http://www.informationdesign.org/ Dedicated to the growth and improvement of the information experience industries. en-us plato@xs4all.nl 2012-02-02T14:58:36+01:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Unfortunately, many users don't even notice a tab has been initiated. Back, back, back... "When most designers design websites, they don't pay much attention to links. As long as the link works and takes users to the right page, everything is fine. However, a great user experience goes further than that. There are certain links that should open in new browser tabs, and ones that should open in the same browser tab. It's important for designers to know the difference." (UX Movement) courtesy of rolandnagtegaal HCI 2012-02-02T14:58:36+01:00 Great read about the making of the iconic vision video by AAPL. "Sparked by the introduction of Siri, as well as products such as iPad and Skype, there have been many recent posts and articles tracing the technologies back to a 1987 Apple video called Knowledge Navigator. The video simulated an intelligent personal agent, video chat, linked databases and shared simulations, a digital network of university libraries, networked collaboration, and integrated multimedia and hypertext, in most case decades before they were commercially available. Having been involved in making Knowledge Navigator with some enormously talented Apple colleagues, I thought I would correct the record once and for all about what really happened." (Bud Colligan a.k.a. @collbud ~ Dubberly Design Office) Classics 2012-01-31T10:29:58+01:00 I'm wondering if traditional media also have this chrome thing. "Chrome is the user interface overhead that surrounds user data and web page content. Although chrome obesity can eat half of the available pixels, a reasonable amount enhances usability." (Jakob Nielsen ~ Alertbox) Usability 2012-01-30T09:48:47+01:00 Why 5 and not 7, 9 or 3? "User interface details matter to the overall user experience. Many users may not consciously notice these details on your site yet they do have an impact on the overall user experience. When everything feels just right the perception of your site and brand is improved. In this article, we'll look at 5 different types of UI details you should pay attention to." (Jamie Appleseed a.k.a. @jamieappleseed ~ Baymard Institute) HCI 2012-01-27T10:28:23+01:00 Every practice is made by people, not organizations. Focus on people, not brands. "In this article, we give you some personal perspective on the changing role of human-computer interaction (HCI) researchers practicing in industry over the last 25 years and look to the future. We identify long-lasting themes and emerging trends and add some insight from our experiences working in IT research and development. These experiences include collaborating as team members on a series of HCI research projects during 15 of over 20 years at IBM Research. We also describe what it has been like having a two-person HCI household over the years." (Clare-Marie Karat and John Karat ~ Journal of Usability Studies Vol. 7, Issue 1, November 2011, pp. 1-8) HCI 2011-12-20T10:41:53+01:00 HCI 2011-12-14T14:15:33+01:00 DTDT (again): Interface is part of the object and experience is part of the subject, be it for design or development purposes. "UX Designers focus on the structure and layout of content, navigation and how users interact with them. (...) UI Developers focus on the way the functionality is displayed and the fine detail of how users interact with the interface." (Ben Melbourne a.k.a. @benmelb ~ as in the city) HCI 2011-12-02T15:13:37+01:00 A first hand recollection of ideas, concepts, and prototypes. This is a verbatim transcript of a public lecture given on October 28, 1997. ~ "We got clearance, thankfully, from the Apple lawyers, which came about two - three weeks ago, so we could give it here, just in time to announce it. We're grateful to Apple to release this for public disclosure, because we think it's of general interest." (Larry Tesler a.k.a. @nomodes and Chris Espinosa a.k.a. @cdespinosa) HCI 2011-11-23T13:50:38+01:00 Another way of phrasing dark patterns would be e-Commerce Magic. "We might not like to admit it but deception is deeply entwined with life on this planet. Insects evolved to use it, animals employ it in their behavior, and of course, we humans use it to manipulate, control, and profit from each other. With this in mind, it's no surprise that deception appears in various guises in user interfaces on the web today. What is surprising, though, is that up until recently it was something web designers never talked about. There was no terminology, no design patterns, and no real recognition of it as a phenomenon at all. If it wasn't a taboo it certainly felt like one." (Harry Brignull a.k.a. @harrybr ~ A List Apart) HCI 2011-11-02T09:47:34+01:00 Touch this, touch that. "Microsoft Research Redmond researchers Hrvoje Benko and Scott Saponas have been investigating the use of touch interaction in computing devices since the mid-'00s. Now, two sharply different yet related projects demonstrate novel approaches to the world of touch and gestures." (Janie Chang ~ Microsoft Research) HCI 2011-10-19T12:56:03+01:00 A NUI is still an interface, so how natural can it be. "The moment that sealed the future of human-computer interaction for me happened just a few months ago. I was driving my car, carrying a few friends and their children. One child, an 8-year old, pointed to the small LCD screen on the dashboard and asked me whether the settings were controlled by touching the screen. They were not. The settings were controlled by a rotary button nowhere near the screen. It was placed conveniently between the driver and passenger seats. An obvious location in a car built at the tail-end of an era when humans most frequently interacted with technology through physical switches and levers." (Jonathan Reichental a.k.a. @Reichental ~ O'Reilly Radar) HCI 2011-09-29T14:13:14+01:00 HCI 101 in video, 'cause youngsters don't like to read. "Through lectures and a project, learn the fundamentals of human-computer interaction and design thinking. Work together in teams of three on a quarter-long project. Each week, in small design studios, present and discuss work with peers. The setting for the course is mobile web applications. The constraints of this small form factor make this an exciting challenge. At the end of the course, present to a jury of IT and design leaders." (Scott Klemmer ~ Stanford Open Classroom) HCI 2011-08-31T16:02:39+01:00 As long as there is still confusion among few, these DTDT posts seem relevant. 'Filed in Graphics' (sic!) "In today's creative and technical environment, the terms UI ('User Interface') and UX ('User Experience') are being used more than ever. Overall, these terms are referring to specialties and ideas that have been around for years prior to the introduction of the abbreviated terminology. But the problem with these new abbreviations is more than just nomenclature. Unfortunately, the terms are quickly becoming dangerous buzzwords: using these terms imprecisely and in often completely inappropriate situations is a constant problem for a growing number of professionals, including: designers, job seekers, and product development specialists. Understanding the proper separation, relationship and usage of the terms is essential to both disciplines." (Shawn Borsky a.k.a. @anthemcg ~ Design Shack) HCI 2011-08-23T15:45:21+01:00 Paradigms from paper technology (like 'The Page') are deeply rooted in our minds. "Content decisions should be driving the design of each page. As people scan the page, they are looking for content that seems relevant. Following this information scent should lead them below the fold if that is where their target content exists." (Emily Smith a.k.a. @emilysmith ~ Design Festival)courtesy of ronderksen Visual design 2011-07-26T09:55:54+01:00 "It's great that we're starting to make the history of digital technology available, but I believe we should also be doing the same for interaction design. We need to understand the history of digital design on screens and how it has changed. It's not because the basic interaction design principles change over time, because they haven't. The principles we introduced in the CHI course - prominence, relationship, flow, clarity, simplicity and consistency - were just as relevant 25 years ago, they probably just had different names. No, the history matters because how we apply those principles has changed as our technology changed." (David Rondeau a.k.a. @dbrondeau ~ InContext) Interaction design 2011-06-01T14:44:21+01:00