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.
#27950
Applying XSLT to XML Using ASP.NET
This article explains the basics of XSL to transform XML documents using simple examples. We will gradually focus on using ASP.NET to implement XSLT for any XML document and even to database queries. It introduces different ways of implementing XSL from browser's perspective and server's perspective. We will also discuss some tips to generate automated XML from database queries and then transform them to HTML using XSL transformations.
Chaterjee, Jagadish. ASP Free (2004). Articles>Information Design>XSL>ASP
#29940
Approaches to Creating Personas 
You do research to better understand your users, but exactly what is it that you want to find out about them? That's the first question you need to ask, and its answer dictates which research methods you should use, since specific methods are tailored to finding specific types of information.
Mulder, Steve. InformationDesign (2007). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods>Personas
#20276
Architecting a Tradeshow Booth: A New Job for the Technical Communicator
Can a technical communicator step in and create a striking booth to attract attendees and successfully market a company? You bet – it is easier than it looks. Designing a tradeshow booth is a fun exploration of a communicator’s talents in design, organization, and writing. And if you dare to add some creativity to your talents, success comes automatically.
Faure, MacKenzie, Amey Celoria and Cecilia Kullberg. STC Proceedings (1998). Design>Information Design>Marketing
#25604
The change within the interface design process over the past five to ten years has coincided with an increasing number of large companies refining an industrial style model of design instead of focusing on specialization or interaction sustainability through design accuracy.
Evans, Clifton. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Design>Web Design>History
#23607
Architects of Knowledge: An Emerging Hybrid Profession for Educational Communications 
Knowledge architecture is a nascent, hybrid field with significant potential as an innovative, cross-disciplinary design profession for 'value-added' technical communications and instructional technology. However, the emergence of a comprehensive, coherent, grounded theory and a corresponding problem-oriented, practice-based curriculum is progressing slowly. By contrast, other professional specialties for information architects, multi-media designers and software interface designers are better established. Scholars and practioners interested in fostering the development of knowledge architecture as a legitimate and evolving profession are at the forefront in defining the essential performance skills and academic training needed in the core subfields of information design, interactivity design, media design, and instructional design.
Lasnik, Vincent E. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Information Design>Knowledge Management
#20757
Architecture of Designing Documents
Both parks and document design share the same goal: to satisfy patrons and entice them to return. The common characteristics - available for many activities, easy navigation and circulation, appropriate equipment, effective use of space, and patron safety - are applied to document design. So take a walk - in a park - to find out about document design.
Lisberg, Beth Conney. STC Proceedings (1999). Design>Document Design>Information Design
#31062
It is the job of the information architect to discern the internal structure of content and than give it external form to support users in constructing meaning, in relating the content to their own knowledge, needs, and purposes, and thus making sense of the content.
Soergel, Dagobert. University of Maryland. Articles>Information Design>Rhetoric>User Centered Design
#26202
Archiving Experience Design: A Virtual Roundtable Discussion
The following discussion was conducted over a six-week period late in 2002. We invited members of Loop’s advisory board and several distinguished guests to address the question of how we, as an emerging community of interest, might begin to address the critical question of preserving the history of our field.
AIGA (2003). Design>User Experience>History
#21052
Are Standards-Compliant Websites Better?
The adhoc way in which much of the web was developed has created a dilemma for web designers: should websites comply with standards, ensuring accessibility, or break the rules and work with older browsers? At this moment, the answer is simple: Websites should work with older browsers.
Baker, Adam. Merges.net (2001). Design>Web Design>Standards>Usability
#23062
Are the Product Lists on Your Site Reducing Sales?
You can increase sales on your site as much as 225% by offering sufficient product information to your customers at the time they need it. One way to do this is to develop product lists that don't require shoppers to bounce back-and-forth between the list and individual product pages.
User Interface Engineering (2004). Design>Web Design>Usability>E Commerce
#14211
Are There Users Who Always Search?
Web designers often tell us that they spend a great deal of their limited time and resources working to improve their on-site search engines because, they believe, there are some people who always rely on the search engine to reach their target content. They find further support for this assumption from Jakob Nielsen who, in his book, 'Designing Web Usability,' asserts that more than half of all users demonstrate 'search-dominant' tendencies by going right to the search engine when they first visit a web site looking for content.
User Interface Engineering (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability>Search
#31780
Are We Giving Readers What They Want, in the Way They Want and Need It?
With all the talk about Web 2.0 and the attendant technologies, are readers actually being better served by documentation now than they were in the past?
DMN Communications (2008). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>User Centered Design
#28359
It's true: even simple projects get messy. Christina Wodtke comes clean on Swiss Army knives, the writing on the wall, and the untidy glory of the Boxes and Arrows redesign contest.
Wodtke, Christina. Boxes and Arrows (2006). Articles>Web Design>Project Management>Case Studies
#20044
An interactive tutorial about usable website design.
Schutz, Bart. Interview NSS. Resources>Multimedia>Usability>Web Design
#21140
Are You Creating a Path of Resistance?
I've been watching people type in web site addresses for a long time now. However, I only started watching people closely about 4 weeks ago. I recorded 75 observations of people typing in URLs in the address bar (I kept a notepad with a running tally). I'll be the first to admit that this was not scientific and, as you might guess, I was acting in a biased manner. Nevertheless, I think the results are somewhat useful as a starting point. I found that in about 20 of the 75 observations, when people typed in a new URL they first tried the address without the 'www'. So, my findings indicate that about 27% of the time, users did not use the 'www'.
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (1999). Design>Web Design>Usability
#24759
The first step in usability survival is to make sure that your development process is customer centred. This means making sure that customers are involved in the design and evaluation of the system.
Userfocus (2003). Articles>User Centered Design
#29958
Are you ready for XOP (XML-Oriented Programming)?
The domain model is a familiar concept to most OOP (Object Oriented Programming) developers and architects, and has been used successfully in a variety of systems and projects. But how does this principle apply to SOA-based solutions?
Xu, Peter. IBM (2007). Articles>Information Design>Programming>XML
#11752
Are You Satisfied with Online Shopping?
How many of you use the Internet to order merchandise? Many consumers are choosing the Internet to order merchandise rather than brave the crowds and traffic snarls at shopping malls. I don’t know if you have noticed it, but the order process and ease of use varies from one web site to another. The often-confusing process is enough to make you bail out and shop elsewhere. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, 'E-tailers Try to Keep Shoppers From Bolting at Checkout Point,' (1) usability, technology, and e-commerce issues are stopping shoppers from completing their purchases. The article states that about 65% of shoppers bail out at the checkout point. Poor design has cost E-tailers over $6.1 billion in potential sales.
Dick, David J. Usability Interface (2001). Design>Web Design>Usability
#25937
Are You Using the Right Search Engine?
What this all means is that when web users can't find what they want in Google, they should not automatically assume that they're at fault. At present, Google is heavily weighted.
Bennaco (2004). Articles>Information Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization
#26519
Are Your Prospects Walking Out on You?
Learn how to write compelling copy that will keep your site visitors interested in what you're offering.
Gandia, Ed. Webcredible (2005). Design>Web Design>User Experience
#18431
Argus Center for Information Architecture
The Argus Center for Information Architecture works to define and advance the evolving discipline of information architecture. The Argus Center serves as a focal point for learning about the theory and practice of information architecture. Towards this goal, we: manage a selective collection of links to the most remarkable content, events, and people in our field; produce original articles, white papers, conferences, and seminars that draw from the experience and expertise of the Argus team; conduct research, independently and through partnerships, focused on improving our collective understanding of information architecture.
#23070
Arquitectura de Información: Una Disciplina "De Lujo" en Chile
Un resumen de la historia y estado actual del campo de la Arquitectura de Información en Chile.
Gutierrez, Malisa and Javier Velasco. AIfIA (2003). (Spanish) Articles>Web Design>Information Design
#23197
La Arquitectura de la Información del Siglo XX al XXI
Resumen de la historia reciente de la Arquitectura de Información, comenzando en la decada de 1970.
Bustamante, Jesus. AIfIA (2002). (Spanish) Articles>Information Design
#23760
On mailing lists, at conferences, in conversations at cocktail hours, I'm starting to see a growing awareness of how our various disciplines form a community of practice.
Olsen, George. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Articles>Web Design>Community Building
#20996
This site offers a unique approach to contextual navigation, and one that has gotten the attention of many reviewers. From the site: 'ArtandCulture.com is a dynamic destination that delivers unique access to the best arts and cultural content and related products available on the web today....focused on creating the context that makes information truly meaningful.' In this review, I'll focus on some of the interesting navigation strategies the site presents.
Danzico, Liz. Bobulate (2003). Design>Web Design>User Interface>DHTML
