Siolon

I hate JavaScript. I mean I really hate JavaScript. Dealing with different implementations of the DOM between browsers is a menace I couldn’t duplicate if I tried. I’ve tried JS libraries from Mootools, script.aculo.us, and so on until recently. I knew jQuery existed, but I didn’t realize how powerful the language was until recently. When I realized I could select and manipulate DOM elements with CSS selectors then I was off to the races! I love how it’s tailored for designers who already understand that syntax. There is no more getElementById(”search”) or other garbage, because (read more...)

Usability testing is often overlooked to the peril of both the developer and the consumer. I was convicted reading Steve Krug’s book on usability to go ahead with testing even if it’s small and cheap. In doing this for the recent design of this site I wanted to share how I did usability testing for all of $60. Feedback Form The first thing I did was create a form in Wufoo, a powerful form building application, to receive feedback. I made it simple and short (I had to keep it to 10 fields in the free version). (read more...)

I just came across a fantastic document published very recently from the W3C that talks about “best practices” in web design. The document is called “HTML Design Principles,” and I believe it contained a few things that I left out of my last list. Internationalization Under the heading of “Support World Languages” is the topic of internationalization. This is extremely important especially if you want your product/application to be usable by the vast majority of the modern world! This doesn’t mean that you need to translate into every language, but there are certain principles such (as mentioned) supporting Unicode (read more...)

At work we are currently re-doing the architecture of our user interface (UI) layer. We sat down to discuss what our objectives should be in doing this initiative, and I found the objectives so compelling that I think it could apply to any user interface. Below are the major objectives in constructing a UI: consistency, usability, navigation, visual appeal, interoperability, performance, and accessibility. I should first say that this list and its corresponding description are not intended to be exhaustive. I realize that there are many layers of complexity in this endeavor. Also, you’ll see how inter-dependent (read more...)

I gave the following presentation at my day job, and I thought others might benefit. That, and I think that SlideShare is a cool app! | View | Upload your own (read more...)