[IxDA Discuss] Free OS X Widget Library for Axure
Found time to release v1.0 of my OS X widget library for Axure. It's been placed under the creative commons license and can be downloaded here: http://www.archive.org/details/AriFeldmanArisOSXAxureRPWidgetLibrary You can also download it from the AxureLib Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/axlib/ The library contains c. 155 distinct elements - all were created with Axure's internal vector-drawing tools to save space except for 6 small bitmaps. The library is organized into different categories: * Menus Bars Menus * Buttons Controls * Forms Input Fields * Dialogs Alerts * Application Windows Parts * Generic Icons * Cursors/Pointers I've included most of the elements supported by OS X's Interface Builder and have built several pre-made windows and system dialogs. Known Issues: - The library is NOT pixel perfect/accurate due to the limitations imposed by Axure's drawing tools. However, the output should be close enough to allow you to create fairly high fidelity wireframes, prototypes and specifications. - The library does not adhere to Apple's Interface Design Guidelines mainly due to the object placement/accuracy issues imposed by Axure's drawing tools. Again, it should be good enough for most purposes. Enjoy. Ari -- Ari Feldman [EMAIL PROTECTED] Contact Me: [image: Linkedin] http://www.linkedin.com/in/arifeld Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] the release cycle
we're on a 2 week release cycle - with alternating hot and cold releases. hot releases are for complex new features or enhancements. cold releases are for minor features or enhancements. bug fixes occur regardless of release. QA occurs in parallel with the release cycle. issues are tracked and literally tested individually and closed out or kicked back to developers according to FIFO priority. issues that touch many areas or need lots of testing are tackled first. we, of course, have separate dev, stage and production environments with sandboxes to prevent hosing anything important and items are promoted to different environments only after they are verified to work. our particular product and business changes constantly so we release a new product version every 2 weeks. some releases are more dramatic than others. the release criteria is determined on business need - most of them i prioritize and personally define. we keep a running log of all possible features and dole out a certain amount each release based on their relative necessity and difficulty to implement - usually 30-40 and leave room for bugs. items closed range from 54-90 per release and can be anything from fixing typos to building major admin tools. i plan everything for the next release, including detailed functional specs usually 1-2 weeks prior of the item's projected release. this way, i'm on schedule, if not ahead with funneling items to our dev team. has it worked? for the most part yes. we've done 21 releases this way (though hot and cold are relatively new) and we've missed the release schedule only twice. On Thu, May 1, 2008 at 1:52 PM, Loredana Crisan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi everyone, This question is a little outside the scope of IxD but is closely related to one of our goals: getting our work in front of real people. What I'm interested to know is - in the web world, how do your companies approach new releases? How much time is spent on QA, and how often do you release improved versions of your product - be it fixes, or new features? What's your release criteria? I know this tends to be different for different types of companies... but would love to hear what works for you. Loredana Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Printing Axure flows
i'm an avid fan of Axure but its flowcharting is best used for process flows than very elaborate diagrams. for that, Visio, Smart Draw or Omnigraffle are better choices - still, it's nice to have it handy. On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 1:14 PM, Fred Beecher [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:58:46, Eugene Kim [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I guess I was hoping to eliminate the need for multiple apps and do everything in Axure. :( Doesn't Axure support flows, wireframes, prototyping, and specs? Is that a pipe dream? It does, but you said you weren't really making prototypes... in which case, Axure probably *isn't* the right tool. If you *are* making prototypes, then definitely. Currently, the only thing I use Visio for is sitemaps. F Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Rapid HTML Wireframing without Dreamweaver
i'm not familiar with the degree of iRise's collaboration abilities (given the pricing, I'm sure they're extensive), however, the most recent release of Axure (v 5) has a 'Shared Project' capability, which allows for collaboration on projects. http://www.axure.com/p401_1.aspx Ari On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 10:25 AM, Todd Zaki Warfel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: One other key difference, as I understand it, is that iRise has collaboration capabilities, but Axure does not. On Apr 16, 2008, at 7:14 PM, Fernandes, Fabio (APG) wrote: We also use iRise, which is much more robust and obviously a lot more expense too, which has impacted its dissemination internally. Learning curve is much greater than Axure. Some of us went through training with iRise consultants. The huge downside on iRise, in my opinion, is the fact that you can't output HTML, you have to use their proprietary reader for folks to review the prototype and spec document. http://www.irise.com/ If you want to try something that gives you more flexibility on the early stages of the project and not have to spend too much time creating your wireframes, I would recommend Axure. Cheers! Todd Zaki Warfel President, Design Researcher Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully. -- Contact Info Voice: (215) 825-7423 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] AIM:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Blog: http://toddwarfel.com Twitter:zakiwarfel -- In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Rapid HTML Wireframing without Dreamweaver
there is actually prototyping program called oversite that is cross platform (Mac and PC): http://taubler.com/oversite/ it's a Java app and it just doesn't feel native when run on OS X, which is a common issue with such ports. nevertheless, is relatively inexpensive and i would encourage everyone who has a Mac or a PC to give it a try. btw, developers use .NET because it has a rich set of components and it makes creating GUI-based applications very easy. there really isn't an equivalent on OS X yet unless you want to delve into the guts of the OS X SDKs - there is Mono, an open source clone of .NET but it is far from complete or fully compatible. On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 11:34 AM, Todd Zaki Warfel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Apr 16, 2008, at 4:38 AM, Oleg Krupnov wrote: I am now trying to hit the balance between these two approaches. I have created a prototype of a wireframing tool, where you can move and resize widget boxes freely on the page in a WYSIWYG manner (based on the wireframe editor prototype I presented you earlier) and then insert tidy pieces of HTML into those boxes. All styling is guided by an external CSS file you can provide. Just a few additional comments. Again, Oleg, I applaud that you're taking the time to create a prototyping tool—I think the community can agree that we still don't have GREAT tools. We're kind of working in a modern world here with stone age tools when it comes to rapid prototyping. That being said, at the risk of sounding brash, my concern is that this is just another tool. We don't need just another tool—we need a GREAT prototyping tool. And so, I think you have some real opportunity here, but not without some significant challenges. Here's some challenges you're going to need to consider: 1. The market is already flooded with a number of okay prototyping tools, but none that are truly GREAT. There's a real opportunity for A or THE GREAT tool. Yes, that means that someone like Oleg, or a company like Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, Axure, iRise or somebody else has a real opportunity here. 2. The market already has okay/decent cross platform tools (e.g Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, Powerpoint/Keynote). 3. The market already has decent Windows only tools (e.g. Visio w/ Intuitec, Axure RP, iRise). 4. In the IxD space, the % of Macs is much higher than that 10% of the rest of the world. If there's any question, just look around at any web/interaction/ia design related conference—Windows machines are few and far between. I don't think we can take that to mean that Macs make up 90% of the IxD and related market space, but we can derive from that that Macs are a much more significant percentage compared to computing world at large. You'd be short-sited to ignore that when building a prototyping tool unless you're specifically targeting corporate environments exclusively. (btw, my discussions w/iRise and Axure have confirmed this and they are watching it closely). Keeping that in mind, Oleg's got quite a challenge if he's going to produce another Windows only tool. Why should anyone use his tool instead of Dreamweaver, Visio, Axure, or iRise? Other than cost, there's very little reason to choose it vs. Axure or iRise. You have to show some real value here that makes it a no-brainer. Just another tool won't cut it. So, Oleg, what's your goal? What's your vision? The beauty of the Web is that some portion will use just another tool. And if that's all you're after, then what you have will suffice. But what this industry needs is a GREAT CROSS PLATFORM prototyping tool that has the ability to create rapid rich prototypes visually (and possibly with reusable code). If you're up to this challenge, I think you've got an opportunity to steal the show. Cheers! Todd Zaki Warfel President, Design Researcher Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully. -- Contact Info Voice: (215) 825-7423 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] AIM:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Blog: http://toddwarfel.com Twitter:zakiwarfel -- In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Comments for our new video player
this stuff isn't as easy as it seems so kudos to anyone who gives it a shot - especially when time or testing aren't at your disposal! not everyone works with Hulu's resources and budgets. anyway, everything seems to be there. i personally would have liked to see related videos and ratings integrated into the player and some of the social/virtual feature icons a bit larger. i do find it a bit odd that the email video function requires registration, however. below is a link to the heavy.com player, which is based off one that my team designed back in early '06. it's far from the best kid on the block but most of the options are clear and accessible, it lets you email friends w/o registration, related videos are accessed within the player, you can rate the video and it gives users the choice regarding having their videos autoplay or have viewers initiate the playback. http://flyingyogi.com/about/cd.html On Tue, Apr 1, 2008 at 6:44 PM, Eugene Kim [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hey all, I was wondering if you had a second to provide some honest critique/comments on our new IGN video player. Finding usability studies on video was difficult and there was no time to put our own tests into the schedule, but we drew from our experience, picked our fights, and came up with this: [NOTE: video will auto-play after you click on link] http://wii.ign.com/dor/objects/748545/super-smash-bros-brawl/videos/ssbb _vidreview_030408.htmlhttp://wii.ign.com/dor/objects/748545/super-smash-bros-brawl/videos/ssbb_vidreview_030408.html Here are some sections we'd like feedback on: - actual video player (controls, preferences) - sharing the video - hot list/channels tabs - playlist - UI at the end of the video This is my first major project at IGN. I don't believe IGN has focused on the user experience in the past so I feel this is a pretty big step forward for us. Thanks, Eugene Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] What project management tool do you use?
back in the day, i used M$ Project then at another organization we used M$ Project Server. unfortunately, no one ever used it because of the high learning curve and the fact that schedules became as worthless as US dollars in Europe. :-) now that i'm no longer involved in project focused work, we use basic scheduling tied to our issue/bug tracking system. On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 10:49 AM, Vishal Iyer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm no expert on this, totally hope to avoid a semantic debate and I don't fancy the term either- but IMO it has a well understood connotation of being large scale, large budget- you were right in a warped way. More importantly- having the need to work with existing systems. Please define Enterprise? My only experience with the word is that it's usually used by marketing dweebs to justify 6-figure implementation and licensing costs. -- -Vishal http://www.vishaliyer.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] What project management tool do you use?
you touch on a good point. most of the solutions that have been references from M$ Project Server to various OS-specific project management or issue-tracking systems are all capable of doing what they're designed to do. the biggest hurdle is actual rollout and use. case in point: i was previously the exec producer of a fairly large interactive group and we had nice tools like Project Server and Axure but the culture basically prevented them from being used effectively as no one used them. In contrast, I now work primarily in a UI and software engineering environment: we use fairly basis issue-management and bug tracking software. it's not shiny and it has limitations but people use it - we've gotten through 20 release cycles with it. the point is simple: if the culture embraces the tool, people will use the tool. if the culture does not, then you've wasted a lot of time and money in acquiring or learning the tool. On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 4:51 PM, Vishal Iyer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Collaboration and communication is definitely a major aspect and there are bound to be redundancies waste in a large project with 100+ people across half a dozen time zones. Some of it is probably needed, especially at mission critical stages. But if a tool can help manage all this, that would be sweet. On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 4:30 PM, Nabil Durand [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Sounds like you're talking project management as well as team collaboration. mishmash of email, a document storage tool and a wiki, there is a lot of waste, redundancies and inconsistencies in the process You probably need an intranet with collaboration tools. I don't want to sound like a plug for m$... We use sharepoint 2003 and in the process of migrating to SharePoint 2007. They have come out with some awesome project management templates that might assist in removing inconsistencies/redundancies in your process. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/sharepoint/bb407286.aspx -- -Vishal http://www.vishaliyer.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Terminology: import-export or upload-download
i disagree. they typically mean 'transporting' an item - i.e. data transport or data exchange. this is not the same as a file system operation such as copy (which duplicates an file) and move (which relocates a file). On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 2:29 PM, Elizabeth Buie [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Katie Albers writes: On the whole I agree with Calvin, here...but what's wrong with using move? Because upload and download, import and export, usually copy the item, rather than moving it. Elizabeth Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Examples of web-based drag and drop functionality
i led the original design and development of myheavy (now heavy 2.0). among the features was an itunes for video that we developed in early 2006, which allows you to drag and drop video from another user's profile into your own libraries, or move them between your libraries or even re-arrange the order of your videos. here's a link to how it looks and works (no mouse cursor): http://www.flyingyogi.com/drag.png drawbacks - cross browser drag and drop is very pokey. Ari On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 12:04 PM, Fine, David [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Greetings I'm looking for public internet based websites (not fat client) that feature drag and drop functionality. Anybody have any favorite examples to share? Several email portals have one (like AOL) but I'm looking for some in the public domain. Thanks, David David B. Fine email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information in this Internet email is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorized. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Examples of web-based drag and drop functionality
jquery is very nice and we use it in some places but like most of these libraries, it's very heavy. the myheavy/heavy 2.0 was written using prototype, which is more bare bones and light weight. On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 3:24 PM, W Evans [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: jQuery has a very nice drag and drop ajax/js dom library for drag and drop - think about iGoogle - home page - set it up - any widgets can be picked up and moved to other places (pre-determined). On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 12:04 PM, Fine, David [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Greetings I'm looking for public internet based websites (not fat client) that feature drag and drop functionality. Anybody have any favorite examples to share? Several email portals have one (like AOL) but I'm looking for some in the public domain. Thanks, David David B. Fine email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information in this Internet email is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorized. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Terminology: import-export or upload-download
i misread what you wrote. thus, i was incorrect. On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 3:44 PM, Elizabeth Buie [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: If I upload a file to my web site or a photo sharing site, it still exists on my computer. If I download music to my iPod, it still exists on my computer. If I download a software upgrade from Apple or Adobe, it is still on Apple's site or Adobe's site to be downloaded by others. If I export an Excel spreadsheet to CSV format, it still exists in Excel. In what context do you disagree? Elizabeth Ari Feldman wrote: i disagree. they typically mean 'transporting' an item - i.e. data transport or data exchange. this is not the same as a file system operation such as copy (which duplicates an file) and move (which relocates a file). On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 2:29 PM, Elizabeth Buie [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Katie Albers writes: On the whole I agree with Calvin, here...but what's wrong with using move? Because upload and download, import and export, usually copy the item, rather than moving it. Elizabeth Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] IxD: Mac Resources
I use Coda and it's nice. SkEdit is similar and cheaper but version 4 is a bit more fickle. As for Mac screen cap utilities, I find 'InstantShot' to be really useful. it's FREE and runs in your menu bar so it's available from any app and doesn't take up precious dock space. ok, topic dead... On 3/18/08, Michael Moore [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I see nobody has mentioned Coda - it seemed like a really nice web-focused editor, with built-in FTP and CSS editor. Is it just that Textmate is the standard? Also I saw the recommendation for Paparazzi, but looking at the web page I can't really tell what it gets you over the built-in Grab. (Other than requiring that unbelievably awkward key combination of Shift-Control-Command-4 to get something you can paste into a document.) Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Terminology: import-export or upload-download
if this were 20 yrs ago when computing was still voodoo for a great many (c. 8% penetration in the home), i'd say go for it but terms like upload/download and import/export are more or less part of modern vernacular - for ex: upload and download are now found in many dictionaries. because of this, you should avoid trying to define or create new metaphors for terms that the vast majority of people actually understand. just my 2 cents... On 3/18/08, Mona Singh [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Has anyone done any user studies on the use of terminology like import-export or upload-download. Is one of the options more natural for users? Thanks, Mona Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] IQ captcha?
i realize that it's part of our job to help people figure out how to use things but in my years on this planet, it never ceases to amaze me how some people still defy common logic or sense. so i was wondering if there was such thing as an IQ test in the form of a simple captcha that could exclude those who fall below the median IQ from say, signing up for a website? -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] IQ captcha?
true but i want one that then displays a message that says sorry, if you couldn't figure this out, you're probably not smart enough to use our product sigh, that would be cool. sadly, i suspect the humor would be lost on them. i guess that would lead to scads of law suits for discriminating against intellectually challenged people. On 3/17/08, W Evans [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Just copy the captcha type system that Yahoo has designed to sign up for Flickr. I always thought I was relatively average - but that system is so darn convoluted that you must have to be a genius to figure it out. I tried to sign up for Flickr after it was purchased by Yahoo -- after 30 minutes and 3 failures - i gave up. Imagine having to get a yahoo email address that I will never ever ever use - just to post my pictures that system is either for geniuses - or totally wack. On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 6:08 PM, Ari Feldman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: i realize that it's part of our job to help people figure out how to use things but in my years on this planet, it never ceases to amaze me how some people still defy common logic or sense. so i was wondering if there was such thing as an IQ test in the form of a simple captcha that could exclude those who fall below the median IQ from say, signing up for a website? -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] what helped most in your career?
two things: 1) finally getting a job opportunity that matched my interests and unlocked my potential 2) getting thrown into the fire (napalm) and having no choice but to do what i needed to know On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 14:59:53, Jeff Howard [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Unbounded curiosity. // jeff Sebi wrote: If you were to name one thing (or a few) that contributed most to your success, that brought a lot of value to your work, that greatly improved your design skills (you get the idea), what would it be? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=27160 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] IQ captcha?
ah perfect, thanks. On 3/17/08, W Evans [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Okay - actually - instead of a standard Captcha - use one of the visual pattern fluid tests - reload could give a difference pattern question - remember to include the timer. Go here: http://similarminds.com/intdoor.html Now - the test would have to be slightly tweaked - instead of clicking on a radio button - 1,2,3, or 4 The user would have to type in the answer - and each potential answer would have a different letter associated with it - not just A, B, C, D - but something random - so that a bot could never just guess right 25% of the time. - Will On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 6:34 PM, Ari Feldman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: true but i want one that then displays a message that says sorry, if you couldn't figure this out, you're probably not smart enough to use our product sigh, that would be cool. sadly, i suspect the humor would be lost on them. i guess that would lead to scads of law suits for discriminating against intellectually challenged people. On 3/17/08, W Evans [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Just copy the captcha type system that Yahoo has designed to sign up for Flickr. I always thought I was relatively average - but that system is so darn convoluted that you must have to be a genius to figure it out. I tried to sign up for Flickr after it was purchased by Yahoo -- after 30 minutes and 3 failures - i gave up. Imagine having to get a yahoo email address that I will never ever ever use - just to post my pictures that system is either for geniuses - or totally wack. On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 6:08 PM, Ari Feldman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: i realize that it's part of our job to help people figure out how to use things but in my years on this planet, it never ceases to amaze me how some people still defy common logic or sense. so i was wondering if there was such thing as an IQ test in the form of a simple captcha that could exclude those who fall below the median IQ from say, signing up for a website? -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] what helped most in your career?
self actualization with one's work is something not everyone can attain. early in my career, i got pigeon-holed as being technical or there weren't positions that met my interest or background. later, i realized there were things i was good at and enjoyed doing and was able to do it and make a living to. i get bored often as well, which is why i've had more jobs in my career then most people have socks. On 3/17/08, Kristen Johansen [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've always tried to make sure that whatever job I've had, there should be something challenging enough about it that I'm a little scared to do it. If that feeling isn't there about some aspect of my job, it means I'm not learning or growing anymore and it's time to find something else to do! k Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Design Deliverables and Developers
Length really depends on the audience and the application. Once you've done a few release cycles with your dev team, you learn the optimal size for your specs as well as the fidelity required for them. This is particularly true when you are working on a product with existing features, workflow and conventions, etc. Being thorough is key but so is being as concise as possible - this minimizes superfluous information and reduces the time required to generate the documentation in the first place. Of course, YMMV according to your needs, team and particular process. On 3/11/08, Sebi Tauciuc [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 12:02 PM, vlad [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi everyone. Angel said: # 3: Be concise! Nobody wants to read a 500 page spec no matter how pretty it is. ;-) Now I have to reply to this. To be as specific as possible means to give as much detail as one would need to perfectly and thouroughly understand the problem at hand. Isn't this rule in contradiction with your #3? :-P Not necessarily, I would say. You can give all the needed details in a concise or a less concise way. Did you really need 500pages to give all the *needed* details or would 50 have been enough? I guess it's about how efficient your communication is, given you know what needs to be communicated. -- Sergiu Sebastian Tauciuc http://www.sergiutauciuc.ro/en/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] iPhone SDK
it's a great thing. too bad you need leopard to use it. tiger is far more stable - in part because it's had 11 updates to leopard's 3. On 3/7/08, Brandon E.B. Ward [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Jack Moffet: So, are any of you excited by the opportunities offered by the SDK announcements yesterday? I'm stoked - but I haven't been able to download it yet. I get a little further each time - but I'm guessing their servers just got hammered yesterday. Still trying over other hour or so ... Very excited indeed. B Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Design Deliverables and Developers
This is something I deal with nearly every day - especially as we have 2 week dev cycles between product releases. Everyone who has replied to the thread already has provided sage advice. Let's put it this way... most developers never get more than a few bullet points for specs or as inputs while many others still work in environments of oral history where deliverables are verbally explained but never written! So, when a developer gets design docs and/or functional specs - even imperfect ones, they are often happy. The more you involve them in the process and the better you are in communicating with developers as part of your deliverables, the smoother the experience will be but to actually have something written that illustrates what the desired output should be and explains what happens if 'user X clicks on a button' and man, you'll be ahead of the game. On 3/4/08, Celeste 'seele' Paul [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: One of the things I am interested as a designer is how we can work better with developers. If you are lucky enough to work as part of an in-house team you probably (hopefully) have a stronger relationship with developers than those of use who only come in as consultants. Often as a consultant, the only contact we have with the development team might be through the project manager or technical lead. So we must rely on our design documents to deliver our message. Although we would all like our deliverables to be developer-friendly, they don't always turn out that way. Many of the guidelines I've read for creating client deliverables focus on impressing the client and not necessarily getting work done. Sure, they also try to present the information in a way that readers can understand them, but project managers are a much different audience than developers who are actually doing the work. Does anyone know of studies or other research that explicitly looks at how developers are using design deliverables in practice? Particularly integrating things such as wireframes in to functional specifications. Or even if developers get the wireframes and mockups we give them. I've found that developers prefer annotated slides or a big numbered list of issues to having to read anything big, but those types of things don't look as nice as a fully written final report for the project manager. Thoughts? ~ Celeste -- Celeste 'seele' Paul www.obso1337.org Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Shift from Legacy system to web UI interface application
data entry speed is one of the prime advantages of green screen apps. web apps don't really excel at this due to their emphasis on mouse-based input. i'd focus on building in lots of key-based redundancy for common tasks such as tabbing between fields, etc. also, web forms can reduce many green screen menus, which can speed certain tasks and eliminate others. another challenge you'll have is the fact that green screen apps are 'single-tasking' - they assume control over the entire environment whereas web apps run insider a browser with limited control over state on an OS that can have multiple windows open. you'll have devise some interesting ways of keeping the user's focus on the task while still allowing them to maintain efficiency. On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 6:01 AM, Rony Philip [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi, Can anyone guide me in understanding, what are the key factors to be considered while redesigning a legacy (green screen) application to a web UI interface application?. Especialy with reagards to task flows, forms and the toggle between keyboard and mouse. Sorry if this topic as already been discussed, maybe someone can provide me the thread. Thanks a ton! Rony Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Portfolios
what works for a portfolio is a matter of preference and is largely determined by who your intended audience is. i think anyone focusing on UI and IxD, should probably have a portfolio with one or more screen shots of your work, a description of the project, your direct role, tools and techniques employed, a link to a finished product (if possible) and possibly ancillary links to related items like documentation or sample files. i wrote my own portfolio tool - it offers most of the above and supports an site-friendly version and a printer-friendly version. it's definitely NOT fancy but it's fast, extensible (can support more more and works with any web page layout) and most importantly, does the job. On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 1:56 PM, Jeff White [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Yes, I believe so - I strictly work on websites and web applications. But I would guess that folks out there doing interaction design for products and other experiences can still capture their work with photography and the right kind of documentation. Although I'm sure there are exceptions. Jeff On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 1:47 PM, sajid saiyed [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi, Just out of curiosity, is everything that you want to show can be explained or justified in a print style tangible format? -sajid On Sat, Feb 23, 2008 at 12:08 AM, Jeff White [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: For months now, I've been wanting to redo my portfolio. I'm curious as to what approaches everyone is taking out there, and I'm really interested in tangible, print style portfolios, not a website. What approach did you take for your portfolio? What have you seen from others that you like? What resources are out there for portfolio inspiration? Hiring managers - what about a portfolio inspires you? Or depresses you? :-) Jeff Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Portfolios
i agree with this but websites are not permanent - i worked on many and quite a few no longer exist or exist as they did when i was involved. the same goes for applications. i had a bunch i wrote in my early 20s that were pretty cool that could probably run under an emulator if i had saved the floppy disk. hence, that's why i said (if possible). just because something no longer exists, it doesn't mean the time and work invested in it was for nothing. On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 2:13 PM, Weixi Yen [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: a link to a finished product (if possible) The most important thing is not what you said you did, but what you actually did. If your projects are not coming to fruition due to mistakes by other members of your team, you should probably create fake projects in your free time to demonstrate a possible end result. The finished product is not an if possible but it's a MUST. It's about marketing, so most people won't have the time to mull over what your role actually was. It's all about finished products. If you do nothing else, it's best to list the finished products of what you participated in. On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 11:03 AM, Ari Feldman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: what works for a portfolio is a matter of preference and is largely determined by who your intended audience is. i think anyone focusing on UI and IxD, should probably have a portfolio with one or more screen shots of your work, a description of the project, your direct role, tools and techniques employed, a link to a finished product (if possible) and possibly ancillary links to related items like documentation or sample files. i wrote my own portfolio tool - it offers most of the above and supports an site-friendly version and a printer-friendly version. it's definitely NOT fancy but it's fast, extensible (can support more more and works with any web page layout) and most importantly, does the job. -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Portfolios
for job interviews and/or pitching a client this is an absolute must. sage advice. layout is subjective but i have my online for reference in an email and because i have a printer-friendly version of my online portfolio, which is data-drive, i can easily generate a printed version of a portfolio deck via Acrobat's web print feature or via a script. On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 2:21 PM, JenniferVignone [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Everyone should have a portfolio in print form. It just speaks to a level of preparedness and covering as many bases as possible, which exemplifies what this type of work is about. My online presence runs a gamut of the different things I do. I am less likely to update that for each and every meeting. The printed book is easier to play around with. Also, in the event that you have am agreement with a client not to post samples, but can show them (and not leave anything behind) the print portfolio is where this will occur. My own portfolio reflects what the position is that I am after, with a few other things thrown in that I think might be a good aside, based on the job description I have read or been told about, as well as the result of any phone conversation with the prospective client. This gives me the opportunity to move through the book and point out examples relevant to the conversation, as well as go off into a tangential thought if the opportunity is there and makes sense to do so. Typically, each meeting has me going through the portfolio to include or exclude some things in order to customize it to the interview. I may reshuffle items as well to have a different order. Some clients don't care to see a portfolio at all, but I always bring it with me. I have been in interviews in conference rooms where there are no computers, and so calling up a sample isn't always possible. With the rush of the day-to-day, you can find yourself shuttered off in a small makeshift conference room and if you don't have something to emphasize an idea or address the point-blank show me your portfolio question, it makes for a difficult discussion. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Portfolios
i hear that. that's it's always advisable to bring deliverables from hefty specs to wireframes and any other pertinent matter. this shows not only how you think and what you've done - it also shows that you're thorough and prepared. i also advise preparing leave-behinds when possible - be it printed matter or a CD. the goal is to show what you've done, what you know and what you can do. people who know what they're looking for and what they're doing will appreciate this extra effort. On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 4:42 PM, Dmitry Nekrasovski [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have to disagree with this. While it is great to show that you've been able to drive a design to completion/release (especially if applying for a position that demands a certain level of experience), a list of finished products does nothing to show a prospective employer your process, deliverables, or particular contribution to a project. Also, a list of finished products is the easiest thing to fake, and thus the least reliable indication of one's skill and experience. Dmitry On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 11:13 AM, Weixi Yen [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: It's all about finished products. If you do nothing else, it's best to list the finished products of what you participated in. -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Where are all the designers?
The same goes for us in NYC! Rents in manhattan for a 250 sq ft studio are easily $1900 or more. A two bedroom apt in a good neighborhood (with good schools) easily costs $850K or more. My younger brother lives in Scottsdale, AZ. He owns a nice, two level house for what our 1 bdr apt costs! Food, clothes and other necessities aren't much different (unless you dine out a lot of have very expensive tastes) but the cost of housing will kill you. On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 8:24 PM, Robert Hoekman, Jr. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Not to take away from the very real issue of what the cost of living here is and how it puts a strain on people, but it certainly doesn't require earning $150K to $200K a year. Depends on your lifestyle. For example, $100k can do significantly more for you in Arizona than $150k can in Silicon Valley or SFO. When I explored positions in SV, I realized very quickly that I would be paying twice as much money to live in an apartment half the size of my house—and that was just the beginning. In the end, it just wasn't worth it. The other factor, though, was the thought of becoming a sort of cog in the machine in SV. Working for a big company like Apple or Google, you can lose your whole identity. At Apple, for example, they wholly condemn the idea of going out and speaking at conferences unless your name is Steve, and I was told outright that my speaking schedule would have to come to an untimely end. I couldn't see sacrificing all the great things I get to do as a consultant to work at one of the bigs. Again, not worth it. And as far as opportunities go, well, let's just say I'm doing just dandy living outside of SV. Sure, I'd probably get some very sexy commercial projects working in SV, but sexy commercial projects aren't my focus, so it's a moot point. I'll leave the sexy commercial projects to the youth. :) -r- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Password enforcement UI - good, bad or ugly?
yes but passwords like those you describe are prone to hacking as they contain dictionary words that some brute force password crackers use to increase their chances of cracking passwords. On Feb 19, 2008 3:10 PM, Anthony Hempell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Another strategy is to create memorable Name/Number combinations that are part of a larger set that can be mined for almost infinite password ideas, such as: Car make / year (Cadillac77 or Mustang!56) Athlete / number (Jordan23 or Gretzky!99) etc On 19-Feb-08, at 12:00 PM, Katie Albers wrote: I know I was taught by a shockingly sane network engineer that the easy way to develop hard to crack passwords was to choose a regular word of the right length in your native language and then substitute number(s) and punctuation marks as appropriate and capitalize either the first or last letter. As long as you use consistent substitutions, all you have to remember is the word. So, for example, Olympics becomes 0!ymp1cS and in all my passwords O becomes 0, L becomes !, I becomes 1 and so forth. Not all users have to use the same set of substitutions, but each user needs to be consistent from one password to the next, otherwise it's yet another memory problem. Is there a problem with recommending -- perhaps on a help linked page -- such a method to users? Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] friday fun: what's the coolest thing you've designed?
be it desktop app, game, CD, website, web app, mobile app, etc. there are some heavy hitters on this list and i'm sure everyone is curious what some people here have done. any takers? -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] friday fun: what's the coolest thing you've designed?
now, that is pretty neat! On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:27:45, Benjamin Ho [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: A long time ago, I designed a ground control station for controlling a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) in a project with the Canadian Coast Guard. I'm still riding on that accomplishment. ;) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=25992 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] friday fun: what's the coolest thing you've designed?
very cool! On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 3:11 PM, Rich Rogan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I worked on getting Moody's Credit Mark application from Alpha to GA release. Credit Mark was one of 4 rating engines, (Finch, Standard and Poors and Dow Jones have their own SW), used by (virtually every) bank to rate mortgages, bundle them up into tranches and sell them in the secondary markets. Wait a minute, did you ask what was the most notorious product you ever worked on? (PS. the software works great, the gaming of it is another thing.) there are some heavy hitters on this list and i'm sure everyone is curious what some people here have done. any takers? -- Joseph Rich Rogan President UX/UI Inc. http://www.jrrogan.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] prototypes are software and belong to engineers?
Agreed but whether you choose to prototype or wire frame will ultimately be defined by your needs, workflow, audience, project or application and of course, time. I spent a lot of time wire framing and generating annotated specs. Yet, that's completely dictated by the type of projects I work on now, our internal workflow and the scant time I usually have available. However, at my last job, I found myself spending more times doing prototypes because I had smaller projects, more time available and my audience was primarily non-technical folks who found it easier to understand how things worked by having something they could play with. As for writing code - it shouldn't be necessary unless you're doing functional prototypes using a tool or application that requires it. For ex: using Flash to simulate interactivity vs. an application that can simulate one, etc. Like anything else, YMMV. On Feb 13, 2008 6:35 PM, Todd Zaki Warfel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Here's the key piece I took away from this: [...] We as competent craftspeople should be able to communicate with great precision and clarity what we intend the software to do without resorting to code.[...] The operative word here is should. In the 15 years I've been designing interactions, most of it has been done w/o writing a single line of code. I've been able to show and describe most interactions w/ o coding. In practice, however, that's recently changed. I probably still could do it w/o writing any code, but I haven't been. In the past 9 months, I haven't done a single wireframe. That's right 0. Instead, I've been prototyping. Cheers! Todd Zaki Warfel President, Design Researcher Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully. -- Contact Info Voice: (215) 825-7423 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] AIM:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Blog: http://toddwarfel.com -- In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] IxD Work on Various Product Types
On Feb 12, 2008 9:53 AM, Lukeisha Carr [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi All, It seems that although IxDers do not necessarily have their hands deep in technology in terms of the implementation of it, we still need to know the capabilities of the technology behind what we are designing, so as to not request impossible solutions. Working on different types of technical products (other than web technology) is one of my goals for the future. Those of you who do not ONLY do IxD for websites/web applications, what product types did you begin your IxD experience? don't know if this counts but i started as a hobbyist developing my own programs back in the late 80s just as 16 bit home computers were coming out. think 8mhz and 512KB of RAM. many of the features of these operating systems laid the groundwork for how so-called modern OSs work - for ex: using resource files for separating languages and text-strings from apps, windows, dialogs, alert boxes, background tasks in the form of desk accessories, device dependency, bitmapped fonts, etc. i wrote simple programs that ranged from utilities (front end shells, disk formatters and copy programs) to games and learned by creating or experimenting with interfaces. later, i got into low-end game development as a game artist, designer and beta-tester and did still more UI work. Then, how did you transition from one to another? For example, if you started out in the web, how did you move on to doing IxD for medical devices, hand-held non-web applications, desktop apps, etc.? given my early exposure with so-called ancient computers, transitioning for me has been relatively easy as what's new now is actually really old! for ex: web apps are now starting to look like desktop apps from 1990-1993. ways of interacting with them haven't changed substantially because technologies like Flash, Java and AJAX run sandboxed by the browser and early 90s OSs were basically single-tasking. the eye-candy has changed. latency has improved but aside from 3D interfaces, it's nothing too outrageous. cell phones and PDAs are on average, about as powerful as 8bit and 16bit computers. many of the same limitations that challenged developers in 1993 exist today. the main difference is that users are actually less technical today than they were then because i got into computer when they were in 8% of US homes. now they're in 80% or more. Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Desktop GUI prototyping tools...
it looks like it has a nice set of widgets but can it generate specs from the prototypes? some people disagree about the value of specs but in the right environment they are very useful. this is where Axure is mighty nice... On Fri, 8 Feb 2008 07:12:47, Kumaravel Somasundaram [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: We've recently launched a new prototyping tool at http://www.designervista.com. We've gotten some positive feedback thus far... Any feedback is welcome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=24884 *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Online newspaper software?
yes, take a look at props.
the community has fallen off since i used it but with some customizations
(some i wrote, most i hacked), it also worked well as as a general purpose
CMS.
when i ran it, it easily handled 300,000 dynamic page views monthly on a
linux box running on a lowly Pentium III and MySQL 3.23 and system load
barely broke 0.6 during peak usage. it can probably handle c. 1MM page views
on a better machine.
it can run on a shared hosting environment but a dedicated or fully
virtualized machine is recommended.
props is really nice as far as layout goes - all tags are embedded in actual
HTML files and you insert dynamic content using smarty-like tags - e.g.
h2{headline}h2
http://props.sourceforge.net
On Feb 7, 2008 3:33 PM, Joseph Selbie [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Does anyone know of a well designed, highly usable, open source, online
newspaper software?
I need the usual ability to post, edit, archive and delete articles, and I
need a community events calendar and classified ads. If no open source
software covers all of these, perhaps some of you could recommend
individual
solutions for the events calendar and for classified ads.
Any help is greatly appreciated. I have a no budget pro bono client :).
Joseph Selbie
Founder, CEO Tristream
Web Application Design
http://www.tristream.com
*Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah*
February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA
Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/
Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
--
--
www.flyingyogi.com
--
*Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah*
February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA
Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/
Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] New pattern library site: ui-patterns.com
minor issues aside, this is a very nice resource and kudos to the site's author for developing it! On 1/28/08, Robert Hoekman, Jr. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Just passing this along for reference. I'm not affiliated with the site, but I like what I've seen so far–especially the clean, simple design of the site itself. http://ui-patterns.com/ The initiative is great, but there are obviously a few problems. 1) There is no navigation on the site - you always need to return to the homepage to find new patterns. It's not very scalable. 2) The pattern descriptions could benefit from some more detail. Jared Spool has a great write-up on the elements of a good pattern description herehttp://www.uie.com/articles/elements_of_a_design_pattern/. More thorough descriptions could help convince the interaction design community to promote it as a good resource. 3) One thing not even Spool mentions is that a pattern description can always benefit from a summary of possible benefits and caveats in terms of usability. For example, your description of Continuous scrolling could mention (based on usability studies, of course) that this pattern can cause confusion for users, who often believe that a page with continuous scrolling simply has not finished loading. As in, they often don't recognize that the scrolling is done that way on purpose—they think the page hasn't completed loading. As such, they keep clicking on the down arrow of the scrollbar in a repeatedly failing attempt to reach the end. Some discussion of the usability of each pattern would be incredibly beneficial to anyone considering the use of a given pattern. 4) Some of the patterns are more commonly known by other names, and these names should be mentioned for the sake of completeness. Continuous scrolling, for example, is often known as Infinite scrolling, and Tip a friend is often known as Tell a friend. 5) I noticed there is no way to contact the guy who created the site (unless you go through his blog to his personal About page and copy/paste/modify his email address). I wonder if he has plans to open up the site so that others can contribute (wiki-style), or at least to offer a feedback form for each pattern description. (FWIW, I emailed this list to the guy who created the site.) -r- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] new features
it depends on the nature of your product. i think it's especially important for products that are either mission critical and/or where financial transactions are involved. for example: we're constantly deploying enhancements to our product every 2 weeks with changes that touch UI to behind the scenes functionality. because of this, we decided to deploy a basic 'news' admin that allows us to highlight these updates on each user's dashboard so we can announce these updates, changes, tweaks, etc. to our various audiences. we provide links to these news items, which provide more information as well as a counter that shows how many news items have been added since one's last login and even an RSS feed if one is so inclined to subscribe to it. furthermore, our system works universally for all users of our product - advertisers, partners and internal staff, which allows us to target different messaging to these different users. the same system can also be used to display crucial system notices (e.g. scheduled maintenance) but more prominently. On 1/23/08, Mark Schraad [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: If your are introducing a new feature on a consumer web site, does it always need to be overtly called out? Particularly if it a catch up feature (your competition already has something similar). I am wondering if there is benefit in letting the user discover a cool feature (any behaviorists out there?) - as opposed to directing their attention to it? Has anyone had this conversation or have insights to the issue? Thanks -Mark *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Why do crappy interfaces sell?
i don't have the research to cite but i also suspect that virtually any interface can be learned given enough time. i used to do data entry for custom mainframe software as a summer job and later i beta tested Merrill Lynch's DOS-based brokerage information system in the early 90s. both interfaces sucked but people dumber than the corn in shit were able to master them given enough time... On 1/22/08, Nasir Barday [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: But these kind of products have been around for what? 15 years? Bruno, I think that's the very root of the problem: inertia. When there are only one (or few) players in the field, the market for a product tends to mature slowly. The financial and medical industries are classic examples. Especially in these industries, upper management sees a different approach as something that needs additional training and integration work. Never mind that the new thing would make people more efficient and offset the costs. On the customer and the vendor side, they see it all as extra cost that doesn't make sense, especially when there are shareholders to report to. Not sure what the market is for the CD product, but I'm guessing once another company wants a piece of the pie, it'll come up with a slick new way to do things and give your client a run for its money. That's when there's incentive for someone like your client to use that extra cost to buy a competitive advantage. And when the competitors of customers in the market become more efficient by using the new, more efficient product, they have an incentive to demand more efficient products, too. - N *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Ratio of designers to developers
we run with 1 product, 1 designer (who shares UI design with product), 1 QA and 4 dev and it works pretty well for us. we bang out releases fairly consistently with few hiccups. On 1/22/08, Patrick Neeman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: For pricing, we've been going with 25 percent requirements gathering, 50 percent development, and 25 percent quality assurance as a starting point for projects. The ratios may change, but I once worked on a team where Product Management was 1, dev was 3, UI design was 1, and QA was 1, and that team ran like a well oiled machine. Patrick -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Billie Mandel Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 11:18 AM To: IxDA Discuss Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Ratio of designers to developers Hey fab folks - So I was at dinner the other night with the technical publications manager here at my company, and he mentioned that the STC had stats on how many documentation people a software company should have per software developer, in order for the tech pubs team to be optimally effective. Do we have anything like that for designers? Anyone done any work determining what the relative size of the design team to the dev team should be overall for a software dev shop? (Yes, I know, it depends, but a ratio range would certainly be useful) Thanks in advance (you'll be helping me build my empire and take over the world, of course) Cheers, - Billie * **** * * Billie Mandel | Manager, User Experience Design Research | OPENWAVE *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Prototyping for Computer vs. Mobile Screens
i agree with this. i used to do artwork for mobile games - where the LCD for many phones is still 128x128! some still have fixed palettes and even a few are grayscale or BW! you have to know this info before you start as it's extremely difficult to compensate once a project is underway. On 1/17/08, Gretchen Anderson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: For Mobile design (or really any embedded UI) knowing screen size and resolution is critical. It's the biggest mistake that newbie designers make when working off of the PC. You have to adjust your notions of when fits on screen, how readable text is, and how your design scales if it is cross-platform. You can prototype a certain level of this in Photoshop by setting your specs to the right size and resolution specified by the LCD manufacturer. Or, if you don't have a specific LCD, make some assumptions and find some sample specs online. For behavioral prototypes, it's also critical to integrate physical controls and behaviors, and if possible LCDs. See my previous post about some tools in this area. My advice here is get a good engineer with some amount of electrical engineering skills to help here. Not for the uninitiated. Gretchen -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Lukeisha Carr Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 9:16 PM To: IxDA Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Prototyping for Computer vs. Mobile Screens Hi All, There have been several posts on prototyping tools. For those who design for both computer mobile screens, what is the best way/tools to prototype based on screen size/resolution? Does the tool you use matter? Or, is it just the design patterns that matter? For example, many times the wireframe/prototype for a web site usually reflects the actual size of the real site. So, is that the same in mobile design? And, if so, what is the best tool or technique to accomplish that? Thanks! ~ Lukeisha Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Best tool for word processing on a Mac?
many rave about Mellel and Nisus Writer but file compatibility with Word is poor although the editing features of both apps is considered very strong. i wrote a book with Mac Word 98, sure, it crashed a lot but OS 8 was very stable with all of the extensions i had installed. miss it. i think pages is very pretty and nice for simple tasks but not quite up to snuff for very large documents or particularly stable. neoffice is a contender as Word compatibility is high but UI is very un-mac. On 1/10/08, Robert Hoekman, Jr. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Unfortunately I still use Word for most docs because I collaborate on documents that Windows users also need to be able to edit. The Pages version that comes with iWork '08 should solve these problems. Pages now tracks changes and comments, and all of these are maintained when you open a Word doc in Pages. Likewise, when you export a Pages doc to Word, all these changes and comments show up in Word. It's pretty dern seamless. I'm currently finishing up my next book, and I've used Pages to write and edit the entire thing so far, despite that New Riders requires the use of their custom template. I've had no problems. Pages is excellent. I'll never go back to using Word. I can't stand Word. -r- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] PDF form v. HTML
PDF forms can be prettier but they are a pain to set up and require a lot more work to properly integrate with a backend. then you have to figure out how to do form validation and input error feedback. HTML forms would be a wiser choice for many reasons. On 1/7/08, Kim Bieler [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm looking for information on the pros and cons of using a PDF form to enter information that will feed into a database, versus a plain old HTML form. I don't have any experience with online PDF forms but my gut feeling is that they might be less accessible and possibly harder to use because of font issues and the like. Any thoughts? -- Kim + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Kim Bieler Graphic Design www.kbgd.com www.stargazertees.com c. 240-476-3129 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Has anyone been asked to create a directory of UI elements?
a good design pattern library might include this if you're lucky enough to have to time to create one. some tools like Axure allow you to assemble libraries of UI elements you use in your prototypes and it has a 'Masters' option that allows you to include them in specs you generate. On 12/12/07, Mark Richman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I was discussing a new project with someone from our Sales group, and they asked me how I kept track of fields in case they were dropped from the actual implementation for some reason. I said that I kept old versions of the wire frames and usually commented any changes following the first version. However, I realized that not only didn't I keep a master list of UI elements, I'd never actually seen one outside of wire frames. In my previous life as a systems engineer, this type of directory of all database and system fields would have very likely been a piece of the project. So, does anybody on this list create a deliverable of this nature? If so, are there specific conditions under which you would do this? Most of my colleagues just create the wire frames and let them speak for themselves. Thanks Mark Richman Product Designer Intelliverse *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bad Changes In The New GMail Version
what's nice about mailplane is that you can use custom CSS stylesheets to remove ads. of course, various FF extensions such as CustomizeGoogle also allow this but none of the various Gmail extensions make it as easy to switch between accounts as mailplane does. On 12/11/07, pauric [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Very good point Jan, also, I'd like to refine my statement on mailplane's offline mode. mailplane is a local 'html' version of your gmail.com view. I like the consistency. POP clients will have their own layout and might lack the great search and other nuances? however, a pop client has a fully working offline mode, mailplane only allows me to browse and has a minor bug refreshing... its still beta. So.. not totally awesome, but a very nice hybrid - local-ish mail client with web view consistency. Also I'd like to thank Leonardo for starting the discussion, I appreciate seeing someone else's in depth review of the problems - thank you. regards - pauric *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Designing for CMS
i had the displeasure of designing a UI and custom functionality for a 'Webzine' on behalf of a client that used Microsoft Content Management Server (a pile of steaming shit) that used a proprietary extension developed by the scam artists at Accenture India to provide additional features. the use of both solutions was mandated by our client. It was a complete nightmare! the CMS nor extension was not flexible and could not adequately handle the task. so, what should have been a 3-4 week project using any number of open source CMS solutions along with a custom PHP or Perl script i could have written, turned into a 5 month dev project that was also incredibly expensive. CMS' are like shoes. they fit in different ways and not every CMS is up to a given task. some are geared towards being general purpose, others are good at blogging or managing static content. one must pick a solution that is ideal for the job. in contrast, my last gig in the agency world was selecting a CMS and technical infrastructure for a hot bio-tech firm. i had full say in the matter and thus, picked a solution that was general-purpose enough that allowed it to deal with every usage scenario both now and far into the future. On Dec 6, 2007 10:47 AM, Cindy Blue [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Have many of you designed applications or other interactive interfaces on top of content management systems? Do you find that designing for a CMS-driven website implies a unique set of issues or constraints? I recently worked on a project where we pushed the abilities of a CMS as far as possible then built custom apps on top of it. While I always work closely with front and back-end developers to get feedback on IA and design deliverables, it was even more critical in this project. We had to make sure that suggested features were not only possible, but made sense within the chosen CMS. I imagine that if you have a developer that is an expert in that particular CMS it would be easier to break it apart and build upon it, but that may not always be realistic. I'd love to hear about your experiences! Also... are there any good books written for designers/IAs/insert your title here about these issues? Thanks! Cindy Blue NavigationArts *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Suitable icon for freeze
yes, great recommendation! Horton's book is 13 or 14 yrs old but still valid today as it was when it came out. it's a fantastic resource for understanding the theory and practical considerations when designing icons and visual metaphors. On Dec 3, 2007 8:36 AM, Chauncey Wilson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hello, I would suggest that you try the method called braindrawing which is a visual type of brainstorming. Here are the basic instructions: 1. Each member of a group is invited to explore solutions to a visual problem statement by sketching solutions for a designed period of time. 2. The sketches are passed on to another person. 3. The second person then enhances or adds something to the sketch or creates a new sketch and then passes all the sketches on a page to yet another person. 4. The process is repeated for several iterations. For example, you might do five iterations of braindrawing with the first iteration lasting 10 minutes (the first person has a blank page and might need more time to get started) followed by four, five-minute enhancement iterations. 5. At the end of a braindrawing session, all the sketches created by the group are posted in an art gallery where colleagues and participants in the braindrawing session can review the sketches and discuss which ideas should be considered further. 6. The post-braindrawing discussion should be recorded. The group can vote on the best ideas and then prioritize them further at the end of the session or at a separate session. The ideas can also evaluated by a different group. This is a simple technique which can generate many ideas. The second approach is to brainstorming metaphors associated with cold, the process of getting colder, etc and then brainstorming images that go with the various metaphors. After you generate the list, you can apply various criteria (international acceptability, fit with current icons, complexity, etc.). If you don't have a copy, I would highly recommend William Horton's The Icon Book (which may be out of print) as the definitive guide on principles for icon design. The appendix to the book also has a list of icons that can be to simulate ideas. Chauncey On Dec 3, 2007 12:25 AM, PREETI SALUJA [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi all! Can you suggest some good links or any ideas for designing a suitable icon to denote freeze image and freeze screen? Kindly get back with any ideas that bouce ur head. Regards, Preeti *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Placement of credit card logos
most, not all ecommerce sites offer credit card payment options in a drop down menu with Visa usually defaulted as its the most popular card in the US. because it's defaulted, some users may not click on the menu to reveal other choices like AMEX or Discover, etc. therefore, it *can't* hurt to place logs of other accepted cards next to the payment options so users can visually scan their choices of supported cards. AND...equally important - make sure you convey info on what the CVV number is for the different cards you support - they vary between cards. On Dec 3, 2007 10:41 AM, Dariusz Paciorek [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I think that depends of the project, for example in Brazil the majority costumers look for the payment ways first(at least at the first buy intention) them he look for some product to buy. Maybe... but I've got alternative examples, where credit card logos are not displayed on home page. http://www.amazon.com http://www.agito.pl *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Fixing bugs is not fixing design!
Since I work on helping to design what is fairly complex software, i'd like to chime in on this. i agree that fixing bugs is not the same as fixing design. however, anyone who has worked at a startup with scant resources, aggressive time lines and so forth, will also tell you that you're often faced with tough choices: - take X months to design the perfect system - not an option for a company that has to ship or release a product yesterday - implement a design that will work - learn from it and try to improve it based on real-world use - not ideal but the most practical given limited time and resources On Dec 3, 2007 12:29 PM, Russell Wilson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Excerpted from a post on my blog: http://www.dexodesign.com/2007/11/fixing-bugs-is-not-equivalent-to-fixing.html Would love feedback fromn IxDA'ers... [snip] At Dux2007 http://www.dux2007.com/ in Chicago, I attended a workshop where I asked the group why we don't design software like we do hardware? Why don't we spend more time in prototypes, mockups, etc. One of the attendees, a software designer... said because it's cheap to fix software problems - all you have to do is make a download available that resolves the bugs. That's what so many executives are really thinking, aren't they? Build it, test it, get it out the door, and then ship fixes as necessary. Time to market, fix later. And herein lies the mistake: fixing bugs is not equivalent to fixing design. True, bugs in software can be fixed easier and cheaper than bugs in hardware. But we're not talking about bugs--we're talking about DESIGN. You can't fix a design with a download! Design is the essence of the product, how the product interacts with users, the personality of the product, the metaphors, etc. Attempting to fix design in an update results in confusion, retraining, potential loss of trust, etc. The changes are too significant. Therefore redesign is often delayed until the next major release of the product, resulting in additional costs, potential loss of customer loyalty and the opportunity to lock them in, etc. So, yes, software bugs can be remedied easier than bugs in hardware. But design problems in software are no easier or cheaper to resolve than hardware design flaws, and therefore we (software designers, creators, builders) must adopt better processes, principles, and expertise towards designing better software products from the start. -- Russell Wilson Vice President, Product Design NetQoS, Inc. *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] UI Architect vs. Business Manager
Michael, that's an excellent description of the role. as i've been primarily a product guy in one guise or another for the past 3 yrs, i'd like to split some hairs: 1. Product Managers can have a technical or design background - some companies prefer one over the other - it really depends on the structure of the organization, the type of products it develops, etc. 2. Product Managers function as the operational hub of the organization. they filter requests from marketing/biz dev for product features or functionality as well as those from users, determine requirements, figure out how they should or could work, help to design and implement these features, prioritize them in the product development roadmap and queue and manage expectations and timelines. In larger organizations, they may own one product vertical or even just one aspect of a product. In smaller organizations like mine, they do everything but wash the dishes and take out the trash. speaking from personal experience - i devise my own features as i identify areas that are lacking or translate raw requirements (i'm lucky if they're in bullet point form) into something tangible that can be defined, designed and specified. i also prioritize feature development, bug fixes and enhancements as well as write copy, supervise editorial, supervise QA, manage product support and work directly with our in-house marketing, biz dev, design and technology teams to insure functionality and required features are implemented into the product. On Nov 30, 2007 11:46 AM, Michael Micheletti [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Software companies often have a separate Product Manager role or department. This person or group is responsible for setting strategic product direction, determining the feature set to be included in specific product releases, naming of versions, setting the highest level of schedule requirements, and determining the target market segments or customer groups the product is aimed at. Each company organizes responsibilities a bit differently. There are overlaps with designers (both are concerned with product feature sets and target customers). There are overlaps with project managers (both are concerned with schedules and the features to be included in specific releases). There are overlaps with marketing (both are interested in presenting the right product to the right market segment). The difference that I see is that a product manager has a tight business focus rather than technical or informational or design-oriented. A strong product manager with good connections helps shape a competitive product in the marketplace. Weak or non-existing product managers lets designers/developers/marketeers go nuts and build things that nobody really wants. All the above is IMHO - I haven't ever been a product manager, but have worked with some good ones. PMs and friends on the list please correct or clarify if you can. Thanks, hope this helps, Michael Micheletti On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 09:11:57, ELISABETH HUBERT [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In response to Michael what exactly do you refer to when you say the product management side? *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] UI Architect vs. Business Manager
your job sounds interesting. i can't speak for anyone but myself but not everyone on this list has a traditional background in HCI or related disciplines. some of us got into it by proxy - due to our jobs. i'm head of product for my company. as such, i do a little bit of everything, including getting requirements for features, designing then, writing the specs and so forth so your role is not necessary unusual. Ari On 11/28/07, ELISABETH HUBERT [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi all, I was doing some thinking after work today and I thought I'd post a question. A few months ago I moved to the strategy user experience area of my company after being in the user experience area that dealt mostly with executing and expanding upon strategy. Despite doing some of the traditional roles of an UI Architect type (this is the name of the role where I work) such as maintaining the site structure, brainstorming strategies etc... I've also been assigned to represent the business on some efforts. Meaning I'll bring the project teams the requirements, make sure they are fulfilled. In these cases our strategy team really is the business. I'm curious as to whether anyone else out there has the same type of role or if this is some unique case? Thanks! Lis http://www.elisabethhubert.com *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Progress bar best practices
i worked on a social networking site that also had video uploading and sharing. we implemented a real time uploading system that displayed a progress bar/feedback mechanism that: - displayed a visual horizontal progress bar along with a % indicator that updated as the upload progressed - a real-time estimate of when your upload would be done - it would change appearance once the upload was completed it was done as a pop up window so the window could be minimize allowing you to upload your video in the background while you continued to use the site. as long as your didn't surf away from the site itself or close the browser, the session wasn't detached. this mechanism seemed to work well and it conveyed plenty of useful information. On Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:06:50, Rik Schot [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: (Like Scott, I'm new to the group...) I'm really impressed with the way Flickr.com deals with it. For 2 months now, they have a multiple image-uploader. Wich gives you realtime feedback. Check: http://blog.eight.nl/assets/2007/10/17/Picture_6-1.jpg It gives you useful information and little checks that show when it's done. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=22928 *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Songza
it's a cool, clean interface no question. however, i had questions about how they handle large data sets being returned. there are several common practices and patterns for this but i haven't seen how they implement them. songs and music-related content by their nature can encompass massive amounts of data. On 11/14/07, Lisa deBettencourt [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: AHA! Fitts' Law at its finest! :-) Great stuff. Definitely one of those things where you go DOH! Of COURSE!. Love that they could pull it off in a web app. So, I typed in Metallica and got a relatively short list of songs (yes, my favorite band of all time). I then noticed the one thing missing from the returned list was the album name. The songs I got back weren't either sorted by album or had the album name in them. Hmmm... so is the song I'm clicking on from the original album or from a remake? Live or studio? ~Lisa *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Serena Composer (Now Free) vs. Axure RP
it's very nice for free! as a product mgr, the structured workflow it provides is very attractive for my needs. i see it less useful for prototyping compared to Axure, however. that being said, it definitely seems to has features that Axure lacks (process/activity flows, tool integration, version control, etc.) and i plan to learn it by using it for small projects and possibly larger ones later. very cool - thanks for the pointer to the download. Ari On 11/13/07, Mitchell Gass [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Serena Prototype Composer is now free: http://www.serena.com/products/prototype-composer/home.html I'm currently using Axure RP, but it looks like SPC has some interesting capabilities. If any of you have used both, could you give us your thoughts? Thanks! Mitchell Gass uLab | PDA: Learning from Users | Designing with Users Berkeley, CA 94707 USA +1 510 525-6864 office +1 415 637-6552 mobile +1 510 525-4246 fax http://www.participatorydesign.com/ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] What tools do you use for prototyping?
Good point. A specification is essentially a 'container' that encapsulates both wireframes/prototypes and the descriptions of the desired functionality and interactions required for a given product, project or feature. On 11/8/07, Gavin Edmonds [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Following this thread it is clear that 'prototypes' and what is a 'design specification' is being confused as well as the purpose for creating a prototype. Prototypes can be used from developing an idea, gaining user insights, presentations to the client form part of the final design specification to be built (Sometimes the prototype becomes the final product). In everyday design life there are factors of different applications of UI, design methods, budgets, time requirements that drive a decision for the best approach. The UI folk that I know all have one thing in common - they strive to do their best making the most out of the opportunity. To get back to the topic of what tools do you use for prototyping - the range I use goes from sketch - high fidelity on paper, in browser flash. The decision for what type of prototype is driven by the purpose resource. It is difficult to choose the best prototyping method without consider the factors above. I find comments in the thread about there being no value for paper prototyping unfounded as I have always gained huge value from paper prototyping, especially for usability user research. Maybe the thread will gain more value from stating what the prototype is required for? This e-mail message (including any attachment) is intended only for the personal use of the recipient(s) named above. This message is confidential and may be legally privileged. If you are not an intended recipient, you may not review, copy or distribute this message. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail and delete the original message. Any views or opinions expressed in this message are those of the author only. Furthermore, this message (including any attachment) does not create any legally binding rights or obligations whatsoever, which may only be created by the exchange of hard copy documents signed by a duly authorised representative of Hutchison 3G UK Limited. Hutchison 3G UK Limited is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 3885486. Registered Office Hutchison House, 5 Hester Road, Battersea, London, SW11 4AN. __ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email __ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] What tools do you use for prototyping?
Axure is definitely a prototyping tool but it's also quite good at generating specifications. you get 2/3 of the fidelity that Visio has for wireframing but the ability to annotate elements in an unobtrusive way PLUS you have the ability to actually make your wireframes interactive for prototyping - all from the same source file. this is pretty cool. On 11/8/07, Fred Beecher [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Nov 7, 2007 5:57 PM, Andrei Herasimchuk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Too many people in our field use Visio as a replacement for production level drawing tools, like FreeHand, Fireworks r Illustrator. In doing so, they stop themselves from learning the skills they need to actually do more design at the production level, which in turn are skills that help in dealing with richer prototypes. How many of us *want* to do design at the production level? I certainly don't. Hell, I can't be trusted with much color of any sort in my wardrobe, let alone on a client's Web site. I don't have production design skills, but what I do have is almost 10 years of IA, IxD, usability, user research experience. Understanding users and designing for their needs behaviors is what I'm good at, and prototyping... that is to say *lo-fi* prototyping... is a *key* component of my ability to deliver quality work. Lo-fi prototyping is crucial to understanding whether basic structures (from simple navigation to fancy Web 2.0 gew-gaws) of interaction make sense to their intended audience. If they do, great, I can move forward. If they don't, it's back to the drawing board for me. I am also a big proponent of hi-fi prototyping. But I really feel that it should only take place after at least one round of lo-fi prototyping and revisions. To me, the purpose of hi-fi prototyping is to determine whether the design (and possibly code) that the original IxD has been translated into has gotten in the user's way. Just like in lo-fi prototyping, there's bound to be some revisions required. (There are other situations in which *only* hi-fi prototypes make sense, but I see them as the exception rather than the rule.) To get somewhat back on the thread of this conversation, for me, tools like Axure are what allow me (someone with no design and only basic HTML experience) to use prototyping as part of my practice. Axure I definitely consider a prototyping tool. Visio, however, is a tool that can produce prototypes. If I know going into a project that prototyping is required, I will definitely start that project using Axure rather than Visio. (This is a great discussion, btw... as the Web matures, prototyping skills, I think, are critical for IxDs to be considered competent at what we do) - Fred *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] What tools do you use for prototyping?
On 11/7/07, Andrei Herasimchuk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm going to try and answer a bunch of questions in one message versus spamming multiple answers. On Nov 6, 2007, at 6:16 PM, Eric Scheid wrote: Just for my information, what is that most people dislike Visio so much? Too many people in our field use Visio as a replacement for production level drawing tools, like FreeHand, Fireworks r Illustrator. In doing so, they stop themselves from learning the skills they need to actually do more design at the production level, which in turn are skills that help in dealing with richer prototypes. I would agree with this but let's be clear that Visio is not a prototyping tool on its face. Yes, it can be made to be one via add-ons such as those provided by Intuitect but by itself, it is just very fancy, object-based diagramming software. It's real value to anyone in the IxD field is in being able to produce rich 2D diagrams, flowcharts and conceptual mockups. This is definitely very useful, particularly, if you are responsible for generating various types of specifications, technical documentation or even doing basic UI explorations. However, for strict prototyping where interactivity needs to be explained and well as experienced - Visio is generally not the tool to use. It simply evolved as a de-facto tool for IA specialists because it was one of the few robust packages available on the Windows side of the house. For many years, site maps and other IA tasks were done on Macs, which had several such tools available (remember Inspiration?). -- Andrei Herasimchuk Principal, Involution Studios innovating the digital world e. [EMAIL PROTECTED] c. +1 408 306 6422 *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Users ability with slider controls
i can't link to direct experience with this type of control for web interfaces. they've existed ever since AJAX caught on and i've only seen them implemented properly in very limited circumstances. a few social networking sites use(d) them in lieu of spin controls or normal drop down elements to do things such as select age ranges or distance proximity. it was quirky for the most part. personally speaking, i've found these type of controls work best as volume controls or as 'sizers' - e.g. to control the physical scale of an element and as a way to allow a user to specify a scale rating as in a survey since these controls have a min and max value and can be graduated. people know how to use them since Windows and OS X both have analogs, though they are more frequently encountered in OS X than than are in older versions of Windows. just make sure that the 'knob' used to control the slider is easy to manipulate. On 11/1/07, Tim [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hello, I wonder, does anyone know of / carried out / read any research into users' familiarity and ability with slider controls? This sort of thing for example: http://wiki.script.aculo.us/scriptaculous/show/SliderDemo (although I don't particularly like their implementation of them). My feeling is, as long as it looks a lot like a slider and that the control affords horizontal movement there enough real, physical sliders in the world that people would have an understanding of how they work? They feature in the Energy Saver in System Preferences in OS X for example so guess at least a few people know how they work... I'm trying to put together a rating tool, users rate a product on a scale of 1 to 10, and it seems to me that a slider fits the bill perfectly. Clearly there needs to be graceful degradation for clients without javascript but aside from that, does anyone have any comments? Thanks in advance, Tim *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://gamma.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://gamma.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] why is flash so awesome? [user focused flash]
Flash is closed to a point. The format is not. This allows many tools to read and write or manipulate SWF and FLV files in many ways. Not that I love Flash from an authoring standpoint...the whole IDE UI has always been overly complex. It's a holdover from the days when Director and Lingo were king. On 10/23/07, Matthew Nish-Lapidus [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi, Yes, it does exist, and there are a number of decent libraries that offer this functionality. All I meant is that it take extra work and time, and you have to plan for it from day one. Integrating these techniques into existing flash sites is very difficult, if not impossible. You also have to carefully map out your URI structure, since it's completely abstract. This type of thing takes a ton of extra planning work to pull off well, and most places don't or aren't willing to do it. It also relies on some javascript, so now you have the javascript/flash communication to worry about (although it's usually not an issue). In the end, all these things are doable, but at what cost? And no matter what you do you will never have the kind of search engine friendliness you get with HTML. And none of these things address the big issue of Flash being a closed platform. If HTML had been closed the web as we know it would not exist. On 10/23/07, Will Parker [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Oct 23, 2007, at 8:32 AM, Matthew Nish-Lapidus wrote: The issue with all these techniques for adding bookmarks, deep links, etc.. is that they are a lot of work and have to be integrated at the very beginning of the project.. and in the end they give you a lesser version of what you get for free in a browser. The techniques I've seen offer standard bookmarkable URLs, displayed in the browser address bar, which when used in a browser take one to the current 'page' in the Flash app. Obviously, navigating to these URLS via browser back, forward and history buttons also work. So -- how are these lesser versions? (Before anyone mentions Ajax in this context, it's still easier to find Flash devs than talented Ajax jockeys up here in Baja Canada.) Admittedly, more work for the Flash devs, but we should be designing for the public, not the dev staff. Also, I'm now starting to see this functionality abstracted out into relatively simple frameworks. -Will Will Parker [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Matt Nish-Lapidus email/gtalk: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ++ LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mattnl Home: http://www.nishlapidus.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://gamma.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://gamma.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] What%u2019s in Leopard for Designers (2): WebKit Safari
DevonNotes is ok, will look at Mori... agreed, I think CoreData access for Safari will make a very nice combo - now if it comes bundled with Firefox 3, there's a chance for some really exciting web and web/desktop hybrid applications - remember, SQLite is c. 350k so embedding it into an app is relatively easy - creating the bindings to it is the real challenge. On 10/22/07, Kontra [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Ari Feldman wrote: DevonThink uses a proprietary db - not SQLite or OpenBase (you'd see the big ass process running for OpenBase because the SOHO Office products use it) - rather, it uses a db for indexing but all of the files are written out in raw form within its db. Sorry, I meant to write SOHO Notes uses OpenBase. I never really used DevonThink. I stopped using Notes because I could launch the same collection in Mori twice as fast. I really think read/write access to SQLite from Safari could be unimaginably sweet. -- Kontra http://counternotions.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://gamma.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://gamma.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Working in an Agency v/s Innie
again, i think this approach varies. clearly, better and smarter agencies and shops will take the approach that Dante suggests. however, many of us have also worked with or (even worked at) agencies and shops that took a more short-sighted approach. On 10/18/07, Dante Murphy [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: That's definitely not true for us, or for any other agency of record. And it's a really bad way to stay in business...you always want to retain customers, it's much cheaper than finding new ones to replace the ones you've lost. Now it is sometimes true that our designs are handed off to client-side or third-party development teams that then change the design (sometimes for good reason, often not)...that's hard to control. But when we sign a contract to produce the website for product x, it's our practice to plan for extensibility, revision, and update, and our strategy to continue every engagement beyond the first deliverable. How about the rest of the agency folks out there? Can I get an amen? Dante Murphy | Director of Information Architecture | D I G I T A S H E A L T H 229 South 18th Street, 2nd Floor | Rittenhouse Square | Philadelphia, PA 19103 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | www.digitashealth.com -Original Message- From: Matthew Nish-Lapidus [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Generally an agency will churn out work and never look at it again.. so your first attempt is the final product. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://gamma.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://gamma.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] JOB UX Designer, Fulltime/Permanent Role, Recruiter, Redmond, WA
time is a huge factor for me as well. i have 2 week release cycles for a product i'm working on and have to usually bang out a UI and spec for a given feature within a day. usually, i do a good job. however, if i had the luxury of time, stuff would be even better. On 10/9/07, Pierre Abel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: For me, *technical* limitations are not the main limitations, *time* is the problem. I can design a wonderfull GUI that is technically possible to implement (I have a developer background too), but if there is not enough *time* to do..it's useless. The problem for me is to define what is possible to do within the time allowed.. Pierre ( who's need to negotiate for more time with its client/boss ;-) Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://gamma.ixda.org/help -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://gamma.ixda.org/help
