Review: The Art of Project Management

Can project management be an art? Has Berkun truly created a jargon-free guide for the whole project team? Kalbach leads us through the high-level tasks and the major milestones of this new book, while keeping us on task.

Kalbach, James. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Articles>Reviews>Project Management

Challenging the Status Quo: Audi Redesigned

In September 2000, Razorfish, Germany was tasked to redesign the main websites for Audi. In the process they explored workgroup software, utilized technology to support the brand ideals and challenged the status quo of current web navigation thinking by proposing a right handed navigation system.

Kalbach, James. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Case Studies

Information Search Experience: Emotions in Information Seeking  

Description of a model for representing user search experiences.

Kalbach, James. IAsummit (2004). Articles>User Centered Design>Search

The Myth of 'Seven, Plus or Minus 2'

This article proposes that the optimal number of menu items cannot be reduced to the generalized 'Magic Seven, Plus or Minus Two' (7±2). The author proposes that instead, when planning a site information architecture, the two most important considerations are breadth versus depth and the display of information.

Kalbach, James. Dr. Dobb's (2002). Articles>Information Design>History>Cognitive Psychology

Printing the Web

Despite predictions to the contrary, it doesn't seem that the advent of networked information sharing has reduced human consumption of paper. In fact, given the amount of printouts modern offices and homes produce, one is inclined to say that even more paper is generated today than ever before.

Kalbach, James. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design

Web Page Layout: A Comparison Between Left- and Right-Justified Site Navigation Menus  

The usability of two Web page layouts was directly compared: one with the main site navigation menu on the left of the page, and one with the main site navigation menu on the right. Sixty-four participants were divided equally into two groups and assigned to either the left- or the right-hand navigation test condition. Using a stopwatch, the time to complete each of five tasks was measured. The hypothesis that the left-hand navigation would perform significantly faster than the right-hand navigation was not supported. Instead, there was no significant difference in completion times between the two test conditions. This research questions the current leading Web design thought that the main navigation menu should be left justified.

Kalbach, James and Tim Bosenick. Journal of Digital Information (2003). Design>Web Design>Usability

Printing the Web

For some websites the user experience already extends onto paper, like it or not. Ignoring this may result in lower overall user satisfaction. Consider the following factors when designing web pages that will be printed.

Kalbach, James. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Web Design>CSS>Printing

On Uncertainty in Information Architecture    

Uncertainty, in general, is a fundamental aspect of human activity and underlies much of our decision making. The notion of uncertainty in information seeking, in particular, dates back to Shannon and Weaver (1949) and since then has been investigated in many forms. Kulthau's (1993) work on information uncertainty is perhaps the most extensive. Through two specific examples, this article proposes uncertainty as a unifying heuristic in information architecture. Measurements of uncertainty can serve a diagnostic function in both the design and evaluation of information technologies and user interfaces.

Kalbach, James. Journal of Information Architecture (2009). Articles>Information Design