dia Mundial da Usabilidade em Brasília</a> (Brazil)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.worldusabilityday.org/event/show/102">Exploring methods for promoting usability testing with elderly people and people with disabilities</a> (Japan)

World Usability Day

Posted by Rick Boardman, User Experience Team When was the last time you visited a website where you couldn't find what you wanted? Ha...

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Start your day off right

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Mike Horowitz, Product Manager, Google Apps for Your Domain</span><br /><br />How do people in your company, school or organization start their day after their morning cup of coffee? It would be pretty great if they could fire up their browser and go to a page where they have everything they need to get their day going -- a summary of their inbox and calendar, company or school news, important links, plus a Google search box. It'd be even better if this page was highly customizable -- by your organization and by your people -- and didn't cost buckets of money to build and maintain.<br /><br />I've thought a lot about this challenge, and I'm excited to finally tell everyone about what I've been working on: a brand new feature of <a href="http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/admins/overview.html">Google Apps for Your Domain</a> called the "start page." With this, organizations can provide a dynamic and unique-to-you central access point for essential information. Setting it up is quick and easy -- much like setting up a Google Personalized Homepage -- but with custom logos, colors and your organization's own content, in addition to modules from our <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/directory?synd=open">gadget library</a>. Then each of your users can take your organization's default page and change it up so it's just right for them.<br /><br />To create a start page for your organization for free, sign up for Google Apps for Your Domain or log in to your existing account. If you think this would be useful but don't make these kinds of decisions for your school, business or organization, point your IT administrators to <a href="http://www.google.com/a"><span style="font-weight:bold;">http://www.google.com/a</span></a>.

Start your day off right

Posted by Mike Horowitz, Product Manager, Google Apps for Your Domain How do people in your company, school or organization start their day ...

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Old world meets new on Google Earth

<span class="byline-author">Posted by David Rumsey, Founder, David Rumsey Map Collection</span><br /><br />This morning was incredibly exciting for me: when I opened up Google Earth, there were 16 of my <a href="http://www.davidrumsey.com/">historic map treasures</a> floating serenely on the Google Earth globe. After months of hard work, the Google Earth team uploaded all the maps this weekend to the Featured Content layer of <a href="http://earth.google.com">Google Earth</a>. I was able to explore and fly around the old maps and use the transparency slider to compare the old world and the new; as I did this, I thought to myself that this is the perfect marriage of historic cartographic masterpieces with the innovative contemporary software tools of Google. <br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7609/900/1600/Rumsey_image012%20%283%29.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7609/900/320/Rumsey_image012%20%283%29.jpg" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" /></a><br />It has been a real pleasure for me to work on this project with the Google Earth team, including John Hanke, Rebecca Moore, Wei Luo, Mark Aubin and many others who did the work to make this happen. I have been impressed with the dedication of these people to the power of maps and using the Internet to improve geographic knowledge and literacy -– and now we can add history to that as well.<br /><br />The cartographers and explorers who made these historical maps hundreds of years ago would be amazed and thrilled to see their maps in Google Earth. For me it is a perfect example of creative reuse of historic materials that the Web, thanks to Google, is making possible. Now anyone using Google Earth can experience the same wonder that I have had as I collected and explored these old maps in my private library –- for me it is really exciting to share this with the world using Google’s tools.<br /><br />I had a lot of great moments in building my collection of more than 150,000 historic maps over the last 25 years, but this morning waking up to seeing those 16 historic maps in Google Earth will rank as one of the most memorable.

Old world meets new on Google Earth

Posted by David Rumsey, Founder, David Rumsey Map Collection This morning was incredibly exciting for me: when I opened up Google Earth, the...

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Know where you are

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Terry Garcia, Executive VP Mission Programs, National Geographic</span><br /><br />Welcome to <a href="http://www.mywonderfulworld.org/gaw.html">Geography Awareness Week 2006</a>.<br /><br />National Geographic has been exploring and inspiring people to care about the planet for more than a century. But today -- with new geo-technologies such as <a href="http://earth.google.com">Google Earth</a>, <a href="http://maps.google.com">Google Maps</a> and the National Geographic-ESRI <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine">MapMachine</a> — anyone hooked into the web can explore any place on Earth at the click of a mouse. Caring begins with seeing, and there’s no better way to see a place than to be there. So we know these new geographic tools mean better stewardship of our world’s extraordinary places, animals, and cultures.<br /><br />This year we’re celebrating Africa. <a href="http://www.mywonderfulworld.org">My Wonderful World</a> — the National Geographic-led campaign for geographic literacy — has teamed up with Google to create a new <a href="http://www.google.com/educators/gaw.html">Geography Awareness Quiz on Google Earth</a> that lets you test your global IQ as you tour the continent.<br /><br />All week, we’ll also highlight innovative projects that bring Africa to the rest of the world, such as Michael Fay’s <a href="http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/megaflyover/">Megaflyover</a>, <i>National</i> <i>Geographic</i> magazine’s coverage of Africa on Google Earth, and the <a href="http://www.kfrp.com">Koobi Fora Research Project</a> -- on our My Wonderful World <a href="http://mywonderfulworld.typepad.com/">blog</a>. We hope you’ll join us!

Know where you are

Posted by Terry Garcia, Executive VP Mission Programs, National Geographic Welcome to Geography Awareness Week 2006 . National Geographic ha...

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Keep track of your Maps searches, too

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Vlad Adzic, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />Google Personalized Search now includes Google Maps, which means you'll no longer have to remember searches you do for addresses, businesses, or directions on Maps. Instead, you'll be able to browse, search for, and bookmark them directly from <a href="http://www.google.com/searchhistory">your search history</a>, just as you already can with your web, images, news, Froogle, and video history.<br /><br />If you already have Personalized Search enabled, you can access your history through the "Search History" link in the upper right corner of Google Maps. Otherwise, you can sign up for <a href="http://www.google.com/psearch">Personalized Search</a>, and make sure you're signed in to your Google Account when searching.

Keep track of your Maps searches, too

Posted by Vlad Adzic, Software Engineer Google Personalized Search now includes Google Maps, which means you'll no longer have to rememb...

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It's all about location

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Ethan Russell, Product Manager</span><br /><br />We've had lots of <a href="http://base.google.com/base/testimonials.html">success</a> working with the real estate industry to make home listings more easily discoverable on Google. And we're constantly attending real estate industry events and working daily with partners to help connect them with potential home buyers by adding more and more of their listings to Google web search. Over and over again, we hear from you: keep it free and keep it simple and keep it free.<br /><br />So today, on our first day at the <a href="http://www.realtor.org/convhome.nsf/pages/confhome?OpenDocument">NAR event in New Orleans</a>, we're happy to let you know that we've further simplified the process for real estate providers looking to <a href="http://www.google.com/base/search?ui=g&a_n0=housing&a_y0=9&a_n0=housing&a_y0=9&a_o0=&gl=us&hl=en&nd=&showrefine=0&q=&btnG=Search+Housing&a_n2=listing+type&a_y2=1&a_o2=0&a_v2=&a_v2=&a_n363=property+type&a_y363=1&a_o363=0&a_v363=&a_v363=&sl=true&a_n152=location&a_y152=6&a_o152=0&a_t152=30&a_v152=columbus%2C+oh&a_n303=price&a_u303=usd&a_y303=8&a_o303=4&a_v303=&a_f303=&a_t303=&a_n650=bedrooms&a_y650=2&a_o650=4&a_v650=&a_f650=&a_t650=&scoring=aa_152&us=0">make listings searchable on Google</a> (and it's free, of course). Regardless of what kind of real estate professional you are, now you can easily go to <a href="http://base.google.com/base/help/realestate.html">one page</a> to upload your listings to Google Base so that people can find them through Google. There are even dedicated pages for you --whether you're <a href="http://base.google.com/base/broker.html">brokers</a>, <a href="https://services.google.com/inquiry/base_agents">agents</a>, <a href="http://base.google.com/base/mls.html">MLS</a> , or <a href="http://base.google.com/base/idx.html">IDX vendors</a>.<br /><br />If you're tech-savvy, you can of course continue to send listings to <a href="http://base.google.com/base/overview.html">Google Base</a> yourself. But in any case we hope you find the many upload options available to you friendly and easy to use. If you're interested in Google and real estate, do check out all of the <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/events/realestatetools/index.html">tools available to you</a>. And if you happen to be in New Orleans this weekend, stop by our NAR booth.

It's all about location

Posted by Ethan Russell, Product Manager We've had lots of success working with the real estate industry to make home listings more eas...

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Get lost!

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Alex Medina, Technical Account Manager</span><br /><br />Ever get lost, or turned around? Found yourself in unfamiliar territory? Or worse, awakened with just one shoe on? Well, we have something for you. No, not a shoe -- we mean <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System" title="GPS-Enabled">GPS-Enabled</a> Google Maps on the <a href="http://www.helio.com/">Helio Drift</a>.<br /><br />In a very short time, <a href="http://google.com/gmm/index.html" title="Google Maps for Mobile">Google Maps for Mobile</a> has taken a lead in mobile mapping and is available on more than <a href="http://www.google.com/gmm/devices.html">300 phone models</a>. Now we've taken it to a new level: we're partnering with Helio to bring you GPS integration with Google Maps.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2855/3883/1600/Helio_location_features_02.0.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2855/3883/320/Helio_location_features_02.0.png" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" /></a> It's hard to enter a starting point if you don't know where you're starting from. We think that integrating GPS capabilities into Google Maps for Mobile will make our phones much smarter -- and you've told us that too. <br /><br />When you use Google Maps on the Helio Drift you always know where you are. Start Google Maps and a blue dot is placed on the map at your current location. You can even see yourself move on the map as you change location. Say goodbye to sore thumbs from having to constantly type in your location.<br /><br />Of course, you still get all of the popular Google Maps functionality: real-time traffic, detailed directions, integrated search results, easily movable maps, and satellite imagery. So get yourself a Drift and just get lost! No matter where you end up, we'll show you the quickest way out.

Get lost!

Posted by Alex Medina, Technical Account Manager Ever get lost, or turned around? Found yourself in unfamiliar territory? Or worse, awakened...

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