#21738
A Visual Vocabulary for Describing Information Architecture and Interaction Design
Diagrams are an essential tool for communicating information architecture and interaction design in Web development teams. This document discusses the considerations in development of such diagrams, outlines a basic symbology for diagramming information architecture and interaction design concepts, and provides guidelines for the use of these elements.
Garrett, Jesse James. JJG.net (2002). Design>Web Design>Project Management>Technical Illustration
#21206
Whether you're managing an entire army or an army of one, Pam's project management tips will help you get that site built.
Statz, Pam. Webmonkey (2003). Design>Project Management>Web Design
#25261
One of the biggest problems in creating and delivering a site is how to decide, specify, and communicate exactly what we’re building and why. Use cases can help answer these questions by providing a simple, fast means to decide and describe the purpose of your project. In this quick-reading article, Messieurs Carr and Meehan introduce use cases and their, uh, uses.
Carr, Norm and Tim Meehan. List Apart, A (2005). Articles>Web Design>Project Management
#28411
As a general rule, designers and developers should avoid trying to be clever, and should concentrate on working smart.
Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2006). Design>Web Design>Project Management
#32724
As a designer, do you know where your work really fits in the process of design? If Web design is your business, then you must make certain you are in the right mindset and you use the right process when it comes to your work. You don't want your designs to fail, but, unfortunately, there is a strong chance that they will do exactly that. Lets take a step back for a minute and define what a failing design is, and why it fails.
Rodriguez, David. Web Page Design for Designers (2008). Design>Web Design>Project Management>Workflow
#32879
An Eight-Step Implementation Model
The inaccessibility of web content can have a significant impact on the lives of individuals with disabilities. Many people without disabilities are ignorant of the importance of the issue to those who are directly affected. They are also often ignorant of the tremendous benefit that accessible web content can be. Accessible web sites offer independence to individuals with disabilities that would otherwise not have it.
WebAIM (2006). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Project Management
#33058
How to Scope an Intranet Release
When developing intranet releases, intranet teams often find themselves very constrained by both time and resources. The challenge then becomes delivering sufficient content and capabilities to meet business and user expectations, within the project constraints. This briefing introduces a simple approach to scoping a release that takes all of these factors into account.
Robertson, James. Step Two (2004). Articles>Web Design>Intranets>Project Management
#33162
Your Website is for Your Most Important Customers
Well-managed websites tend to be those that are narrow in their focus. They do a few things really well rather than attempt to do lots and lots of things.
McGovern, Gerry. New Thinking (2006). Articles>Web Design>Project Management>E Commerce
#33279
You Need a Five-Year Plan for Your Website
Websites change the way an organization communicates with its staff, customers, investors and general public. A change in communication is a major shift for the organization. To effectively implement such a change will take time. You need a five-year plan for your website.
McGovern, Gerry. New Thinking (2003). Articles>Web Design>Planning>Project Management
#33342
Twenty Signs You Don’t Want that Web Design Project
Most clients are good clients, and some clients are great clients. But some jobs are just never going to work out well. Herewith, a few indicators that a project may be headed to the toilet.
Zeldman, Jeffrey. Zeldman.com (2008). Articles>Web Design>Project Management>Planning
#33490
Nearly every company I’ve worked with since becoming a web professional six years ago has lacked an efficient way to decide which things to do first. Put 10 people into a room for an hour, and they’ll surely come up with a wish list a mile long.
Fraser, Janice. Adaptive Path (2002). Articles>Web Design>Project Management>Collaboration
#33640
Getting Real About Agile Design
Agile is here to stay. The economic difficulties of the past months have finally put waterfall out of its misery; now more than ever, long requirements phases and vaporous up-front documentation aren’t acceptable. Software must be visible and valuable from the start. For many designers, Agile is already a fact of life (and for those less accustomed, some recommended reading follows at the foot of this article). We are reaching the point where we must either acclimatize or risk being bypassed. The good news is that Agile does allow us to still do the things we hold dear—research, develop a vision, and test and improve our designs—we just need new techniques. Now is the time to get real, and prove design can adapt, if we want to stay relevant in these increasingly unreal times.
Bowles, Cennydd. List Apart, A (2008). Articles>Web Design>Agile>Project Management
#35177
There’s often an unsettling discrepancy between the stakeholder approved wireframes and visual comps and the actual product in production. What you see in those environments is sometimes a far cry from those polished wireframes and those shiny, pixel-perfect visualizations that were filled with placeholder content (such as lorem ipsum text, dummy copy, and image blocks). What you’re seeing in production environments now holds the real content. The imagery doesn’t support the interactions, is meaningless, useless, or worse, contradictory to the design intent. The copy, headers, and labels are unclear, too long, too short, or simply irrelevant. What happened?
Detzi, Christopher. Boxes and Arrows (2009). Articles>Web Design>Project Management
#35631
Websites: Designed by Dogs, Managed by Cats
Websites are generally designed by dogs. There’s a lot of optimism. The dogs look at the website and think of it as an endless attic. No matter how much stuff you into it, there’s always room for more. The dogs approach each design step with a ‘have gigabytes, must fill’ enthusiasm. And then cats have to manage the website. The dogs let everyone publish and the cats are certainly not going to review all this stuff. The dogs created an architecture where everyone can find everything and now nobody can find anything. The cats shake their heads.
McGovern, Gerry. I Heart Tech Docs (2007). Articles>Web Design>Project Management
