Web Application Interface Design - pretty good article, links to resources at the end.
Cooper's 2nd edition of About Face also has a section on web apps. i read some of it at b&n. there were some good guidelines of when to keep web interactions within the browser and when to move them out of the browser and create an Internet-enabled desktop app.
from: simple bits
Icon Styled Headings - using background images attached to a header tag
Certainly one of the most powerful features of CSS isbackgroundorbackground-image. Holding interface images within one file makes for a very flexible and easily adaptable site.One of my favorite methods is applying a
backgroundto certain heading tags within a document. Such as a left aligned bullet. Usingbackgroundinstead of hard-coding a bullet within each tag has obvious benefits. Don't like the particular image you've used? Change one line in your CSS file and the entire site changes instantly. It also keeps the HTML code lighter by removing the need to repeat all thoseimgtags for each heading.
#right h3 { padding: 0 0 6px 19px; border-bottom: 1px dashed #ccc; background: url(../images/box_bullet.gif) no-repeat 0 2px; }This will insure any
h3tags within the right column to show the box bullet to the left of the text. An appropriate amount of padding to the left makes this work. Also, the0 2pxportion of thebackgroundrule tells the browser to place the image 0 pixels from the left and 2 pixels from the top. This is key for lining up the image with the text just right.The same idea can be applied to most anything -- and especially nice for unordered lists (which was originally pointed out to me by Doug). Instead of using the normal
list-style-imagerule (which doesn't always line the bullet image up correctly in every browser), try usingbackgroundonlielements and lining up with the top/left pixel values.
Effective interfaces are visually apparent and forgiving, instilling in their users a sense of control. Users quickly see the breadth of their options, grasp how to achieve their goals, and do their work.Effective interfaces do not concern the user with the inner workings of the system. Work is carefully and continuously saved, with full option for the user to undo any activity at any time.
Effective applications and services perform a maximum of work, while requiring a minimum of information from users.
good, short article on stakeholder interviews - sample questions and tips
the old vivid studio web site is back online: vividstudios.org.
i always liked how they presented their methodology as well as their project planner.
always like this graphic from nathan shedroff supporting his Information Interaction Design: A Unified Field Theory of Design"
from: guuui.com
Breadth vs. depth in menu design. recent studies of the breadh vs. depth still say breadth but not too broad. and breatdh is more effective when navigation labels are clear, discrete and easy to compare.
Research comparing navigation efficiency through sites of varying depths and breadths broadly converges on the findings that users find roughly 16 (ungrouped) top-level links leading into 2-3 subsequent menus the most efficient, learnable and least error prone.
the study also found that starting broad, narrowing in sub page and then broadnening out again in deepest levels is the best method.
Work on the optimal shape of a hierarchical site suggests that concave designs are optimal. A concave shape presents a broad initial selection screen, followed by category decisions over small categories and then followed with a terminal option set that is again somewhat broad.
they end the study stating their findings apply best to sites where users complete "serial tasks" like on an intranet - find a phone number, look up a policy, etc.
nexialist:
the idea of having someone around who is primarily there to be conversant in many disciplines and to look for connections among them in order to arrive at holistic solutions
discussion on the list is about the need for everyone on a project team to have ownership but having 1 person be them main owner of the vision. a "bridge-maker" who can ensure everyone is communicating with each other and doing their part to fullfill the overall vision. more than a project manager. somewhat like an executive producer.
Each member than is better able to understand where they fit in and how their contributions and perspectives are both protected and balanced against the others.
Interview with IDEO CEO Tim Brown on technology & design:
There are too many examples still of people trying to force content and experiences that were really developed for one type of experience through a different kind of interface. It's not just about the scale of the screen or the size of it, but it's even the length of time that we're willing to interact with things.
He provides the example of being on a fixed line versus using a mobile device. People tend to spend more time on the former and expect to things much quicker on the latter. You need to design apps & experience for human behaviors and expectations.
And new designs of existing things must change and adapt to new circumstances and behaviors:
I think that the paradigm of e-mail as letters, as objects, is inappropriate. I'm waiting for a shift to the timeline, rather than the object, as the organizing principle. If you think about a blog for instance, that�s a timeline. And it's a really good way of organizing huge amounts of information, because we�re quite good at sequencing. We're quite good at remembering when things happen. That has meaning for us.
And some thoughts on the current mode of design - the constant adding of features in order to compete but most of these are useless:
The naive view of designing is that it's purely an additive process, about adding more and more and more. Actually, design is a funnel-shaped thing. It becomes an editing process: What is appropriate? What can be stripped away? So design is a holistic way of thinking. It's about being able to create the whole of something, and in such a way that somebody who's using that product, whether for the first time or the tenth time, understands it can interact with it as seamlessly as possible.
