Re: [IxDA Discuss] Could use some eyes on this chart
On Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 5:12 PM, J. A. Fitzpatrick wrote: > My only real confusion point in the original version was lining up the jump > back to the original timeline, and the new version fixes that completely. > > Personally, I think the legend is confusing rather than helpful. Otherwise, > it looks great :) > > Cheers, > > Jean-Anne > Great, thanks Jean-Anne! I only threw the legend in there because it was suggested, but I tend to agree. I don't think it really helps. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Could use some eyes on this chart
On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 6:13 PM, Jonathan Rez wrote: > Tom hi, > > My two cents' worth... > > > Ground rule: Add a title to the page/chart > > Flip the chart, so that negative values are towards the bottom of the > page, not the top. > > Minute detail. because you are using the minus symbol, it may be good to > avoid dashes, for example in "0 - Travel Origin" > > Triangles along the path infer one way, but you're describing a going > back in time scenario. Revisiting the diagram (but not deleting my last comment) it reads like once > I'm on the orange line I'm in the alternate timeline, but what you'e saying > is that I'm in the alternate timeline once I reach -40. In addition, is the > duration of going back in time the same as moving forward, or are they > jumping back in time? According to the current visualisation it's the same. > If it is a time jump then a different line style should be used, eg: thin, > dotted (green, as we're not yet in the alternate time space) or gradient > from white to green to indicate fast motion. > I guess they start at 0 being on the orange timeline, and in hindsight that reads oddly - they are going back but not yet on the alternate. Good points. The idea of having the time jump be visually distinct is a good one I think. > > To make it more coherent it would help if points in the parallel time > space were horizontally aligned with points in the original time space, i.e. > a base line time grid where +19 is parallel to +19 > > And while it's a big challenge, see if you can make distances reflect > time span rather points in key points in the story. > I don't think I'll have the room for that. I planned on indicating breaks where big gaps are. > > If the new time space start at zero, the current diagram shows they are > loosing 40 years between the time they start the new time space and the time > they reconnect to the original time space. > > See rough draft attached > > As you say, this is information design – why are you posting this to IXDA? > Good input, thanks. Posted here because I knew I'd get good feedback, and I did :) Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Could use some eyes on this chart
Thanks for the great feedback Sabine. I agree a Legend would help. I guess I kind of wanted to avoid that if possible, maybe as others suggested, a single character path might help. Some comments below: On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 4:56 PM, sabine morrow wrote: > > 1. In the original universe, the starting point is time 0 (zero). You can > move back in time and what appears to be forward in time. But what is > confusing is that at +15 you describe "Geborga travel *back* in time to > build...". It would be intuitive to think "+15" is moving ahead in time, not > backward. > Maybe I should just use dates - that might be easier? > 4. The travelor moves ahead in time in the alternate universe and some > event happens and I end up back in the original moving ahead in time. They > return to the original but there is gap from where they left the original > and ended up in the alternative to where they are back in the original. A > time warp? > They try to go back to year 0, they get sucked back to their original universe, far ahead of their target date, where they find their world ruined. The alternate universe continues, but without them. > > 5. What is the time spread? According to your chart, because alternate path > is on diagonal, I would think time accelerates in the alternate like is > shown in the original - you go from +19 to +432. Maybe the original path > should be on diagonal and the alternate path is completely vertical to > indicate the jump forward in time with the travelors jump back into their > original universe. > Because they are moving away from each other, time is distorted and when they return, that accounts for all the added time. The gap from 19-432 is the "time distortion." > > 6. In sum, travelors go back in time, and end up in alternate universe but > they don't realize it. They try to come back to their time zerom, which > triggers their acceleration forward into their original universe? Not sure > that is what you intended. But at +24 in the alternate, the caption > discusses +16 years but that does not match up across the grid to the > original. It would definately help to have legend explaining the > calibrations - what they are in each universe and how they relate from one > universe to another. > 24 + 16 = 40. They are trying to get "back" to 40 years total. I realize that is not clear though. > 7. As regards design, try using more visual cues - different font for > alternate universe, color code the time calibrations to show at exactly at > what point the travelor crossed from one universe to another. Font is a > little plane. Maybe use boxy, tech font for this futuristic, sci-fi theme? > I will definitely try and add more visual cues and I iterate this. Thanks for the feedback I will post back an updated version! Tom Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] The appropriateness of Wizards (not the magical kind)
Afternoon, I'm developing a UI for a tool we have. I've built a wireframe version that is kind of dynamic, where you drag and drop things into a central area where you are configuring something. When you have your configuration built, you send it off, you can even schedule it or save it for later. This is part of an existing piece of software. Currently they do some other things that are similar using wizards. They want to do this in a wizard as well. While the processes are similar, they are not the same. I feel like the dynamic version I have wireframed is more intuitive than a procedural wizard. But I'm open to looking at both, I want to do what is best for the user. So the big question is when is it appropriate to use a wizard in an interface? If anyone has any good resources on that, I'd appreciate it. I did find this article which is good: http://blog.componentoriented.com/2007/10/wizard_ui_dysfunction/ But I'd like to do some further research. I want to say I heard somewhere that a wizard is essentially a lazy way to design, but I cannot locate (or verify if it is true.) Welcome any thoughts. Thanks! Tom -- Marooned - A Space Opera in the Wrong Key! http://www.maroonedcomic.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Your favorite "tour" on a website?
It's not only "Why use mint?" - I'd consider that secondary, it's really the whole home page above the fold, with the links at the bottom. It explains the whole value prop. Tom Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Your favorite "tour" on a website?
I understand, but I do think that the kind of tour we're talking about is somewhat of a new convention. If you haven't looked at Mint.com yet, give it a look. It's not your typical tour. We're faced with this problem in that if they don't get it fairly quickly, they are gone. And our initial efforts with a typical web site to inform them are failing badly. In testing, they have shown a good level of interest in some kind of tour. For myself, I've taken a few that have helped me. We purchased Axure for use here because of their tour features. Tom On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 10:34 AM, William Hudson < william.hud...@syntagm.co.uk> wrote: > I see your point, but I have been using the web since NCSA Mosaic and > have taken maybe three site tours in the intervening 15 years. Maybe it’s > me. Anyone out there taken a site tour in the past 3 months? > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Your favorite "tour" on a website?
We discussed that approach a little bit. My concern about that is how do you turn it off? If it based on a cookie, it comes back when they clear their cookies. If it's a setting in their preferences, I suppose that works but you need to make sure they find it. But really the main issue is that in our case they need to get the value proposition up front first, or they kind of go away. So it's less about the how and more about the why. Why do I want to be a part of this thing? We're not going to force the tour, but it has to be right there so all I have to do as a user is just click play, start or whatever to get it going. On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 10:13 AM, William Hudson < william.hud...@syntagm.co.uk> wrote: > > Not a tour suggestion, but dynamic popup windows now make the > implementation of 'cue cards' a real possibility on the web. > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] Your favorite "tour" on a website?
Good Morning, We're working on a project that has a somewhat complex concept to get across without using a lot of information. Based on testing we're finding out that some kind of tour is the way to go to introduce our product to our customers. We've been looking at Mint.com as a real good example of a tour. I think Campaign Monitor has a good one too. Do you know of any other sites that use the "tour" really well? We'd like to look at as many good examples as possible. Suggestions are appreciated! Thanks! Tom Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Favorite tool for sitemapping?
On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 10:06 AM, Catriona Lohan-Conway wrote: > Mac or pc? I use Omnigraffle on my mac and I much prefer it to Visio!!! > http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnigraffle/ > > Not to mention it's so much cheaper than Visio... > > Axure is nice and $ but you should be able to get a prototype out of it > too... if you can make it sing ;-) > Sorry, PC. I've done prototypes with Axure, it's good for certain things. Right now I have wireframes I built in Illustrator and composed as a document in InDesign. I need to take that and make a sitemap from it. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] Favorite tool for sitemapping?
Morning, It's been quite awhile since I've had to actually do any sitemaps. I'm wondering what your tool of choice is these days. I've got one to create myself and I'm faced with a myriad of tools at my disposal: Axure, Illustrator, InDesign and even Visio (ugh) to name four. I like Axure, but I don't have the wireframes in that tool. Sitemaps have always been such a manual labor type thing and hard to update. Templates make it easier but I'm wondering if I've missed any new techniques or tools in the last year or so. Thanks! Tom -- Marooned - A Space Opera in the Wrong Key! http://www.maroonedcomic.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Do business objectives belong in personas?
On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 9:14 PM, Jared Spool wrote: > Have you asked your colleague what he wants to use this persona for? Can he > give examples on how this might change the design? [snip] Ok, sparing the mundane details of interoffice juggling, it turns out that the personas he is using are not the ones that I will have to use. I'll be able to create my own, and I am planning on using user research to base them on. (Getting that is another internal issue, but I'm hopeful). So sorry for the detour, but I still learned some good things from everyone's comments, so thank you. I guess that brings me back to my original question about biz requirements and I think the situation here dictates leaving them out. Right now I'm going to base my personas on Steve Mulder's book, with a bit of cross pollination from Todd Warfel's template. If there are any suggestions on persona stuff I should look at before I begin, that would be appreciated. Thanks! -- Marooned - A Space Opera in the Wrong Key! http://www.maroonedcomic.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Do business objectives belong in personas?
Thanks everyone for the great answers. I have a follow up question. The colleague that has put together the initial persona sketches has included a couple of attributes that are specifically geared toward selling the end product. Specifically, for example, he created one called "Decision Maker" that he explains the purpose as "Links to the selling process that we use (if any). Likely candidates are: SPIN, Solution Selling, or Strategic Selling. Agree regarding the goals. " Here's how that is articulated on one of the personas: "Can voice a %u201Cno%u201D and make the selling process more difficult. Requires overcoming specific objections. Will share experiences with the Marketing Director, and likely to be the person to show the Marketing Director how to use the system or outcome from the system. " Again I'm thinking - this doesn't belong. It seems like that information could be included in the personal profile section, if at all? Basically we can say they are an influencer in decision making? It seems to me a persona is not about selling, it's about designing properly. And if we design properly, we won't have to concern ourselves with how the sales force is going to sell it, because it will satisfy our target user needs and they should want it. I'm having a hard time articulating myself on this one, especially with my colleague, and I feel like he may dig his heels in on this one. I'm really not sure how I would go about using what he wrote there as part of the design process. It's good to know they may have a certain effect on the decision making process, but again - if I've understood his needs and met them with my product... I'm just repeating myself now. Thoughts? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39287 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Do business objectives belong in personas?
On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 9:16 PM, Jared Spool wrote: > Hi Tom, > > Excellent question. Here's my take: > > First, I want to ask: are we talking about whether the business objectives > are in the persona or with the persona description document? [snip] I was mainly speaking to the document, but your response definitely addressed that. Thanks a lot, it's very helpful! Tom -- Marooned - A Space Opera in the Wrong Key! http://www.maroonedcomic.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] MS Office Fluent user interface
On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 4:08 PM, J. Ambrose Little <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 10:33 AM, Tom Dell'Aringa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > >> Which is a fine overview but doesn't quite get too deep. Anyway, I'm >> wondering what your thoughts are on the interface. Is it effective? Like >> or >> dislike and why? >> > > I figured I'd chime in with a different perspective. On a personal note, I > LOVE the Ribbon. > > For yourself, you're not going to have (maybe?) the history of > usage/proficiency that will break for some users, so the main drawback might > be kind of a non-issue. > True, we won't have that history - it's going to be a brand new product. That is one reason that it appealed to me. We don't have the new Office here actually so I've never used it in that context, only as part of MindMapper. One thing that strikes me negatively about it is the complex visual noise it can present. I like a clean interface myself. Our application is not going to be as complex as say a Word. I might be able to take some inspiration from the ribbon but come up with something more applicable to what we have. Thanks for your input! Tom 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] MS Office Fluent user interface
On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 9:48 AM, Nick Iozzo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I am under the impression that MS has many patents on this design. Right or > wrong is not for this thread, but I would dig into that if you are > developing any commercial software. > Wow, didn't even think of that - thanks for pointing that out. I'll look into it. > It is hard to comment on this design from a neutral point of view. I have > used it for a while, I was very use to the old office design and where to > find things. I find myself struggling to find things I use to be able to > find effortlessly. On the other hand, I have found things I never knew > existed. So it has some benefits. > > I look at this design as a merger of client and web app design (e.g., the > ribbon is just an AJAXian toolbar). > A good perspective. Thanks. 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] MS Office Fluent user interface
Happy Friday everyone, I'm working on an interface for a new product and considering using the MS fluent user interface as a model instead of your basic menus. I've been googling it this morning and there's actually a surprising lack of UX writing on the subject - or I am simply not finding it. I don't want to use something without having a good understanding of it first. I did read this from MS http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/HA101679411033.aspx Which is a fine overview but doesn't quite get too deep. Anyway, I'm wondering what your thoughts are on the interface. Is it effective? Like or dislike and why? We don't have office 07 here but I do have MindJet MindManager which uses it, so I've been playing around with it. It is certainly different. One advantage we have is that this is a completely new product, so there is no preexisting bias for an old interface. Of the things I did find, people seemed to be upset with the fact that there was no backward compatibility with the old app. We won't have that issue. Thanks Tom 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] IA and Social Networks/Web 2.0 functionality
I would definitely be interested in taking a look, if you wouldn't mind putting it together. Tom On Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 1:44 PM, Dante Murphy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Tom- > Our solution is to create a "statemap" instead of a sitemap... > > Is this something that a lot of people are challenged with? If so, I > might be able to put together a "statemapping" presentation online. Let > me know if you all would be interested in such a thing. 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] IA and Social Networks/Web 2.0 functionality
On Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 10:32 AM, Bryan Minihan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > For the pre-work on our current project, I put together a concept map, > instead of a direct site-map. I divided the site into distinct "clouds" and > placed common tools into each according to roles. My main site map gave a > high-level overview and delineated all of the "locked down" pages that help > with site admin and general company information, but when it got down to the > user-interaction level, the "clouds" illustrated which tools were available > to each group, without trying to show they were in specific pages at any > given time. I've actually done that exact thing, it was the first thing I did. I have circles around each main "idea" with satellites of functionality around them. Lines connect things that interact. Maybe that is a better tool, I'm not sure. When it comes down to "hard pages" I end up with very few items on the site map. Maybe I'm seeing a problem where there isn't one, I'm just not sure. 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] IA and Social Networks/Web 2.0 functionality
Good Morning, My current project is a social network. I'm actually having some trouble putting together a good site map because so many features seem to either overlap, or more importantly, one page will support multiple features. There is much less of a "page" paradigm, it's so much more the interactive behavior of the users. For example, on Facebook's profile page, I can do so many different things - especially if I have added any applications. Have any of you faced this, and if so, how did you tackle site mapping? It's not that I find the site map such a huge crucial piece of the puzzle, but it's something our stakeholders will want to see. It's also been tricky with the wireframing and organizing each page as well. Any tips are appreciated. Tom 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] What do you think: Is participating in a poll "social networking"?
If you had a social network that had all the typical features, friends, photos, chat, etc., and it also had polls, would you consider polls as part of that social network? My initial thought is no because there's no real interaction between people - but it is something that a group of people participate in, even though they simply cast a vote. Thoughts? -- See my web comic! http://marooned.pixelmech.com 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] Training methods/training materials?
Hi folks, My boss has asked me to do some usability training sessions for our development team. Obviously this is a good thing, he wants them to be thinking of the tools available to them and how they can utilize me better. I would have to present to a group of about 25-40 people. They will be developers and QA people mostly. Can anyone share what they have done in the past in this regard? Certainly I don't want to bore people or get into the details of how things are built, but rather how the tools and methods themselves can help make their projects better (for example, how a persona would benefit their project). I do have the one-sheeters I made, I could use those as a starting point I suppose. I'm just wondering what the best way is to present this material, open to any and all opinions, or examples if you have them. Thanks! Tom *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] How do you do heuristic evaluations? Examples?
Sorry if this is a double post, I can't seem to locate my original posting from my other email. I've done about a dozen heuristic evals, they've usually been pretty high level. An internal client has considered going with Forrester to get some 'web site reports' they offer, but my boss would rather they use us, internally, of course to do the same work. Certainly we can do it. He wanted to know if the evaluations could be more polished or detailed. So my question is what heuristics do you usually test against? Do you lay those out in your document and then answer them by group? It would be great if a couple example docs could be posted if possible, even if the specific client info was stripped out. I have seen Neilson's heuristic article and list of 10 heuristics, which I have used in the past. Wondering if that is enough or if it is too general. Thanks Tom *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
