Re: [IxDA Discuss] Need for Portal Design Guidelines?
Paul, Have a look at the series of articles I wrote a while back on IA / UX for portals that's available in Boxes and Arrows. This is the first: http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/the-challenge-of Beyond these, and a few fairly narrow dashboard pieces, it's a subject that the UX community has not engaged with in any collective sense. It's essentially in the blind spot of the UX discipline's field of view. Given that so many digital experiences are built with the portal model, from the technology, business, or user experience perspectives (or all three), I've found this quite strange. Regards, Joe Lamantia On Nov 17, 2009, at 12:10 PM, Paul Eisen wrote: A few days ago I posted a question about existing materials out there on portal design (http://www.ixda.org/discuss.php?post=47358#47358 ). I'm very surprised that there was no response. I'm starting a new thread rather than posting a second item to the same thread to ask a closely related question: Since there has been no response to my appeal, among the possibly thousands of readers on this discussion list, and since portal technology is pervasive these days, is it safe to conclude that a set of practical guidelines for the user-experience design of applications using portal technology represents a big void that needs to be filled? Paul joe.laman...@gmail.com | www.joelamantia.com ...life consists of approximations. - Guy De Maupassant 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 Portal Design Guidelines?
Paul, You are right, there are patterns. Those patterns would be very interesting and useful to portal managers. They should also understand that simply copying portal best practices will lead to the perfect portal, but for some other company. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=47479 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 Portal Design Guidelines?
Thanks to all for the additional comments and links. Chris, your suggestion to emphasize practical guidelines make good sense; I am perhaps using the term best practices too loosely in this thread. Tanya, I'm looking forward to reading through the ATG design process paper. John, thanks for the offer to provide further feedback; I may take you up on it. Also, the Lamantia series on a portal framework is excellent. Paul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=47479 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 Portal Design Guidelines?
Hey Paul, I've been working with portal for a few years now too. I think it is same to say that there are definitely patterns. And that maybe those are along industry as well finance/insurance vs nonprofit or pharma. And also what the content is, you out of the box HR or HA stuff like benefits or finding a person or team or collaborating are all common not matter the industry. Joe Lamantia has done a lot of writing about this. I saw someone posted a link to one of his articles. But check out others he has written for Boxes and Arrows as well as the this tag group on Delicious: http://delicious.com/tag/ia_building_blocks I for one would be very interested in this subject if you need to bounce further ideas. Good luck! John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=47479 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 Portal Design Guidelines?
Thanks for the case studies, Paul. My experience is similar to yours - nothing will trump the importance of user research and other discovery and user-centered activities to shape the needs of the portal solution to the specific organization. Still, do you not find repeating patterns among these solutions? I certainly have. I've found, for example, effective ways to organize documents, rather than having them scattered throughout the portal. And I've discovered effective ways to enable access to portlet-level content. So far I've found design approaches to these and certain other challenges as universal. Documenting these may be of limited benefit to a consultant who is already experienced in portal design, but there are many people tasked with UI design of portal technologies who have far more limited skills and experience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=47479 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 Portal Design Guidelines?
Paul E., I'm very interested in where you're going with this concept. I have been heavily involved in designing for portal over the last 9 months and have found the technology to be too tightly coupled to the interface. A very simple implementation can be accomplished out of the box with most portal software, but anything beyond the most basic configuration has been extremely problematic. I surmise this is a larger issue in enterprise IT departments where UX and IxD is more rare. As our practice becomes more mature within the enterprise, it is no surprise that we are finding that bad design abounds. To Paul B.'s point, I'm not sure that UX guidelines for a portal differ from UX guidelines across the board. A clear way to organize and find documents is an applicable design pattern for portals and non-portals. Portal technology is built on the premise that the system supports personalization by the user (iGoogle). I would be more interested in hearing about design guidelines for personalization of a portal, not necessarily best design practices, which are universal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=47479 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 Portal Design Guidelines?
Hi Paul, I wrote a white paper several years ago when I was a design lead at ATG that outlined recommended best practices for the design process of a dynamic/portal web application. It has some ATG-specific terms, but the concepts are pretty much the same for any enterprise portal/personalized application package. You can check it out here: http://www.nimblepartners.com/ATG_design_process.pdf. ATG provided out of the box software for portals and other personalized web applications at the time. Their products focus on e-commerce now. The paper was written for ATG customers who were project managers and user experience designers. I've thought about resurrecting the paper and rewriting it for a general (non ATG) audience, but have not been sure if it is relevant today. I'm interested in any comments. Best, Tania Schlatter Nimble Partners, LLC http://www.nimblepartners.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=47479 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] Need for Portal Design Guidelines?
A few days ago I posted a question about existing materials out there on portal design (http://www.ixda.org/discuss.php?post=47358#47358). I'm very surprised that there was no response. I'm starting a new thread rather than posting a second item to the same thread to ask a closely related question: Since there has been no response to my appeal, among the possibly thousands of readers on this discussion list, and since portal technology is pervasive these days, is it safe to conclude that a set of practical guidelines for the user-experience design of applications using portal technology represents a big void that needs to be filled? Paul 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 Portal Design Guidelines?
Hi Paul, Do an academic search for Information Workplace and you'll return a ton of Forrester articles from a few years back, explaining their take (with research to back it up) on where portals were going back then. They may have even updated those since I last researched them in 2007. I built a working conceptual prototype of an IW and have it laying around here somewhere, but the above search should take you to some useful information. Bryan Minihan -Original Message- From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Paul Eisen Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 3:10 PM To: disc...@ixda.org Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Need for Portal Design Guidelines? A few days ago I posted a question about existing materials out there on portal design (http://www.ixda.org/discuss.php?post=47358#47358). I'm very surprised that there was no response. I'm starting a new thread rather than posting a second item to the same thread to ask a closely related question: Since there has been no response to my appeal, among the possibly thousands of readers on this discussion list, and since portal technology is pervasive these days, is it safe to conclude that a set of practical guidelines for the user-experience design of applications using portal technology represents a big void that needs to be filled? Paul 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] Need for Portal Design Guidelines?
Hi Paul, have a look at Joe Lamantia's Framework for modular Portal/Dashboard design: http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/the-challenge-of Also, consider expanding your research to intranets, the boundaries between these technologies/definitions are blurring. Kind regards Milan On Tue, November 17, 2009 21:54, Bryan Minihan wrote: Hi Paul, Do an academic search for Information Workplace and you'll return a ton of Forrester articles from a few years back, explaining their take (with research to back it up) on where portals were going back then. They may have even updated those since I last researched them in 2007. I built a working conceptual prototype of an IW and have it laying around here somewhere, but the above search should take you to some useful information. Bryan Minihan -Original Message- From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Paul Eisen Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 3:10 PM To: disc...@ixda.org Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Need for Portal Design Guidelines? A few days ago I posted a question about existing materials out there on portal design (http://www.ixda.org/discuss.php?post=47358#47358). I'm very surprised that there was no response. I'm starting a new thread rather than posting a second item to the same thread to ask a closely related question: Since there has been no response to my appeal, among the possibly thousands of readers on this discussion list, and since portal technology is pervasive these days, is it safe to conclude that a set of practical guidelines for the user-experience design of applications using portal technology represents a big void that needs to be filled? Paul 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 -- ||| | | || | || | || milan guenther * interaction design p +49 173 2856689 * www.guenther.cx 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 Portal Design Guidelines?
Ahah! Didn't know you were getting to be that specific =] In the context of your point below, I think you're right in that there is a dearth of concrete guidance for sound interaction design across the suite of enterprise portals on the market. I believe (perhaps just my experience) that's because Sharepoint and Websphere are as divided as their respective parent companies, and their portals behave differently in very fundamental ways (include BEA Aqualogic here too). These portals SHOULDN'T be different. They just are, for the same reasons OS X is nothing like Windows, etc. I've worked lightly with Sharepoint and Websphere, but suppose it would be difficult to apply the same design rules to both environments, without a lot of caveats. I worked heavily in the enterprise portal space from 2003-2007 and met designers and ucd folks from many other companies, all of whom pretty much built their best practices from scratch, due to the lack of concrete guidance from any industry. We often sought guidance from other folks, only to find our own portal was way ahead of others of the same company size (we had a customized BEA Aqualogic portal, with our own Verity search). Wish I could help more, but when you finish your book, I'd love to read that chapter, to learn what you found =]. You might find you need a bigger chapter. Bryan Minihan -Original Message- From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Paul Eisen Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 2:09 PM To: disc...@ixda.org Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Need for Portal Design Guidelines? Thanks for the replies. Milan, I agree with the idea of looking more broadly into intranets - I actually think there's more stuff there. But strictly speaking, I'm targeting my thinking at portal technologies, as applied anywhere (e.g., employee-facing, vendor-facing, or customer-facing sites or applications). That is, how do you create great user experiences when starting with a SharePoint, WebSphere, etc. package that has a bunch of out-of-the-box features and limitations (and strapping on other supporting technologies). And where should we take those vendors to task to go back to the drawing board to enable better user experiences. (For example, administration comes to mind as something I've not once seen done right by the vendors.) Paul 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 Portal Design Guidelines?
I question the usefulness of UX guidelines for Portals. I've worked on the user experience strategy for several Portals that serve up to hundreds of thousands of employees each, and in each case the optimal user experience was so tightly coupled to the culture, lines of business, data warehouse, and idiosyncracies of that particular business, that we had to start fresh with discovery research activities that gave us a clear understanding of executive and stakeholder perspectives, user archetypes, existing content, business drivers for communication, manager's toolkit structure, project approach, etc. etc. The portal user experience design rationale was based on the data specific to each company. The story of one such project for Delta is here: http://www.usography.com/docs/Usography_Information_Needs_Flight_Attendants.pdf The story of a design strategy project for Cox's portal is here: http://www.intranetjournal.com/articles/200705/ij_05_24_07a.html The resulting user experience of these two portals couldn't have been more dissimilar, because the business and cultural DNA of the companies are dissimilar. Many different kinds of people could ride in my car and feel comfortable, but far fewer could wear my shoes and feel comfortable. Paul Bryan Usography (http://www.usography.com) Blog: Virtual Floorspace (http://www.virtualfloorspace.com) Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=47479 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
