Just stumbled across Dan Brown’s blog at GreenOnions. There are some really useful posts there about communicating design, and of course Brown describes his upcoming workshops there as well. His Communicating Design book is one of the absolute essentials on my bookshelf.
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I just picked up Designing Web Interfaces by Bill Scott & Theresa Neil. It goes along nicely with my copy of Designing Interfaces by Tidwell and Designing Web Navigation by Kalbach. Apart from that, the blog on the book’s website is an interesting read – Designing Web Interfaces Blog – and the pattern resources on the Resources page are worth a look as well. Of course there is also more information about the book on the site.
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Just wanted to pass along a couple great Axure widgets libraries – A Clean Design offers Better Default Library v2 and I also like Kevin Wick’s Sketchy library.
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The first change I’ve been waiting to implement here is opening comments to non-registrants. I may need to install a CAPTCHA to prevent spammers, however, a few are getting through by registering at this point anyway. Therefore, comments have now been opened to all without registering in advance, to see how it goes. At this time no CAPTCHA is installed, and I believe all links are automatically set to follow (I’m not sure if my current extensions set no-follow by default, but if they have, I will likely turn that off).
I’ve been looking at commenting plugins for Wordpress that extend functionality for linking to trusted commenters, that said, as far as I’m concerned, anyone who comments and doesn’t spam me at this point is trusted. So link me up here, I will follow your links.
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Findability was mentioned in A List Apart, a magazine aimed squarely at web designers, quite some time ago, and as mentioned in the previous post, there have been two great books written on the subject already.
Why is it findability so hot right now?
Because search engine marketing and social marketing can be combined with the web development accessibility techniques, web standards, and good user experience design practices we’ve been using behind the scenes all along.
Developers create search engine marketing goodness as soon as they register the site
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Upcoming topics for DesigningUX.com include
- more on findability
- principles of universal design
- interface design – how to improve user experiences and make money by designing better rich internet applications and interfaces for everyday products. Example? I just used my Rogers cable guide and saw they changed their interface. Now it’s a lot faster and easier to turn on Treehouse On Demand movies. In 5 seconds I was able to turn the next episode of Dora on for my sons to watch so I could come back to this blog and keep writing. I will pay for Rogers above others purely because their interface is that fast and easy for me to use. Customer inertia means I will only switch to another provider if the time it takes me to use their interface makes me feel like it’s worth learning even though it takes an extra 10 minutes out of my day, because I have toddlers and this blog that need my attention right now.
If your product gets in my eyesight and proves I can learn it fast enough that it’d be worth setup time to switch, I would. If your interface doesn’t quickly and easily prove to me I can use your service just as fast and get other benefits, I won’t switch. Ever.
Otherwise I am working on launching a new blog at JuicyWebDesign. This new site will focus on applying practical tips of user experience design with CSS, HTML, JavaScript, and newer technologies like Ajax, without losing usability and accessibility. A popular term for this is “bulletproof web design”. Websites have a long way to go on improving flexibility and preventing problems caused by irresponsible use of CSS, JavaScript, Ajax, and more. I’m also going to be talking about designing rich internet application interfaces in AIR, Flex, Silverlight, etc. I hope you will check it out, if you work on the web, it’ll be invaluable.
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Recently I was asked about my usage of the term “findability”. Well, it is not a typo, I promise. Findability refers to making content usable and accessible by people. Although it can be related to search engine optimization, that is primarily because search robots operate like screen readers. Findability differs because it focuses not on keywords or content that scripts can spider, but on making things valuable and easy for people first. In findability, you help customers a) find your website b) find valuable content on your site and c) rediscover and re-use that valuable content later.
This is achieved through several methods, such as intelligent information architecture, intuitive interface design, and yes, also grabbing results in search engines. However, instead of trying to get people to your site to earn hits or even money, the idea is to connect the valuable information you offer with the people who can best use it. You can convert these customers to buyers more easily, yes, and that looks good for ROI and visitor metrics, but really the focus is on filling customer’s needs and helping them get there.
Think about it. When you walk into a store, a helpful sales associate is always available to ask you how you are, let you know about sales, and offer to assist you. When customers find themselves in a strange new site, with no idea which way to go, findability can help.
A List Apart featured an article on the findability “orphan”:
The fundamental goal of findability is to persistently connect your audience with the stuff you write, design, and build. When you create relevant and valuable content, present it in a machine readable format, and provide tools that facilitate content exchange and portability, you’ll help ensure that the folks you’re trying to reach get your message.
A website that ignores findability is whispering into the wind, hoping that someone passing by might catch a hint of its message. To further complicate the chances of reaching your target audience, a cacophony of other websites are vying for the same commodity—attention.
For those who want a quick look at findability and how it compares to search engine optimization, this presentation on SlideShare, Findability: Going Beyond SEO, is perfect. Aarron Walter has presented a comprehensive findability checklist as well.
If you peek at the URL for Aarron’s checklist you’ll notice he mentions web standards. That’s right folks, web standards help make your site findable and more easily accessible by both screen readers and search engines too. Finally, as the value of search engine and other online marketing methods are recognized, people are seeing the importance of accessible, standards-compliant code and development.
More information on findability to follow in future posts. In the meantime, if you want to dive deep into findability on your own, check out Aarron Walter’s book, Building FIndable Websites. Ambient Findability by Peter Morville is excellent as well and comes highly recommended.
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Thanks to Jess McMullin’s comment about “T shaped people” I am fascinated by the subject.
It means that the days of being a specialist are over. Not to be confused with a “jack of all trades” T-shaped people have a core competency, but can easily branch out. And they possess curiosity, empathy and aren’t afraid to ask “why”.
So what are the signs of a T-shaped person? Look for experimentation in their background. Have they worked in different areas of expertise? Have they experienced different mediums? Are they willing to place themselves in the shoes of others and throw pre-conceived notions out the window? Do they step out of comfort zones on a regular basis? Do they occasionally make you nervous?
Here’s another take, on Word Spy, “Having skills and knowledge that are both deep and broad”.
My problem is, I’ve got the broad, but desperate to take it deeper – from all the theory I’ve read and background I have into practical experience doing it in the real world.
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Yesterday I was considering the commonly recognized generations – the Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y. I had been watching HFI’s webcast on “the generational dilemma” as to who we are designing for. The speakers pointed out that most designers find themselves in Generation X, yet Generation Y is a much larger population, and in fact, X is a smaller group sandwiched between the Boomers and Y. So, are X’s realizing how they design, and whether it appeals to other X’s, or to Boomers and Y’s?
I was surprised when in a group with several people I considered roughly my age and older that the majority felt Facebook, Twitter, and other similar online tools were at best a waste of time. To me these are a way of life – instinctive and natural, and part of my day. I’m as likely to check Twitter first thing in the morning as I am to brush my teeth or wash my face. That is apparently a very Generation Y point of view.
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Recently there was one red question on Red Canary that had me thinking. The question was, what advice would you give to a young graduate starting a tech career. More specifically though, I was intrigued by some of the answers. I’m in no position to give advice but I could use it. One answer that caught my eye suggested going deep, not broad, since “Being all-rounded actually sucks, because it means you aren’t really good at anything”.
Is that true though?
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