Re: [IxDA Discuss] User cookie authentication vs. Security
Interesting side note, at work a few days ago a co-worker went to log into their bank. When they went to the log in page of the fresh and new bank site, it saw the cookie from the old site and logged him in. As someone else. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=48213 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] Flyout or collapsible navigation?
Important thing to remember: Forcing items into a heading they don't fit under is worse then having no headings at all. Also, items can be in more than one heading, really. If you have too many items to do that, well, perhaps you have too many items? Maybe your app should be broken into a suite of apps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=48128 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] Search Results Pagination (top bottom?)
Pay EXTRA close attention to what you are paginating. Sometimes a big-ol-list of items page after page is the wrong fit. In the app I am working on, for example, there is a big old list of all the articles released in the last forever. The obvious thing to do was to paginate them into 10 or 20 item chunks, but what is the use of such a list. really? We decided that our users were using this mainly to get a handle on what everyone was doing that day, and to scan back to items they knew were released recently but weren't sure what they were named. So we paginated by day. However many came out that day, are shown. The idea being that should there ever be THAT many items on a single day, we'll look into ways to filter it, but for now there are only 10-30 articles released a day, so it isn't a big deal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=48156 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] Input needed for courses in Design for Security
Just don't forget that your user's are part of the security of your system. Requiring a password system they have no choice but to write down, for example, is LESS secure than a password of their choice that has the option to be changed each month but can be set back to the same thing and is salted liberally. The first is more secure, if everyone was using safe password storing procedures. They won't. So the second at least isolates them if their password is cracked, which would have been the case in both scenarios and more common in the first. I'd say remembering that your users are cogs in the security machine and that they will sidestep anything they can in the name of convenience, is the most important thing you can teach any security student. Because the most technically secure systems are normally the ones you can walk into any building and nab a password for by lifting keyboards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=46059 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] Toward a search dominant wayfinding paradigm (worth it?)
So you are the one of the ones responsible for turning adobe's god-awful site into something at least usable? There is a long way yet to go. I don't think a search-based paradigm is the way to go. Let google get people to your pages by search. I see adobe site users as falling into 3 groups. Those who want to buy something specific already. Those who want help learning your terribly designed, but inescapably powerful products. And those who don't know what they need. The first set are easy, That is what your landing page should take care of. No one will type in adobe.com and not know at least sort of what they need. If your help system is well indexed and easy to navigate (which it isn't) you'll be able to deal with group 2. So group 3 is really who you are trying address. To know what they need, you need to understand what subgroups they fall into. People scouting for info on what apps to buy for the designers at work. People who want things like PS elements or lightroom for their photo collection but don't know they need that. (I'm using the term 'want' loosely) adobe.com is fast on its way to not being on my bottom 10 sites online anymore. It is now the best designed app you offer. But that's not saying much. There was a time when everything was some patchwork mess of flash and huge graphics and incomprehensible doodads. I get it, you are a graphic design oriented software company, but at least now it looks like you actually care about how the site is used and not just what it looks like. But please don't go search-centric. Bad move. A better move would be to try and figure out how and why someone got to a page. Want to be search centric? Use the search terms they used in google to get to your page to offer other things YOUR search would have given them. Hell, give them the option to repeat the SAME EXACT search they just used on google to get to you. You can do it, you have the referer. I want the isolationism in sites to die. DIE DEAD. Google is your friend. They did a fine job of getting the user to whatever page they got to. Don't try to replace them with some other internal search, that won't ever be as good as google. (Unless you are using a GSA which it looks like you might be.) But a GSA is NOT big google. However, giving an internal search based on GSA results in the form of suggestions based on keywords from the page mixed with the user's initial query that got them to that page from google or another search WOULD be totally bad-ass. I guess what I mean is that search-centric navigation is awesome if the search is big google and will leave you wanting if you rely on it alone internally. And to address your meme thoughts. People don't search first. They google first. Yes, google is search. But people don't think like it is. It is almost (and literally in most browsers) part of the browsing interface. People will get to, and your data will totally back this up, adobe.com by typing adobe.com into google and then clicking the link. Lots of them. You can't beat it. Make it work for you instead. I think the root cause of these search-centric thought processes is the misconception that www.adobe.com is your front door. It isn't. All your content pages are your front door. Or more accurately, google is your front door. Or really your hallway. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=45983 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] Captchas - what do you currently do?
Rather than trying to discover if a user is human, focus on the opposite. Look for inhuman actions. The honeypot option is a good initial barrier. But monitor that user's actions from that point on. Are they doing something at super-human speed? Are then repeating themselves a lot? Repeating ones self doesn't just mean the same text exactly, it might mean almost the same text. Perhaps it is valid for a user to sometimes include a volume of gibberish, but scan all posts for consistent gibberish. These are just a few things you can do to avoid bothering the humans. There are undoubtedly many more and better ways to discover someone as a computer. Above all, take the penalty-box angle on all suspicions of being inhuman. First, 1 min. Then 5. Then 30. Then an hour. Then a day. No need to go longer than a day, really. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43847 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] Online customer service saves call center costs?
I assume you mean automated systems, not paying someone to answer emails versus answering the phone. It comes down to implementation. But don't expect more than a 10% drop overall. And that is if you've done really well. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the primary one is that if you answer every possible issue on the site, it becomes hard to find the right answer. And if you only answer the big ones, you still get all the questions you didn't answer. On top of this, there are many reasons someone needs to talk to a real person. Not the least of which is trying to get a better deal through haggling. People will always want the chance even when a company really and truly doesn't budge from posted prices. There are a few theories out there that could potentially eliminate all standard questions from phone costs. But they all still require the users to: Come to the site, Bother with the system, Be self reliant. That is a lot to ask from your users and only the middle one can be fixed. (By not posting your phone number until they have attempted to use the system) But it comes at the cost of potential business. Until AI gets to the point where it can parse natural language, preferably vocally, customer service is going to need humans on phones. If you aren't a large company, you likely won't save enough by building a system to account for it. Out-of-box solutions often pay for themselves, if only due to their low cost. However, they still require training the system to know what questions to answer. Anyway, that's my two cents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43839 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] Looking for data to refute crazy client
FYI md5 is totally cracked. It can be broken in a matter of seconds these days. Try other forms of 1 way encryption. Salt heavily. If you are really paranoid, encrypt twice in two different ways. But a good strong atypical one way encryption should be good enough. Even md5 should be enough if you code defensively and mitigate SQL injection vulnerabilities. Be careful. Many forms of encryption do NOT produce the same value each time. (Why is a topic of great length) So don't use any old form of encryption without research. As for your boss. He is not a security specialist, clearly, and his ideas are the very reason that security specialists have to exist. Security isn't always intuitive. Let him know that what he would like you to do is malpractice. That doing so, and the discovery of said actions after mass identity theft as a result of it, would subject you, and him, to legal ramifications. The kind that cost your company, and indeed potentially yourselves MASSIVE financial damages. Not to mention it being a potential career ender. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43289 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] Advice needed: creating a new UI standard
The good news is: Even a terrible design standard will likely be better than 6 completely different designs which all get some things right and everything else wrong. The core of your job does itself by being a job. So don't worry too much. Provided you aren't a moron and you know -something- about IxD, you almost certainly will have a positive effect. Look at MS Office. Once they unified their abortional interfaces into one suite with one horrific design, it became a lot more usable. Suffering through learning word was at least partially transferable to Power Point or Access. (dry heave) It is hard to learn bad interfaces, and hard to use them when you have learned them. But a unified design for your various apps will make that first part not a problem once you learn one app. And if you have at least addressed some of the rest of the bad design choices people make, you've won. You've won by trying! So pat yourself on the back and go take a nap. Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43155 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] Interaction flow as subterfuge.
Don't Ask applies to the men and women who are enlisted or are officers in the military. Not to the men and women who work for the military or for contractors who work for the military. I don't agree with Don't Ask. And I look forward to its end. Thankfully, my job deals with army.mil which is a source for news aimed at the private sector. The kind of work we do centers around supporting programs that help homebound troops. We provide social platforms for soldiers, their families, and their friends. We memorialize historical events. We do a lot of good. We don't collect information about our visitors, sometimes even to the point of not being able to log information to know when someone has given an article a rating (which is one of the reasons we don't have ratings on army.mil) We don't hide information that is legally required to be accessible, what little of this information we are charged with making available. (most of that is DOD level) Some of the places I have worked have intentionally made locating FoIA information hard, normally in the name of national security. I have yet to see even the suggestion of this at army.mil. Perhaps I should have been clearer before. - Original Message - From: live human.factor@gmail.com To: William Brall dam...@earthlink.net Cc: disc...@ixda.org Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 9:20 PM Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Interaction flow as subterfuge. Ethical except for, you know, this kind of one act play- A Military Monday Morning Water Cooler: Bill: Hello John. How was your weekend? John: It was great. The wife and the kids and I went to the zoo, saw the penguins. How was your weekend? Bill: Good - me and the boyfriend took the dogs to the coast, then came home and worked on the garden. John continues working. Bill gets fired and loses his job, healthcare, and pension. On Jun 20, 2009, at 5:57 PM, William Brall wrote: Stick to your guns. Be ethical. Be personally responsible. Advertise that you do these things and give examples of where you have left jobs due to ethics. Ethical people will hire you and the others will not. Which is where you want to be anyway. At least that is my opinion. Then again. I work for army.mil and there are people who would argue that this fact alone is unethical. Why? I am not sure. But I have been jeered at over it before. I love my job, but if I were ever asked to do something I felt was unethical or amoral. I would refuse to do it. And if that means I lose my job, good riddance. I don't see that happening. The army is surprisingly ethical, even compared to other government related jobs I have held. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43028 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 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] Palm Pre
I wasn't talking about what the iPhone looks like. I was talking about the easy in which it does things. It isn't perfect. I've seen a pre now and they are good too. Still not perfect. I agree with what you said, other than suggesting I didn't say the same thing. :) If anything. What I said is a more extreme example of what you said. I'm predicting that something that uses the same strategy the iPhone uses. Simple device. Simple basic interface with discoverable or learnable complexities. No obvious file system. A built-in store where you can buy all software upgrades and media. A work-anywhere philosophy, which will eventually be true enough.. I also lumped the Kindle in with these devices. It shares a lot of the same hardware, especially if you avoid the screen. Something that size, but more like an iPhone with the ability to swap apps and run background processes will be what replaces the PC. Mark my words. - Original Message - From: Jarod Tang To: William Brall Cc: disc...@ixda.org Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 9:38 AM Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Palm Pre On Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 3:32 AM, William Brall dam...@earthlink.net wrote: I'm all for some competition for Apple. I think the future of all personal computing are in something iPhone like. I've already seen some people stop using their PC in favor of the iPhone. I'm not sure japanness will agree with you while they have their very good handsets. What iPhone really make sense is its strategy of blending to the life webs, e.g. services, iTurns store. etc, instead of what it looks like. Cheers, -- Jarod -- http://designforuse.blogspot.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] Seeking iPhone UX Designers
We are currently in the process of bringing an iPhone app to market for army.mil. If anyone is interested, I can do a postmortem. Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43042 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] Interaction flow as subterfuge.
Stick to your guns. Be ethical. Be personally responsible. Advertise that you do these things and give examples of where you have left jobs due to ethics. Ethical people will hire you and the others will not. Which is where you want to be anyway. At least that is my opinion. Then again. I work for army.mil and there are people who would argue that this fact alone is unethical. Why? I am not sure. But I have been jeered at over it before. I love my job, but if I were ever asked to do something I felt was unethical or amoral. I would refuse to do it. And if that means I lose my job, good riddance. I don't see that happening. The army is surprisingly ethical, even compared to other government related jobs I have held. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43028 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] Palm Pre
I'm all for some competition for Apple. I think the future of all personal computing are in something iPhone like. I've already seen some people stop using their PC in favor of the iPhone. I haven't used the Pre yet. But from what I hear it can give the iPhone a run for its money. This will be good for what I hope is the future. multi-app multi-size interoperable star trek style pads. Replacing the PC and moving the desktop into a purely productivity/hobbyist realm. Those apps will still be made on desktops. But grandma will use her iPreKindle for all her e-mail and Wrestlemania needs. What? Grandmas can't watch Wrestlemania? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42837 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] Need for a new metaphor on Operating Systems?
I'd say it is time for the metaphor to die. That is, the global metaphor. People accept their computer as a platform. The 'desktop' metaphor is vestigial. There is still great need for functional metaphor. Buttons that look like buttons. But most of the metaphorical aspects of our OSs have vanished already. What is the metaphor behind OS X's spaces? What i'd like to see, more than a metaphor shift, is the removal of outdated paradigms from personal computing. A device like a larger-screened iPhone, with the ability to multitask and sit in a bay station to allow for mouse/keyboard input as well, would be far better suited to the average user. Web access, music access, video access, email, IM, notes, and the wide range of apps you see on an iPhone are really the wave of the future. No more files system. No more 'metaphor' for the OS. The OS is just there and the little tools are the focus. That's my thought anyway. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42903 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] Music to Design to - What gets your creative juices flowing?
People assume I'm joking when I say this. But I REALLY love The Most Unwanted Song http://www.wired.com/listening_post/2008/04/a-scientific-at/ 22 minutes of music genius. I enjoy coding to it. And other interesting music like Balinese Gamelan and Traditional Indian. Why? Like all creative acts, coding requires interesting external input to lead down new paths. This song leads to new ideas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42851 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] Any latest Radio Button interactions with accordion combined??
Might help if we could see a screenshot or an example. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42873 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] Any good examples of mixed IA structures?
Well. It looks more to me like you are mixing apples and oranges to try to make something that tastes like a pear. You've already hit on your problem. The software mirrors the internals of the system. Users have trouble with that because they don't think in databases. In the search field they would type Jones Company and John Jones, in or out of quotes. And your software would float the John Jones that works at Jones Company to the top of the results. Followed by Jones Company, because it was the only result for the company search. Followed by the rest of the John Joneses you've found. I still don't see a need for nodes and trees. The data you've described doesn't logically fit into such a structure. A person isn't a node, or a branch on a tree. They are a person, who works at X doing Y, with personal information Z. And X is a company that has employees A-Z and details 1-10. It would help to know what exactly this tool is used for. Because it seems simply like a means for looking up information about people and companies. Is there more too it? What is the most complicated result users will need? Will - Original Message - From: Alan Wexelblat awexelb...@gmail.com To: William Brall dam...@earthlink.net Cc: disc...@ixda.org Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2009 7:42 AM Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Any good examples of mixed IA structures? Thank you for the response. I probably did make the cases too narrow. Currently the existing interface is an Access DB bit of hackery that lacks several features. For example, it requires the user to search on a particular type of field (company name vs contact name) that exposes the internal structure of the storage. Whatever we do I'm going to push the developers to add a full-text index and a generalized search capability. But my observations of the users indicates that not having the contextual structure for their answers is frustrating them. For example, we may have a contact in the DB named John Jones. That may be one of several John Jones. In order to find the right one, the users need to know that one of the John Joneses is the CEO of Jones Company. In tests with paper prototypes so far, people have indicated a preference for presentation of some of the results in a hierarchical context. But just blanket applying a tree structure to something where 30-40% of the data is a single node with no parent or child seems inappropriate. So I'm trying to mix my apples and oranges and come up with some kind of fruit salad (if you'll excuse the stretched metaphor). Best, --Alan 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] Any good examples of mixed IA structures?
Maybe I'm just not following. I don't see two use cases here. I see two pre-existing interfaces that don't support the use cases that do exist. I realize it isn't always an option to go in a completely new direction. Ok. I realize it is almost never an option. But perhaps what you really need is not a blending of these two interfaces, but a third one that actually does what the users need. Retain the old ones, but offer cross connections that let them naturally fall into the more useful method. The questions you posed don't require anything like what you've suggested. Both are exacting questions with one answer. For the first, it would be a phone number. For the second, it would be a company name. What this suggests to me is a multi-field search. One of the more nifty ways I've seen this done recently is through AJAX. Each field is searched with a separate AJAX call. Some will come back quickly, others more slowly. In your case, you would throw out searches that come back empty and show the 'hopefully' one that came back with information. And if more than one comes back, you'd need some way to let the user pick which one they meant. Wolfram Alpha works a lot like this. Your examples would be searched like so: find the phone number of $NAMED ORGANIZATION - $NAMED ORGANIZATION Which would return entries for said organization, most likely including their phone number find the company for which $NAMED PERSON is the sales representative - $NAMED PERSON Which would bring back all of the records associated with that person. Which should include where they work as a sales rep. Along with many other use cases. Such as finding information on a phone number, an address, or any other fields you'd like to expose the same way in your system. Including more complicated sets of data not contained in a single table. I'm basing this on the assumption that search isn't already a paradigm for you because your tables would search too slowly. With AJAX, your users will wait longer because there is the illusion of feed back. And, if broken into parts, you won't have to wait for all 30 fields to be checked. The quick ones will come back first and give the user rich feedback that holds them over even when some queries take over a min. As is the case with some things in Wolfram Alpha. Anyway. I could have completely missed your point also. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42794 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] Simple and effective navigation for retail?
You'll do fine so long as you remember that things can logically fit in many categories. My new video game belongs in BOTH electronics and toys. If you try to pidgin hole everything into one group, when the case can be made for it to be in more than one. Some people won't find it. This is, incidentally, my biggest pet peeve with most music software. The Mars Volta is Metal AND Jazz! Static-x is Metal, Techno, AND Trance! Sites tend to be better about it. But my iPod knows not what multiple genres are. Don't be my iPod. That is the single biggest mistake you can make, next to only providing a search bar. Which you shouldn't do. Search is great... if the user knows what they want. However, you can remove most 'search-for-something-specific' users with a good search system. Try to correct spelling if you can. List off common misspellings at the very least. (I wonder if eyeQ wishes they hadn't named itself that?) What should be left are users that are poking about looking for things they might like, or that someone they know might like. Which means, like amazon, the more ways you can give them to find related or unrelated items the better. Think more about WHAT amazon lets you see and less about HOW they let you see it. If you can give them items that others who bought what they are looking at bought somewhere, that is big. But you most likely can't. Next best thing is to do some of that by hand, and do some of it completely at random, and some based on what the user has already been through. If they are looking at video games, show them accessories for the system they are looking at. Show them other games from the same genre. Show them something completely not related. Or so meta-related that it takes them aback. That last one is hard to do. If the game is Lego Indiana Jones if the links to items somewhere on the page look something like this, you win: - An Indiana Jones lego set - Lego Starwars the game for the same system - A second controller for the system - Indiana Jones DVD box set - A rubber Snake - A WWII shooter for the same system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42786 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] Best practices for Country location and languages on Global Websites (was Language Picker)
Gregor. You are in the vast minority. ONLY using IP is dangerous. A splash page is a bad idea because you route 99% of your users to a useless page. Make it easy to switch to a new language, auto-detect, and you will be fine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42726 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] Best practices for Country location and languages on Global Websites (was Language Picker)
Always ALWAYS do for the user what you can do for them. Auto-detect and provide -some- way to second guess the machine. But don't expect a lot of people to second guess. The best language picker is the one the user never sees. If you can't auto-detect, and you almost always can, a decent picker would be one that makes it easy to find the most common choices. And possible to find the least common. English - French - German - Spanish - Pig Latin - Klingon In the respective languages of course. Followed by a select box with all of them in alphabetical order, even the ones you selected to break out into links. Best of all worlds, I think. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42726 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] Tabs for content breadth/depth?
I'm working on a heavily tabbed system myself right now. Most of them make sense. I'm trying to keep reducing the number and merging them into the areas that they make sense to be in. The first thing we did was break them up into several major groups, like meta-apps, and styled them differently but consistently. Each group has its own set of tabs, but it works because people who work in one area rarely, if ever, venture outside of that area. Next, we merged adding content, editing content, previews of content and so on into a single tab. Again, a kind of small mode within the larger app that is content management, that is in the larger suite that is website management and strategy. Don't be afraid to segment out your app. Websites are getting more and more complicated with more and more goals they try to meet. They are all trying to snatch a chance at the all-in-one webOS pie before it is baked. Many will fail, because they cram it all into one space. Filling their page with dropdowns and flyouts. Hiding things in a sea of unwanted. Tabs have the happy side effect of making it very obvious when you are trying to cram in too much to one area. This is one of the reasons they are becoming popular. They are easy for a designer to point at and say We can't fit anymore, sir. But they don't work miracles. And they can be very confusing. Especially when the items in the tabbed section do unexpected things. One of the major reasons to lose a Add Content tab is that new content wouldn't be accessible from that tab if the user clicked a different tab and then clicked the add tab again. It would add a whole new piece of content yet again. However. Space willing, it might make sense to add a tab for an 'open' piece of content when a user adds a new content in the content section. For easy access. Might. It didn't for us. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42699 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] What is an Experience Strategy?
To counter Jared's argument. At army.mil, we consider the other branches of the military our (all-be-it friendly) competitors. Much of the information we have, on the broadest scope, is the same information these other groups have, but the primary reason we view it this way is to have something to compare ourselves to and to strive to be better than. Otherwise we would stagnate. Also, there is hardly anyone in the government who builds websites. This is more commonly contractor work. So in my case, with the CMS we are building for the Army, we are competing with other companies to proliferate our product. There is always competition, and the definition doesn't specify monetary competition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42620 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] Microsoft bing.com reactions
Initial page is garbage. They should have used the same page as all the other pages. Also, that building under the top left made me miss the links across the top for a little while. The pagination is standard and poor. Somehow google has managed to convince everyone that bouncy-bottom-only pagination is a good idea. it isn't. Top AND Bottom, please. Also, there are at least 1000 pages for my search, but I get the option of 4 pages. 8 if I am in the middle somewhere. I've got room for at least 30 page buttons. The no-search landing pages for all the sections are cluttered and hard to understand. I'd avoid them completely. When I change search terms after drilling down to software based on polygon, to something slightly different, I lose my drill down. Additionally, the second step on the image search can be easily taken over and is taken over. I would have much rather seen a full size photo, rather than the page the image I clicked on was on. Then given the chance to visit the page. By loading it in the frame, I can't use this system without the page getting overtaken by sites like... wait for it myspace. All that said. There is positive stuff here. I like that the image search takes advantage of my larger monitor. I like that it knows where I live and provides related data. (like maps to local taco bells when I typed taco in the web search) There is a nifty discoverable extra-info doodad on the web search that doesn't seem to offer much information right now, but I assume will have more and more as time goes on. It has potential. I'm also digging the related search items. Even though a search for 'cone' eventually got me to 'pentagon' which seems related but the images are not. One has street cones the other photos of the pentagon. Also, they haven't forsaken the gold of the web, porn. Everything here was clearly designed with this in mind. These tools would work well for this purpose. The photo search seems to be an endless scroll. This is fantastic. I only wish the other searches were also. I don't quite understand why they aren't. In the video search, hovering over a video result plays a small amount of the movie clip. I like this. It also waits a short time before playing. Also good. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42625 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] Microsoft bing.com reactions
This has more to do with numbered pagination being a failure than with people's habbits. I see only 2 cases for numbered pagination. Your search system isn't strong enough for the user to find what they are looking for on the first page, or the user is intentionally looking through many items casually. The image search on bing does a much better job of the second. In the first case, a better option is to find a way for the user to refine thier search easily. Don't make the user do what the computer can do. This is also done pretty well on bing. You get the chance to try related searches, you get the chance to pick from options that reduce the number of results returned, you are given auto-complete choices. These all replace the need for more pages. I see traditional next-page style pagination everywhere. For things it makes no sense for. Bing allows you to re-sort a shopping search by dollar value. Does it not then stand to reason that if the user is looking forward to other pages it is because they have some figure in mind and are stepping through the pages looking for the right one? Wouldn't collecting the money data and showing ranges make more sense, even if you have to break the pagination up into something like: under $1 | $1-$5 | $5 - $10 (1 2 3 4 5 6 7) | $10 - $20 | $20 and over If a section has more than one page worth of data, it gets pages listed when the user has chosen that range. (I'm more inclinded to just let there be 200 items in $5 - $10, or to break it down into more steps $5-$6 and such.) Pagination is taken as a given. I'm gonna find this thing! is antagonistic. The user is frustrated that they can't find what they are looking for. So we just give them meaningless page numbers. All it tells the user is that the next page exists and is the 5th one. We can do better. I use top pagination all the time. Especially in cases where I know what page something is on. I am part of the minority. Most people just resolve after page two that what they are looking for doesn't exist. This is why schools have started to teach search skills. Because pagination and search is so primative that it needs to be taught. Along side such poorly designed software and Word and Excel. How is that right? How is that not broken? Search shouldn't be a skill. Bing is doing a lot to avoid it. But falling into the trap of standard pagination. Obvious. Thoughtless. - Original Message - From: Andy Edmonds To: William Brall Cc: disc...@ixda.org Sent: Sunday, June 07, 2009 11:50 AM Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Microsoft bing.com reactions Wow! I don't even have time to go beyond the first two points! On Sun, Jun 7, 2009 at 4:39 AM, William Brall dam...@earthlink.net wrote: Initial page is garbage. They should have used the same page as all the other pages. The key objective, I believe, of this is to engage users with the special question style features of Bing/Live. I've found the image selection to be delightful and have hovered over a number of their hotspots. The pagination is standard and poor. Somehow google has managed to convince everyone that bouncy-bottom-only pagination is a good idea. it isn't. Top AND Bottom, please. I was involved in the decision to drop top pagination some time ago at MSN. The data showed the only time it was used with any frequency was to return to page 1 from page 2. Interestingly, there seems to be an interesting mental model around paging in search. The 2nd page is the only one where users prefer the numeric pager. After page 2, the Next button dominates paging triggers. My hypothesis is that this is the difference between Ok, I'll try one more page and I'm gonna find this thing in terms of motivation. Cheers, Andy, off to UPA... 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] Arrival time in a form
Who arrives on time anyway? Why not just have general choices like Nitesh Bhatia said, then skip the more exact time. Most people will arrive around those times away. Are you really gaining anything by being so specific? This is of course meaningless if exact times are important. IE. If this interface is for the clerk at the Hotel, and not the person making the reservation. Or if this is reservations for a fine restaurant, where people will be there on time or lose their spot. Context is important. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42582 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] Product training and orientation: anything surprising/interesting?
Do like the video games do. In app walk-through! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42524 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] Feedback on discussion forum
I agree with Live. And he requires a warning. I outlined a 'score based' way to sort posts. If you like it and want more details. Ask away. I'm a big fan of finding the underlying problem with math and then not bothering the users about stuff the computer can do. That is what the score method is all about. Popularity / Activity / Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42451 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] some queries on designing a touchscreen all in one PC
Feel free to 'steal' any good ideas you find at www.prettybutbad.com about just such an application. Then tell me, so I can buy one if I like what you did. I outline almost an entire OS on said blog. I'd never have the chance to do it. So I wouldn't feel a loss if you took the whole idea and ran with it. Have at it. Free for the taking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42270 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] some queries on designing a touchscreen all in one PC
http://www.prettybutbad.com/?id=8 That would be the post you'd most be interested in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42270 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] Help: Assigning unique URL's to teams in a network
Being able to get at the link, to link to it, is more important. They URL can be gibberish, like YouTube links. Having a friendly URL will help the user find his own page more often than someone else finding it. At least that's what I've seen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42250 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] RFP: IxDA.org Redesign
The first link has a (,) at the end. That is why it 404s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42234 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] RFP: IxDA.org Redesign
It is a broken link on the website. That's the issue here I think. In your e-mail app it might be ok. On ixda.org it is busted. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42234 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] Who am I?
Anywhere that has swallowed IxD as a concept at this time has likely been initially exposed to IxD through a variety of books. Almost all of these books suggest that 99% of people CAN'T straddle these two disciplines. Why? Because 99% of people can't. It is rather like being a great web designer AND a great web developer. Sure, there are a group of good designers who can bodger their way through jQuery. But that isn't the bread and butter of a developer. There are a variety of developers, myself included, that are capable designers. But I can't match the skills of someone who only does that. Nor do I have the time to spend 8 hours in photoshop to get a perfect look for something. The reason these jobs are split, is the processes are split. They should ideally happen at different stages, by different people. The same is true of IxD. It isn't visual design, and it isn't code. You might be one of the 1% that is capable of doing two of these. Or, if you are also including in that graphic design, part of the very very few who can do the whole process. But can you honestly say you are expert level at all of it? Will you have the time to devote to all of it? I wish you luck in finding a place that welcomes you. But as an alternative, consider getting a job implementing for a company that doesn't know IxD exists. Plenty in the government. Because you will have to do the IxD yourself, there. You won't get paid extra for it, however. Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42068 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] Who am I?
I agree with what Dave is saying. But I also believe that the vast majority of people aren't as competent as Dave. And the sublimely competent often imagine others to be as competent as they are. Or at least a great deal more competent than they really are. It is very hard to be an expert at one thing, let alone more than one. A few people can be experts at many things. More common is being useful at many things. (A Jack of all Trades) At the end of the day I think Dave and I are saying the same thing. Be what you are! Don't dwell on a title! But you should listen to beetlejuice. He is wise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42068 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] Introduction in a Quick Start Guide
I agree with Harry. The last thing I think of when I hear 'Quick' is a big 'thank you for buying my thing, and I hope you enjoy it' speech on the front. A Quick Start Guide should just be the guide. On as few pages as possible. Everything should support the goal. The only reason for a cover I can think of is to make it easier to pick out of a line up later when your product breaks and needs to be configured again. But odds are good the user just tossed the guide out when they were done with it the first time. Now. If your guide isn't intended for basic users. DON'T call it a Quick Start Guide. Change the name of it and you've done all of the things your team wants with the intro page. Call it a: Training Enhancement Guide. Or something like that. You can do better. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42044 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] Introduction in a Quick Start Guide
Just another note: Manuals and Guides won't replace a better Interface. If the problem is that people don't understand what goes where, but they understand the thing they are doing. They will just hate you for giving them a manual. No one wants to learn software for software's sake. Now, if you are offering something totally new. Something where what the people are trying to accomplish is alien to them, then perhaps there is need. But to me, it sounds like you are trying to show people how to use a broken interface that they have trouble understanding and using. Why isn't the quick start baked into the interface itself? Why do they users/technicians need it? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42044 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] Pagination best practices
http://search.ahp.us.army.mil/search/slideshows/ I'd like to say we did a decent job with army.mil's pagination. I would have liked the tabs to be larger, along with the clickable area. I would have liked to color the clickable items more obviously. I would have liked to omit the last link on the actual searches. (Google Search Appliances guess at the total number of pages... Making the last button very very broken) Thankfully, they also wanted a non-GSA based mode without a search. Which lets you see everything newest first. (Which the GSA also has trouble with) There are problems. But we were mindful to duplicate it at the top and bottom. Offer many number-per-page options, and the more savvy users will realize the URL tells them how many items per page and there is no limit to how many you want to get. Or the irrational numbers per page you might want to see for that matter... Over all I think we did well, just remember. Bigger. More obvious what is clickable. And don't include a last tab if you can't really predict a last page. Also. have not yet reached the point of ubiquity, or at least among people at the pentagon. But I think you can intuit what is happening once you try them. I'm a developer (And a contractor), so my sway on 'design' changes is limited. Will PS. Evan. I really like the idea of making the pagination keyboard accessible. I may have just found the next pet project for myself. :) Thanks! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41915 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] Voice interfaces aren\'t Visual interfaces WAS Any data on users making use of Help?
http://www.ixda.org/discuss.php?post=41773 My experiences with voice-based interfaces has always been pretty caustic. Often you have a voice command-line, where in the user can speak commands that the computer understands (let's ignore imperfections in recognition for now) and the computer performs this task: Play Metallica Skip Play Genre Jazz and so on. Every kind of voice controlled system I've dealt with has boiled down to some kind of flat list of context-sensitive keywords. If you say these words here, this will happen, if you say those, that will. In the thread: Any data on users making use of Help? I mentioned treating these systems like text adventures and RPGs. And I think there is more we can learn from this that goes far beyond simple help. As consoles have replaces the PC for most RPGs, and tight plots have replaced the more freeform text driven commands of the past. I think there are a variety of interesting techniques used in these games to make interaction with fictional people easier. Ones we can lift. Often time our current systems have a lack of memory. They attempt to tell the user all that they can do right away, and every time they interact with the system. Recently, in the game Left 4 Dead, Valve has added a teaching mechanic to the game that alerts the player when something new or perhaps not completely learned comes up. And it goes beyond a list of tips that pop up a few times. The game tracks, for example, how often the player crouches and how quickly they crouch when they reach an obstacle they can crawl under. It also watches the player in combat and looks to see if they crouch to let the other players behind them have clear shots. When the game feels the user isn't using this core mechanic enough, it lets the player know he can do it with a tip that doesn't break the flow of the game. We can also do this. Perhaps you have a voice activated music system. You could watch the user and note that they never rate songs they are listening to. Perhaps ratings are one of the primary ways you pick the songs they are most likely to want to hear at any given moment. One way to alert them might be to have the system say, Remember, say [Add to Favorites] to let me know what you like! The user may not have ever known they could do that, or they may have just forgotten. But either way, now they know. Along with this, we can track what users have recently heard, and how much help we are giving them. We can prioritize our commands and alert the user about the most important features first. Such as Skip or Pause. Something else that was very common in old text adventures was keeping a large list of equivalent words. In Zork, you have to face a giant cyclops. To defeat him, you must scare him away. And to do so requires saying a certain heroes name. Problem? He has two acceptable names. Ulysses and Odysseus. No problem, either one works. Yes, Yeah, Yup, Sure, Affirmative, Certainly, and so on are all acceptable alternatives for each other. And they should all be acceptable to your software. But this rule goes far beyond yes and no. It should apply to anything and everything. Skip, pass, next. Stop, halt, pause, break, hold on, wait. Everything should have as many alternatives as possible. Along with this is not mapping words that mean almost the same thing to different functions. I know that Forward might be shorter than Fast Forward but Forward is ambiguous, it could also mean Skip, on the other hand Seek is viable for Fast Forward. You have to be careful. If the user is going to remember this long term, it has to make sense, and there can't be confusion about what will do what. If this means limiting the functionality of your software, so-be-it. What thoughts do the rest of you have about this? Clearly this is only the tip of the iceberg. And for call-taking systems that are likely to only be used once or twice, it isn't very helpful. What ways might we make the user's life easier with those? Or with any voice entry system? 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] Voice interfaces aren\'t Visual interfaces WAS Any data on users making use of Help?
I'm not sure what all these links have to do with each other. Or what they have to do with the topic. The last one sure. But Morse Code is difficult to learn and doesn't really offer anything to a modern voice-based interface... Unless I'm really missing something. And I understand the implications of tonal communication for inter species relations. I'm not sure what it would do for us here. That was a fantastic movie, though. One of my all time favs. :) Angel, I'm normally really on board with what you have to say. And the things you offer have a fun way of not making any sense at first and then slapping you in the face several weeks later at just the right moment. But I'm afraid you lost me, bro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41891 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] Best practices for time out (log out) warning
You can't make people be secure. You can only help mitigate the damages when their insecurity causes them. Invest time in dealing with what will happen if the user leaves their laptop open to their bank account at starbucks and then goes to the bathroom. It is going to happen. So offer a way to make it unhappen. Which might mean calling you with some non-computer controllable information. Don't expose their credit card numbers in the app, why would you need to? Don't give people who break in the ability to steal the person's identity. They know who they are. That Hi Mike Wallace doesn't need to be there. They may send off all the user's money to some other bank account, and they may then change the password so the user can't get back in. So you setup a hotline the user can call and fix the problem. In short. Make the app safer for the user if he is an idiot and lets other people get in and make the actions taken reversible. Such as putting a delay on transactions. These are all just off the top of my head. My point is that this concept of logging the user out automatically almost assuredly only annoys people or gives them a false sense of security. And it is a cheap hack way to avoid the harder job of making the internals of the app less vulnerable. Sooo... I guess my best practice is to not do it at all. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41760 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] Ungraceful degradation of HTML emails and conversion rates.
I turn off HTML email entirely. As should anyone. Focus on making HTML email more secure, rather than making it look good when people turn it, or part of it, off. Crack that egg, and no one will turn it off anymore. It is to the point where I am very impressed with sites that send out text-only email as the default or only option. And I stop getting email from ones that give me HTML as my text-only email. This is just me. I don't have data on email. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41858 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] Any data on users making use of Help?
users don't use help means users don't use the crap-tastic help that is normally provided. FAQs are about the best 'standard issue' help out there. And they such. Tool-tips are often panned and people forget that they are help. So here is the deal. If the user has to stop what they are doing and go somewhere else and god-forbid try to figure out what to call what they were doing and find it. They won't use it. Would you? This is one of the major drawbacks to voice command. I've only ever seen two good solutions. But you aren't going to like them much. 1. Stressed command words in context. 2. WIDE variety of command words. Play a lot of old text adventures and computer RPGs, particularly the Ultima series. These often exhibit both kinds of help. But they aren't -really- help. Franklin: (Go) to the [Mountain of Fire] and (thrust) the [Sword of Pain] into the [Alter of Nightmares]. You: Where is the Mountain of Fire? Franklin: I don't know, kid, go (ask) someone else, like [Bonno the Mapmaker] Then accept all kinds of words for go, ask and thrust. You can get the same effect by having the words users can say stressed heavily when spoken by the machine. Magic Voice: Hello, name, would you like me to give you [directions]? Or perhaps you'd like more [options]? Anyway. I hope these thoughts were helpful. (Now off to watch Star Trek) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41773 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] Label location
Don't forget 508. Easy to not think about it when dealing with straight forward forms, but there are serious concerns. Good idea to use the label tag and field sets. Even if you style them to look different, readers like JAWS will add functionality to the form for tabbing and helping the user to know what they are filling out. I'd imagine some of these subsidies might have to do with disabilities, so this is likely of even more concern than it normally is. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41873 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] Number of results displayed per page on mobile device
I wonder what the numbers of people using WAP browsers for your function really are. Are you building with the iPhone in mind? That would seem to be the stronger, growing, market for mobile web. And it doesn't have this concern. I've been doing search pages with variable sets of results for year. I'm assuming you aren't considering 5 because you think it is too small? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41643 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] New Site: Feedback?
The first thing I clicked opened a new window. So I stopped clicking. It was a string of what seemed like gibberish. This will likely be the result for anyone else who doesn't care about you. Which, unless you are making this for your friends, is your target. People who don't care about you. The goal is to make them care about you, and then hire or follow you. I was offended and left. Going back (cause you asked nicely) I find myself confused by the interaction more than I am intrigued. I don't really understand the difference between mostly interaction and mostly visual. I don't know why the interface pokes under/through the content, This almost seems broken. I know it is intentional only because I have a natural respect for people. Again, someone who doesn't care about you will just assume you are a bad designer. Also. Absorb the spam, make accessing you easy. Use a bayesian spam filter, don't force people to decipher an email address or fill in a captcha... I hate captcha. I don't tend to use sites that use them. I love the idea of the repeated sub-nav in the resume. I hate the implementation. I almost missed it, it was dumb luck that I rolled over them and realized they were links. Also. It bothers me when sites are shunted to the left or right. But I realize I have a large monitor. But I think it is worse to only support 1280 widths. Come on... You can't shrink under 1280 with CSS? And you can't wrap in a div and center? Finally. JAWS seems to choke on your nav. (That is a screen reader, for the blind) But I do have an older version, and you have some funky JS (Dreamweaver?) that might be confusing it that a newer version might handle. (JAWS is expensive) Also, designer not: 2.0 pink looks really dated and obvious these days. Thanks flickr. (Anything insulting was meant to be humorous, yay lack of inflection online) Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41640 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] Technical Limitation Arguements
There are no such things as technical limitations. That is a cop-out phrase that people use to avoid change. That said. There is such a thing as financial limitations. It is technically possible to build something JUST LIKE a google search appliance but that returns a REAL total number of results. It would require a lot more power than a GSA comes with, and a lot more thought, and millions of dollars in RD. When a GSA is 1/100th that cost. So it is better to just not have a 'go to the last page' button. Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41665 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] Two Delete behaviors - one type of label?
You haven't used windows long enough then. :P The only reason to confirm, is because you can't undo. If you can undo the deletion easily, you don't need to confirm. The only reason not to make something undo-able is that you don't know how to. Not a very good reason. Go figure out how to make it undo-able. Everything that can be done with a computer, can be undone. I've even had software that can undo a save. (in a really dumb way) Trust the user. Let the user's actions guide you. They aren't dumb. They sometimes click things by accident, but that doesn't mean you should ask them the 100 other times when they meant to do it. Google has caught onto this idea recently. And their 'in-the-next-page' undo link is a good alternative to confirmation. But it is still confirmation. If they take even a single additional step, they lose undo. Multiple, modal, intelligent undo is the solution to all confirmation woes. That way, your confirmation messages can happen rarely and for things that really ARE unrecoverable. Not exactly sure what that would be, all the examples I can think of COULD have built into them undo. But if we are talking about, say, MySQL. If you drop a database, that is basically it for it unless you backed it up somewhere. Clearly, the solution is to have your software make a backup it can restore from, thus giving you undo, but there has to be software you might interface with that is poorly designed enough that you'd lose undo. It is only then when you'd need a confirmation message. That, or the case of very large data small space. Tightly packed data with limited space, like on a PDA. You may not be able to get away with full scale undo there. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41286 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] Has anyone done user testing on a site including Google search solutions for internal site search?
Do you mean a Google Search Appliance? It sits in your rack and looks like swiss cheese. If that isn't what you mean then I have nothing to offer. :) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41606 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] Who codes your production HTML/CSS/JS?
People still code this stuff by hand? Ok, in the interest of full disclosure. Right now I am the one doing this. But that makes sense, as I am a Web Developer by title. I'm taking steps to remove the need for html/js/css hand-code in the future. You heard it here first. Keep an eye out for it. Bout time someone forced css and js into a proper MVC architecture. Ok. I'll switch off programmer mode. What? What is this HTML? And... JS? Is that some kind of flower? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41475 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] Two Delete behaviors - one type of label?
Undo FTW. Always. No exceptions. Infinite if possible. If I put it in the trash, the trash should take itself out when space is needed. Like Tivo, only not slow and otherwise clunky. Undo is the new delete. Anything else is laze. Peace! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41286 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] Complex Data Table Design
I rather like tables that auto-widen the column I am hovered over. But only when they smoothly animate over around .5-1 second. That way, it can widen to show the widest item without drastically reducing legibility. Provided of course the other columns are still mostly understandable while not hovered. There is no easy solution. But this can go a long way as you can shrink any long text column dramatically. Enough to make sure the label is the catching point and not the contents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41136 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] Visual cue for Type ahead input text fields?
It isn't that the screen reader won't be able to see the newly added content. It is that the screen reader will be busy helping the user know what they are typing in the text box, not going out and reading the new stuff that popped in under the box. Imagine how confusing it would be if your reader just kept reading the page when you asked to type into a box? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40937 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] Avoiding subjective topics in meetings
Build a relationship with your clients that sets you up as the professional in this field. You are the one they brought in to fix their problems with X, so they should listen to you about X. This sets you up to either deflect, or redirect these topics. Deflections is easier: The colors and logos are important, but they are more of a question for your graphic designer. redirection is trickier and will often require some coaching and if you can point to a passage in one or more books to back you up, that is even better. Where the toolbar will go is very important, but to know this we must nail down what needs to go in the toolbars first. This is because a toolbar with 5 items needs much less space than one that needs 20 items. To know what transitions to use, we need to know what we are transitioning. And if all else fails, don't forget you are a professional. Which means you are not doing your job if the client is getting you off topic and wasting their own money. So don't let them. Tell them flat out that they are focused on things that do not matter nearly as much as other things, and tell them what those other things are. Refuse to talk about colors if colors don't matter. But this will only work if you've built that relationship ahead of time. Be no-nonsense in meetings and when working. Like users, bosses aren't stupid, they are busy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40936 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] Some sites which have the worst design
These don't seem so bad from a IxD stand point. I didn't fail to find what I was pretending to look for. I understood what did what and got what I expected when I picked things. There wasn't anything overly annoying, like being forced to pick where I live just to see the sites. Although, in the first one, I got a strange login request when i clicked contact us. But this is hardly anything close to 'worst' Now, if you meant graphic design, these are pretty bad. But they also aren't for general consumers, they are for bulk orders made by businesses and so slick graphic design is likely not that important for them. I doubt they would see any increase in business because of it. Now, from a IxD stand-point, garbinc.com is actually really effective. It is drop dead easy to navigate and blatantly obvious from the very first moment. I don't really understand why they named their clothing human names, but that is more to do with the internals of the company, not the website. Rather than try to over-extend their site and do everything, they took a minimalist approach, stayed in line with their business and provide an easy system to get at the information that people will need from them. It is a success. Big Win for Garbinc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40585 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] The true focus of interaction design
Since what I was saying was, in fact, intended to be silly. I had hoped that was obvious... I'll only defend The Science of Art Think of that phrase to mean the science behind how art does what art does. Art has always been something magical. I mean magical in the old sense. There are practices and methods and forms which if you follow will produce results. Somewhat like if you have a slab of iron and you pray over it while heating it, then hammer paper prayers into it as you fold it, to imbue the iron with the magic of those prayers. The end result will be steel. And in certain places in Japan this process is still carried out for ceremonial swords. That is what art has been. But we are now able to separate the superstition of art from what really matters. What I meant, and it was really the only serious point I was trying to make, was that IxD is the space between a need, and the tool that meets that need. A space that is traditionally held by someone who takes a superstitious path to design. Be it software design, our field's foundation, or some of the many fields we've branched out to handle as well. We apply the scientific method to what has normally been the whim of artists. Even if that art were programmer art. Especially on the web, where most of our growth has been. And where the design of pages has historically been the exclusive domain of graphic designers, at least of the AAA professional level. I flowered it all up with other metaphors and such. I was trying to get the gist of us across without going into great detail. Because, as in this email, a short description won't do a better job of explaining our gist, so why not attempt to inject something more in it to at least make it enjoyable to read? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40209 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] Bowman leaves Google
I think ALL of you are really arguing the same side. Collecting Data is a big part of IxD, and like any field with a science background, that data need not be collected a second time for the same problem. Do biologists retest basic chemistry in order to make a biological experiment? Certainly not. What google is doing, and why that is bad, is they have taken to retesting. They have developed a culture where they don't extrapolate from prior testing, like we IxDs do, even when it was not our test. The 41 blues issue is a valid one. I'm positive that testing these 41 blues will garner results. Those results, if not spread over at least 1 million people, will not carry any value. But they will be results. If the sample is large enough, they may find that indeed the darker blue (if the background is light) will be the better choice. However, any one of us could have pointed at the blue that would do best because we have learned the value of contrast. Given the backgrounds google normally picks. It is obvious that the one with the greatest contrast (normally the darkest one) will test better. Because the few people in the sample that have trouble with low contrast will find the higher contrast helpful, and it won't annoy anyone. The reason the 41 blue test is bad, is any one of us would have told google the right choice for FREE! Because we are informed by other, older, tests. And a healthy spoon full of our own observations. We are all arguing the same things. Testing is good, when it isn't moronic. Using what we have learned already is the design of IxD and is only good if informed by good data. Which we mostly are. Not perfect, but test data isn't perfect either, and we are a hell of a lot cheaper than testing everything must be. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40237 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] The Save Icon rut
the floppy icon is a metaphor like the email inbox. I doubt many people who use email know it is a metaphor. The 'in box' has all but vanished. To the point where I've considered not calling things that resemble a REAL in box in my applications an in box. In Pile, or various other names are better, as people no longer think in box when they see inbox. There is a lot to suggest that what an icon resembles isn't relevant. The consistency of everyone using a 3.5 floppy is a better option than changing it to something more obvious, because the picture only helps you learn what something means once or twice. Saving is so common, and the icon so ubiquitous that only a complete novice to computers doesn't know what the icon means. And those people will have a much harder time with the CONCEPT of saving, than the struggle with the icon. I do agree, however, that saving should go away. it is out dated and only hardened computer elites want the mechanic. A snapshot has been already mentioned in this thread, and that is a far better option than the saving mechanic. I'd also like to see the file system die. auto-save, proper document naming, and intelligent meta-data usage can fully replace both saving and the file system. If done right, no one will ever miss it. But so long as a save icon need exist, a 3.5 floppy it should remain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40180 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] The true focus of interaction design
IxD is a kind of blanket term. It is really more of a philosophical / psychological movement than it is a real design field. IxD is the idea that interaction, between anything, can not only be quantified in meaningful ways, but can be manipulated to produce desired results in a controlled and predictable way. It is both the science of how things interact, and it is the art of designing ways for things to interact. It is, and I've not really heard it put this way before, the science of art. We attempt to explain why someone feels certain ways when they experience a creative item. It is the natural product of the unholy union of design and engineering on a purely ethereal scale. It is the alchemy of transmuting a string of ones and zeroes into meaningful and easily understood forms. Where gold was once created accidentally, we are now trying to control chaos and produce that same gold repeatably. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40209 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] IxD Greats?
It is somewhat like naming contemporary artists. If you aren't an artist, you likely can only name famous artists from 50-100 years ago. Maybe the 70s... But artists working right now? Not so much. Some of our fathers are pretty famous. And there have been a few books on IxD that broke out of the IxD camp. Cooper and Platt have books that come to mind. And Tufte and McLuhan and Gladwell could all be considered our fathers and are pretty famous, at least in wider circles than our own stars. I mean. Right now our brightest stars can almost all be contacted directly through this list. And many participate regularly. You have to be really small to be able to do that. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38833 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] Terms Every IxD Should Know
Bayesian Filtering Implicit Choice Intelligent Default Best-to-market And jokingly: Toyetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38736 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] Confirmation Dialog Boxes
Don't confirm. Offer undo. Or if you are Tivo, offer undo but confirm anyway to be pointless and even slower. But seriously. Assume the user knows what they are doing and give them a way to reverse what they did without forcing them to confirm what they did if they meant it. iGoogle does this pretty well if you remove something from your page. Would be better if it lasted for more than one page load. Having a trash-bin where you have some amount of time to remove things (or until space requires them to be removed) is a good option too. In that case, I say don't let people empty the trash. Give an expected to stay for so-long number. Kind of like Tivo does. Only don't confirm also. Tivo is good and moronic all at the same time. If you must confirm, do like iGoogle and assume they meant to do what they did but give them an immediate way out if they didn't mean to. At least then you aren't bothering the 95% who meant to do it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38477 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] Different actions on multiple data types
Same as above only and instead of or. And an off-the-screen hidden label for screen-readers also. If you intend to or need to be 508 compliant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38342 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] all small or add caps?
Also, try to ask yourself how important your logo being memorable is to your brand. Sure, it is always good to have a top-shelf logo and great design. But not at the expense of other services and in the case of a website, usability. I have seen first hand companies spend a large amount on a great logo, such a large amount that they could have invested the money in interaction design, or user research, and ended up with a service that didn't suck. They might have survived to this day. The same goes for any other kind of over-spending. (Looking at you pets.com) There are a lot of companies that do really well with really bad branding. And on the internet, there are many that do very well with almost no branding. To the point where the lack of brand becomes the brand (XKCD, Maddox, so on) And the big guys are starting to catch on, well, sorta. http://inventorspot.com/articles/mcdonalds_japan_goes_nobrand_with_quarter_pounder_shops_19505 It is like a twisted kind of minimalist branding. But what it is indicative of is the slow realization that the only value a good brand has is recognition and anything else about it is purely there for design snobs. No one outside the design world cares about Pizza Hut's new brand, or their last new brand. They were happy with whatever. So long as their mutant-pizza still tastes good. The long and the short of it is, don't spend too long agonizing over your logo and your branding. Shoot for 'not crap' and move on to things that will effect your users. MMM.. Like stuffed-crust pizza... Yes. Stuff the crusts of your site, not your logo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38327 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] Visibility of action - what is the best practice?
What? Can't just put checkboxes on all the items and show the checked ones in the details pane? This is analogous to any drag-and-drop system, really. And easier to use, I bet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38207 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] Telling Interactive Stories - At NYCUPA Event
I have to agree with Beetlejuice on this one. In both points. Especially the one about game design. GD is my own background and everything we do in our games is about building a narative with the user. Personal stories, scripted stories, even abstract games like bejeweled are all about something someone can be proud of and boast about. In other words, a story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=37828 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] Good examples of transitions
Why do the tabs go away? Is it a, You did it, so you can't undo it thing? That's normally bad. But if it is 'right' in this case, Why not just grey out the tabs they did and vividly highlight the tab they are on? Guessing a wizzardy step-by-step thing here... A transition normally won't prevent users from being confused if it shouldn't be moving on to new items. If by tabs you mean something like articles in the CMS. Then just blindly moving on the next one is likely a poor choice. Either show a confirmation of what they did with options to move on to a new tab and other things, or stay on the same page and confirm what they did. Users really only get confused when they aren't sure what they did really happened. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=37975 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] How to introduce experience design in high schools?
I second Angel, Games are the best way to introduce students to interaction design. Not always video games, however. Having them develop a board, card, word, number, or other kind of game, perhaps is small teams or even solo, would be a great project. Let them chose. If they pick a video game, push for a mod of an existing game if you can, and if not, try a simple programing language like Blitz Basic, or a prototyping tool. There are many for a variety of kinds of games. Avoid letting them make an RPG. They won't learn anything about interaction design if you don't. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=37463 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] Long list with multi-select
Without really knowing what you are talking about, we can't offer a real solution. There is nothing that will work in all situations. It is going to have to be tailored directly to your problem. If you can't tell us what that problem is in enough detail to grok it, we can't solve it. We can just stab in the dark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=37420 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] Site Map Design - Best Practices
I disagree, Jared and Cindy. The idea that you can't determine if your product is good or bad is the very thing IxD was created to combat. The fact that we exist at all is proof that you can boil these abstract things down to a process you can follow that will provide consistently good results. If you, as an IxD can't look at a piece of software and tell what is wrong. You are a failure in this industry. Saying you can't tell in a dinner is good until you eat it betrays how you make dinner. It isn't a truism. Sure, if you cobble together a meal from a variety of ingredients and add in spices and herbs at a whim. You might discover something great. You also might give your party salt poisoning. But if you follow a recipe you've followed before, follow it precisely and use good tools (like an oven thermometer rather than trusting the built-in one) you'll produce a good meal every time. This is what IxD is supposed to be. If it weren't. What the crap are we all claiming to be professionals for? If our work is a crap-shoot? The fact of the matter is, if we have gathered enough well-formed data about something, we can know if it will produce results or not. Anyone here who suggests otherwise isn't an IxD. It is the very core of our product. It is our chattel, our wares. I'm astounded that so many of us here seem to have fallen into this trap. I had thought we had buried this primitive religion along with our other gods. You DO know if you've designed a great site. All you have to do is open your eyes and be self-critical. Apply your training as an IxD and you'll know. As verily as an architect knows his house design won't fall down. To put it to fate would be malpractice. To rely of pudding-proof for IxD is malpractice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=37339 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] Site Map Design - Best Practices
The free market is the final arbiter, yes. But that in NOT analogous to a proof-is-in-the-pudding philosophy. Sure, when you are designing on the bleeding edge, which many of us are clearly mistaken to thinking we are or should be, you can't rely on the past to in form your actions. I could stretch cooking farther, but I'll avoid it. I mentioned architecture before, and it remains a good example. Sure, if you are building a mile tall tower out of used beer cans and hoping to use high-altitude air flow to cool the tower, yes, you'll have to do a lot of testing and a lot of research to do it. You'll need to be a god of the craft. But that isn't what they teach at architecture school. And it isn't what we should be teaching every tom dick and harry who wants to learn the bread and butter of IxD. If there is anything the vast majority of websites need to learn it is that tried and true mechanics, coupled with interesting services or products, will enable FAR more in the way of profit than will seat-of-your-pants cutting-edge interaction. Make sure the bloody house won't fall down. Don't install a spinning spiral staircase or an indoor-outdoor pool. In other words. The vast majority of IxD CAN be predicted. Because it is based on long-standing interaction methods that we KNOW the validity of. Or at least we should know. Many of the people out there doing IxD don't know they are doing it. Our focus should be on educating everyone on what is known, not hypothesizing about some fanciful new interaction. Take this thread. We KNOW that site maps are a poor idiom that is a fall-back that people use only when all other means for getting the information they want fail. There are 3 SURE FIRE ways to avoid them and to never need them: Build a search system that finds the results people want. If you are using some other technology like a Google Search Appliance, keep the targeted results list up to date. If a lot of people are looking for store hours, make the store hours pages appear at the top in offset colors when they search for hours store hours and such. Build a functional menu system that favors the popular, not what you want to promote. Make each level give more clarity into the section the user has chosen, and repeat things in multiple sections if users appear to be looking for them there also. Consolidate. Not all topics need to be segmented into new pages. Not all sections need to cross-link beyond the main menu. If there isn't enough clarity between the Leaders and Organization sections. Maybe there should just be one and not both. If we suggest, even for a second, that pushing an average site out in a poor state just to get feedback is the only way to make it good, we defeat ourselves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=37339 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] Corporate website redesign, where to put intranet access?
Find our who is using the site the most now. Is it people outside the company? Is it people looking for that login link? In either case, the best place is the same place all the online store places put it. I shouldn't have to tell you where that is... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=37401 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] Thinking about an abuser and not only a user
Yes. Security is great, but good interaction is better. And there is such a thing as self-defeating security, also. Take AKO's (Army Knowledge Online) password requirements: 2 or more lowercase letters 2 or more uppercase letters 2 or more numbers 2 or more symbols (*^...@!,.; so on) And at least 10 characters long. It changes once every 3 months and stores the last 10 passwords to prevent you from repeating. This is annoying, and also pretty-much forces the user to write his password down. I shake my head every time I see it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36963 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] Usability of accordions
I propose a new law. In IxD discussions if people bring up Yahoo it should be as Godwin's Law. Yahoo, while slightly better now then in the past, is still one of the worst offenders when it comes to poor usability. A close second is almost every Newspaper site. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36908 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] People are Used to it
See, this is one of the issues with big conversation on IxDA. EVENTUALLY, The people responsible for the actual examples are going to pop up and destroy all hope of retaining the example as a metaphor. Paul, Jim, If either of you thought to include the optometrist selection of TV settings. Kudos. My only real annoyance with my Philips TV is the lack of an aspect ratio button. With the often-wrong prediction of how I want to view my TV, I want an override. And there seem to be un-mapped red-blue-green-yellow buttons. outside the menu So maybe next-time you include it? Or maybe my TV is just bobo. I wanted to ground my example in something easy to think about and easy to understand instantly. And it did a good job. But what accounts for the same -kinds- of mistakes in the web world. Where the costs of these things are microscopic? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36646 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] Outstanding examples of permission management UIs
The problem with permissions is they are a part of administration, which often means it is something required by the CMS to work, but outside the scope of what the 'real' users are going to have to deal with. In other words, it get's a raw deal. Right-now, the general concept of permissions is really shallow. There is about one kind of permission 'system' and it is often the wrong one for the task at hand. Permissions simulate something in the real world, but they have unfortunately been tainted by the same concept as implemented by computers forever. The two things aren't the same. So you end up, invariably, with many user types with really large CMSs. The solution is not universal. It requires treating permissions NOT as an afterthought but as the primary control structure for what your users can get to. In some cases this might mean the traditional system, but with more thought about it from day one. Common, but it shouldn't be the default. Almost any CMS designed for a specific setting is going to be better served by some other method. Or at least a two stage method. And for the love of god multifaceted and not one-group one-person. If your CMS has 5 major sections: Media generation, Authoring, Section Management, Page construction, and Administration. You might not need more than those 5 user-types where you can mix and match. In which case, adding new types isn't something you need in the CMS itself at all. It really depends on the system you are building. But regardless, you need a holistic approach. Not a one-stop-shop solution for all CMSs. As a side note. I find all one-size-fits-all CMS solutions to be abominable. Perhaps some lower-budget sites 'need' these to exist. And I see the desire for people using the free ones. But at the end of the day, I rather see more site-type-specific CMS solutions. Blog, News, So on. In the end, CMS is making the web more and more hum-drum and samey. Convention is great, but only when it is the right ones, and only when it doesn't stand in the way... Then again, an easy-enough to use same-o CMS beats a crapily built custom CMS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=37015 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] Methods for Documenting RIAs
Just don't fall into the trap of building it out in the language it will be built in. Clients see something 'working' and instantly think 'almost done' rather than 'not yet started'. Begin the precedent and un-training a client becomes more and more impossible. Better to draw on a napkin than to prototype quick-and-dirty with the same tool the final item will be done in. Even flash is a bad idea for an Ajax site, because clients see a browser and think 'almost done'. Avoid it. At all costs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=37032 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] Usability of accordions
I hate the design idiom. The instrument is underused, though. Accordions are jazz. They are superfluous. They are a symptom of a cancer that should be cut out. The cause is senseless page bloat. Focus on tracking, prediction, and reduction. And you'll see that the need for accordions goes away. In other words. If you are considering them, you have too much crap on that page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36908 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] Strategic Interaction Design
If you really want to do good, you should make the chapter about how to educate the people you work with in charge of business strategy about IxD and why it is important for a product. And what parts of a product should get focus. Whomever is already doing business strategy would be best equipped to handle where and when to apply IxD strategically. However, I would argue that all products should have designed interaction. I would find any book that suggests otherwise to be suspect. When applied correctly, digital products that have their interaction designed first and correctly are cheaper. Because without that, you'll have a lot of wasted effort over the course of the product's creation. So suggesting IxD should be picked and chosen would be giving people who want to avoid the 'risk' of IxD a way to avoid it. Well, It doesn't fit our strategy right now. If the idea is simply to get them to try IxD a few times and then to see the value, then you should say that. Unless I am missing your point... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36819 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] Matthew Milan has added you as a friend on Raptr!
You got both the Wills on you now, raptr. One day, and soon, you'll wake up with a triceratops' head in your bed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36796 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] Forms - selecting a country
Ok. So put it in both places. ;) - Original Message - From: James Page To: William Brall Cc: disc...@ixda.org Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 5:29 AM Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Forms - selecting a country Float the item you guessed to the top. Under than put USA, under that an alphabetical listing of all the rest of the countries. Why this isn't common in forms is beyond me. If you look at my response at the top of this discussion the reason is that in test we have carried out :- So for example if the person was from the Netherlands, the Netherlands was placed on the top. Every user still looked all the way down the list and then spent time in puzzlement in why their country was not listed under N. It took a long time for them to find the Netherlands at the top of the list. Even if the user was Austrian it still took the user time to find Austria if it was placed at the top, even though Austria is normally one of the top countries (alphabetically) on the list. James http://blog.feralabs.com 2008/12/31 William Brall dam...@earthlink.net I like how google does it for their site. In that they guess right 99% of the time and give you a way to change it if they are wrong. You can guess, based on things like IP and other factors. Where the user is. And no matter the context, this is the best default.. Unless you run a service that specializes in shipping between counties... Why this isn't common in forms is beyond me. So auto-select that item in a drop down of all the countries. Almost all the time, you'll be right and they won't need to deal with that box. Sometimes, you'll be wrong, and they will end up with the a selection that is not perfect. Want bonus points? Float the item you guessed to the top. Under than put USA, under that an alphabetical listing of all the rest of the countries. No one will notice, and that is the point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36720 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 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] good examples for disability and web 2.0??
In the end. I think many things that ajax sites do, are very very hard to do right for screen readers. And in many cases, are pointless to do for screen reader. This is why I am a HUGE proponent of separate interfaces for screen readers. At the end of the day, you aren't doing interaction design for them if you aren't providing the right interface for them. And often the BEST one is nothing like the one you give sighted users. It most likely doesn't even have the same pages. And it certainly doesn't have to. People build new interfaces for blackberries and such, why not for readers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36539 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] IxDA Email Changes... speaking of confusing UI
Have you ever wondered how the site authenticates you? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36748 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] Forms - selecting a country
I like how google does it for their site. In that they guess right 99% of the time and give you a way to change it if they are wrong. You can guess, based on things like IP and other factors. Where the user is. And no matter the context, this is the best default.. Unless you run a service that specializes in shipping between counties... Why this isn't common in forms is beyond me. So auto-select that item in a drop down of all the countries. Almost all the time, you'll be right and they won't need to deal with that box. Sometimes, you'll be wrong, and they will end up with the a selection that is not perfect. Want bonus points? Float the item you guessed to the top. Under than put USA, under that an alphabetical listing of all the rest of the countries. No one will notice, and that is the point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36720 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] Soliciting opinions on voice recognition software for general computer interfaces
Perhaps. But it is folly to talk about voice based interfaces without diving into the future, where advanced AI will enable it to be conversational rather than command based. An example of this might be a system administrator's tool which communicates with the sys admins by voice. Repetitive but not identical actions are tough to model, and sys admins often spend a lot of their time at the command line. So such a system could be like a junior sys admin sitting at the next cube. Bark a few orders, get a few updates, be shown a few processes. This would be a very good use of voice-based interaction. But it is very far off, and could easily be supplanted before then. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36596 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] People are Used to it
It is good to have the kind of free conversation and transference of ideas we've had in this thread. I picked the remote control idea because it is easy to wrap your head around. And so most of the conversation has been about physical products. But I've seen the same reluctance to embrace new ideas and concepts and enhancements even on websites. Where new features are rolled out once a month or week, but simple enhancements are poo pooed. Take news sites for example. The vast majority of them still focus on their front page more heavily than their article pages. Even when the numbers clearly show that 99% or more of their visitors enter through the article page. And a large percentage never make it to the front page even if they progress beyond that one page. A larger emphasis on how to move from one article to another the reader would be interested in would be wise. But these sections tend to play catchup with other sites at best. Take http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/24/AR2008052400036.html for example. The best targeted set of links on this article page are the google ads. And there is one link at the bottom of the page to a story about how lame Playstation Home is. With two small headlines for more game related items. (Clearly, the story is tagged with games and that is it.) This is generally the norm. Why haven't news sites figured out what Amazon has? That even many blogs have figured out? And still, I click the link to go to their main site, and the ONE thing they know about me, that I care about the wii, is irrelevant to them. Their front page could have been told via session cookie where I had just been. Known the last 8 articles I saw were all about games, and made the front page mostly about games, with the main headlines to keep me situationally aware. So if there were a terrorist attack, I wouldn't just be told about Playstation Home. What is the excuse for this? Other than that people are used to it? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36646 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] People are Used to it
Still, we aren't talking about roomba or iPhone. Both of which are substantial costs. We are talking about enhancements that could be free, or in the case of remote technology, almost unnoticeable to the consumer. Since a company that developed such a remote, would add it to all their TVs and no one set of consumers would see the cost of its development. All they would see is a tool better able to handle 200 channels. I'm so far very impressed with my new Philips TV. It was cheaper than all the others too. Mainly because it is a little old and not 120 hertz and only has 3 HDMI inputs and so on. But aside from the strange missing aspect ratio button, it has a very well-thought-out remote/UI combo. I see your point about the small changes. But if they would really help people. If it would make your site more effective. You should do those things along side your new things. You should fix what will stay and add new things. If you aren't fixing what is staying, you'll just eventually cut that feature out when you decide it isn't effective. When all along it was because you neglected to fix it. In other words. Brings a axiom about Noses and Faces to mind. The fact is, the remote as it is forces a choice between 3 conditions for the user. One in which he must press up from channel 15 to channel 255. A second, where they must remember that the channel they want is on 255. And a third (one I use) where a user must guess a close enough number, for me it is 222, and then move around from there. I chose the third option because that is around the middle of the HD channels, and I don't always know what I want. I look at the guide. (In this case the one Tivo gives me) Now I realize that speeding up tivo is a bitch. But the whole reason channel guides on cable and tivo boxes exist at all is because the TV itself is woefully incapable of dealing with user's desires. So something else 'good enough' replaced it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36646 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] Soliciting opinions on voice recognition software for general computer interfaces
It sounds, based on both testimonies in this thread, that Dragon Naturally Speaking is the very opposite of a well designed interface and is very much a dancing bear. The people using it seem to require it, and they suffer through the steep learning curves and training time because they have to. It is like the command line. Steep learning curve, remembering commands, and in the end you are rewarded with new functionality you didn't have before. And most people won't bother, even when they know it is there and what it could do for them. No, a 'command based' voice system will NEVER be widely used. Because it is functionally no different than the command line, and as is self evident, computers didn't take off until the GUI came to abolish most hidden commands. Sure, a few geeks will revel in their voice command lines at home. I can even see a voice entry transcription system for linux. But the vast majority of users won't be able to handle anything that requires a lot of command remembering. A audio only command based system wouldn't work. Add in a screen, and now the primary nicety of the system is gone. That is, the ability to not be near a screen. Audio only voice command will have to be conversational. It won't be able generating a document. Typing is the sensible way to generate the written word. While dictation is a big movie cliche, the amount of people that chose to dictate after they got their own computer is microscopic. Why would a computer do a better job than a person in that regard? So the only people left using dictation software are people who can't type for some reason. Be it injury or handicap. And so a more appropriate solution for them is software with choices on screen that can be chosen with the voice. Which, if I am misreading what people are saying, could be what Dragon does. Should be at least. But there is nothing efficient about it. And so, back to the question that started all this, Voice command isn't very useful for general actions. And it never will be. At least not until the computer itself is so advanced that it can uphold a conversation. So If I say I'm in the mood for some music... uummm.. How about some techno and some gangster rap mixed up randomly. You know, the stuff I normally listen to. I get something close to what I meant. There isn't a voice system on the market that could parse that. Hell, there isn't software that could handle it in text. But all of you know I mean the same as: Play genres: Gangster Rap and Techno from my Most Played List. Now, saying either of these things would be much faster than getting up and going to a computer and loading win amp and telling it to filter my Most Played list down to just those genres, then drag it into a play list and then hit play and make sure random is on. But I'd have to read a book to know I can do that with the voice commands. Most people would just say Play music and it would be all their library on random. Which is what everyone I knew in college who wasn't a computer major did with win amp. Occasionally they would select a song as a starting point. And often they would skip. So what you'd see is Play Skip and Play - song title being about the only commands people would learn. You might be able to cram channel changing Turn on comedy central and lights Lights off in there. Who is going to pay to have the microphones installed in each room, and the speakers just to be able to do that? And if I am already sitting at the computer, clicking skip doesn't require me to put on a head set. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36596 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] Mobile (Cellphone) Activated Streetlamps
silly, silly use of technology. Why, pray tell, did they not just put buttons on the side of the lamps? Pressing one will turn on the lamps for a section. Also, wouldn't regular use of this system be the same as them all always being on? What they hell do they plan to save? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36621 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] good examples for disability and web 2.0??
All your purchases could be automated. If it can't figure out that you like to keep certain things on hand. (There would be sensors either at the front door or in your pantry as well) You'll still be able to parse lists of what you have bought in the past. And more importantly, What is to stop it from making comparisons to what other people buy? Think about it as Amazon's predictions for food. Or OKCupid like filtering. If you could order it online, and have it delivered the next day? Or, if it supersedes supermarkets, That effort could be shifted to deliver it to you the same day. Like ordering Pizza. In fact. Why can't you order take-out through it also? Perhaps building it, ready made, into the fridge is the unlikely part. The kit would come with s bunch of wireless RFID sniffers you can place in a variety of places. In the fridge, in the pantry, near/in the trash, and either software for your PC or a TIVO like box you can hook up to a TV. Or it might have the screen embedded in it. Technically speaking, the only thing preventing this from happening RIGHT NOW is a lack of RFID infusion in the market. Clearly, something like this could be used for a lot more than food. But I think cutting out that regular trip to the market for all this junk would be a good start. Also, stickers on fruit and veggies could account for them. Weighing food would be more accurate, but that requires more hardware. It'll happen, just not right away. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36539 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] How does knowledge of CMSs make you a better UX designer?
I'm in the beginning stages of a redesign on the Army's CMS called CORE. I'd be glad to talk to you if you wanted to know my thoughts on CMS. However. I'm a bit confused as to who you intend CMS to help? Most CMS out there are horrific in many ways. They often are built so a single person can do everything. But are also designed so only someone with a background in that field (design, writing, so on) can really understand them. That has been my experience with WordPress and Joomla, and while not -really- a CMS, Blogger is a great example of how tying up the loose ends on one side creates a terrible mess on the other. (If you haven't played with it, try to make your own template with blogger) What we are trying to do with CORE this time around is to give each kind of user their own interface. And we are also, due to the scale of our user base, trying to get as much cross pollination as possible. If you've ever worked with the government you'll know how hard it is to get stove-piped section A to share anything with stove-piped section B. Our CMS will treat all content somewhat like clipart, and give suggestions. Someone who wrote a story about, say, The Army Navy Game, would see some of the most popular photos uploaded about that game when they go to attach a photo to the article. Among a host of other enhancements to the typical CMS. Such as a reliance on predictive technology to send content to the sections based on context. And an extension to page creation using widgets which are powered by those feeds. And templates created by us and others that aren't built with a template language, but are built with html a single extra tag. This system will go to support everything on Army.mil as well as through a variety of widgets that can be place out on other sites. (internal and external) through an API. So in many ways it is much more than a CMS. But, if you ask me, does the general public's understanding of CMS make them better UX designers? I'd have to say certainly not, if anything that is what we are trying to correct with our redesign. If you ask me, does it make me a better UX designer? I would also say no, because it is through the lens of my prior experience and training that I am about to see what works and what doesn't. Could a CMS be used as a tool to teach, certainly. But so can Word, or Open Office, or Notepad, or Firefox. Anything with good and bad choices you can use for illustration. Perhaps I simply missed your point. I am quite prone to doing that. So feel free to reiterate and call me out as a moron. I'm used to it. :) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36653 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] People are Used to it
This phrase has become the mantra of amature interaction designers and of the electronic product industry in general. It is the road block in the way of new and better ways to control our systems. It even prevents logical enhancements to our otherwise well-designed products. Take the new philips HDTVs. At least the one I have has put a lot of thought into their remote and UI. To set the colors it shows you a bunch of photos in split screen and asks you which looks best. It has a minimal amount of buttons on the remote. (although they missed a switch aspect ratio button which is about the most-used non-core functions on a TV) They even have a input source system that lets you more quickly switch between the 15 inputs by not switching channels right away and letting you up and down arrow through the list. However, here is where they missed the mark. I can change the labels on those inputs, I can change the labels on the channels too. It even handles collisions from multiple sources with x.1 x.2 x.3 channels. But with all these hundreds of options. I am stuck the same chan upchan down idiom that has always been on remotes. I'm not an industrial designer. But even I was able to think up a much better alternative. Replace the volume and channel buttons with mouse-wheel-like dials. And in the case of the channels, pop up a list of them like a cable-box channel guide and let me dial through them. The snap-to feeling of the wheel will give me a rough estimate of how many I've passed, and if it requires I depress the wheel to go to a channel, then I will have saved a lot of time and frustration. You could even use a wheel that can jog to one side or the other and use the side motion to traverse a menu. Or for volume. I've actually had a TV where the remote had a wheel for the menu. It even depressed. So I know there are no technological concerns preventing it. I can't be the first person to think of this. Why isn't this the norm? Is it only because of the People are Used to it' mantra? Or is there more to it then that? Can you think of more examples? Will 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] Soliciting opinions on voice recognition software for general computer interfaces
The general consensus amount IxDs is that voice command is a terrible control idiom. It is incomplete, lacks detail and requires extensive verbosity to outline a clear goal. However, engineers and people who don't think hard about how voice command will actually work, seem to think it is the next best thing. Even if the computer were made less literal. Even if it inferred like a real person. There will still be a level of, Oh, I'll just do it myself! This is because that already exists with people. I hear it at work all the time. Either one party can't articulate his thoughts, or the other party can't understand a proper articulation. This won't get any better with computers, it can only get worse. Walking into a room and saying Lights or Lights On seems romantic and sci-fi. But in reality, a well placed light switch is better. And as much as you pretend it is lazy to speak rather than perform an action. Speaking takes more cognitive effort. This is why the clapper was successful. It could have been geared to, and I believe you can activate them with, any loud noise. That includes yelling Lights. However, there are situations where being able to talk to a computer is good. Telephony is an example where good voice recognition will make automated phone systems easier to deal with. So long as they stop pretending to be people. Let them sound robotic. We expect it. Hell, we WANT it. And it is a bit creepy when they don't sound robotic. Digital companions, and video games, are situations where being able to understand language will provide more immersion and enjoyment. And there are situations where talk is the best option. A robot maid would be best controlled by voice. This is already how maids are controlled. And clean the bathroom, and use the productA not productB. is all the control that is really needed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36596 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] People are Used to it
My TV didn't come with it. Also, the blurb doesn't mention it being a replacement for chan-up and chan-down. But, doesn't really make my point moot. If they are just NOW coming out with it. Why didn't it become the standard 10 or 20 years ago? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36646 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] Calendars integration online
When you talk about a calendar program, you are talking about keeping track of events. A person looking to keep track of events is most likely to be interested in what will happen that friday, rather than what will happen 2 or 3 fridays from then. That isn't to say people don't need to access dates based on month, but that they wish almost exclusively to be told of events coming in the next week, and most importantly the day they are currently in. Be it a planner or birthday calendar. These claims are based on countries where the weekend is the norm. Anywhere that works on a different schedule will be different. Like I said, being able to add your doctor's appointment 6 months from now by month is useful, but forcing the user to click 6 times to get to the month, then click on the right day, then enter the time, then click 6 more times to get back, Is a pointless waste of effort. Show the whole year. Show more than a whole year even. Rework the scroll bar to tab between months rather than pages for quick access. Splitting on the month doesn't help anyone. I hope this is clearer, I can only assume people thought I meant to page on the week and not the month, which is the exact opposite of what I meant. Paper can't scroll, windows can. Wall calenders have pages because paper can't scroll. Possibly also to provide space for 11 extra images. Some calenders add 6 extra months of the next year to have 17 more pictures. So when I say people think in weeks, I mean that in the generalized corporate world that most computer users work in, being shown a lot of information about one week is more important than being able to see one month on the screen all at once. In other words. I would rather have 7 long stacked cells with 4-8 lines in potential of detailed text, than 35 cells (4-6 unused) with less space available for me to see what is going on. If I were less busy, as many people are, I'd like to have an endless stream of 7 day periods, no wasted space and no need for next buttons. And the scrollbar should be color-coded like the months are in the pane, so I can click on a color to get to the month. (put the name of the month in there too.) Most of the world follows the 7 day paradigm. Even when they don't follow the 5 on 2 off work week paradigm. At least when you talk about the workplace. I'll draw a diagram if people ask me to. Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36489 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] good examples for disability and web 2.0??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0 While wikipedia does make mention of ajax and other richer web offerings as being part of many web 2.0 sites. It says just that. It is a part of many web 2.0 sites. Not the definition of web 2.0. 2.0 sites, from the perspective of wikipedia, are what I said. Also what the other Will said. Although he said it in one word, where I used simpler language and dumbed it down some. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_3.0 3.0 is less clear. Will and I grabbed a portion of the general consensus on this one as well. 4 and 5 are all conjecture. Wishful thinking. But I think Will is right, that self-aware web is likely the next step. First output only, then input too, then tools by users (igoogle and so on) along with the semantic web, which may or may-not come through things like microformats. Part of this is the web becoming more and more ubiquitous. Semantic web will not be so earthshattering for PCs, but when your fridge actually does a good job of ordering the food you use off the internet, you'll be glad it exists. This kind of technology is around the corner, what was tedious, with barcode scanners and other such effort, will be streamlined and use RFID and will be more passive. Included in this is the ability to share your contact info with people just by shaking hands. And so on. Real Sci-fi. You'll see a return to the terminal. Massively distributed computing. Your phone will be a portal to systems far more powerful than your phone could be, or better, your phone will be part of a global processor and idle time will be spent doing work. The fact that your fridge will learn what you eat and order more of it without you telling it to, is getting close to web 4.0, but what Will means is not AI like we have today. He means an awakening in the vein of Asimov. I want it, but expecting it and calling it 4.0 is like in the 60s when people thought we'd all have flying cars today. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36539 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] best practice for security questions
We could always stop burdening our users with keeping our systems secure for us. What is wrong with this combo: *4 digit pin, same for ATM. *First and Last name. Isolate attacks intelligently. If the user attempts to log in more than 5-10 times and fails, Allow the user 1 new attempt each hour up to that number again. If they miss it for 3 hours in a row, or 3 full shots through. Require them to call or come in to reactivate. Give them the option to call or come in when they get locked out, because they might have forgotten their PIN. Give this message and act the same regardless of weather or not a user with that F and L name exists. Then stage the system. On normal log in, the user can do basic, 'safe' actions. Such as check balances and so on, perhaps transfer money from one account to another they hold. Say from checking to savings. If they want to do something that could really ruin them, such as transferring money into a joint account, or to some completely other account. It would require another step. This is where you ask for security questions to be answered, and it is now acceptable to bother someone with it. Make the questions a mix of things. And require most, but not all, to be correct to continue. Here is a good list and how to store it: *What is your mother's maiden name *What is your phone number *What is your address *What is your father's first name *What school did you go to *What is your favorite color *What is your favorite food *What is your mother's first name *Type something you'll remember, like a password In this case, there are 9 questions. When the account is setup, these should be answered, and alternatives could be given at the same time for many, and it is not case sensitive. If when entering, the user gets more than 5 of them correct, add the ones that were wrong to the lists and let them in. If they get all of the ones that were not likely to change correct, but not 6 correct, ask them to try again because they didn't get enough right to enter. Give them a number of trys like for entering the site in the first place. In the event that they moved recently, and their father changed his first name, and otherwise they get 5 or less right and don't get all the ones that should never change correctly. Lock those functions and require them to call or come in to fix the problem. Let them know that they don't need to remember all their answers to get in, just most of them. That should be safer than one security question, and yet, it should be easier for a person to get past, since they don't have to remember how they answered some arbitrary question. And it will get better and better at letting them in as they answer the questions with more and varied answers. Can this system be hacked? Sure, but it will require the hacker to know a lot about the person they are stealing from. And it WILL happen, but it would happen in any other system. it won't stop people from giving out their PIN or other info. So in the end, keeping an eye out for odd behavior and calling the person to make sure they REALLY mean to send their life savings to Nigeria, is going to be a great deal more secure than anything programmatic. If I had just dropped 35,000 on a new car by check, I'd be upset if my bank DIDN'T call me. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36577 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] Interaction Designers: What is your elevator pitch?
I'm an interaction designer What's that? I design how things should behave and then get ignored by everyone else. Oh, like what? Like that your TV remote should have a dial, like a mouse wheel, for volume and channel changing. Because you can skip ahead much faster and count how many notches you've clicked. It could even depress so an on-screen number could rapidly change, and then pressing shoots off to that channel. That's a good idea, why aren't they like that? Because they ignore me and tell me it isn't consistent with how every other remote works. Oh... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36473 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] good examples for disability and web 2.0??
Ajax != web 2.0 1.0 = content by web authors. 2.0 = content by website users. 3.0 = constructs by users and software as a service. So, for web 2.0 there shouldn't be any extra concerns for disabilities, but accessibility on the web has been a joke for much longer than the X.0 concept has existed. Since you likely mean how to do Ajax in a way that is accessible, the simple answer is, if you think it would need a work around to be accessible for the blind, you prolly shouldn't do it for the sighted. What made the web popular in the first place was the ease in which it could be used. There were all of a handful of paradigms users needed to grasp, and really only two to use it. The URL and the link. Today, software on the web is just as bad as software everywhere else. Flashy interfaces and wiz-bang ajaxy no-page-loady devices that act odd due to dubious javascript frameworks like mootools and jquery. So the short answer is to STOP using ajax and flash for the sake of ajax and flash. Need an uploader that can multi-select files and batch upload? Then use a tiny flash tool. And don't screw with what makes the web easy in the first place. This is why I say, if you have to think of a new way to do accessibility, you likely messed your page up for everyone else too. Just remember, cool and usable don't often go hand-in-hand. Sometimes you can make something usable look cool, but you rarely can make something cool usable. Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36539 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
