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Quote of the Week:

Crowded

For the record, InDesign's palette interface makes it very clear why you should only use their software on a two-monitor setup. One for the layout, and another for the palettes. I'm working on my 15" Mac lappy away from the office right now, and it's none too easy to see a screen-ful of design-space when you've got a fifth of the screen width taken up by this:

Yes yes yes, I know I can collapse these, but when you're manipulating color, typography, and strokes over and over and over, it doesn't really make sense to do that, now, does it?

Labels: software, UX

posted at 10:22 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

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2.03.2010

One more reason to stop using Internet Explorer 6 and upgrade already

Google announced that it's discontinuing support of Internet Explorer 6. This is welcome news, as it's one of the largest resource sinkholes any web developer has to face when working on site design and development. And there are some much better, more compliant browsers out there for people to use, in any case. Now, some organizations' audiences still skew heavily toward IE6, and I (and others) will assuredly continue to develop sites that are IE6 compliant when necessary; but I think it's safe to say that it's no longer a standard that most developers will hew to automatically.

Google is the latest, not the first, large web-based concern to move away from IE6 compliance. IE6 accounts for just over ten percent of total browser usage as of January 2010. That's down nearly 50% from January 2009. At this rate, IE 6 will account for something just north of 6% total user share by January 2011.

IE6 denial message image courtesy of RobotJohnny

Labels: usability, UX, W3C, web design

posted at 2:27 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

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1.18.2010

New York Times' Times Reader site seems to be "Unavailable"

In getting info ready for a story, I noticed that all links to the New York Times' Times Reader application (an Adobe AIR-powered desktop news reader app) are unavailable. And it's not just one URL. All the URLs leading to any mention of the Times Reader, even those linked within Times stories about the Reader, are busted. Might just be some late-night maintenance, but any hiccup involving the Times' online delivery of news at this point, with a rumored deal between the Times and Apple (of the rumored soon-to-be-unveiled slate-newsy-reading device) in the works....makes you wonder.

Labels: newspapers, usability, UX

posted at 10:59 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

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1.08.2010

User experience nostalgia

I was installing a driver for my Epson scanner last night, and noticed that while some of the progress window elements were using OS X-styled elements, there were a lot of elements in there that come straight from the OS 9 days. Keep in mind OS 9 was in vogue over ten years ago. The progress bar, in particular, is a straight holdover from OS 8.6.

So, are the folks at Installer VISE lazy, or nostalgic, or nonexistent?

Labels: mac, software, UX

posted at 8:00 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

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12.16.2009

New microsite design for the Environmental Defense Fund is live

I worked with the fine folks at Fenton Communications last month to create a web page UX for the Environmental Defense Fund's Catch Shares advocacy program. The site went live late last week, and it's full of good info on how to take action to support this important effort.

The site design was done via a Photoshop master file, which took into account elements of the end-user's CMS that would be strictly CSS and php-based, as well as strictly graphical elements such as icons and the larger call to action image used in the main section of the landing page. I worked with Fenton to ensure we complied with EDF's new brand identity guidelines, and to make sure the graphics, language, and presentation stayed on-message and appealed to the target audience.

To see how things can change, subtly, between the final design phase and the coding and implementation, here's a side-by-side comparison of the final interface design and the executed, coded page. The fact that the CSS and PHP elements so closely match the design file is due to attention to the details of sizing, color, etc. on the design end, and the great follow-through on the coding end at the EDF.

Here's the design:

And the final site rendering. Note the change in language in the call to action image:

Labels: interface, nonprofits, UX, web design

posted at 1:14 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

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