All posts from
August 2008

Users Participation in Online Conversation

Added on 27 August 2008 Peter Bogaards
“In the past, user participation in editorial publications was limited to writing “letters to the editor.” On the web, users take an active role in shaping the message through their comments and debates. Bond Art + Science looked at how traditional media and online publications invite, manage and benefit from user participation, and we identified some best practices and common pitfalls.” (Bond Art + Science)

Mapping Memory: Web Designer as Information Cartographer

Added on 26 August 2008 Peter Bogaards
“Since at least Richard Saul Wurman’s 1996 book Information Architects>, architecture has been the primary metaphor for how ‘those who build websites’ think about what we do. By adding a new metaphor to our theoretical toolboxes, we can gain a richer, more nuanced understanding of the way that we inhabit cyberspace. This enhanced apprehension of the medium should enable us to create websites that better serve our users.” (Aaron Rester – A List Apart)

Ten Futuristic User Interfaces

Added on 18 August 2008 Peter Bogaards
“Good user interfaces are crucial for good user experience. It doesn’t matter how good a technology is — if we, designers, don’t manage to make user interface as intuitive and attractive as possible, the technology will hardly reach a breakthrough. To gain the interest in a new product or technology, users need to understand its advantages or find themselves impressed or involved.” (Smashing Magazine)

The Story of the Ribbon

Added on 15 August 2008 Peter Bogaards
“(…) I presented a session at MIX. I talked a bit about the general design process we used to come up with the Office 2007 user interface, to iterate on it, and to evaluate it. As part of the discussion, I showed for the first time some of the early prototypes we worked on (and abandoned or refined) along the way. It’s always fun to present substantially new content, and this was my first time giving large portions of this talk. The audience was great and, although you can’t hear them on the video, they seemed to be into it and enjoying the presentation. It was a lot of fun!” (Jensen Harris)

Managing User Experience Teams

Added on 15 August 2008 Peter Bogaards
“(…) aims to tap the collective expertise of the user experience community to develop a guide on how to manage UX teams. Margaret Gould Stewart and Graham Jenkin – two seasoned user experience team managers – will be sharing their insights and facilitating the discussion as we create this guide.”

Rethinking the Progress Bar

Added on 15 August 2008 Peter Bogaards
“This paper describes an experiment that sought to identify patterns in user perception of progress bar behavior. The results are then analyzed to classify behaviors that perceptually speed up or slow down process execution. We conclude with several design suggestions, which can be applied to applications that employ progress bars and contribute to an overall more responsive, pleasant and human-centric computing experience.” (Chris Harrison) – courtesy of annekevandelangkruis

Planning out a website

Added on 14 August 2008 Peter Bogaards
“This article is going to look at the early stages of planning out a web site, and a discipline that is commonly referred to as Information architecture, or IA. This involves thinking about who your target audience will be, what information and services they need from a web site, and how you should structure it to provide that for them. You’ll look at the entire body of information that needs to go on the site and think about how to break that down into chunks, and how those chunks should relate to one another.” (Jonathan Lane- The Web Standards Curriculum)

IDEA 2008: An Interview with Bill DeRouchey

Added on 14 August 2008 Peter Bogaards
“Bill has over fifteen years experience as a writer, information architect, product manager and now senior interaction designer with Ziba Design in Portland, Oregon. With Ziba, he frames and details the experience, flow, and interaction on consumer and medical products. Bill also writes about the variety and history of interaction design in everyday experiences on his blog, Push Click Touch, and is a frequent speaker at industry events. He is determined to stretch how people think about interaction design, from beyond the pure digital to any interaction between humans and the artifacts they create. Bill is on the Board of Directors of IxDA, the Interaction Design Association, and serves as Treasurer.” (Russ Unger – Boxes and Arrows)

The Site Map: An Information Architecture Cop-Out

Added on 12 August 2008 Peter Bogaards
“These days, there are two predominate ways that users get to a web site. Either they type the URL into the address bar, bringing them to the site’s home page, or they come to the site through an aggregator or referral, such as Google, often taking them to a specific page within the site. For some sites, the home page is the most popular route, but increasingly, users link deep into the site.” (Jared Spool – User Interface Engineering)

Top 10 Usability Highs Of Mac OS

Added on 12 August 2008 Peter Bogaards
“Although I’ve been a Windows power user for years, the transition to Mac couldn’t have been easier and more pleasant. I don’t want to turn this article into some endless rambling about how great Mac is, but as the user of both systems I can speak from my own experience quite objectively. Let’s take a look at some of the spots where Apple really has done it better in terms of user interface and usability.” (Juul Coolen – Smashing Magazine)

Is the Future of the Internet the Future of Knowledge?

Added on 11 August 2008 Peter Bogaards
“US-based panel speakers Lawrence M. Sanger, PhD and Andrew Keen discuss issues of legitimacy, credibility, regulation and censorship on the Internet. What role do truth, trust and expertise have to play in the creation and dissemination of knowledge and news through the Internet? What (or who) should we believe and why? Is the Internet’s role in shaping knowledge creation and dissemination broadly a force for good? Doesn’t participation educate? Doesn’t such an array of easily accessible knowledge and information have a potentially democratising effect? Should knowledge and news production by non-professionals on the Internet be limited in any way? This panel discussion was part of the Weidenfeld Scholars’ Speaker Series in Oxford, sponsored by the Weidenfeld Institute for Strategic Dialogue (London) and organized in collaboration with the OII.” (Oxford Internet Institute)