Participatory design is an approach to design that attempts to actively involve end users in the design process to help ensure that the product designed meets their needs and is usable. This approach is focused on process and is not a design style. For some, this approach has a political dimension of user empowerment and democratisation. For others, it is seen as a way of abrogating design responsibility and innovation by designers.
#18339
Links to numerous tutorials in Adobe PageMaker desktop publishing.
#22312
Adobe Photoshop CS Layer Effects
In this topic, you will apply Bevel and Emboss and Outer Glow effects to an Adobe Photoshop CS type layer.
Adobe (2004). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop
#22311
Adobe Photoshop CS Type Layers
In this topic, you will create a Photoshop CS type layer in which you will add and format type.
Adobe (2004). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop
#28056
Adobe Photoshop Power Shortcuts 
In Photoshop CS2, many of the shortcuts for the application menus, palette menus and tools can be customized using the Keyboard Shortcuts editor. Although this document mentions some of the more common editable shortcuts, it also provides additional functionality only accessible through using keyboard modifiers which can't be changed through the Keyboard Shortcut editor. Although this is not a completely comprehensive list of all of the keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop CS2, it is my goal to present the shortcuts and additional functionality that enable me to use Photoshop CS2 both more freely and efficiently.
Kost, Julieanne and Daniel Brown. Adobe Evangelists (2006). (Italian) Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop
#22557
Adobe XML Architecture Specification
The Adobe XML architecture combines the powerful data and business logic capabilites of XML with rich presentation capabilities of Portable Document Format (PDF). The Adobe XML architecture offers support for arbitrary XML, allowing you to leverage existing and industry-standard schemas. Depending on the process requirements, forms can be deployed as PDF or an XML Data Package (XDP) and processed as XML.
#25641
Adolescent Diary Weblogs and the Unseen Audience 
This paper first situates adolescent diary weblogs and their implied audiences and then applies a typology of audiences for personal narrative performance to a sample of diary weblog posts to ascertain if the typology fits the implied audiences present in the weblog text.
Scheidt, Lois Ann. Indiana University (2005). Articles>Writing>Web Design>Blogging
#25603
Ads Are Here To Stay: Planning For Ad Placement
Site advertisements can interfere with content and disrupt layout. Yet they are most often part of website requirements, forcing IAs to come up with strategies for incorportating them. Is there a graceful way to handle ads online?
Kirtland, Alex. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Design>Web Design>Marketing>E Commerce
#21801
Blogger's primary advantage is its simplicity--if you accept the default settings and host on BlogSpot, you can be up and running within five minutes. Once you have your blog, you'll find it's just as easy to customize it.
Doctorow, Cory, Rael Dornfest, J. Scott Johnson, Shelley Powers, Benjamin Trott and Mena G. Trott. O'Reilly and Associates (1998). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Blogging
#27862
HTML is made up of a great many elements, a lot of which are overlooked, forgotten or just unknown to many web designers. Although with a basic knowledge of HTML you can develop a website, to take advantage of many of the advanced features, and to make pages fully compatible, it is useful to learn these less popular tags.
Gowans, David. Free Webmaster Help (2001). Design>Web Design>HTML
#27140
Advanced Techniques for Creating Accessible Adobe® PDF Files
A step-by-step guide that covers more advanced techniques for optimizing Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files so that they can be made accessible to users with disabilities such as blindness or low vision.
Adobe (2004). Books>Web Design>Accessibility>Adobe Acrobat
#19956
Technical writers have known for years that a good explanation for a bad software interface may be better than nothing, but that it’s not as good as a usable software interface. With ‘usability' gaining greater visibility, this is a good time to implement a usercentered design process. This article looks at ways that the approach and techniques of such a process can be applied to the task of introducing a new process.
Quesenbery, Whitney. STC Proceedings (2001). Design>User Centered Design>Usability
#27747
XSLT stylesheets are designed to transform XML documents. Coupled with Java extensions, stylesheets can also be a powerful complement to XML Schema when grammar-based validation cannot cover all the constraints required. In this article, Peter Heneback presents the case for validating documents using XSLT with Java extensions and provides practical guidance and code samples.
Heneback, Peter. IBM (2006). Articles>Information Design>Standards>XML
#30795
Advanced search is the ugly child of interface design--always included, but never loved. Websites have come to depend on their search engines as the volume of content has increased. Yet advanced search functionality has not significantly developed in years. Poor matches and overwhelming search results remain a problem for users. Perhaps the standard search pattern deserves a new look. A progressive disclosure approach can enable users to use precision advanced search techniques to refine their searches and pinpoint the desired results.
Turbek, Stephen. Boxes and Arrows (2008). Articles>Web Design>Search
#23406
This article deals, despite the title above, with aspects on handling and checking of technical documentation. I consider these aspects as part of the functionality of documentation besides more conventional functionality such as factual correctness, layout, combination of figures and text.
Rullgård, Åke. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design
#26430
The Advantages of Using Web Technology for Intranets
Thanks to web technologies, the intranet allows us to access and share information easier than ever before.
Lightheart, David. David Lightheart Web Communications (2005). Articles>Web Design>Intranets
#21358
Adventures in Low Fidelity: Designing Search for Egreetings
One of the dirty little secrets about being an information architect is that most of us only bat .500 at best. We labor and agonize over making recommendations and designing information architectures that are supposed to change the world, but many of our designs never see the light of day. Rather than moan about why my designs were not implemented, I want to share my story.
Farnum, Chris. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Search
#32057
Advice for the Inexperienced Web Designer
Website software and templates have made it easier for inexperienced website designers to create and maintain their own websites. Prior to the development of such items, if you wanted a website for your company you had to retain a reputable website design firm to create a website for you. Website development is not an easy procedure, but if you decide to undertake the process yourself, there are a few simple strategies that can make the process of creating a high-quality website a little bit easier.
Haig, Anders. ReEncoded (2008). Articles>Web Design>Advice
#29513
Advice on Designing Scientific Posters
A scientific poster is a large document that can communicate your research at a scientific meeting, and is composed of a short title, an introduction to your burning question, an overview of your trendy experimental approach, your amazing results, some insightful discussion of aforementioned results, a listing of previously published articles that are important to your research, and some brief acknowledgement of the tremendous assistance and financial support conned from others. If all text is kept to a minimum, a person could fully read your poster in under 10 minutes.
Purrington, Colin. Swarthmore College (2007). Design>Presentations>Posters>Scientific Communication
#19009
Hvilket æstetisk grundbegreb kan virke som rettesnor i relation til en designproces og princippet om helhed? Om begrebet æstetik bør det først noteres, at det i denne sammenhæng på ingen måde må forholdes til den klassiske opfattelse etableret i aristotelisk forstand. Der er ingen grund til at blande så subjektive begreber som ”det gode / det onde” ind i en diskussion vedrørende en brugergrænseflade. Dette er naturligvis baseret på Platons lære om Mimesis , og den sande (vel egentligt transcendentale) form.
Quark, The (2002). (Danish) Design>Web Design>Aesthetics
#10285
Aesthetic Experience and the Importance of Visual Composition
When considering the design of information and information structures, the focus tends to gravitate to general issues of content, information hierarchies, and in some instances, system usability. In discussions concerning system usability and human factors, the issue of the user experience, or overall aesthetic experience, with regard to a specific information structure is rarely addressed. Things such as the 'look and feel' of a website, for example, may get some attention by the designers and developers of the information structure, but the idea of 'look and feel' is essentially an issue of how to 'decorate' the information. Too often, when software developers or usability engineers discuss 'look and feel,' they do not consider it to be an integral part of the information design structure but an additive element applied only after the structure and content of the information have been resolved. What seems to be lacking in information design is a concern for the visual composition of information.
Greenzweig, Tim. Orange Journal, The (2001). Design>Web Design>Rhetoric>Visual Rhetoric
#23358
The Aesthetic Imperative: Four Perspectives on Aesthetics to Impact the User Experience
Aesthetic value can and should be part of the total design effort, including the information architect's perspective to achieve a 'total integrative experience.' Here are four ways to think about aesthetics and beauty to structure and focus the dialogue with UX peers: visual designers, programmers, content producers, strategists, etc.
Gajendar, Uday. IAsummit (2004). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design
#18285
Aesthetics and Usability: A Look at Color and Balance
As websites continue to fight for the attention of potential users, designers must begin to look not only at the inherent usability of the site, but also its perceived usability. For instance, Tractinsky (1997) found a correlation between perceived usability and aesthetics when investigating ATM machines. Subjects based their overall opinion of the usability of the ATM on the 'look' of the machine. Moreover, in examining users' first impression of websites, Shenkman and Jonsson (2000) found that the best predictor for the overall judgment by typical users of a website was its beauty. Design principles are frequently utilized by graphic designers to create aesthetically pleasing websites. The term harmony can be defined as a pleasing arrangement of parts, whether it be music, poetry, or color. In visual experiences, harmony is something that is pleasing to the eye. Two design principles that influence harmony are balance and color. When a website is harmonious, it engages the viewer and creates an inner sense of order, a balance in the visual experience. When something is not harmonious, it becomes either boring or chaotic (Lauer & Pentak, 2002). According to Lindgaard (1999), color is a strong predictor in the overall appeal of a website.
Brady, Laurie and Christine Phillips. Usability News (2003). Design>Web Design>Usability
#18402
Affect and Machine Design: Lessons for the Development of Autonomous Machines
Human beings have evolved a rich and sophisticated set of processes for engaging with the world in which cognition and affect play two different but equally crucial roles. Cognition interprets and makes sense of the world. Affect evaluates and judges, modulating the operating parameters of cognition and giving a warning about possible dangers. The study of how these two systems work together provides guidance for the design of complex autonomous systems that must deal with a variety of tasks in a dynamic, often unpredictable, and sometimes hazardous environment.
Norman, Donald A., A. Ortony and D.M. Russell. JND.org (2003). Design>Human Computer Interaction>Web Design
#29270
Affinity diagramming is a categorization method where users sort various concepts into several categories. This method is used by a team to organize a large amount of data according to the natural relationships between the items.
IAwiki. Articles>Information Design>Charts and Graphs>Card Sorting
#18393
Affordance, Conventions and Design
Please don't confuse affordance with perceived affordances. Don't confuse affordances with conventions. Affordances reflect the possible relationships among actors and objects: they are properties of the world. Conventions, on the other hand, are arbitrary, artificial and learned. Once learned, they help us master the intricacies of daily life, whether they be conventions for courtesy, for writing style, or for operating a word processor. Designers can invent new real and perceived affordances, but they cannot so readily change established social conventions. Know the difference and exploit that knowledge. Skilled design makes use of all.
Norman, Donald A. JND.org (1999). Design>Usability>Standards
