MSXML, Continued

This article, the second of three parts, explains what MSXML is and how to access an XML document using JavaScript.

Keogh, Jim and Ken Davidson. ASP Free (2006). Articles>Information Design>XML>Microsoft Windows

The MySQL Roadmap – What's Planned?

MySQL is old news ...or is it? In this fast-paced expose, Blane looks at where MySQL is now, and what's planned in Versions 4.1 and 5 - including the exciting developments of MySQL Cluster and Stored Procedures!

Warrene, Blane. SitePoint (2004). Articles>Information Design>Databases>Open Source

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

Navigation Blindness

Most web development projects put a lot of effort into the design of navigation tools. But fact is that people tend to ignore these tools. They are fixated on getting what they came for and simply click on links or hit the back button to get there.

Olsen, Henrik. GUUUI (2005). Articles>User Interface>Information Design

New Metadata Standards for Digital Resources: MODS and METS

Metadata has taken on a new look with the advent of XML and digital resources. XML provides a new versatile structure for tagging and packaging metadata as the rapid proliferation of digital resources demands both rapidly produced descriptive data and the encoding of more types of metadata. Two emerging standards are attempting to harness these developments for library needs. The first is the Metadata Object and Description Schema (MODS), a MARC-compatible XML schema for encoding descriptive data. The second standard is the Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS), a highly flexible XML schema for packaging the descriptive metadata and various other important types of metadata needed to assure the use and preservation of digital resources.

Guenther, Rebecca and Sally McCallum. ASIST (2002). Articles>Information Design>Metadata>XML

New to XML

Extensible Markup Language, or XML, provides a way to mark up content that adds information about its purpose. With the information stored using XML, an application known as a parser can reliably extract the relevant information and process it accordingly for multiple situations.

IBM. Articles>Information Design>XML

Newcomers Lured by the Sweet XML of Success

How do you simplify the message you want to broadcast to the world without losing its meaning? For established players it's so much easier because they can get in front of their customers. They can run seminars or publish White Papers that will most likely reach an audience. Or they may gain interest from independent technical consultants to whom users will listen.

Sharpe, Richard. PC Magazine (2004). Articles>Information Design>XML

(Not) Defining the Damn Thing

Discussions of how we should label ourselves and define our work are like flu epidemics. They break out from time to time, follow a fairly predictable course, and often make us want to barf.

Rosenfeld, Louis. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Information Design>Professionalism

Objects, Tasks and Concepts

Effective documentation is built around the work environment of the user. The index, too, should relate to the work the user performs. As in the body of your documentation, topics in your index should consist primarily of objects, tasks and concepts from the world of the user

Brown, Fred. Allegro Time! (2000). Articles>Indexing>Information Design

On Beyond Help: Meeting User Needs for Useful Online Information    

It is well accepted that understanding the users and a thorough analysis of their goals and tasks is a prerequisite for usability. To produce a document, online information, or knowledge base that is truly usable, the designer and writer must also consider different user approaches to the information to create it in a form that meets those needs. The underlying technology must also be considered, as it affects the presentation of the information as well as the functionality available to users. To meet user needs for useful online information, all these elements must be factored into the design—and technical communicators must master the skills necessary to make the right choices.

Quesenbery, Whitney. Technical Communication Online (2001). Articles>Usability>Information Design

Open Access Digital Repositories: An Indian Scenario  

Open access digital repositories give barrier-free access to literature for study and research to users worldwide. They solve the pricing and permission crises for scholarly materials. This paper deals with open access digital repositories in India. The results of the study reveal that the repositories contain both published and unpublished documents, like seminar proceedings, conference papers, theses, dissertations, research reports, books, and so on. The results also point out that open access digital repositories in India are mostly subject specific and commonly use open source information repository software like DSpace, Greenstone Digital Library Software, and GNU EPrints. It is observed that generally the open access digital repositories use OAI-PMH (protocol for metadata harvesting), so that they can be accessed using search tools such as Web search engines, whereas a few don't use it but provide direct access to their documents through their websites.

Ahmed, Fayaz and Rafiq Rather. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>TC>Information Design>International

Opening Open Formats with XSLT

This month I'm taking a break from covering XSLT 2.0 to describe how the combination of XSLT 1.0 and an application with an open XML format solved a problem for me. I solved this problem so quickly and easily that it got me thinking about how the combination of XSLT 1.0 and the increasing amount of open XML formats are opening up a world of simple, valuable new applications and utilities for us to write.

DuCharme, Bob. OpenOffice.org (2004). Articles>Information Design>XML>XSL

The Organized Web

This document discusses the evolution of the Internet from an unorganized collection of web pages to an organized collection of data. It outlines how XML is at the center of that transformation, and how organizations can take advantage of this evolution with the development of web based services.

Duffy, Scott. XGuru (2001). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>XML

Overcoming Objections to XML-Based Authoring Systems

During a recent development effort, one of our clients was alarmed at the conversion costs of the proposed XML-based content management system compared to the existing MS Word-based process. This was just one instance of an alarming trend of balking at XML-based systems in favor of using public web folders, indexed by some full-text search engine, as part of a local intranet. In the short run, these edit, drop, and index solutions have some appealing features, including low development and conversion costs. But they are short-lived systems that either wither from lack of functionality or rapidly outgrow their design.

Buehling, Brian. XML.com (2001). Articles>Information Design>Software>XML

The Page as a Map: Multiple Pathways for Multiple Users  

Can our users and what they need quickly, with the least amount of effort and frustration? How can we make information work for different types of users? We know that 'visual is easier,' but we need to understand how people actually use documents to harness the visual power. This session focuses on a core task:page design for impatient, goal-oriented users. It proposes that visual designs which provide a clear 'map' to the information make user orientation and navigation easier, and provide access options for different users. While the focus is on print, the principles also apply to the electronic environment.

Keyes, Elizabeth. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Information Design>Web Design>Personalization

The Paper Mountain Goes Online

Ample research has proved that companies can save many thousands of dollars by rewriting key documents in plain English. Poor communication on the Web and intranet are squandering the time and money of many an organisation.

McAlpine, Rachel. Quality Web Content (2004). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Minimalism

Review: Paper Prototyping

Carolyn Snyder's Paper Prototyping: The Fast and Easy Way to Design and Refine User Interfaces provides the only complete guide to paper prototyping. It teaches you everything you need to know to successfully do paper prototyping and offers many practical tips. However, only about a third of the book is actually about doing paper prototyping. The majority of the book's content comprises a basic reference on usability testing. While some of the information on usability testing describes how to test paper prototypes, most of it is applicable to any type of usability testing. If you're already an expert in usability testing, you may not find this information as useful, but Snyder has honed her approach to usability testing over her many years of experience as a usability professional and provides a wealth of practical information.

Gabriel-Petit, Pabini. UXmatters (2006). Articles>Reviews>Information Design>Methods

Participatory Team Process in Information Design  

Information Design often focuses on product over process and ignores the valuable role that technical communicators can play in facilitating a true team design activity. In this paper, authors argue for a definition of information design that focuses on process and offer a proven methodology called Participatory Team Process in recognition of its roots in Participatory Design. Authors discuss tenets of methodology; spell out the technical communicator’s role as facilitator, information manager, writer, and editor; and offer three examples of products created with the process: a computer interface, safety rule book, and curriculum guide.

Racine, Sam J., Carol S. Hoeniges and Christina R. Schulz. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Information Design>TC>Participatory Design

PDF in Government

Duff Johnson looks at how several federal government agencies use Acrobat and PDF to solve old problems and, in some cases, to create new opportunities.

Johnson, Duff. Adobe (2007). Articles>Information Design>Government>Adobe Acrobat

PDF in Practice: Simple Creation of Electronic Publications, Catalogues and Archives

In electronic media we come across the two 'competing' formats, PDF and HTML. A closer look reveals, however, that the two formats are used with a different aim in mind and therefore cannot be considered as competitors.

Boegler, Peter. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Information Design>Online

PDF Link Usability

Das kennt man: ein ahnungsloser Klick und plötzlich öffnet sich eine mega-lange PDF-Datei. Seitengestalter sind deshalb angehalten Links auf PDF-Dateien zu kennzeichnen. Selbstverständlich macht das inzwischen auch (fast) jeder.

Lennartz, Sven. Dr. Web (2007). (German) Articles>Usability>Information Design>Adobe Acrobat

PDF Prototypes: Mistakenly Disregarded and Underutilized

Creating a clickable PDF to prototype a new design is not a new concept, but it is a valuable tool that is often overlooked and underutilized. While working over the years with other designers, information architects and usability professionals, I've noticed that many of my colleagues believe the same fallacies about the limitations of PDFs. Contrary to popular belief, you can do more than just create links and interactive forms with PDFs; you can also add dynamic elements such as rollovers and drop-down menus, embed audio and video files, validate form data, perform calculations and respond to user actions. PDF prototypes have the ability to replicate most interactive design elements without investing a lot of time and effort.

Pero Soucy, Kyle. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Articles>Information Design>Prototyping>Adobe Acrobat

PDF Usability: Debate and Reality

This article examines the claims of those PDF critics and argues that usability complaints about PDF documents are misdirected, and further, highlights some of the key reasons why PDF is the preferred electronic document format.

Johnson, Duff. Adobe (2006). Articles>Usability>Information Design>Adobe Acrobat

Per un Accesso Multidimensionale all'informazione. O della Classificazione a Faccette

L'articolo fornisce una introduzione al concetto di 'classificazione a faccette', descrivendo: i suoi vantaggi rispetto ai sistemi di classificazione gerarchici; esempi di applicazione al web; un esempio di applicazione alla classificazione dei formaggi.

Rosati, Luca. AIfIA (2003). (Italian) Articles>Information Design>Metadata