Patternry Design Pattern Library Builder
Patternry Library Builder is the fastest way to build a user interface design pattern library for your organization. Designers and developers can use Patternry to document, share, and collaborate on their design patterns and components. Consistent, usable user interfaces get built when developers and designers communicate and share their ideas clearly. Patternry makes this happen. Other benefits of having a user interface design pattern library include: -Consistent user interfaces. -Decreased design and development cycle times. -Design documentation that people actually use. -Increased design knowledge. -Supporting culture towards UX. P.S. We have also an Open Web design pattern library that is free to copy, reuse and adapt, under Creative Commons license. Use it to find solutions to your design problems, get inspired, or if you’re new to design patterns, just take a look to see what they are all about.
January 31, 2012
Yes We Can: The Future of Government Online

The Internet revolution has presented public institutions with perhaps their greatest opportunity in history to transform government services and people's relationship to them. Yet for many citizens today, the federal government web remains a backwater of hard-to-find information, poor usability, and outdated design.

This white paper offers public sector leaders an accessible vision for the future of government online as they evaluate and embrace the Internet to improve services and operations, as well as some practical tips for achieving that vision within their organization.

December 21, 2011
Web Copy That Works: 7 Rules For Success

What's the fastest and least expensive way to improve the business performance of your web sites, emails and online newsletters? It's not web 2.0, AJAX or social networking. It's better copy.

Persuasive copywriting is the cornerstone of a successful online business presence, yet most organizations continue to treat copy as an afterthought. This white paper addresses the key best practices that will help your team write web copy that gets read and inspires action.

Includes a resource list of helpful books and websites.

December 21, 2011
Developing Mobile Apps with Web Technologies

Palm executives including VP, Directors, and Senior Product Managers lead a course on mobile application development on the WebOS. Students have the unique opportunity to attain the technical knowledge needed to create their own apps, get insider information about the application submission process at companies like Apple and Palm, and network with various members of Palm's executive team. The goal of the course is to give students the tools they need to become successful mobile application developer, from rigorous technical experience to valuable personal connections. Prerequisites: CS106B or X highly recommended.

November 23, 2011
Retrospective on the Design and Philosophy of Firefox

I recently had the opportunity to speak at BayCHI, where I gave a comprehensive review of the mission, philosophy, and specific heuristics that have guided Firefox's visual and interactive design through versions 3 and 4. This presentation was given at PARC on the eve of Firefox 4's launch.

I opened with a discussion of net neutrality, the underlying ideological roots of the PC industry, and Mozilla's mission to protect the Web. If you aren't that in to Internet freedom (really?), skip on ahead to time marker 9:35 where I describe two conflicting philosophies of UX design, and where Mozilla lands on that spectrum.

At time marker 19:20, I dive into the specific usability principles that have driven Firefox's design. These principles include:

November 02, 2011
Alex Faaborg
Review of Lou Rosenfeld's "Search Analytics for Your Site"

It’s taken a while to arrive, but Lou Rosenfeld’s Search Analytics for Your Site: Conversations with Your Customers was definitely worth the wait. Rosenfeld is an important voice in the information architecture and UX community, considered by many to be a pioneer in the information architecture space after writing the seminal “Polar Bear Book,” Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, with Peter Morville in 2002.

October 21, 2011
Lynne Polischuik
Web Forms How-To Part 2: Helpful and Trusted

Web forms are the web equivalent of the sales agent in a store. Many anonymous people are entering the store and the sales agent wants to convert them into customers. The agent has his smile and is ready to help prospective clients with anything. Web forms need to have this same positive demeanor, to be helpful and inspire confidence.

Hanging lots of shiny logos from MasterCard, Visa, VerySign, SSLsecured, iTrust, etc. on your site can be helpful, but it’s surely not enough to gain user’s trust. Also, putting too many logos on your form will confuse users. They will not know with whom they are dealing: Visa, Paypal, VerySign, iTrust, CCBill, Oracle, Google… Limit to only what is necessary: payment methods logos integrated into the form as selectable options and one third-party verifier (VerySign, iTrust, etc). The logo of the trusted authority should have a link that will redirect users to a page on the authority website certifying your SSL certificate, your URL, and your form. Also, asking for things that are not necessary or are too personal will, most likely, drive users away.

October 19, 2011
Eduard Martini
Web Forms How-To Part 1: Simplicity

At one point in the history of UX design there was almost hysteria for simplicity, with many people claiming that simplicity was always good and complexity was always bad. Lately, though, it’s become clear that not everything can have only one button, and pursuit of simplicity by omitting important functionality is not good for user experiences. A certain level of complexity is good as long as it adds value through functionality. The optimal level of complexity any given certain product is totally dependent on the particulars of the product, so it’s impossible to define a sweet spot for every possible product.

But for signup forms, it is possible to know that sweet spot: the acceptable level of complexity is zero. There should be no complexity in a signup form because it provides no functionality and value that the user actually wants; all the value is for the website owner.

September 20, 2011
Eduard Martini
Usability Week 2011 Las Vegas

 

The Usability Week 2011 Conference

Many conferences offer cavernous exhibit halls, brief seminars on second-hand discoveries, and a sense of anonymity that can be truly alienating.

Usability Week takes a different approach.

Knowledge, Directly from the Source

In place of scattered, shallow talks, Usability Week offers up to 6 days of deep learning as international experts lead full-day tutorials on topics such as:

 

 

  • Fundamental guidelines for Web usability
  • Applying information architecture (IA) principles
  • Writing for the Web
  • Application design
  • Integrating social features on mainstream websites
  • The human mind (how your users think)
  • Mobile websites and touchscreen/gesture apps

 

Course levels range from introductory to advanced; you can sign up for as few as 1 or 2 days or as many as 6.

Industry leaders carefully design each tutorial to emphasize practical application, offering you maximum return-on-investment.

September 19, 2011
Usability Week 2011 London

 

The Usability Week 2011 Conference

Many conferences offer cavernous exhibit halls, brief seminars on second-hand discoveries, and a sense of anonymity that can be truly alienating. Usability Week takes a different approach. Knowledge, Directly from the Source. In place of scattered, shallow talks, Usability Week offers up to 6 days of deep learning as international experts lead full-day tutorials on topics such as:

 

  • Fundamental guidelines for Web usability
  • Applying information architecture (IA) principles
  • Writing for the Web
  • Application design
  • Integrating social features on mainstream websites
  • The human mind (how your users think)
  • Mobile websites and touchscreen/gesture apps

 

Course levels range from introductory to advanced; you can sign up for as few as 1 or 2 days or as many as 6.

Industry leaders carefully design each tutorial to emphasize practical application, offering you maximum return-on-investment.

September 19, 2011