This post may well end up a rant so I will apologise now in advance if it does.

Usability was a subject I tried to specialise in whilst studying at University; key word here is tried. I do not pretend to be some type of usability expert or guru. It’s just that usability is something I tend to pick holes in quite often due to my ‘knowledge’. However, it does not take someone with a background in usability to appreciate how annoying my latest pet hate is.

So you’re on your mobile device, whether it be an iOS or Android device (we’re not platform biased here - Apple FTW though) and you need to complete a website registration form. Now sign up forms aren’t the most of fun at the best of times right?

What is even less enjoyable is when you have finally completed the endless number of required fields and attempted to decode the ‘CAPATCHA’ that resembles a toddlers drawing of the alphabet, only to find you have made a mistake. Oh and all of the information you have just entered using your fingertips on your tiny screen has vanished. I don’t think the word annoying accurately describes the feeling when this happens but I’ll leave the expletives down to your own imaginations.

Now seriously, in this era of the web why are there still websites neglecting technologies such as AJAX? Maybe due to budget? Laziness? Time constraints? Is this seemingly small issue, (I must admit it may seem like a small issue to some) not a big enough concern for designers AND clients?

I believe it is. Why? We have all heard how there are an ever-increasing number of mobile users accessing the web from there mobile devices. We also know that this number of smartphone users is not set to peak just yet, in fact far from it – it is actually being predicted that mobile traffic will surpass desktop traffic.

So in essence more people will be browsing websites using their mobile devices. Then why is it then, that the websites who base themselves around users signing up to their products and/or services are making a complete hash out of the user experience on their web forms?

Like I said, web forms are definitely not the greatest fun at the best of times and that goes for both users and designers. But if you really want to get people signing up to your website whatever it might be, you might want to take a conscious effort on achieving a high level of usability on those web forms.

This question literally hit me hard as I was procrastinating on YouTube the other day. It literally stopped me in my tracks and thank God it did. I had been consumed with watching related video after related video of mildly entertaining videos of animals failing as well as endless versions of Nyan cat.

I was supposed to be experimenting with iOS development, something that I have desperately wanted to learn during University but found myself doing anything and everything to avoid actually starting my goal.

Now, I’m not going to bore you with a relentless rant about how the Internet now has more distractions than ever – from Facebook to YouTube to Flash Games to Midget Porn (each to there own, we don’t judge). We all know by now that the Internet is full of these daily distractions that side track us from our goals and tasks at hand.

What I am going to do is pose a very simple question to you all. What do YOU actually spend your time doing on the Internet? Everyday I come onto my Mac and I find myself going to the same websites doing the same things.

I’m likely to first head over to BBC website to check news on a variety of different topics, I’ll then go over to the BBC Sport section and depress myself on how shocking my local football team is. Then probably check Facebook for no genuine reason other than habit, eat some toast and then come back to delete the 50 spam emails I have accumulated in my less than 8-hour sleep cycle…

The list of boring, trivial tasks is endless and no I’m not trying to highlight how boring my life is but how I have unconsciously taken the vast and limitless Internet for granted.

When I first discovered the Internet I was constantly reading about different topics and trying to consume as much knowledge as possible, (coupled with the occasional peek at midget porn of course). Although I still strive to do this I find myself doing it nowhere near as often. Now this may be because I have just finished my degree and my mind has turned into mash potato or maybe its because I have no where near as much free time as I did when I was a kid.

One thing is for certain though, the Internet has only gotten bigger and if you ever find yourself staring blankly at Facebook or YouTube or at any other type content thinking “I’m bored” just remember how vast the Internet is and how many free resources are available on it.

Go and be productive, get off this pointless blog.

Welcome to zeroctrl. Today we began our adventure into the unknown and finally get underway in launching our baby. Great, so what is zeroctrl exactly? Myself and Joseph Richardson are two very passionate individuals that have a broad array of interests (check out our bios). We are constantly searching for the abstract, interesting and damn right weird. We love to consume data, gather new knowledge as well as investigate and dive head first into the unknown. Anything related to Technology, Psychology, Science and the Web are at the forefront of our minds and are the key topics we love to explore and discuss. Essentially meaning, zeroctrl will be our minds, thoughts, opinions and interests jotted down on a small light weight blog for any man and his dog to read - provided they have internet access of course.

So what does our name represent? Well without going into huge amounts of detail, the name zeroctrl is meant to represent freedom of expression, thought and speech among many other things. There is also little to zero control over the internet, which we believe is an idea and notion worth protecting - as long as we use this freedom to develop and create ideas and solutions for good.

While we are very much in our infancy, we do not expect our approach and design to change much from what you see now. We believe that producing and promoting engaging, interesting and abstract content, coupled with a simplistic design is the perfect way to protect and represent our beliefs.

We hope to see you soon with an abundance of interesting blogs worthy of your time.

Sincerely,

The Zero(ctrl) duo.