February, 2010

Design — No Comments
24
Feb 10

Don’t Startle the Users

UI Guideline: If your users aren’t expecting something to pop up when they’re moving their mouse around, try not to scare them.

Inc magazine’s “Share” button is the perfect example of what not to do. At the bottom of an article, accidentally mousing over the button will make a [useless] box pop up instantly. This should be delayed at least 2/10s of a second, more or less depending on how technical and quick your audience is with a mouse. This can be accomplished with a JavaScript delay.

The problem with the share button goes beyond that. If the button is near the bottom of my physical screen, the box will pop up over the next page link, effectively blocking me from reading the rest of the article and trying to get me to pimp their article.

But maybe that’s what Inc wanted to happen…

Writing — 1 Comment
17
Feb 10

Dictionary Definitions Don’t Count as an Intro

Imagine the introduction of your writing as a funnel for readers to get into your subject. Start general and get more specific once they’re interested.

If you’re writing about web application usability to people who might not understand what that means, the dictionary definition isn’t going to help them. It may be right, but it isn’t useful.

Instead explain it in your own words to ease your reader into the topic. Eliminate jargon like “accessibility” and “user personas” to get down to the basics. All the sexy buzz words come later.

Copying and pasting a definition is the lazy way out. Think about how you would explain it to someone who has no idea what you’re talking about and use that as your introduction.

Design — 10 Comments
10
Feb 10

De-emphasize User Interface Controls

Help people focus on the content by designing your application UI as a subtle frame for the information they’re interested in. Downplay application controls by minimizing their number and prominence. Consider creating custom controls that subtly integrate with your application’s graphical style. In this way, controls are discoverable, but not too conspicuous.

— iPad Human Interface Guidelines

Every gradient you add to your interface makes it harder to use. The same goes for every drop shadow, rounded corner, background color, and button style. Don’t just add them because they look pretty.

This guideline should apply to every interface you work on. Design your interface to be as invisible as possible. Your users don’t want a sexy button style; they want the action that button performs. The action that hides behind that button is more important than how the button looks. Your content is what they want; not the text-shadow or background color.

Drop shadows, rounded corners, and gradients should exist to subtly increase the attractiveness of your interface, which can make it easier to use. A faint drop shadow under a button can subconsciously drive your user’s eyes to the apparently 3D button. Use these sparingly. Every button on your page shouldn’t be competing for the same attention. Emphasizing everything means nothing gets emphasized.

Pick which action or content is most important and emphasize only that, and do so with subtle effects.

Business — 3 Comments
3
Feb 10

Creating Jobs

The Economist is a magazine that goes into great depth about government and economic issues. I was surprised to see Steve Jobs on the cover, rather than Obama, considering both of their recent public presentations.

It got me thinking:

Who has done more to create jobs and improve the economy? Barack Obama or Steve Jobs.

Barack Obama has an $800,000,000,000 stimulus package to hire workers. This creates “work” but it doesn’t create “jobs.” As soon as that money disappears, so do the jobs. Should the government really be worrying about creating jobs, or should they be governing in such a way that they allow entrepreneurs to do the creating?

Steve Jobs has iTunes, Mac computers, the iPhone and the new iPad on his resumé. These products create jobs for the sellers and distributors of these electronics. As a byproduct, they’ve also created an ecosystem of job opportunities behind it. How many people have created their own jobs making iPhone apps? How many independent musicians make a comfortable living selling their songs on iTunes? How many designers are more creative and effective because of what is possible with web apps for the iPhone and iPad?

It’s not the government’s duty to “create” jobs. The taxpaying masses shouldn’t be the ones paying the bill for these few government workers. The government should get its hands out of the pie and let innovators like Steve Jobs do the job creating by making kick ass products that people actually want to buy. The government does a good job of providing a common defense and law enforcement, but it’s horribly inefficient at creating jobs.