paper & pencil

page layout o'matic

xerox is working on a Page Design Genie or rather

automated document design software that takes the text, graphics, and other elements that might be parts of a complex document and flows them iteratively into example page layouts

"As an example of this automation," says Lisa Purvis, Xerox research scientist, "let's say you've created a brochure with many elements in portrait orientation, but you'd like to see how the document might work in landscape orientation. The software will rearrange all the elements in that orientation and can present you with many examples of how landscape layouts might look. If you see one you like, you can accept it." In this sense, the software is somewhat like a dynamic, automated desktop publisher.

css-o-matic!

inknoise personal publishing created a too for auto-generated css layouts called Layout-o-matic:

Select a layout type, width, and other options to the left, and then click Download or View and pick up your multi-column CSS layout starter kit (turning it into something unique and beautiful not included). You're welcome to use the resulting generated layouts for any purpose, personal or commercial.

The resulting layouts have been tested in as many browsers as BrowserCam supports, and they appear to work in all of them except the 4.x browsers.

another tool out there from Max Design for creating different styled lists -listamatic

macromedia central

Macromedia Central:

Central will provide an efficient new place where Internet applications can work together and help with different daily tasks. Central will also create a marketplace for applications created with Macromedia Flash.

this is for the "occasionlly connected" desktop & mobile apps

lots of discussions out there:
principles
blogs

another neat color picker tool

Color scheme

different than the others i've seen is you can pick different schemes (monochromatic, contrast, analogic) as well as adjust brightness, hue and saturation. And to make it that much better than anyone else's you can also select web colors only and see what it would look like to people who suffer from various forms of color-blindness.

AIFIA | Tools

AIfIA launched it's IA Tools initiative

• Design Review Checksheets
• Design Review process
• Design Scope
• Project Overview
• Creative Brief
• Project Definition and Scope
• Design Process
• Experience Design Flow

clement's new venture

via idblog:
clement mok has been working on a new venture - CMCD - Visual Symbols Library

i like how it's not just another stock photo service - the inventory has been carefully tagged to mimic how designers search for images.

When it comes to developing project concepts, the Library helps by providing access to one of the world's leading collections of iconographic stock photography. Our "picture dictionary" style is built on the idea that crisp, archetypal imagery is an essential tool for meeting day-to-day design challenges. The images are professionally styled and art directed by the team responsible for popular images like Desk Bell, Indi the Wonder Dog, and The Internet Guy.

bbc news style guide - writing

THE BBC NEWS STYLEGUIDE - fairly short & concise guide to writing - mostly aimed at journalists.

prototyping w/ css

jeff lash suggests using css to create prototypes

field studies

uie article: Field Studies: The Best Tool to Discover User Needs

what you can learn:

• Terminology and processes: What do users do and how do they talk about it? While users can describe a process or share terms in an interview format, watching them work points out subtleties that they are unaware of.


• Context: What are the external forces that will impact the design? Do the user's requirements change when they are rushed or up against a deadline? People have trouble describing the context of their work, however it's easy for outsiders to observe.


• Similarities and differences: Visiting multiple sites can allow the team to collect a rich amount of information about the commonalities that appear across environments, along with the variations that will impact design decisions (such as providing switches, options, and optional features). Just compiling a list of similarities and differences observed in 4 separate visits can really help a team focus on the critical functionality and requirements for a project.

When we look at teams that are struggling to produce quality designs, almost always it is the result of spending time guessing and estimating user needs instead of working with actual data. Field studies can eliminate 'opinion wars' by replacing the strongly-held hunches of the team members with real information that describes what is happening.

LazyWeb

LazyWeb submit an idea - maybe someone will create it!