user experience
Deep down inside every software developer, there's a budding graphic designer waiting to get out. And if you let that happen, you're in trouble. Or at least your users will be, anyway: Joseph Cooney calls this The Dialog: A developer needed a screen for something, one
user experience
In my opinion, the new Office 2007 user interface is one of the most innovative things to come out of Redmond in years. It's nothing less than the death of the main menu as a keystone GUI metaphor. This is a big deal. Historically, where Office goes, everyone
user experience
I've witnessed the death of the main menu. And toolbars are on their last legs, too. This screenshot* clinches it for me: Granted, very few people would install this many Firefox extensions. But between this and the Office 2003 debacle, it's patently obvious that the whole
usability
From Engadget's review of the iRiver H10 [http://www.engadget.com/2005/04/01/iriver-h10-hands-on-review/]: > So the first thing we noticed about this player when we opened it up was, unfortunately, a huge orange flyer [..] From Larry Osterman's review of the iRiver H10 [http://blogs.
user experience
Pop quiz, hotshot. What do these toolbar icons do-- and what application are they from? Okay, maybe that's a bit too monochrome. Does color help? Okay, let's try something less abstract. Does a more traditional look help? So we can see there's some kind
web development
Every few years, Jakob Nielsen takes websites to task with a Top Ten Web Design Mistakes article. Although things have clearly improved since the original 1996 list, I'm particularly concerned that in the competitive frenzy to get all JavaScripted up for Web 2.0, we may be defeating
ui/ux design
Ever wonder how you could possibly find something in that complex, ten-tabbed options dialog? How about a search function on the options dialog, as featured in Quest's Toad for SQL Server [http://www.quest.com/toad_for_sql_server/index.asp]: Aside from the fact that it'
user experience
One of the biggest highlights of PDC 2005 was the first day keynote, when the Office 12 UI was unveiled [http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/pdc/gallery.mspx]. I don't know if people realized the significance of what we saw at the time-- but we had just
ui design
The Top 8 reasons user interface design is in the stone age is more of a rant than a reasoned argument, but it's still worth reading. If UI design is in the stone age, why are there at least two sites which document known UI patterns? 1. UI
usability
A reader recently pointed out that the second edition of Don't Make Me Think [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321344758/codihorr-20] is about to be released. I know I've pimped this book ad nauseam, but I can't help myself-- it's
user experience
Shawn Burke's post Shippin' Ain't Easy (but somebody gotta do it) explains why you have to resist change at the end of a project, no matter how justifiable and rational the reasons may be. Even the smallest change has a real risk of introducing additional
ui/ux
Windows Media Player may be the only windows application with a UI that gets progressively worse with each new version. It is my media player of choice due only to overwhelming indifference on my part; I curse every time I use it. That's why I was so encouraged