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goldeniganesh wants to speak to you on Skype

2011-01-30T16:27:00.001+05:30

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The Future of Interface Design

2009-11-19T11:56:00.007+05:30

Did you know the first “brain-tweet” was sent out this year? How about that we may someday be customizing windshields with widgets? In the not-to-distant future, we may be interfacing with computers in exciting and innovative new ways.

In the grand scheme of history, it wasn’t long ago that the first telephone conversation took place. Relatively speaking, that makes the personal computer an invention of yesteryear, and social networking only a blink of an eye later. Just imagine what’s coming in the near future…

The future of how we interact with computers is exciting to say the least. What once seemed like nonsense outside of Hollywood and Science Fiction is now starting to find it’s way into reality, and some of the technology is a bit overwhelming. Have a taste of what the future of interface design has to offer:

F/A-18C HUD by RealD

or HUD’s were originally developed for military aviation so that pilots could keep their heads up, HUD’s have found their place in many more applications. Today they can be found in many cars and in a wide variety of experimental scenarios.

CONSUMER VEHICLES

Some of today’s cars are already offering HUD’s that display information such as speed or RPM’s directly onto the windshield. There are even helmet mounted Heads Up Displays available for motorcyclists now. So far we’ve only dabbled in the field of vehicular HUD’s though.

A patent from Microsoft reveals that the company may look into creating windshield HUD’s in cars that display all sorts of information from temperature to email. Maybe someday we’ll even have windshields with enhanced night vision, or even customizable widgets.

EYEWEAR

There are many new eyewear HUD products on the horizon including a pair of specs being developed by Brother, and eye-gesture glasses developed by German researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems.

Applications for these devices include navigating with augmented reality software, assisting engineers and doctors, or even something as simple as watching a movie or browsing the internet… only you get to do it hands free.

It appears that many of the newer eyewear HUD products may start emerging as soon as 2010, but the exact specifications and pricing is a bit blurry. Until then, if you’re a DIY kind of person you might be able to hack a wearable computer with a heads-up displayof your own like this guy.

Gestural Interfaces allow computers to recognize natural human idiosyncrasies and actions. For example, there are quite a few gesture-based systems that decipher emotions in human faces or the “hidden” language of hand motions.

Often times, gestures act as a more seamless way to communicate with machines. For example, the iPhone bump application allows two users to exchange contact information by literally “bumping” their phones into each other. Such an action could be compared to bumping into someone, or swapping business cards, and feels more natural to the end user.

Likewise, the Palm Pre has a “gesture pad” that recognizes basic thumb swipe patterns: swipe from right-to-left to go back, throw an application off the screen to exit, or slowly drag up to bring up a global navigation menu.

You may already be aware that there are tablets that can learn your unique handwriting patterns and transcribe written text with a pen into plain text for use computer documents. What may blow your mind though is that a group of scientists have a working model of a new system that does this without the pen. That’s right, you scribble your thoughts into thin air, and a computer transcribes it into editable text.

Whatever the application, gesture interfaces that recognize human body language instead of archaic data entry are here to stay. They’re intuitive, user friendly, and it may even be appropriate to call them “fun“. Have you seen the latest iPod’s? Just shake them to shuffle your music library!

For more information, you can pick up a copy of Designing Gestural Interfaces: Touchscreens and Interactive Devices, by Dan Saffer.

There have been a couple of very promising developments coming from the Entertainment industry for spatial Motion Interfaces: interfaces that translate movement captured in a three-dimensional space into inputs on a device. Almost everyone knows about the Nintendo Wii’s motion controllers. Sony and Microsoft are also hopping on board, introducing their own technologies in the coming years.

Microsoft Xbox’s Project Natal turns the user into the controller.

The PlayStation Motion Controller is Sony PlayStation’s response to market demand for a motion controller, one-upping the Wii’s Motion controller by tracking distance on top of motion and rotation. Perhaps even more exciting in the field of spatial Motion Interfaces is Microsoft Xbox’s Project Natal which uses no controller whatsoever, instead tracking the human body as the means for controls.

Outside of the gaming industry, Toshiba has been developing their own hardwarethat appears to be taken straight out of Minority Report. They hope that someday their technology will become more available in the mainstream markets.

Wikitude AR Travel Guide

GPS systems, though useful, have begun to lose their luster as they find their way into more devices. What if instead of showing an overhead map of the area with an overlaying route, your GPSrevealed directions directly on a live video feed of your current location?

That would be cool, huh?

Such is one of many potential applications of augmented realitysystems: live views of real-world environments combined with computer generated imagery. It’s not just your imagination. In fact, some devices including a hefty number of smart phones are already finding themselves victims to AR software (Maybe you’ve heard of theWikitude Travel Guide)

Augmented reality isn’t limited to navigation of course. There are already applications like Yelp for the iPhone that streams user reviews of restaurants over the camera feed; or Nokia’s Point and Find that allows users to find relevant information about objects simply by pointing your phone camera at it; and many other practical ideas that may become a reality in the near future.

NEURAL BASED INTERFACES

Telepathy may be the works of science fiction, but with the use of new neural computer interfaces, there may be a time in the future where sending thoughts becomes common practice. It was actually earlier this year that the first tweet was sent via brain from theUniversity of Wisconsin’s Neural Interface Lab.

Another company, Braingate, has developed a similar technology that has allowed paralyzed participants to check email, or even play a game of pong using only their mind.

The technology works by implanting a small microchip in the users brain which analyzes pulses as inputs for the devices being used. Of course, the technology is still in it’s infant stages allowing the average user to write at approximately 10 characters per minute, but the applications for such a technology are limitless. Disabled users who previously have had little or no access to email or the internet can use this technology to communicate like never before.

It is hoped that someday this technology will go beyond the trivial game of pong and even help those who are paralyzed by creating a connection between the brain and muscles where a spinal cord injury otherwise prohibits communication. Such a connection may allow paralyzed users to someday move certain muscles again, and perhaps even walk.

VOICE BASED INTERFACES

Left: iPhone | Right:Tom Clancy’s EndWar

Vocal Interfaces aren’t exactly new, but we keep finding new applications for them. From cell phones that recognize basic commands and names, to video games that respond to speech (such as the game “Tom Clancy’s: EndWar” which can be controlled entirely by voice commands), we’ve seen some innovative applications thus far.

MIT recently developed a wheelchair with a voice interface that not only responds to speech, but also saves detailed maps in memory and can take the user to their desired location via simple voice command. Another relatively new application of voice interfaces includes Google Mobiles “Search by Voice” commands.

Last but not least, interface designers are tapping into something almost as ubiquitous as air itself: surfaces.

If you want to see a truly inspiring look of what the future may be more like, you’ve gotta take a minute to watch Microsoft’s vision of the future. If it doesn’t make you want to live in the future, nothing will.

Okay, so maybe were a ways off from this, but there are a definitely few conceptual ideas worth getting excited over. For one, CRISTAL is a smart surface that takes on the form of a common table. What’s not so common however is that this table can control many of the electronic devices in your room, such as TV’s, Sound Systems, Lights, Radios, and even DVD Players.

There’s also a group of MIT students who have developed a prototype systemthat could potentially turn any surface into a smart surface using a webcam and projector. Pick up a newspaper, and watch a video of the headline news directly on the paper. Need to dial a friend? Hold out your hand to let a number pad appear before your eyes. It’s a concept of course, but definitely one I could get behind.

Original post from: www.uxbooth.com

MyFontbook, A Browser-Based Free Font Viewer

2009-09-01T13:35:00.000+05:30

MyFontbook is an unique online font viewer that helps save designers time by providing a number of tools to view installed fonts quickly and easily. Unlike a classic font management tool, MyFontbook is platform independent and can be used freely through any web browser. MyFontbook tries to fill the gap between the limited font tools provided by your operating system and the expensive font management applications aimed at power users.

Salient Features

The font viewer window provides an overview of all your installed fonts, rendered and sorted for you convenience.
Print a selected font with several style samples with the click of a button.
Save tons of time by tagging fonts you are considering for an upcoming project, or rating fonts that you use frequently.
Typeface characters are easy to preview and listed with each ascii character code to make adding to web pages easy.
View your font collection in the condensed swatch view, or switch to list view to see each typeface with expanded example text.
Easily change the sample text to view all your fonts rendered by example.
The font viewer displays a sample of the selected typeface in a paragraph format so you can decide if the font fits your copy.

Original Post from www.smashingapps.com

10 User Interface Design Fundamentals

2009-08-21T12:13:00.004+05:30

It’s no great mystery that truly great user interfaces are the ones that are engineered to stay out of the way.

‘Staying out of the way’ means not distracting your users. Rather, good UIs let your users complete goals. The result? A reduction in training and support costs, and happier, satisfied and highly engaged users.

When getting started on a new interface, make sure to remember these fundamentals …

Editor’s Note: Kyle will be talking about User Interface Design at The Future of Web Design NYC.

1. Know your user

“Obsess over customers: when given the choice between obsessing over competitors or customers, always obsess over customers. Start with customers and work backward.” – Jeff Bezos

Your user’s goals are your goals, so learn them. Restate them, repeat them. Then, learn about your user’s skills and experience, and what they need. Find out what interfaces they like and sit down and watch how they usethem. Do not get carried away trying to keep up with the competition by mimicking trendy design styles or adding new features. By focusing on your user first, you will be able to create an interface that lets them achieve their goals.

2. Pay attention to patterns

Users spend the majority of their time on interfaces other than your own (Facebook, MySpace, Blogger, Bank of America, school/university, news websites, etc). There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Those interfaces may solve some of the same problems that users perceive within the one you are creating. By using familiar UI patterns, you will help your users feel at home.

CoTweet uses a familiar UI pattern found in email applications.

3. Stay consistent

“The more users’ expectations prove right, the more they will feel in control of the system and the more they will like it.” – Jakob Nielson

Your users need consistency. They need to know that once they learn to do something, they will be able to do it again. Language, layout, and design are just a few interface elements that need consistency. A consistent interface enables your users to have a better understanding of how things will work, increasing their efficiency.

4. Use visual hierarchy

“Designers can create normalcy out of chaos; they can clearly communicate ideas through the organizing and manipulating of words and pictures.” – Jeffery Veen, The Art and Science of Web Design

Design your interface in a way that allows the user to focus on what is most important. The size, color, and placement of each element work together, creating a clear path to understanding your interface. A clear hierarchy will go great lengths in reducing the appearance of complexity (even when the actions themselves are complex).

5. Provide feedback

Your interface should at all times speak to your user, when his/her actions are both right and wrong or misunderstood. Always inform your users of actions, changes in state and errors, or exceptions that occur. Visual cues or simple messaging can show the user whether his or her actions have led to the expected result.

BantamLive provides inline loading indicators for most actions within their interface.

6. Be forgiving

No matter how clear your design is, people will make mistakes. Your UI should allow for and tolerate user error. Design ways for users to undo actions, and be forgiving with varied inputs (no one likes to start over because he/she put in the wrong birth date format). Also, if the user does cause an error, use your messaging as a teachable situation by showing what action was wrong, and ensure that she/he knows how to prevent the error from occurring again.

A great example can be seen in How to increase signups with easier captchas.

7. Empower your user

Once a user has become experienced with your interface, reward him/her and take off the training wheels. The breakdown of complex tasks into simple steps will become cumbersome and distracting. Providing more abstract ways, like keyboard shortcuts, to accomplish tasks will allow your design to get out of the way.

8. Speak their language

“If you think every pixel, every icon, every typeface matters, then you also need to believe every letter matters. ” – Getting Real

All interfaces require some level of copywriting. Keep things conversational, not sensational. Provide clear and concise labels for actions and keep your messaging simple. Your users will appreciate it, because they won’t hear you – they will hear themselves and/or their peers.

9. Keep it simple

“A modern paradox is that it’s simpler to create complex interfaces because it’s so complex to simplify them.” – Pär Almqvist

The best interface designs are invisible. They do not contain UI-bling or unnecessary elements. Instead, the necessary elements are succinct and make sense. Whenever you are thinking about adding a new feature or element to your interface, ask the question, “Does the user really need this?” or “Why does the user want this very clever animated gif?” Are you adding things because you like or want them? Never let your UI ego steal the show.

10. Keep moving forward

Grandpa Bud: If I gave up every time I failed, I would never have invented my fireproof pants!
[Pants burn up, revealing his underwear]
Grandpa Bud: Still working the kinks out a bit.
from Meet the Robinsons

Meet the Robinsons is one of my all time favorite movies. Throughout the movie Lewis, the protagonist, is challenged to “keep moving forward.” This is a key principle in UI design.

It is often said when developing interfaces that you need to fail fast, and iterate often. When creating a UI, you will make mistakes. Just keep moving forward, and remember to keep your UI out of the way.

Editor’s Note: Come hear Kyle speak about User Interface Design at The Future of Web Design NYC.

Original Post from carsonified.com

10 Excellent Services To Get Feedback For Your Design Works

2009-08-04T21:29:00.002+05:30

Everybody wants to receive feedback from friends about their hard work, but sometimes we also need opinions coming from complete strangers, maybe some rough critiques about aspects we might have overlooked. This way we could get some ideas on how to upgrade the work. Here are 10 excellent feedback services you should start using right now.

PS: You might also like this one: UX Madness – 20 Fantastic Resources For User Experience Know How

Five Second Test

A simple & Free online usability test that helps you identify the most prominent elements of your user interfaces.

Concept Feedback

Designed specifically for small and medium business marketers, graphic designers, and web developers, Concept Feedback provides a simple tool to get quality feedback on marketing concepts. Best of all, it’s 100% FREE!

Design Critique

Challenge: Respond to any of our tweets critiquing a site design. Remember, it’s 140 characters MAX.

QBN

If you make an account, then push Broadcast and ask the awesome community for a design critique, you’ll get some feedback right away. Tip: don’t expect to be positive!

Usabilla

Create an online test and start collecting visual feedback for your website or image in five minutes.

Feedback Army

Start a usability test for your web project in two minutes. Submit questions about your site and receive ten responses from our reviewers. The cost is $10.

OpenHallway

1. Create usability test scenarios. 2. Invite testers to record the test through a link. 3. Watch and hear real people use your app.

Get Satisfaction

Get Satisfaction provides customer communities for products and organizations.

UserVoice

Your customers have great ideas. Are you ready to listen? Uservoice communities are the easiest way to turn customer feedback into action.

Wave

Post from www.inspiredm.com

25 Elegant Workstations for Your Inspiration

2009-07-22T12:15:00.002+05:30

Whether you work on a Mac, a PC, or both - the way your workstation is set up reveals a lot about your sense of style and work attitude. Have a comfortable place where you can do your work can lead to increased creativity and productivity.

This collection presents some excellent examples of elegant, beautiful, cozy, and well-designed workspaces so that you might get some ideas and inspiration from them.

1. Workspace by Hey Brad

2. Foto de Familia: iMac, Macbook, Macbook Pro & Macbook Air

3. CodyRS Mac Setup

4. 2 Apple Cinema Displays and Macbook Pro

5. Apple Fanboy? by sandercw

6. SonyLand by Uberrob

7. Triple monitor setup by tigersharkbas

8. Battlefan’s Workspace

9. Justin Griswold’s Desk

10. Simbe90 Desk Setup

11. Workspace 2.1 by Yves Huy Truong

12. Current workspace setup by Rodrigo Haenggi

13. iMac and MacBook

14. Mr billiam’s Desk

15. 2 Apple Cinema Displays and Macbook Pro by Psleda

16. Work space, games space

17. The Newness

18. Stage C at Novastar Post in Hollywood, CA

19. May ‘09 Desktop by Psleda

20. 9920 x 1600 pixels

21. David Bosman’s Workspace

22. Workspace by No Robotocha!

23. Home Office by SeanOsteen

24. Setup by Austin Grade

25. My Rig: 2009 Edition by FlySi

Show us your own workstations

Do you have a photo of your workspace? Why don’t you show it off to us by linking to it in the comments!

Post from www.sixrevisions.com

7 Ways to Build Trust on a Portfolio Site

2009-07-22T11:22:00.000+05:30

7 Ways to Build Trust on a Portfolio Site

1. About Us Page

Clients will feel more comfortable working with you if they know a little bit more about you as a person or company. Let people get to know you instead of appearing as a distant entity with no emotions or history. You don’t have to tell them what you eat for breakfast, but let people know who you are, what you are about and how your business can benefit them.

2. Full Contact Details

The more contact information you have the better. You may prefer only using certain contact methods, but really you need to make the potential client feel comfortable and you will build more trust if you display a variety of contact information including an office phone number, fax, email, and physical address. This information should be displayed on your contact page, about page and even in the header or footer. Make it easy for people to contact you if they need to!

3. Previous Clients List

The portfolio is what most people will go straight for and that’s why it needs to be the best part of your site. You need at least 6-12 pieces in your portfolio, they should be current and you should have information about each project. You should also considering including a page specifically for a previous client list if you have had a lot of clients or well known clients.

Working with brand names of any scale can be a great confidence booster for interested clients, especially if they can relate to one of your previous clients. For example some one with a construction business might be happy to see you have done some great work already for other construction companies.

4. Trust Building Graphics

If people are ordering from your site you should consider adding some trust building graphics such as a PayPal verified logo, SSL certificate symbol, secure checkout graphic and so on. These kind of graphics can make people feel more secure about ordering design services from you online.

5. Organization Memberships

Joining design organizations such as the AIGA and actually taking part in them is not only a great way to be more involved in your industry, but it can show clients you really care about your craft. Feel free to display the organization logos on your website and many organizations already have pre-made member only graphics you can display when you join.

6. Explain the Process

Visitors are coming to your site for information so they can make the best judgment about who to have design their projects. If you explain the process from start to finish and guide customers every step of the way, they will be much more likely to want to work with you. They will feel more knowledgeable and comfortable knowing they have an idea of how it will all work. You should consider creating a page for this or you could create something a little simpler such as a FAQ ( Frequently Asked Questions ) page.

7. Professional Website

This one is pretty obvious, but a lot of designers do not have nice portfolio site. Even if you are not a web designer you still need a nice looking website, because the quality of your website will reflect back on you. If you can’t stand doing website designs or are having trouble finding a good web designer, try purchasing and or modifying a pre-made website template.

There are a lot of websites out there that offer both HTML and WordPress theme portfolio templates, which make it super easy to put up a nice fresh looking portfolio website, ready to attract new clients.

Hope you enjoyed these trust building portfolio site tips!

Post from www.youthedesigner.com

15 Really Useful Web-based HTML Editors

2009-07-21T20:34:00.002+05:30

Web-based HTML Editor, WYSIWYG editor, or rich text editor, is a web component that let users enter rich text input within the browser. Most of the time, these html editors are used within content management systems where administrators or authors can easily create posts and contents from the backend system.

Without talking much, let’s see these powerful Web-based HTML Editors.

1. FCKeditor

FCKeditor is one of the most famous online HTML editor. It brings the power and features of desktop editors to the web. It offers a complete integration pack for ASP, ASP.NET, PHP, Java, Perl, Phyton and etc. It supports skins, spell checker, lightweight, fast and has a lot of cool features.

2. NicEdit

NicEdit is a Javascript that integrates into any web page easily. It can turns any element/div to become editable or convert standard textareas to rich text editing.

3. TinyMCE

TinyMCE is an online wysiwyg html editor released under LGPL license. Like other wysiwyg html editors, it is able to convert textarea or other html elements to editor instances.

4. jwysiwyg

jwysiwyg is a jQuery WYSIWYG plugin with a tiny size (7kb packed). It is very simple and without much features.

5. Yahoo! UI Library: Rich Text Editor

The Rich Text Editor is part of the Yahoo YUI library and users can easily extend the features via creating plugin for it. It is very suitable for those who already familiar with other controls from YUI library.

6. Xinha

Xinha is a powerful WYSIWYG HTML editor component that works in all current browsers. It is built by the open source community, and everyone are welcome to contribute to the project.

7. Openwysiwyg

Openwysiwyg is yet another powerful open source cross browser WYSIWYG editor that contains a lot of features. It enhances table creation and you can easily create tables and customize them with built-in properties.

8. Free Rich Text Editor

Free Rich Text Editor is an extremely easy to use FREE javascript based HTML WYSIWYG editor for your website. It is easy to implement and manage to output XHTML compliant code.

9. WMD: The Wysiwym Markdown Editor

WMD is a simple and lightweight HTML editor which can be used in blog comment section or forum posts.

10. TTW HTML Editor

TTW HTML Editor is a very simple wysiwyg html editor that powered by javascript. Its spell checking feature is powered by SpellerPages, which can easily being implemented by adding parameter to the editor.

11. Free Text Box

FreeTextBox is the most-used HTML editor for ASP.NET. It is compatible with IE on the PC, and Mozilla and Firefox on all platforms.

12. WYMeditor

WYMeditor is a web based XHTML editor. WYMeditor has been created to generate perfectly structured XHTML strict code, to conform to the W3C XHTML specifications and to facilitate further processing by modern applications.

13. BlueShoes Wysiwyg Editor

It is a DHTML and Javascript based editor which has a lot of cool features. For example, user can easily resize the editor, select special characters, and pick color using the color picker tool.

14. markItUp

markItUp! is a JavaScript plugin built on the jQuery library. It is very lightweight and very customizable. You can even define your favorite keyboard shortcuts, which adds extra user friendly feature.

15. SPAW Editor

It is a web based WYSIWYG editor which had tabbed multi-document interface, floating/shared toolbars and a very cool interface. It is available in PHP and .NET versions.

Post from www.webdesignbooth.com

How to make URLs user-friendly

2009-07-21T12:51:00.003+05:30

Summary: One of the worst elements of the web from a user interface standpoint is the URL. However, if they're short, logical, and self-correcting, URLs can be acceptably usable.

Before I delve into this topic, I must admit that I haven't yet decked out my site with friendly URLs. But I'll get right on it! :-)

I hate typing URLs, and I'm sure that millions of other internet users do too. For some time, I had gotten used to bookmarking, but then my bookmark lists became really long, and suffered from extensive linkrot (when pages disappear from where they used to be). Then Netscape surprised me with a nice feature: if I wanted to go to a given .com site, all I needed to do was type the middle part of the name, say, "yahoo", and it would direct me to the right place. But then .net and .org sites started getting popular, and I had to specify the full URL most of the time.

I started running into even bigger problems when I had to write down (on paper, with a pen) a URL, or say it out loud to someone over the phone. Yahoo! is a great place to do research, but their long and complicated (if logical) URLs are absolutely useless once you leave the realm of computer-aided communication. Collaboration over the phone can be tough if you rely on one of the web's best resources; few people have a setup that lets them do everything digitally, everywhere (in libraries, movie theatres, and so on). And I don't know of any other way of telling someone a URL over the phone (not until we get simultaneous instant messaging and voice phones, anyway).

Four characteristics that make URLs user-friendly

short
lowercase
plain language
conventional
self-correcting

I don't think I've ever seen URLs that have all four characteristics of user-friendliness. Yahoo's URLs tend to be in plain language, but they certainly aren't short or lowercase. They're not conventional or self-correcting either.

A definition of short

I define short URLs to be no more than two levels deep (i.e. example.com/jobs/toronto/) and consisting of no hyphenated, underscored, or lengthy versions of words. How does this work?

Instead of "example.com/employment/greater_toronto_area/", use "example.com/jobs/toronto"
Instead of buying "sultans-of-swing.org", buy "sos.org", "sultansos.org", or "swingsultans.org"

Short URLs are better because they're easier to type, easier to remember, and easier to write down or say out loud in conversation.

A definition of lowercase

I'm not sure this needs any explanation, but just in case: lowercase means no capital letters.

Instead of "example.com/Employment/Greater_Toronto_Area/", use "example.com/jobs/toronto"

URLs with mixes of capital and lowercase letters are harder to type than all-lowercase URLs, hard to remember, and hard to say out loud in conversation.

A definition of plain language

I'm basing this guideline on English, but it probably applies to many other languages as well.

For heaven's sake, don't use technical jargon or strange abbreviations in URLs. Don't use symbols and codes. Think of how users perceive the thing you're trying to position on the website:

Instead of "example.com/Employ/loc?=$GTA_Toronto/", use "example.com/jobs/toronto"
Instead of "example.com/prods/RAM/", use "example.com/products/memory/", or better yet, "example.com/memory/"

Yes, URLs in plain language are easier to remember, say, write down, and type. A lot of people don't even know that~ is a "tilde". To them it's just a squiggly thing. "So you go to example dot com, and then a slash, then a squiggly thing..."

A definition of conventional

Being conventional in URLs is tougher than the other guidelines, but it's just as important. If most websites use the directory /jobs/ to show employment opportunities, don't use /careers/ or /employment/ or anything else. Being conventional is about anticipating the user's expectations based on Nielsen's Law of the Internet User Experience: users spend most of their time on other sites. If those other sites use specific terminology in their URLs, every site should.

Instead of "example.com/careers/greatLakesRegion/", use "example.com/jobs/toronto"
Instead of "pop3.example.com", use "mail.example.com"

Being conventional isn't a bad idea for other aspets of web design either: feel free to stop using the term "user ID" any time!

And of course, conventional URLs are easier to remember, because there's nothing special or unique about the URL to remember other than the domain name.

A definition of self-correcting

Self-correcting URLs are the best: imagine, if you accidentally type in /Jobs/ instead of /jobs/, or /emplyment/ instead of /employment/, or even /employment/ instead of /jobs/, the web server compensates and directs you to the right place. Pure genius, and it doesn't have to break the back button. In saying that, I advise against using META tags to redirect users. That causes very annoying back button behaviour.

Amazingly, if you're using Apache (a common web server), a little .htaccess configuration can do the trick of correcting URLs. But how do you define the rules for correction?

common spelling errors
common synonyms
all upper and lowercase mixes of the same word, common spelling errors, and common synonyms
any earlier URLs that may have housed the same information (prevents old bookmarks from going bad)

Finding out some of these common spelling errors and common synonyms might take some research, or designers can just put themselves in the user's shoes and think of different ways of saying the same thing. Think: "jobs, employment, careers, opportunities, internships, hiring, human resources, hr..."

Instead of "example.com/emplyment/" generating an error, have it automatically redirect to "example.com/employment/", or better yet, "example.com/jobs/"

One of the nice things about self-correcting URLs is that they take some of the burden away from the other user-friendly URL characteristics. For instance, if you insist on mixing capitals and lowercase letters, like Yahoo!, users can afford to make mistakes with their capitalization, because your web server will automatically compensate and take them where they want to go.

A final thought about URLs

Web users have to deal with these artifacts of the technical web all the time, yet very little attention is paid to their construction or operation. URLs are often the single barrier that prevents millions of users from visiting a site. There is an ad for a great government-sponsored international study program that's plastered all over the Toronto subway system. But the URL for the program is so complicated, I have absolutely no clue what it is. And I resent the fact that the government thinks that I should have a pen and a pad of paper ready on a whim, just to make up for their laziness.

Take a look at your URLs; they could probably benefit from a little tune-up!

Post from www.merges.net

Finding Inspiration When Starting a New Web Project

2009-07-20T18:21:00.001+05:30

The beginning stages of a new web project can often be daunting, especially if there are areas of uncertainty that lie ahead. Believe it or not, this a blessing in disguise! Obstacles in the way of achieving your end result challenge you to be better at what you do. Let’s face it, our jobs would be boring if they were easy! I’m going to show you how to deal with venturing into uncharted territory.

USER REQUIREMENTS

I’m going to briefly touch on user requirements, agreeing an approach with the client should be your first step before a single wireframe sketch or pixel is produced. How do we know what to design or build if we don’t ask what the client wants in the first place? Imagine somebody handing you a pile of bricks and asking you to build them a home. The client leaves for a few months to let you begin building. Three months later, you feel you have built a good two storey house with 5 bedrooms and a garage, but the client returns to say “I was expecting an indoor swimming pool on the 3rd storey and 12 bedrooms”. The client wanted a mansion when all you built was a house. It is always important to outline and agree what you and the client want to achieve at the very beginning. At the very least, it gives you a foundation on which to build your ideas.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

This is part of the requirements stage of a project, it’s healthy to see how the competition accomplishes something similar to what you are looking to achieve. In addition this could also provide inspiration. Going back to the previous analogy about building a house, imagine that the builder is a caveman this time around. He has a set of bricks and all the necessary equipment to build a house but how would he know how to build a house if he has never seen one before? We learn from others, in a competitive analysis we can compare how other websites look and/or function. It’s a good idea to review a few websites in a table, identify the best components and imagine what you would do differently to make it better.

IDEA GENERATION

This is one of my favourite parts of a project, this is where you let your creativity flourish. I find the best way to get your creative juices flowing is to sit down with your project team (if you have one) with an A3 sheet of paper and create a mind map. The process of mind mapping forces you to think of words relating to other words in the form of a spider diagram (see picture).

This process can help you make decisions relating to design and functionality. Say we started work on an email application, I would write the word “Email” in the middle, then branch off from that with words like, “Mail”, “Mailbox”, “Stamp”, “Post It”, and so on. Before you know it we have some design ideas, the logo could feature a stamp, or the stamp could be a piece of functionality. In the email application itself the “stamp” could be a small avatar that is attached to the email message before it is sent, you could then have a “stamp” collection of user avatars that have sent you messages. Mind mapping could lead to ideas that set your project apart from the competition.

SOURCES FOR INSPIRATION

I find real-life situations provide me with the most inspiration, particularly when it comes to functionality in a project. Last week I was working on a project that had a page containing a form that needed completion before proceeding with the rest of the site. I wanted to make the process of using the form more straightforward. My light bulb moment came to me at the end of a car journey one night when I stopped the car, turned off the engine and pulled the key out of the ignition – and there it was! The interior light came on automatically for me and thus cutting out the process of having to switch it on because it was dark! I went right back to the page I was building and had the form appear in a modal window on page load, cutting out steps in the process for the user.

Here are a few websites I occasionally visit for inspiration:

www.deviantart.com
Not only is it a great source of design inspiration, many artists provide free to use icons and stock images for design projects.

www.smashingmagazine.com
Smashing Magazine cover the current trends in web design and usability. It is also a great resource for everything from icons to the latest jQuery techniques.

www.bestwebgallerycom
A great way to explore other professionals work, it is important to remember however that there is a difference between plagiarism and inspiration.

GETTING STARTED!

This is just the beginning, you still have a web project to build! After looking back at your user requirements and any additional functionality you may need, you will be able to put together a technological approach. I use Project Deploy (http://projectdeploy.org/) to get started, it’s a handy website that will compile a website folder structure and add jQuery files to suit your project needs. You should have a look at the 960 Grid System (http://960.gs/) and Adelle Charles’ Grid Based Design Toolbox post (http://www.fuelyourcreativity.com/grid-based-design-toolbox/) for designing and building to a grid based layout.

Now you have the foundations to make a solid start on building a new web project and a few sources of inspiration when you get stuck. Good luck and happy building!

Post from www.fuelyourcreativity.com

What is the purpose of your site?

2009-07-20T11:09:00.003+05:30

Here's one of those 'less talk, more listen' posts. You don't get many from me! I want to know a bit about your websites and your approach and attitude towards their purpose. Is your site(s) designed to make money, inform and educate,publicise a product/service/person or is the purpose unclear - perhaps it's just for fun. For each case, how do you achieve your goals?

Design and Usability

How does your site design contribute to the end goal? With regards to user experience, what do you feel takes priority - enabling visitors to get to where they need to be as quickly as possible, or to provide an enjoyable experience. Or both? And how do you go about achieving this? How much do you feel design contributes towards the overall user experience? Would you prefer a site that is easy to navigate and view, with well written copy and clear structure but features a minimal or unattractive design? Or would you rather a beautiful looking site with fancy dynamic functionality and gimmicks, but 'makes you think' a more? What about a balance of the two. How do you feel you can work to create a website that is fantastically well structured and presented, whilst revealing some tasty eye-candy?

Measuring success

How do you measure your site's success? What do you determine to be 'success'? Site traffic? Perhaps a deeper look at your site's analytis; what do you feel takes precedence? Length of visit, repeat visits,countires visited from, pure volume of traffic? How do these statistics vary depending on your site's purpose? Perhaps you feel the best measure of your site's success is more organic than statistical - the comments you receive, RSS or email subscribers, contact form feedback or a combination of the lot. What do you feel is more important; your visitors experience or the site stats and revenue made?

I want your opinions

Please take the time out to comment below. This post isn't about me or Redswish, I want to know what other people think. Get your site URL in there to get some coverage. I'll be summing up everyone's responses in an article in a few weeks.

Post from http://www.redswish.co.uk

Visual Effects That Entertain And Amuse In Web Design

2009-07-18T18:37:00.002+05:30

Want to turn your first time readers into long term visitors? Sometimes, it isn’t about the golden content you provide or the glorious insight you offer – sometimes it’s all about how much fun your readers have on your website.

This post is all about using visual effects on your blog and website effectively, creatively, and wisely.
Let your readers have fun when they check out your site – make things more interesting, more fun, and more aesthetically appealing, and you will have no issue keeping your readers forever.

Utilize these tools and you’re sure to impress anybody that visits your site. Give them something to play with!

1.Drawer Effect
This example demonstrates the Apple downloads slider/accordion effect using the jQuery Accordion plugin.

Sliding Panels
Plugin for easy implementation of sliding panels.

Highlight and Fade
jQuery plugin used to get the fade and highlight effect.

Carousel
jCarousel is a jQuery plugin for controlling a list of items in horizontal or vertical order.

Simple Modal
A contact form built on SimpleModal.

Star Rating System
This is a jquery plugin for star rating systems.

Switch Stylesheets
The stylesheet switcher allows your visitors to choose which stylesheet they would like to view your site with.

Accordion Menu
Creating an Accordion menu.

Humanized Messages
A large and translucent message that’s displayed over the contents of your screen.

AJAX IM
AJAX IM is a browser-based instant messaging client.

Drag-and-Drop Content
Make any element on your website drag-and-droppable.

Instant Picture Effects
Allows you to add an instant picture effect (including tilt) to images on your webpages.

Fancy Form
FancyForm is a powerful checkbox replacement script used to provide the ultimate flexibility in changing the appearance and function of HTML form elements.

Image Flow
Sleek ‘Cover-Flow’ like effect for your images.

Nice Title
Create a floating title that is placable on any element on your website.

AJAX Poll
Create a fancy AJAX Poll for your website to help interact with your readers.

Curvy Corners
Create some very smooth rounded corners.

Checkbox
A replacement for the standard checkbox that allows you to change the look of checkbox elements in your page.

Post from www.webdesigntuts.com

Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts to Increase Productivity

2009-07-17T18:47:00.003+05:30

via Wikipedia

With all the less pleasant verdicts about Vista, Windows 7 is perhaps PC users’ next best news. Codenamed Blackcomb, this new Microsoft operating system is surely a successor over it’s predecessor Windows XP and definitely Vista. With Microsoft to end their support for Windows XP in 2014, we figured Windows 7 will be completely taking over things in the next year or so.

If you are a Windows users it’s probably time for a change, or at least tryout this new operating system. Here are some shortcut keys to help improve your productivity and user experience with Windows 7. Full list after jump.

General Windows 7 Shortcuts

Shortcut	Description
Win + UP Arrow	Maximize the current window
Win + Down Arrow	Restore down or minimize current windows
Win + Left Arrow	Dock the current window to the left half of the screen
Win + Right Arrrow	Dock the current window to the right half of the screen
Win + [number]	Activate and run the program pinned on Windows 7 Taskbar, running program won’t be affected
Win + Home	Minimize all but the current window
Win + Space	Makes all windows transparent so you can see through to the desktop
Win + Pause/Break	Open System Properties
Win + Tab	Flip Aero 3D [press Tab to cycle between Windows]
Win + B	Move focus to notification tray (the right-most portion of the taskbar)
Win + D	Show/Hide desktop
Win + E	Windows Explorer is launched
Win + F	Search
Win + G	Bring all gadgets on top and foreground
Win + L	Lock Computer
Win + M	Minimize all windows
Win + P	Open the projection menu (generally used for laptops connected to projectors)
Win + R	Run Command is launched.
Win + S	OneNote Screen Clipping Tool
Win + T	Show preview thumbnail of running applications in Windows Taskbar one by one without mouse over
Win + X	Mobility Center
Win + #	Quicklaunch
Win + =	Magnifier
Win + [+/-]	Enables the magnifier and zooms in/out
Win + Shift + Up Arrow	Maximize vertical size
Win + Shift + Down Arrow	Restore vertical size
Win + Shift + Left Arrow	Jump to left monitor
Win + Shift + Right Arrow	Jump to right monitor
Win + Shift + M	Undo all window minimization
Win + Shift + T	Cycles backwards
Win + Ctrl + F	Opens the Active Directory Find Computers dialog
Ctrl + Right Arrow	Move the cursor to the beginning of the next word
Ctrl + Left Arrow	Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous word
Ctrl + Up Arrow	Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous paragraph
Ctrl + Down Arrow	Move the cursor to the beginning of the next paragraph
Ctrl + Click	A pinned taskbar icon to cycle through the program’s open windows (e.g. IE)
Ctrl + Win + Tab	Persistent flip 3D
Ctrl + Shift with an arrow key	Select a block of text
Ctrl with any arrow key + Spacebar	Select multiple individual items in a window or on the desktop
Ctrl + Shift + Esc	Open Task Manager directly
Ctrl + Shift + N	Create new folder

Shortcuts for Ease of Access

Shortcut	Description
Right SHIFT for eight seconds	Turn Filter Keys on and off
Left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN (or PRTSCRN)	Turn High Contrast on or off
Left ALT+left SHIFT+NUM LOCK	Turn Mouse Keys on or off
SHIFT five times	Turn Sticky Keys on or off
NUM LOCK for five seconds	Open the Ease of Access Center
Win + U	Cycle through all open windows

For: Windows Explorer

Shortcut	Description
Alt + Left Arrow	Go back
Alt + Right Arrow	Go forward
Alt + Up Arrow	Go up a directory
Alt + Enter	Open the Properties window of the current selection
Alt + Spacebar	Open the shortcut menu for the active window
Alt + F4	Close the active window
Alt + Tab	Switch to previous active window
Alt + Esc	Cycle through all open windows
Alt + D	Move focus to address bar
Alt + P	Show/hide the preview panel
Ctrl + N	Open a new window
Ctrl + Mousewheel	Change the view type (extra large, small, list view, detail, etc.)
Num Lock + Asterisk (*) on numeric keypad	Display all subfolders under the selected folder
Num Lock + Plus Sign (+) on numeric keypad	Display the contents of the selected folder
Num Lock + Minus Sign (+) on numeric keypad	Collapse the selected folder

For: Taskbar Modifiers

Shortcut	Description
Shift + Click on icon	Open a new instance
Middle click on icon	Open a new instance
Ctrl + Shift + Click on icon	Open a new instance with Admin privileges

For: Dialog Box

Shortcut	Description
Ctrl + Tab	Move forward through tabs
Ctrl + Shift + Tab	Move back through tabs
Shift + Tab	Move back through options
Tab	Move forward through options
Alt + underlined letter	Perform the command (or select the option) that goes with that letter
Enter	Replaces clicking the mouse for many selected commands
Spacebar	Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box
Arrow keys	Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons
Backspace	Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box

For: Photo Gallery

Shortcut	Description
Ctrl + F	Open the Fix pane
Ctrl + P	Print the selected picture
Ctrl + I	Open or close the Details pane
Ctrl + Period (.)	Rotate the picture clockwise
Ctrl + Comma (,)	Rotate the picture counter-clockwise
Ctrl + Mouse scroll wheel	Change the size of the picture thumbnail
Ctrl + B	Best fit
Ctrl + E	Search for an item
Alt + Left Arrow	Go back
Alt + Right Arrow	Go forward
Plus Sign (+)	Zoom in or resize the picture thumbnail
Minus Sign (-)	Zoom out or resize the picture thumbnail
Shift + Delete	Permanently delete the selected item
Enter	View the selected picture at a larger size

Logging In And Out Windows 7

Shortcut	Description
Win + Right Arrow + Enter	Shutdown
Win + Right Arrow + Right Arrow + R	Restart
Win + Right Arrow + Right Arrow + S	Sleep
Win + Right Arrow + Right Arrow + W	Switch users

Post from www.hongkiat.com

Creative Advertising Photography by Thomas Lavezzari

2009-07-17T11:29:00.001+05:30

Amazing and superb creative advertising works by Thomas Lavezzari, professional designer, based in Italy. Thomas is talented artist with over 20 years of experience in photo art and ad.

Original post from http://creadvert.blogspot.com

Users Place More Weight on Design

2009-07-16T16:55:00.009+05:30

The demand for good web design is increasing, revealed a recent Webcopyplusonline poll. Almost 25% of web users indicated "poor visual presentation" as the number one element that drives them away from websites. Only 6.6% of web users who participated in a similar 2007 online poll indicated "poor visual presentation" as the main reason to abandon a website. That equates to a 267% increase during the two-year period.

Our web content specialists believe the increased desire for quality design comes from the fact that Internet users have become increasingly sophisticated. Consequently, more of today’s Internet users understand that a well designed website makes it possible to achieve more, with less time and effort.

A total of 318 web users were asked what’s most likely to drive them away from a website.

50.9% indicated "slow load times"
24.8% noted "weak web copy"
24.2% specified "poor visual presentation"

In the 2007 poll, 51.2% of 258 participants indicated "slow load times" and 42.2% noted "weak web copy" as their biggest turn-offs.

True Beauty Comes From Within

Informed web designers and business owners alike know that design is vital to a successful website, and its beauty must go far beyond looks. While design needs to support a company’s brand positioning, it must also effectively inform, communicate and provide positive experiences.

A winning website is one that delivers useful, relevant content that allows people to accomplish their goals quickly and easily. In today’s hectic society, that’s what makes a great and lasting impression on the Web.

Good design achieves simplicity through a range of elements — from a single point of focus to intuitive information flow to plain, familiar menu names. And as more people flock to the Web for everything from casual encounters to green homes, more businesses will likely lean on web specialists who can contribute to effective design.

Web professionals who specialize in select services, technologies and industries will increasingly thrive with higher tier clients and get paid accordingly. In contrast, jack-of-all-trade web types can’t keep up with every emerging tactic and tool, and they’ll eventually only appeal to and serve clients who are purely price-driven. These clients generally don’t value expertise, nor are they willing to pay for it.

Additionally, web professionals will benefit from the fact that businesses are pushing more of their marketing dollars online – even those businesses that have been hesitant to shift from traditional media such as TV, radio and newsprint.

Moving marketing online makes more sense than ever. Something’s off when typical consumers might spend 25% of their media time on the Web and a company is investing only 5% or so of its marketing budgets on websites and other online promotions.

With almost 75% of global consumers using the Web frequently (Internet World Stats), a $10,000 investment in a website will get almost any business a better return on investment than an ad in a newspaper, magazine or print telephone directory. A website can provide greater reach and superior exposure, and it works for a business 24/7 for multiple years.

Web Copy Carries Punch

With 24.8% of web poll participants indicating weak web copy would most likely prompt them to abandon a website, businesses should continue to take their web writing seriously.

While there appears to be increasing awareness surrounding web writing in general, many businesses continue to fail to recognize what a professional web writer can bring to a website and a business’s bottom line.

Web writers, website content writers, SEO copy writers — call them what you will — these web copy specialists are often not even being considered a part of the equation when it comes to building or overhauling a website.

A well-versed web writer can help a business with everything from attaining traffic via search engines, to differentiating a business from competitors and conveying key benefits effectively, to achieving higher conversion rates.

Fortunately, as of late, there are more web-related organizations and schools introducing copywriting courses specifically for the Web, which promises to increase the supply and qualifications of web writers, particularly in the United States and Canada.

An increase in writers who specialize in the Web will help decrease the ineffective, error-laden, self-centered copy that is so common on the Web.

Need for Speed

More than 50% of poll participants noted that getting their information promptly on the Web is a top concern. Make them wait, and they are likely to hit a competitor’s site.

Good web designers and developers respond by optimizing images, streamlining HTML and avoiding dated gimmicks like Flash intros. But some designers and business owners alike continue to fall into such traps.

A designer recently told me about an architecture company that just spent tens of thousands of dollars on a Flash intro. Unfortunately, web designers and business owners sometimes let their egos get in the way. They fail to acknowledge that when a prospect visits a website looking for information or to complete a task, that Flash intro will only get in the way, and potentially frustrate visitors.

Flash intros were tolerated in the ’90s when the Web was a novelty. People were excited about this new thing called the World Wide Web, and we spent countless hours surfing it. Today, however, most people want to get information and complete tasks in as little time and with as few clicks as possible, so they can get on with their busy lives.

Give Users What They Want

Internet professionals would better serve Internet users by collaborating and delivering simple, fast, useful and convenient websites.

Give Internet users what they want and everyone wins: web users benefit from ease of use and efficiency; businesses enjoy increased leads and sales; and the web professionals maximize income and fill their portfolios with winning websites.

Posted from: www.webdesignerwall.com

Google Maps Typography

2009-07-16T13:55:00.002+05:30

Post from www.keanhui.com

Pantone Typeface

2009-07-16T13:39:00.001+05:30

post fromwww.fubiz.net

Amazing Light Paintings

2009-07-15T20:12:00.001+05:30

Light paintings, also known as light drawing or light graffiti, is a photography technique in which exposures are usually made at night or in a darkened room. The images we are featuring here are from Jan Wöllert and Jörg Miedza, the guys behind LAPP-PRO. The light art performance photography (briefly LAPP) is a one-shot, long time bulb exposure photography, performed additionally with movement of light. LAPP originates on a real-time basis directly in front of the camera, created between opening and closing the shutter.

The work from Jan Wöllert and Jörg Miedza was suggested by one of our readers, longo, who mentioned these guys and asked us for a post about them. As they have some really amazing photos, we made this selection to show you here. Long exposure photography involving light effects are really awesome. We also featured a post about it a while ago, Awesome Light Graffiti Pictures, and here we are again showing nice 'light paintings' to inspire you! In writing this post, I remembered the statement, "In photography, it's all about light." I would say that it all depends on the effect that you want to produce - the correct light, the right amount of light, extra light, 'moving' light and maybe no light! Personally, I really liked LAPP-PRO's photos. They are pure art! And thanks to longo for the great suggestion! Enjoy. :)

Bonus - LAPP Nature

Original Post from : www.abduzeedo.com

Huge Collection of T-Shirt Design Mockup Templates

2009-07-15T19:04:00.005+05:30

Templates are a handy resource for any apparel designer to mockup your awesome tee design and show it off in all its glory. Such resources can be a little tricky to come by, especially those high quality files, but check out this huge collection of T-Shirt mockup templates, featuring plenty of highly useful files in both vector and PSD format for use in your future apparel projects.

Sports Polo T-Shirt Template:

Blank Tee Photos:

DesignByHumans T-Shirt Templates:

Apparel Template Collection:

Free Blank T-Shirt Template:

VIP T-Shirt & Hood Templates:

Vector T-Shirt Template Promo Pack:

Tee Shirt Vector Template:

Free T-Shirt and Sweatshirt Template:

T-Shirt (and shoe) Templates:

Hoodie Template:

Blank T-Shirt Template - White:

Blank T-Shirt Template - Black:

T-Shirt PSD:

T-Shirt Model:

T-Shirt Template:

Original Post from : www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk

Total Experience Design

2009-07-15T17:22:00.004+05:30

For good experience design to work it has to infuse every element of the business. The website, being the primary UI platform, has to be usable, friendly, easy, fast and fun. The importance of this shouldn't be overlooked. People are busy, we don't have time to learn new complicated systems all the time. Convenience is king! But what other points of interaction does the consumer have with a business? When making a sale, either online, over the phone or in person - the service should be exceptional in every way. Too difficult? Why should it be? Aftersales is just as important, if not more important than the actual sales process itself. Reminder and confirmation emails must be smart, personal and inviting. If someone ever rings up or emails customer service the response should be as rapid as possible and personal. Especially with a company starting out small, this shouldn't be difficult. In fact, it should be mantra. What quality is the quality of your product, and your products packaging? How quick is the delivery time? Is your customer excited when they receive your product in the mail? Consider vitually any Apple product. The experience of going into the Apple store, browsing the alluring array of technology on open display, talking with intelligent, enthusastic sales staff, making the transaction (and burning that massive hole in your wallet), walking out of the shop with a lovely Apple bag that draws attention from other shoppers, getting home and slowly unboxing the product is as much an experience in itself as the product is. It's part of the reason Apple get to charge 10x more than the competition, and yet why people remain loyal to them.

Experiences that market themselves

Graze (graze.com) is a great example of a business model built around the user experience. Personally, I believe the procuct they sale is very much overpriced. But so are Apple products, fast cars, Bang & Olufson speakers and anything with 'Louis Vuitton' on it. But the Graze site is fantastically usable and fluid, so much so that it's a pleasure. Messages are personalised. You have the option to completely configure what food items you love, like, don't mind trying and never want to receive. You get a lovely email the day before your box is due to arrive. The box itself is of a high quality, is relatively eco-friendly and sports the Graze branding. The packaging inside is well done. The food sent is fresh and tasty. They also supply a napkin! Within every box you get a nice card informing you exactly what's in your selection and 3 vouchers to give to people for a free trial. You also get £1 off a box for each person you recommend, or you can donate it to some rainforest charity (yay!). A case study business model. Graze has done almost no advertising whatsoever. Almost every single new customer has been by word-of-mouth marketing because of a remarkable product, a fantastic user experience and a great incentive to spread the word.

The consumers voice

One bad experience, just one pissed off customer that just so happens (or maybe not) to be a blogger or socialite with reach can potentially turn hundreds of people away from your business. On the web every consumer is a producer. Everyone has a megaphone. Thus it's essential to remain consistantly great. Listen to what your consumers have to say. Emails should be received and responded to. If a customer has had a bad experience and tries to contact you about it - don't ignore them. Reply immediately, apologise and offer them a refund or future discount or whatever seems relevant. Doing so may have just turned an angry customer into a happy one that goes and tells others about your generosity.

Don't shrug

If that all seems to difficult, you may as well throw the towl in now. Because there's a 100 other companies, freelancers and individuals, charities and organisations that are more than happy to give it a go. And sure as hell if they do right by it you'll be out of the rat race. Something to think about, I guess.

Original Post from : www.redswish.co.uk

8 Characteristics Of Successful User Interfaces

2007-09-19T15:33:00.006+05:30

There is a lot of information out there about various interface design techniques and patterns you can use when crafting your user interfaces and websites, solutions to common problems and general usability recommendations. Following guidelines from experts will likely lead you towards creating a good user interface — but what exactly is a good interface? What are the characteristics of an effective user interface?

Here are 8 things I consider a good user interface needs to be:

Lets take a closer look at each.

1. Clear

Clarity is the most important element of user interface design. Indeed, the whole purpose of user interface design is to enable people to interact with your system by communicating meaning and function. If people can’t figure out how your application works or where to go on your website they’ll get confused and frustrated.

What does that do? Hover over buttons in WordPress and a tooltip will pop up explaining their functions.

2. Concise

Clarity in a user interface is great, however, you should be careful not to fall into the trap of over-clarifying. It is easy to add definitions and explanations, but every time you do that you add mass. Your interface grows. Add too many explanations and your users will have to spend too much time reading through them.

Keep things clear but also keep things concise. When you can explain a feature in one sentence instead of three, do it. When you can label an item with one word instead of two, do it. Save the valuable time of your users by keeping things concise. Keeping things clear and concise at the same time isn’t easy and takes time and effort to achieve, but the rewards are great.

The volume controls in OS X use little icons to show each side of the scale from low to high.

3. Familiar

Many designers strive to make their interfaces ‘intuitive’. But what does intuitive really mean? It means something that can be naturally and instinctively understood and comprehended. But how can you make something intuitive? You do it by making it ‘familiar’.

Familiar is just that: something which appears like something else you’ve encountered before. When you’re familiar with something, you know how it behaves — you know what to expect. Identify things that are familiar to your users and integrate them into your user interface.

GoPlan’s tabbed interface. Tabs are familiar because they mimic tabs on folders. You figure out that clicking on a tab will navigate you to that section and that the rest of the tabs will remain there for further navigation.

4. Responsive

Responsive means a couple of things. First of all, responsive means fast. The interface, if not the software behind it, should work fast. Waiting for things to load and using laggy and slow interfaces is frustrating. Seeing things load quickly, or at the very least, an interface that loads quickly (even if the content is yet to catch up) improves the user experience.

Responsive also means the interface provides some form of feedback. The interface should talk back to the user to inform them about what’s happening. Have you pressed that button successfully? How would you know? The button should display a ‘pressed’ state to give that feedback. Perhaps the button text could change to “Loading…” and it’s state disabled. Is the software stuck or is the content loading? Play a spinning wheel or show a progress bar to keep the user in the loop.

Instead of gradually loading the page, Gmail shows a progress bar when you first go to your inbox. This allows for the whole page to be shown instantly once everything is ready.

5. Consistent

Now, I’ve talked before about the importance of context and how it should guide your design decisions. I think that adapting to any given context is smart, however, there is still a level of consistency that an interface should maintain throughout.

Consistent interfaces allow users to develop usage patterns — they’ll learn what the different buttons, tabs, icons and other interface elements look like and will recognize them and realize what they do in different contexts. They’ll also learn how certain things work, and will be able to work out how to operate new features quicker, extrapolating from those previous experiences.

The Microsoft Office user interface is consistent for a reason.

6. Attractive

This one may be a little controversial but I believe a good interface should be attractive. Attractive in a sense that it makes the use of that interface enjoyable. Yes, you can make your UI simple, easy to use, efficient and responsive, and it will do its job well — but if you can go that extra step further and make it attractive, then you will make the experience of using that interface truly satisfying. When your software is pleasant to use, your customers or staff will not simply be using it — they’ll look forward to using it.

There are of course many different types of software and websites, all produced for different markets and audiences. What looks ‘good’ for any one particular audience will vary. This means that you should fashion the look and feel of your interface for your audience. Also, aesthetics should be used in moderation and to reinforce function. Adding a level of polish to the interface is different to loading it with superfluous eye-candy.

Google are known for their minimalist interfaces that focus on function over form, yet they clearly spent time polishing off the Chrome user interface elements like buttons and icons to make them look just right as evident by the subtle gradients and pixel thin highlights.

7. Efficient

A user interface is the vehicle that takes you places. Those places are the different functions of the software application or website. A good interface should allow you to perform those functions faster and with less effort. Now, ‘efficient’ sounds like a fairly vague attribute — if you combine all of the other things on this list, surely the interface will end up being efficient? Almost, but not quite.

What you really really need to do to make an interface efficient is to figure out what exactly the user is trying to achieve, and then let them do exactly that without any fuss. You have to identify how your application should ‘work’ — what functions does it need to have, what are the goals you’re trying to achieve? Implement an interface that lets people easily accomplish what they want instead of simply implementing access to a list of features.

Apple has identified three key things people want to do with photos on their iPhone, and provides buttons to accomplish each of them in the photo controls.

8. Forgiving

Nobody is perfect, and people are bound to make mistakes when using your software or website. How well you can handle those mistakes will be an important indicator of your software’s quality. Don’t punish the user — build a forgiving interface to remedy issues that come up.

A forgiving interface is one that can save your users from costly mistakes. For example, if someone deletes an important piece of information, can they easily retrieve it or undo this action? When someone navigates to a broken or nonexistent page on your website, what do they see? Are they greeted with a cryptic error or do they get a helpful list of alternative destinations?

Trashed the wrong email by mistake? Gmail lets you quickly undo your last action.

To conclude…

Working on achieving some of these characteristics may actually clash with working on others. For example, by trying make an interface clear, you may be adding too many descriptions and explanations, that end up making the whole thing big and bulky. Cutting stuff out in an effort to make things concise may have the opposite effect of making things ambiguous. Achieving a perfect balance takes skill and time, and each solution will depend on a case by case basis.

What do you think? Do you disagree with any of these characteristics or have any more to add? I’d love to read your comments.

Original Post from:www.usabilitypost.com