19 Aug 2010
Oh, technical requirements documentation. So fun to read and so fun to write! All kidding aside, it seems to be a necessary evil. Otherwise, how do you know what to build?
Well, what if I told you that there is an alternate option? Interested? Good, then let’s talk about User Stories!
What...
13 Aug 2010
How do you organize your music library? By genre? Alphabetically? Remember High Fidelity (2000)? John Cusack’s character organized his collection autobiographically. Cusack plays the role of Rob Gordon, a record store owner and compulsive list maker. In the scene below, Rob’s friend...
3 Aug 2010
On a recent project, the internal project team found success in documenting functional specifications in a Google Document, as show below:
The benefits of this process included:
Detailed functional specifications that 1) can be implemented, 2) provide a positive user experience, and 3) will...
27 May 2010
I woke up this morning with a kink in my neck. The kind of kink that can't be cured. No amount of massaging, twisting, or rolling will get it back in line. And so my head is tilting slightly to the left today. I figure if I rest my chin on my hand, I'll just look like I'm in deep thought, like I'm...
27 May 2010
I love my Subaru. I've driven it with no issues for about seven years. (BRB - going to knock on wood.) Despite my love, there are two design flaws that have driven me nuts throughout the duration of those seven years. (Disclaimer: I drive a 2004 Subaru. These features may have been updated on newer...
13 May 2010
When reviewing a designer's mock-up of a web site design, my job as an interface engineer is to look for areas of the design which will be challenging or impossible to implement. Such areas aren't always obvious. In theory, a mock-up and the final site should look identical, but in reality a mock-...
10 May 2010
Joshua Porter's Designing for the Social Web
I attended the Information Architecture Summit in Phoenix, Arizona, back in April 2010. The IA Summit is the premier gathering place for information architects and other UX professionals. This was the 11th IA Summit, and it included Dan Roam...
30 Apr 2010
Nicely-cropped images help any web site look more credible and finished. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to fancy, schmancy photo-editing software like Adobe Photoshop. But don't despair. Beautifully-cropped photos can be yours with a few simple steps.
Software
I recommend using Picnik.com...
28 Apr 2010
One of the building blocks of visual design is contrast. Contrast occurs when two elements are different. Therefore, when you want two elements to be different from each other, you should ensure that those differences are obvious. Robin Williams eloquently reminds us that
"Contrast is created...
17 Apr 2010
This weekend I started playing around with two advanced CSS properties I had never used before -- @font-face and text-shadow. The property @font-face allows the embedding of non-standard fonts, resulting in text that is rendered normally in the browser in the font of your choice (achieving the...
