tom haynes blog

AnnArbor.com gripes 3 years ago

AnnArbor.com launched yesterday. It looks really good, but I’m still going to tell you what I don’t like about it:

• Stories posted today are timestamped “Today, x hours ago” … why not just “x hours ago?” Also, if you say “Today,” why not “Yesterday,” too?
• The “A2 Topics” should be buttons (ie. the entire rectangle should be clickable, perhaps with some rollover state where the background changes)
• Full size pictures are way too big (try clicking the image of the man and woman on this page)
• Voting on a story without being logged in takes you to the default log in page. See Stack Overflow for a good implementation of a friendly and usable “you have to register to do this” message (on hover).

I like:

• “Deals.” Nicely implemented. Advertising without Flash banners.
• Weather.
• Overall color scheme, font size, etc.

Also, is Kerrytown not a neighborhood?

2009 DPS crime reports 3 years ago

As of today, there have been 10 crime reports issued to UM students by the Department of Public Safety in 2009. One has been cancelled because the suspect was arrested. This is my attempt at mapping the data, using Google spreadsheets and a map gadget. If you want to see the raw data, here is the spreadsheet.