It’s The Little Things
May 2, 2006A while back I read an interview with Steve Jobs (I think it was in Rolling Stone); when he was asked what it was that’s so special about Apple, he replied by saying that it’s the delightful surprises that you discover over time. He said that months into the ownership experience you’ll want to do something new and when you try it—sure enough, it just works.
It’s little things that don’t even rate a mention in a help file or warrant a confirmation dialog. So, I remembered that and was inspired to add a few pleasant surprises to the Mac Tips site—things that are totally invisible, but might provide a pleasant surprise if stumbled upon.
I started with the “X” logo on the main page. I made it so that if you happen to click on it you’ll be taken to a page showing all the Quick Look pages, categorized.
The next thing I changed was the footer. Previously it had some blurb that included a link to this blog. Now all of the text (and in most browsers, all of the footer panel) links here, with no underlines or other nags that it is in fact a link.
Lastly, I did the same with the header panel. It always takes you back to the index page, except on the index page itself, where it does nothing.
There are others, but they are surprises…
