week 7 reading

This week, the book sums up a lot of what it had already stated in the book up till now. It also covers Accessibility, because a site is useless if nobody can access it. The final step in your web design is to make sure that your product, however beautiful, can be used. It covers ways to do this through CSS. The book states that there is no complete solution for every instance, but a designer must make it accessible to the people they are trying to reach. Some things to keep in mind: infinite control of formatting, flexibility, usable on all browsers, good serial content, allow for resizing when you can. Also, try to get the info out on new technology too, like cell phones.

As web designers, we must always move forward, because the technology we are using and representing is always advancing. Keeping up to date on good developer tools, breaking every project into a set method, being accessible, and having a smart way to adapt to new technology is a good way to work through any web design project.

related links:

accessibility in cars:

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/car_tips&id=6851090

Apples for the blind:

http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw100502

new invention:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126965.400-when-computing-becomes-childs-play.html

week 6 reading

I enjoyed reading chapter 8 this week, because it talks about arguing... and how stupid it is. The main themes i picked up were focused mostly about usability. There is no reason to argue about usability. If there is a problem with usability, then it must be addressed, and just like brain storming... the more ideas, the better. Also, even bad ideas can lead to good ones later. Instead of wasting time arguing about if an idea is good or not, spend the energy making the ONLY idea you may have into a good one... or find a better one altogether instead of arguing about it. There is no simple right in most cases. There is no average user. Users are free thinkers, so let them be. Don't deal in stats, deal with the project at hand, because every page requires something different.

Chapter 9 was less interesting, but still important. It covers the process of usability testing. It should be one user at a time, simple tests, mostly checking for two areas. Can the user easily figure out what the info is, and can they navigate and perform the tasks easily. The best way to do this is to let the user use the product. It either works or it doesn't. From this data, the steps can be taken to fix the issues and make the site usable.

related links:

Here is an example of a user friendly site. it is highly functional, simple, well designed....and it is designed by a company who does this sort of thing professionally. so look at how the pros do it: http://www.catalystnyc.com/services/?gclid=COOYl6quxZ4CFUxB5god3WDDog#usability_testing

this site talks about using focus groups. they say if money is a factor, it can be effective to use data collected from multiple focus group sessions. logically, if you have the money and the time, you should conduct both. If time is an issue, do usability testing, and if money and time are issues, go with just the focus group data from multiple focus groups:

http://www.usabilityfirst.com/methods/focus.txl

this last on is a good example of how to layout the results from a usability test:

http://openbravouxlab.blogspot.com/2009/06/usability-test-results.html

week 2 reading

Chapter 3 talks about designing webpages for "scanning", because humans are scanners. Instead of reading deeply all of the time, if a person is looking for something they do a series of quick scans to find key words or symbols which they believe might lead them in the right direction. Since humans are designed to work in this fashion, it makes sense to take advantage of this. Hierarchy, headlines, bullets, splitting info into areas, making choices obvious and simple. mix all this up with the basics of design and the site becomes more effective.

Chapter 4 is explained well in the title... why users like mindless choices. This chapter restates the idea of making the experience as simple as possible. "Doesn't matter what I click, as long as each click is a mindless unambiguous choice..."

Krug's second law of usability

Chapter 5 talks about slimming down content. This process makes important information more prominent. It also makes the page shorter, reduces visual noise that may hide important information, and can also make instructions easier to deal with. The end result is you can see more of the information at a glance instead of having to navigate to find it. when people are searching for something, they like to find it as quickly as they can.

Here are some related links:

these two links go together and talk about the "F" pattern of human visual scanning in relation to the web

first:http://www.grokdotcom.com/2009/04/08/doesnt-graphic-designlayout-affect-scanning-patterns

second: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html

This next link is a connection to the world. It has some good ideas for clean, simple websites. I looked up "keep it simple stupid websites" and this is what I found. I chose to look for this info in this fashion because both chapter 4 and 5 talk about making it all easier, and keeping it simple....

http://inspiredology.com/keep-it-simple-stupid-48-super-simple-clean-websites/

Project 3 "e-commerce"

I am going to find a bad e-commerce site, and refine it a bit to make it more user friendly. These are some of the areas i will be think about when trying to do this redesign for class.

-Here is a wonderful site, full of guidelines that can help me with the structure: http://www.palmerwebmarketing.com/blog/13-bad-habits-of-ecommerce-stores/

-Here is an example of a site from the UK that needs some serious work... they claim to be the UK's FAVORITE car leasing website: http://www.lingscars.com/

-Bad site number two is also from the UK, but like the first site.... It is somehow still in use. This page is at least functional, but it has a horrible design layout: http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/

-The last site I found through a blog. The site in question is for the Sydney Royal Easter Show, which happens every year in April. The site had so many problem with the e-commerce portion of online ticket buying that they removed purchasing from the site altogether. Now, they force their customers to buy tickets in person from a ticket outpost. This is the site I would like to revise: https://www.rasnsw.com.au/eShop/eShopPlaceOrders.aspx?ps=RES%20Tickets&pc=&src=&sk=12&ph=YES

I have now scrapped all previous ideas, and i am now going to do a redesign of the Marmot Mountain Works website. It is a functional website, but the design is rough. I will take the functional parts, and redesign them into a site that is both useful and pleasing to the eye. The new site that I am going to revise is: http://www.marmotmountain.com/MMWmain.asp?Option=CatList

week 5 reading

This chapter is one of my favorites so far, because it deals with honesty. People want to deal with honest people. The text explains how people have a certain level of frustration they will deal with before they will get mad and leave your site, most likely never to return. When people are looking for something, it is best to put it out there, even if it is the less pleasant parts of the web site. People are smart! They know if they don't get what they want easily, they can probably go to another site, or worse... if they are already users of the site, and they have an unusually frustrating time, they may stop using the site. Be upfront, and if you don't.... there better be a really good business related reason as to why. The book recommends for the web designers to make it easy, exciting, direct, and as honest as possible.

Here are three related links-

Here is a blog about Shady Websites: http://blog.centresource.com/2006/06/19/shady-websites-stop-hiding-the-info/

This one is my favorites related link this week. It talks about using "Dark Websites" as a way of dealing with major issues/crisis...(such as the strike listed on the first page of this weeks text). Although this site is talking about one certain type of business, this plan-ahead attitude can come in handy for many other areas, like helping people in a crisis, or providing information during a strike. It is alot easier to tweak a pre-made template than to not offer any helpful information at all: http://www.spinhunters.org/blog/dark-websites-hide-many-security-threats/

This last site is a ripoff report about a company who was hiding information on the website intentionally to boost a little business. I see this as an example.....If you are dishonest and hide things on your website to trick people, it will catch up to you: http://www.ripoffreport.com/Telemarketers/SMC-And-EMerchant-Cl/smc-and-emerchant-club-decepti-3a9fp.htm

week 1 reading

The intro just gives an idea of what the book is all about. Chapter one in the book talks about simplifying a Web site interface. Krug's first rule is “Don't make me think”. When it comes to a Web site, make it self-explanatory. Don't make people ask themselves why something is on the page. The information and graphics should relate and make sense as soon as they see it. Names, phrases, links, buttons, etc., should all use simple ideas and be easy to understand. Make them stand out as a usable part of the interface and not just information on the page. The site won't be perfect, but you want to get as close to obvious as possible. After obvious, move to self-explanatory. The main idea here is in order to have an effective Web site, the page has to “work it's magic” at a glance. Chapter two talks about how people view Web sites. He gives three facts about real-world Web use. Fact 1: we don't read pages. We scan them. Fact 2: we don't make optimal choices. We sactisfice. Fact 3: we don't figure out how things work. we muddle through. The main idea in this chapter is about why you should make an interface simple.

Overall, these chapters start to help me understand how people view and use Web sites and the psychology behind it all. I like some of the stories, and the info-graphics are useful too.

Here are some related links:

http://www.digital-web.com/articles/the_psychology_of_navigation/

http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/psychology-web-performance/

http://www.nngroup.com/events/tutorials/usability.html

http://www.atelier-us.com/events-and-conferences/article/psychology-of-web-sites-special-web-2-0-expo

http://www.webprofits.com.au/blog/2009/01/28/the-psychology-of-web-design/

Project 2 "Kiosk"

I chose to do my kiosk project for the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum in Tacoma. This is a museum where original documents, like Einstein's theory of relativity and The Bill of Rights, are kept, maintained and displayed. I am creating a ticket kiosk/interface for this museum. My initial idea is to make it very simple, mostly just for ticket sales, but also add important info like current collections being shown, program information, and a simple map.

Here is the link to the Karpeles Museums site:

http://www.rain.org/~karpeles/

Here I am, weeks later... finally posting the finished product, so here it is...

Karpeles Kiosk