Human Factors International rounds up ten usability principles for web design. Nothing completely earth shattering. Numbers 8 and 9 more of the clients I work with need to take to heart:

8. Know user tolerances Users are impatient. Design for a 2-10 second maximum download. Reuse header graphics so they can load from cache. Avoid excessive scrolling.\ 9. Multimedia - be discriminating Good animation attracts attention to specific information, then stops. Too much movement distracts, slowing reading and comprehension.

And I like their inclusion of using a stats package to measure performance. There's a whole series of articles buried in that recommendation. Basics like what you can't readily/really measure based on logfile data - metrics like time spent on site, time spent per page, number of actual people visiting, etc to how to interpret the numbers you get, how to group metrics for different audiences, and maybe even technical writeups about how to use specific packages for this.

10. Use a stats package Monitor traffic through your site. Which pages pique user interest? Which pages make users leave? Adjust your site accordingly.

Three NGO's argue that the United States sponsored coca eradication programs in Colomiba and the rest of the Andes do not work. Coca is compartively much easier to grow than alternative cash crops - requiring much less labor. Because it is more lucrative as well, it doesn't make sense for a poor Andean farmer to pass it up for another crop.

In a 54-page report entitled "Going to Extremes: The U.S.-Funded Aerial Eradication Program in Colombia," LAWG argues that the fumigation policy has failed to make even moderate headway toward achieving its stated goal of reducing the availability of cocaine in the United States. According to the latest national data, including Walters' own office, the report says, the price, availability, and purity of cocaine sold in the U.S. have remained virtually unchanged since fumigation operations began.

I don't know why, but with the start of each MLS season, I always have a very naive hope that this season won't be at all like the last one. Here's the Washington Post's update halfway through the pre-season particularly about Freddy Adu, Convey taking a break, and some trade talk.

"You can see he's [Adu] a big talent, a very big talent," forward Earnie Stewart, 34, said this week after a weightlifting and conditioning session at American University. "He does things on the field that other soccer players wouldn't think about. In that regard, he has done very well."