Boxes and Arrows
What to do about data in wireframes
There’s a problem with endless copied and pasted pseudo-data in wireframes – if the numbers in the shopping cart don’t add up, or clients struggle with lorem ipsum, what’s an IA to do? Fake data can distract stakeholders and take valuable time away from examining core functionality. Dan Brown offers a in the latest Boxes and Arrows.
IA Summit recap at Boxes and Arrows
This year's IA Summit, themed "Breaking New Ground," seemed to have the right mix of new and returning folks, a nice variety of interesting and well-attended pre-conference workshops and several tracks of presentations to suit the IA of every flavorThoughts on presentations from and from .
Happy Birthday Boxes and Arrows! Congratulations on two amazing years.
Boxes and Arrows turns two, and Christina Wodtke , both for the zine and for our profession.
B&A constantly amazes me, and everyone in the UX field is indebted to the long hours put in by authors, editors, and the technical team. Thanks guys! Here's to a long and wonderful future for B&A :)
Boxes and Arrows turns two, and Christina Wodtke , both for the zine and for our profession.
B&A constantly amazes me, and everyone in the UX field is indebted to the long hours put in by authors, editors, and the technical team. Thanks guys! Here's to a long and wonderful future for B&A :)
Christina Wodtke on building common vision
- A common view of vision is that it's something handed down by a leader to the troops. When a redesign goes awry, the troops complain, “There was no vision.” But the problem goes deeper than either scenario; the problem is that there was no shared vision. []
- A common view of vision is that it's something handed down by a leader to the troops. When a redesign goes awry, the troops complain, “There was no vision.” But the problem goes deeper than either scenario; the problem is that there was no shared vision. []
Boxes and Arrows for November 25, 2003
Yet another great new issue of Boxes and Arrows is out. This time we get a from Madonnalisa Gonzales-Chan and Sarah Rice. Next we have John Zapolski and Jared Braiterman telling us about and lastly Alex Kirtland writes about .
Yet another great new issue of Boxes and Arrows is out. This time we get a from Madonnalisa Gonzales-Chan and Sarah Rice. Next we have John Zapolski and Jared Braiterman telling us about and lastly Alex Kirtland writes about .
Three Articles From Boxes & Arrows
Three great new articles up at
by John Zapolski and Jared Braiterman
Even with the present downturn in the economy, more companies, from new media to established banks, have larger usability and design teams than ever before. Should we be content that we have come so far?
by Fu-Tien Chiou
Weâve all seen blueprintsâ formally known as contract documents âwhich architects produce and builders use to construct. No one person knows all the details of the design; the end result is entirely a product of teamwork. But there is one axiom: architects do not build.
by Alex Wright
In 1934, years before Vannevar Bush dreamed of the memex, decades before Ted Nelson coined the term âhypertext,â Paul Otlet envisioned a new kind of scholar's workstation: a mechanical desk that would let users search, read, and write their way through a vast database stored on millions of 3x5 index cards.
Three great new articles up at
by John Zapolski and Jared Braiterman
Even with the present downturn in the economy, more companies, from new media to established banks, have larger usability and design teams than ever before. Should we be content that we have come so far?
by Fu-Tien Chiou
Weâve all seen blueprintsâ formally known as contract documents âwhich architects produce and builders use to construct. No one person knows all the details of the design; the end result is entirely a product of teamwork. But there is one axiom: architects do not build.
by Alex Wright
In 1934, years before Vannevar Bush dreamed of the memex, decades before Ted Nelson coined the term âhypertext,â Paul Otlet envisioned a new kind of scholar's workstation: a mechanical desk that would let users search, read, and write their way through a vast database stored on millions of 3x5 index cards.
Card sorting roundup
Over at Boxes and Arrows, Joe Lamentia gives the rundown on . This is great, because as good as dedicated card sorting tools are, there isn't a great candidate that is dependable in all situations.
Over at Boxes and Arrows, Joe Lamentia gives the rundown on . This is great, because as good as dedicated card sorting tools are, there isn't a great candidate that is dependable in all situations.
Speaking of which, this is a good time to link up the card sorting tools that I know of...if I've missed any drop a line in the comments [list taken from Andy Edmonds @ Uzilla].
- Uzilla's is under development and works in the Mozilla browser. Update:I neglected to mention a key difference for UCardSort - it's open source, so you can hack away and add features if it doesn't yet do what you need it to do. (thanks for the reminder Andy).
- IBM's was an early tool that hasn't been further developed. The author has been very helpful in the past when things haven't worked quite right.
- is a Flash UI web-deployed tool created by Larry Wood of BYU. I'm not sure what commercial licensing arrangements are available.
- requires server-side Java, and is free from NIST
- is a graduate project from Jorge Toro that we've linked up before, and is still under development. He asks that commercial users donate $50
Cognitive Psychology & IA: From Theory to Practice
- What do cognitive psychology and information architecture have in common? Actually there is a good deal of common ground between the two disciplines. Certainly, having a background in cognitive psychology supports the practice of information architecture, and it is precisely those interconnections and support that will be explored. []
- What do cognitive psychology and information architecture have in common? Actually there is a good deal of common ground between the two disciplines. Certainly, having a background in cognitive psychology supports the practice of information architecture, and it is precisely those interconnections and support that will be explored. []
Information Design: The Understanding Discipline
- There is not consensus on exactly what information design is. Definitions of the discipline from stakeholders who associate themselves with the field are consistent only in that they are typically high level, not very concrete and do not offer much in the way of direct practical application.
- There is not consensus on exactly what information design is. Definitions of the discipline from stakeholders who associate themselves with the field are consistent only in that they are typically high level, not very concrete and do not offer much in the way of direct practical application.
Kneymeyer makes the "Information Design" as uber-discipline argument in a more polished way than when we first covered the discussion over at IDblog. While I completely agree that there needs to be a vision holder, I really don't think that it's in ID's best interest to claim that. And finally, what Dirk is calling "information design" I think is far better served being called "experience design"...
Usability Heuristics for Rich Internet Applications
- Over the coming months and years, RIAs will move from cutting edge to mainstream. That transformation will accelerate with the Flash and user experience communities working together to understand and develop best practices and shared knowledge.
- Over the coming months and years, RIAs will move from cutting edge to mainstream. That transformation will accelerate with the Flash and user experience communities working together to understand and develop best practices and shared knowledge.
and I revisited Nielsen's 10 heuristics and share some thoughts on how they apply to Rich Internet Applications. Currently in the comments the debate largely reflects 2 things - animation, and what makes an RIA different than other apps.
» Filed under Articles, essays, editorials, white papers · Boxes and Arrows · Macromedia Flash · Nielsen, Jakob · Usability
The Power of Process, The Perils of Process
- In my experience, I have found that creating and documenting process has been a good exercise to help institutionalize ways of working, to help educate new team members as well as to unveil the mysteries of what we do for executives, product folks, and development teams.
- In my experience, I have found that creating and documenting process has been a good exercise to help institutionalize ways of working, to help educate new team members as well as to unveil the mysteries of what we do for executives, product folks, and development teams.
Erin Malone points out that process is better thought of as a framework for thinking than a set of commandments...
» Filed under Articles, essays, editorials, white papers · Boxes and Arrows · Design · Process & techniques
Goodies From Boxes and Arrows
Boxes and Arrows publishes two great features this week. First, Dan Brown with
Next we have one I found particularly interesting and useful, by Dabney Gough and Holly Phillips.
As always great stuff from B&A.
Boxes and Arrows publishes two great features this week. First, Dan Brown with
Next we have one I found particularly interesting and useful, by Dabney Gough and Holly Phillips.
As always great stuff from B&A.
Views and Forms: Principles of Task Flow for Web Applications Part 1
- One of the defining elements of web applications is their support for the editing and manipulation of stored data. Unlike the typical conversation that goes on between a user and a content-centric website however, this additional capability requires a more robust dialog between user and application. []
- One of the defining elements of web applications is their support for the editing and manipulation of stored data. Unlike the typical conversation that goes on between a user and a content-centric website however, this additional capability requires a more robust dialog between user and application. []
Building a Metadata-Based Website
From Boxes and Arrows: - The online world has been flooded in recent years with talk of metadata, structured authoring, and cascading style sheets. The idea of a semantic web is gaining momentum. At the confluence of these two broad categories of activity, new models of websites are emerging.
From Boxes and Arrows: - The online world has been flooded in recent years with talk of metadata, structured authoring, and cascading style sheets. The idea of a semantic web is gaining momentum. At the confluence of these two broad categories of activity, new models of websites are emerging.
Brett Lider's talk at the Summit was great - now folks who couldn't make it can see the early horizon for next-generation CMS.
Exapanding on the Elements of User Experience.
Just over one years old, Boxes and Arrows continues to kick out great content. This week we have by George Olsen. Here George takes Jesse James Garretts (PDF) and expands upon it to include interactive multimedia. It's an interesting read, I'm sure to be a bit controversial, but I think he makes some good points. I'd love to hear what others think about this.
Just over one years old, Boxes and Arrows continues to kick out great content. This week we have by George Olsen. Here George takes Jesse James Garretts (PDF) and expands upon it to include interactive multimedia. It's an interesting read, I'm sure to be a bit controversial, but I think he makes some good points. I'd love to hear what others think about this.