All About HTML5
Posted on January 5, 2012
What is HTML5 and why do you need it?
Technology sometimes changes literally overnight. Today’s hot tech is in tomorrow’s garbage bin. Some technologies, though, stick around for a while and have a huge impact while they do. That’s certainly been the case with HTML.
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is the base “code” used to create the web. The last major version of HTML – HTML4 – appeared in 1997.
So, has the web changed since 1997?
Of course it has. Plugin technologies – most notably those of Java, Flash, and Silverlight – have done things that HTML couldn’t do. They’ve enabled a higher-quality user experience than the basic web would allow.
Proprietary technology, limited applications
Unfortunately, other tech advancements have made those plugin technologies less useful. Apple, for example,
What is User Experience Design (UXD)?
Posted on February 20, 2012
The way we live, work, and produce is rapidly changing. This is perhaps no more evident in the professional world than it is in the area of design.
There was a time when design of a system began with the engineers, moved through design and development, and then finally arrived at the user. This led to a number of problems including:
· Specifications that met technical needs but failed to meet user goals.
· Complex systems that function well but require a high degree of technical knowledge to function.
· Incomplete systems that meet only some of a user’s needs.
Early UXD: Ergonomics
In the late 1940s, people began to look at how human beings interact with their environments, and the relationship between the human user and the machines and systems they used.
This led to the study of ergonomics: designing work environments around the actual usage patterns of the workers. The user’s experience of the workplace and its machines and systems started to become important.
Applying UXD to Modern Systems Design
Today, this basic idea that the user’s experience matters has revolutionized the technology design world. User Experience Design centers around a couple of basic principles:
· A system should be designed so as to be used naturally and efficiently in the user’s environment.
· A system should be designed so as to enable the user to accomplish user-defined tasks, rather than designer-defined tasks.
UXD pulls in information from psychology, sociology, graphic design, computer science, industrial design, communications, and other areas to create a system that meets these objectives.
A Sample User Experience Design Walk-through
Let’s suppose a company needs a new system to tackle a particular part of their manufacturing process. Rather than starting with an engineer’s proposal, the design might work like this:
1. A site audit is performed in order to identify the functionality of existing assets, and to analyze the environment in which the new system will be used.
2. The manufacturing process itself is broken down into component pieces using workflow and process navigation.
3. User scenarios are collected and analyzed in order to understand the current and desired user experience.
4. The design is storyboarded (or wireframed, depending on the design team’s usually process).
5. Interactive prototypes are developed.
6. Specifications that describe the design’s functionality are written.
7. Graphic mock-ups are presented.
8. The final system is developed.
All along the process, users are involved. This is especially true in steps 4 through 8, where user feedback can at any point change the trajectory of the system.
The end result
UXD results in the development of systems that have no unnecessary features, are highly usable and accepted by customers, and incorporate business goals while still catering to user needs. In short, it’s the most efficient, effective design philosophy out there today.