First impressions on Google Wave:
- Who thought that bringing back OpenLook’s “elevator” scroll bars was a good idea? Every user interface expert in the world said they were a bad idea then, and they’re still a bad idea. Actually these aren’t exactly like OpenLook’s scroll bars – instead they move some times, and sometimes they don’t, and they’re just weird.
- Why does Google Gears say it’s installed on my browser, but the actual Gears functionality (like being able to drag and drop pictures on Wave) not work? I tried some of the demo programs on the Gears web site and they don’t work either. Is there something I’m missing?
I wish there were more of us on Wave. It looks like a great tool for building project docs in a way that’s less likely to turn stale than just putting up a wiki and saying “update it everybody”.
I just got a Wave account as well. I really have no idea what to do with it. If I could invite other users I could try working on a few things with coworkers at work.
I don’t know what browser you use, but in Firefox you have to give Gears permissions to use sites. Try Tools > Gears Settings and see if you’ve denied Gears access to sites that you use.
And of course I just looked and now I have invites, so I have no excuse to not try it.
Every comment on it that I’ve seen has been along the lines of, This could be really cool but I have no idea what I can use it for. That’s got me intrigued enough that I’d like to have a look, so if you have spare invites …
What you say about project documentation sounds plausible. Where I work, the tendency to fix things in writing is weak. Using something like Wave *could* perhaps improve that.
That’s kind of my feeling. It seems like it must be good for something, but I’m not sure what, and I’m not sure how I would even go about exploring it, since it sounds like you need to explore it with someone and have some kind of collaboration in mind. Or something.
I’d like to join the throngs of people saying “This seems cool, but it’s useless.” Can I pester you for an invite?
“I wish there were more of us on Wave” – there’s actually quite a few people from the other place there 😉
The scrollbars are my biggest issue at the moment, too. That and the lack of people to communicate with.