Don’t just tell your users what to do, show them! Daily Mug Shot is your basic, Web 2.0-ey kinda social networkingish website, and on the whole not much to write home about. I did notice, though, how well they use arrows and clever placement to clue users into what to do. For example, on the home page:

Nice, huh? The great big arrow that breaks out of its container points the way towards the action, and calls out new content. Easy, classy, attractive. Win!

Even better, though, is another callout, used on the desktop reminder app (which, in itself is a brilliant idea). Once installed, the app pops up this nifty little block reminding you just what the hell the icon is in your menu bar:

Double win! Dare I say “epic win”? Nah, I don’t think I will; they’re such small features.

Sometimes cryptic is OK. In the case of mycrocosm, forcing the user to learn a particular syntax for inputting data reaps long-term rewards. On this completely flexible data-collection web app, entering items happens in a single (pleasantly large, another win) text input field:

The syntax is definitely written for the geek-minded, but once learned, entering a new bit of data takes two clicks from the home page (“My Page” > [enter text] > “Capture Data”)

I’ve since moved to DAYTUM, since the visualizations and other design are far superior, but mycrocosm gets a definite win for it’s fast, powerful interface.