Yesterday I posted a little tirade against the spreadsheet containing the suggestions for the TTC website redesign. Not only did Reading Toronto respond in an emaila comment, they also posted a link to my remix on their site.

Now, I’ll admit that the spreadsheet makes some sense in the context of the open letter to Adam Giambrone, but my critique was based on the spreadsheet in isolation. It is extremely likely that the spreadsheet would be passed around within the TTC and to anyone contracted to create the new website without the benefit of the original letter. Those people might not know of the four posts containing the original comments, so the references would be meaningless.

In retrospect, I’m sorry I missed the post which announced the upcoming matrix. Had I seen it, I might have offered suggestions then and not after the fact. Also, my critique wasn’t meant personally and certainly not as a jab at what the four weblogs are contributing. Indeed, I offered my own suggestions for improvements to the TTC website a few weeks ago. I realise that my post may have come across as gruff, but understand that the fields of software development and usability are ones about which I care deeply, and so I am often perturbed when others aren’t as careful as I would like them to be.