Re: [IxDA Discuss] Offtopic: What music do you listen to while you
Yeah, I am the same, I'm getting to grips with it now and pretty much select what I am going to listen to based on the mood that I want to convey. I find that Industrial and noise stuff tends to yield more angular designs than some trip hop or ambient which tend to yield more flowing lines and curves in the design. I do find, however, that I have to keep watch on how much industrial I'm listening to when in 'graphics land' due to the possibility of the design incorporating too much of a 'barbed wire and concrete' style. Does anybody else find that the creative process can be greatly influenced by what's currently playing? Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Offtopic: What music do you listen to while you
If I am designing I can listen to anything from Jazz to Goth/Industrial to Classical, but when coding I can't really listen to stuff with distinct vocals so it tends to be lots of ambient and trip-hop, with the odd splash of techno or drum'n'bass thrown in. Sigur Ros seem to make me most productive. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Off: Where do you read news?
BBC for me Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Creative Navigation
I think the reader who gave the design a solid C is being rather harsh. I'm primarily a front end developer, so I look at things like making sites inaccessible as a bad thing. This site is inaccessible, when it doesn't need to be... At least the lo-fi version of the site could (or should) have accessible navigation so that people can use it. This isn't just an issue for people who use assistive technology - it would be inaccessible on a mobile phone (barring iPhone's touch screen) for the same reason. I think it is a bit naïve of the coders to have not taken this into account, in both coding and UI terms. I actually quite like the look and style navigation overall, btw :) Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Where are all the designers?
The UK also has a lot of vacancies for designers which I believe is demand outstripping supply, and we are starting to see a big increase in the number of UI/IxD jobs on the market too. However, we have a lot of the same laws regarding immigration as the US. For example, I would love to go to California for a year or 2 to work, but this is very unlikely as I am a British citizen and work visas are nearly impossible to come by. The same works in reverse for US citizens wanting to work here. I know many other designers who would love the opportunity to work in SV for a couple of years, who can't due to immigration laws. The value of going and working abroad, where different markets apply and the experience of seeing first hand the difference in cultures, can be huge in many ways... both in personal and professional terms. We have freedom of movement for workers in Europe and that means there are many multi-cultural design studios, personally I think this is great. It helps expand ideas and pull cultural diversity into design. So instead of going to work in SV, we go to work in Paris, Barcelona, London, Rome, etc. -Original Message- 3) Given the current state of the US economy/currency, fewer experienced professionals may be willing to move to the US from other countries. Here in Canada, the trend has actually reversed itself - the homecoming of expats previously living in the US is now on the rise. Add in the insanity of the US immigration system, and the cost-benefit analysis for prospective immigrants is much less compelling than it once was. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Digital Instrument Interfaces
Have you seen the Reactable and what Bjork has been doing with it? http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/news/2007/08/bjork_reacTable http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVVULBXvmxk Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Using voice narration on sites
I was talking to Kevin Carey from the RNIB on Saturday about this subject and he is of the opinion that audio descriptions SHOULD start automatically, as otherwise non-sighted users may never find the button to turn it on. He also likened it to turning on a TV set and then needing to press an extra button to get sound. I can see the points he makes as being valid and am still having a lot of internal debates about this point. I am someone who only has speakers on if listening to music and don't like it when I get interrupted by a voice on a site, but maybe this is an area where the youth of the web as a medium needs these thoughts to be readdressed. -Original Message- One note about video and audio - don't have the audio/video begin automatically: 1) It's annoying for those who already have audio happening (through an iPod or similar player) 2) If someone has their speakers on, there will be sudden audio - and it might not be something they want the world to hear (or their audio might be turned up and they don't realize it). 3) Those who can't hear may not have any cue that there is content being explained if there is no visual cue to that fact. Thus, a start video or Hear explanation prompt will show that there is content to be heard/seen and they can make accommodations. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Capturing International Addresses
We try to make forms country specific, or dynamically change what address fields are requested based on country selection. The simplest version of this being that UK users would be asked for a 'Postcode' whilst US users would be asked for a 'Zip code'. We then store addresses as 'address 1', 'address 2', etc rather than define them further as 'road', 'city', 'county/state', etc. This helps to keep addresses in the format in which they are natively known. Doing it this way means (hopefully) that the user is requested for information in a format that they are used to and then when this is added to a database it can be returned easily in the correct format without having to worry about where the user comes from. I've been trying to find examples but unfortunately all the ones I have are internal to companies, so hopefully my explanation makes a bit more sense now! Just for clarification, what do you mean when you say tailor? From the user's standpoint? -G Our only solution to these problems so far has been to tailor forms and/or their validation to take account of these nuances. It isn't a particularly good way of doing it, but was the most open way we have found of doing it. James *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Capturing International Addresses
International forms are a bit of a nightmare to sort out. Starting at the top - the name of the person... Many countries/cultures have differing ways of stating their name, this article is a lot more verbose than I could be on the subject and makes for interesting reading: http://rishida.net/blog/?p=100 Once you get past the name conundrum you then get into the differing ways of formatting addresses. For example, below are the addresses for the British Embassy in a couple of different countries: British Embassy (Finland) Itäinen Puistotie 17 00140 Helsinki British Embassy (South Africa) 255 Hill Street Arcadia 0002 Pretoria British Embassy (Ireland) 29 Merrion Road Dublin 4 British Embassy (Washington, USA) 3100 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington DC, 20008 Home Office (British Embassy equivalent in UK) 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF Beyond a building number and road, these all have very different formats and could each throw up a large number of problems with forcing validation. Our only solution to these problems so far has been to tailor forms and/or their validation to take account of these nuances. It isn't a particularly good way of doing it, but was the most open way we have found of doing it. James *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Forward/reverse in a mobile phone's music player
I think it is a really useful feature for (as has been mentioned) Podcasts and those annoying 'secret tracks' that come 15 minutes into the last track on a CD. If I haven't been paying enough attention when ripping, or don't have the time to edit the track it is very useful to be able to skip through the 11 minutes of silence! It could be argued that this is initially bad design by the manufacturers who could just put the track on the CD as a normal track. James *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] FW: Placement of credit card logos
Just to clarify, the original poster said that they had statistics to prove increased conversion rates by having the signs on the homepage. I've never conducted any studies on it :-) James Would it not be appropriate to actually cite these statistics so that some diligence can be put into the question? Chris *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Placement of credit card logos
Surely the aim of an e-commerce site primarily is to sell products, therefore if the statistics prove that an increased conversion rate is achieved by placing the logos on the home page, that has to be the correct method? Sometimes the means to the end is not the most aesthetically desirable :-( James --- I'm curious to know where others stand with regard to credit card logo placement on an ecommerce site. We're of differing opinions here - one camp believing that credit card logos are best placed straight on the home page, right in the top - prominent placement - and have the statistics to prove that there is an increase in conversion as a result of said placement. The other camp comes from a design perspective, and believes that credit card logos are aesthetically unpleasing to the overall design (cheapening the look and feel) and that the credit card logos are better placed where they are more contextually appropriate - that is - within an in-page shopping cart box (which displays once an item has been added to the cart) and on the shopping cart pages themselves. *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] HTML Prototypers
I use Homesite and TopStyle pro Or whatever text editor is available on other systems *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] People who really OUGHT to have done user testing
My pet hate with design that has clearly had no user testing is the new pedestrian crossing signals in the UK. Jeremy Keith phrases it better than I can at http://adactio.com/journal/1154/ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://gamma.ixda.org/help
