Organization in the Way: How Decentralization Hobbles the User Experience

Contrary to all the books, articles, Web sites, and workshops that suggest otherwise, the biggest problem in user experience design today is not one of practice. Any competent practitioner can dip into the current toolbox of methods and create a satisfactory product. Right now, the biggest obstacle to good design is poor organizational structure. The fundamental makeup of most organizations runs contrary to producing quality designs, and as organizations get larger, this becomes increasingly apparent.

Merholz, Peter. Adaptive Path (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Web Design

Passion Matters

In creating the site for a client, the magic ingredient was passion. My client's passion added fuel to my own, and I was immediately catapulted to an even higher energy level than usual designing his site. This magic ingredient was being reflected in the client's web site.

Kaiser, Shirley E. Wise-Women (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Web Design

The Politics of User Experience

Governments hire thousands of employees and spend millions of dollars on contractors to design, build, and operate websites. Chances are good that you will have some exposure to government work, and therefore, some exposure to the politics of user experience.

Fleckenstein, Steve. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Collaboration>Government

A Practical Approach to Web Site Design  

Successful Web site design is accomplished by a team of professionals who: Define the business requirements for the site; Analyze the audiences; Collect content; Organize the site information; Develop a concept; Define the navigation system; Define the labeling system; Create blueprints and wire frames; Test the models; Create content maps. The matching of business needs to user needs should be your ultimate definition of a successful site.

Klepfer, Lori J. STC Proceedings (2003). Design>Web Design>Planning>Collaboration

Ready for Life in Transparencyville?

Before you jump up and down about social media and the wonderfully transparent world it is creating, consider the consequences. There’s just no way to prevent those outside your walls from looking in. Leaky information, errant e-mails and inappropriate instant messages now have the capacity to become very, very public. If there's one lesson that communicators need to take away from the new social media, it's how to operate in a world of transparency.

Fernando, Angelo. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>Social Networking

Roles Needed in an Intranet Team

A multi-disciplinary approach is needed when establishing an intranet team. Due to the diverse range of responsibilities, a large number of skills are required. This briefing outlines the major roles in an intranet team.

Robertson, James. Step Two (2003). Design>Web Design>Collaboration

The Rules of Digital Engagement

For contract web workers, consultants, and freelancers who work with far-flung collaborators, multiple clients, and constantly shifting teams, the rules of digital engagement--the way we interact with each other and resolve conflict in virtual space--are constantly changing. As we adapt to new ways of collaborating, we must also learn how to communicate effectively, set expectations, and build team confidence in an evolving work environment.

Follett, Jonathan. List Apart, A (2008). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>Workplace

Social Network Analysis

How do knowledge workers learn? How do they decide what to learn next? What motivates them to share? These questions are central to the challenges of knowledge management, and yet most corporate portals and online communities are designed in ignorance of their answers.

Morville, Peter. Semantic Studios (2002). Design>Web Design>Collaboration>Rhetoric

Strategy with Design

What's changed in the last several years that gave designers a seat at the boardroom table and why do we have technology and information overload to thank for it?

Wroblewski, Luke. OK-Cancel (2006). Design>Web Design>Collaboration

Subversion for Designers

There’s no question that developers need version control when working on an app. But what about designers? In this article Chris Nagele, founder of Beanstalk, talks about the benefits and basics of Subversion for designers.

Nagele, Chris. Vitamin (2008). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>Software

Using Open Source Software to Design, Develop, and Deploy a Collaborative Web Site, Part 1: Introduction and Overview

In this series, follow along as the IBM Internet Technology Group team designs, develops, and deploys a closed community Web site using a suite of software that is freely available. The open source community provides various tools that, when plugged together, begin to create a useful development and production environment for complex Web applications. Using these tools as a foundation, we provide a methodology and set of enhancements to help you simplify the production process. Although customization is still necessary, this series shows you the tools and techniques to get relatively complicated Web sites up and running quickly using open source tools, including Drupal, MySQL, PHP, Apache, and Eclipse technologies. In this first article, you'll compare our approach with other software tools available and explore the enhancements we made.

Lewis-Bowen, Alister, Stephen Evanchik and Louis Weitzman. IBM (2006). Design>Web Design>Collaboration>Open Source

Using Open Source Software to Design, Develop, and Deploy a Collaborative Web Site, Part 2: Design for an Effective User Experience

In this series, you follow along as the IBM Internet Technology Group designs, develops, and deploys a closed community Web site using a suite of software that is freely available. Most of this series focuses on the actual implementation of the Web site, but this second article is a bit more generic. Read it to explore our design process, which can help you to create user experiences for applications, other interfaces, or Web sites. Part 1 discusses the team's requirements, compares several open source content management systems, and provides the rationale for choosing Drupal.

Lewis-Bowen, Alister, Stephen Evanchik and Louis Weitzman. IBM (2006). Design>Web Design>Collaboration>Open Source

L'Utilisateur Moyen N'existe Pas

La conception d'un site est trop souvent ponctuée de ces réunions stériles où chacun cherche à défendre son point de vue persuadé de plaider la cause de l'utilisateur final. Mais il n'existe pas d'utilisateur moyen. Chaque utilisateur est unique. L'approche ergonomique permet d'adapter le site à l'usage qui en est réellement fait et ainsi de construire sur des bases objectives.

Nogier, Jean-Francois. Usabilis (2004). (French) Design>Web Design>Collaboration>User Centered Design

Web Pages, Interactive Interfaces and Worm Holes: The Next Generation of User Interface Designers  

Working in teams has its challenges. What would you do if you were part of a team that included software engineers, usability professionals, managers, teachers and elementary school students? What would you do if the team had to learn about web technology and user interface design in a few short weeks and then apply that skill to creating a web page ? Well, we had fun, and we achieved our goal. Join our panel discussion to hear more about an exciting project between members of IBM’s S/390 team and local elementary schools from Hyde Park, New York.

Bahruth, Carol, Kirsten Brunner, David Hans, Vikki Hanast and Cheryl Loughlin. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Collaboration>Web Design>Usability

When the Show Must Go On, It's Time to Collaborate Or Die

Lighting design has a utilitarian role: to put enough light on the stage so that the audience can see the actors. But the lighting also helps shape the performance by providing the color and overtones that add meaning and layers and depth. The same mix of art and technology, craft and discipline exists in user interface design.

Quesenbery, Whitney. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Collaboration

Wizards and Guides: Principles of Task Flow for Web Applications, Part 2

In part one of this article the discussion was one of views, forms, and the manner in which they could be combined into a task structure known as a hub. This installment expands on those themes by exploring two other types of task structures commonly employed in web applications--wizards and guides.

Baxley, Bob. Boxes and Arrows (2004). Design>Web Design>Workflow>Collaboration

XFN Encoding, Extraction, and Visualizations

In this article I will take a good look at XFN - the microformat for describing relationships between people. I will look briefly at what it is and the basic markup needed to add the information to your sites, before then going into depth, looking at the benefits you can get from that data by extracting it and using it in different ways. Extracting the data is easier than you think - there is probably a library for your favorite language already! If not, there are also some web services that could do the job that I'll show you below.

Suda, Brian. Opera (2008). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Collaboration

Converting Your Team

I’d like to share some of the things I’ve done (and still do) to get the team I work with to start using web standards. Maybe it will help someone who is in the position I was a while back.

456 Berea Street (2004). Articles>Web Design>Standards>Collaboration

Why Standards Harmonization is Essential for Web Accessibility

This document introduces the concept of harmonization and causes of fragmentation in the area of Web accessibility standards, and examines the impact of harmonization and fragmentation on Web developers, tool developers, and organizations. It also suggests action steps for promoting Web accessibility standards harmonization.

W3C (2006). Articles>Web Design>Standards>Collaboration

Don't Fight Over Your Home Page

Most organisations spend most of their design time focusing on the homepage, often in tense negotiations with different departments, each jockeying for prominent positions in the global navigation. There’s more politics here than the appointment of a Fianna Fail junior minister.

Veale, Laurence. IQcontent (2006). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>Workplace

Effective Websites: The Responsibility of the Whole Organisation

Building an effective website is often seen exclusively as the job of the web team, and viewed as a design or technical issue. However, having worked with many different organisations, we would argue that often what stops them improving their website is the organisation itself. Developing an effective website often requires organisational change: it requires a culture where people at all levels in the organisation adopt behaviours that make a ‘good user experience’ an important goal. If the organisation is not focused on providing a good user experience, then the web team will be unable to build an effective website.

Burton-Taylor, Sarah. Usability News (2006). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>Workplace

Influencing Strategy by Design: Design Skills

Many design organizations seek to impact strategic decision-making by learning how to speak the language of business. But until they master these new skills, they are likely to be the least qualified people to discuss business strategy at the corporate decision-making table. Yet no one else at the table besides the design team has a complete set of design skills.

Wroblewski, Luke. Functioning Form (2008). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>Persuasive Design

Setting Priorities

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

Flexible Fuel: Educating the Client on Information Architecture

Information architecture (IA) means so much to our projects, from setting requirements to establishing the baseline layout for our design and development teams. But what does it mean to your clients? Do they see the value in IA? What happens when they change their minds? Can IA help manage the change control process? More than ever, we must ensure that our clients find value in and embrace IA—and it’s is our job to educate them. If we want our customers to embrace IA, we must help them understand why we need it.

LaFerriere, Keith. List Apart, A (2008). Articles>Information Design>Collaboration>Web Design

Cloud Computing Versus Grid Computing

Want to know more about cloud and grid computing? Learn how you can use Infrastructure as a Service to get a full computer infrastructure using Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). See the similarities, differences, and issues to consider in grid and cloud computing. Explore some of the security issues and choices for Web development in the cloud, and see how you can be environmentally friendly using cloud computing.

Myerson, Judith. IBM (2009). Articles>Web Design>Programming>Collaboration