Kathy Sierra is a great writer. I love her style and have been a fan of her Head First books since my java "greenhorn" days over at javaranch.com. By the way, I credit the cow game for my certification ;).

Her blog, Creating Passionate Users, is a great read. I tend to be really busy though and sometimes bloglines gets really backed up on me. Her posts are usually cut out of the "catch up" routine. Not because of quality, but because of size. They take a committed reader, a passionate reader if you will (hah), to make it through.

Anyway, my bloglines account was backed up again tonight, only this time I decided to read one of her entries. I'm really glad I did.

"Hooverin' and the space between notes" is about things not said. The pauses in a great debate or a speech, the space between notes in music, the empty spaces on a clean design, the timing of a comedian.

There's something special about being calm, cool and collected -- in design or in presentation. It's an easy going confidence that draws your audience in. You can usually tell when someone is full of bull by their insistent need to fill silence. You can see a comedians nerves shake if they're timing is wrong. To bring it back home, you can tell when web sites are overcompensating for their lack of defined mission or focus by their clutter. Same with their feature set. Don't try to "boil the ocean", as someone recently advised us.

It's not just about the notes, it's also the spaces between them. That's sound advice that I'll gladly listen to ;)
(my attempt at an Alveyism-tie-in)