Croc o' Lyle - Usability, Information Architecture and web design commentary by Lyle Kantrovich

Croc o' Lyle
Proving getting serious about usability can be fun...since 2001.

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This is a place for things I find interesting or have to say related to usability, web design, information architecture and user experience practices. I sometimes also just ramble about other stuff as well...

Lyle Kantrovich

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Try these blogs

Bloug: Lou Rosenfeld co-wrote the book on Information Architecture
UsabilityBlog: Paul Sherman - smart guy, blogger, UPA leader
Keith Instone's blog: Keith's one of the smartest and nicest IA's I know.
Product Experience Blog: DeeDee DeMulling - good friend and UCD consultant
Elegant Hack: Gleanings: Christina Wodke's IA thoughts with style and insight
IA Slash: Information Architecture galore
Joel on Software: Joel Spolsky has excellent sensibilities about software development
How to Change the World: Guy Kawasaki
43 Folders: GTD Productivity tips

Try these sites

Usability Professionals'
Association: THE organization for folks who are serious about usability.
UXmatters: Online magazine about usability & user experience
Boxes and Arrows: Excellent online magazine about design, IA and usability

About the name

The name Croc O' Lyle comes from people at a previous job calling me "crocodile", as in the famous childrens' book "Lyle, Lyle Crocodile". The nickname went from "crocodile" to "croc" and then someone morphed it into Crocolyle.

It's also a play on the phrase "Crock O' Gold" -- showing the Irish in my Heinz 57 hybrid genetics.

...and some people will probably say this whole thing is simply a crock.

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September 27, 2002

JavaScript Misunderstood?
After reading Why Is JavaScript So Misunderstood?, all I can say is "big deal."

JavaScript (aka ECMAscript, JScript, etc.) is a cool 'programming language' for sure. The author leaves out a few key limitations of JavaScript like:

1. JavaScript is only really supported in browsers. Not all browsers (and versions) support JavaScrpt well or to the same extent. Many implementations are quite buggy.
2. This means you can't just simply 'run' your 'programs' easily, reliably or in stand-alone mode.
3. It also means that your user interfaces must be created with the limited UI capabilities available to web browsers and HTML.
4. Your 'programs' are restricted by the browser's Document Object Model (DOM). This greatly limits what you can use and access for input and output.
5. JavaScript development tools are very immature compared to other 'languages' like Java or Visual Basic.
6. You can't 'install' JavaScript 'applications' on a user's desktop. You typically access JS apps via a web page - this makes it more difficult for users to access and run. For example, you can't just click an icon on the desktop or Start menu (on Windows) -- you have to locate a URL or bookmark first.
7. JavaScript is really just client side. Sure, I know Netscape had some scheme for running JavaScript on a server, but no one in their right mind ever really used it. PERL, Java, and Microsoft technologies are much more respectable on the server side.
8. Need to read or write to an external database or file? How about create or delete files? From the client side you can't.
9. You can't manipulate or access other programs.
10. You can't modify a web page. Sure you can update values in form fields, but you can't change links, text or anything else that the DOM says is off limits.

So, while JavaScript is a great 'programming language', it really only fits a small niche of applications - those web sites and apps that need a lightweight scripting language.

Apologies to regularly 'usability topic' readers - we will now resume our irregular programming (or lack thereof).

Posted by Lyle Kantrovich at 2:56 PM

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