Latest Essays (13 August 2007)
Broken window's are everywhere
In User Experience in a software development team I wrote that developers have their part to play in good product usability. I proposed that by getting all developers to understand about good business tier usability they would be more...
Continue reading "Broken window's are everywhere"
The Myths of innovation
In the Myths of innovation Scott Berkun analysis the what works and doesn't work in creating innovative products. He looks at the Myths that surround innovation and breaks the process down to a pragmatic guide to creating the space to...
Continue reading "The Myths of innovation"
When I grow up I want to be Clive James....
or at least I want to be rich enough to have his library! I've been fascinated by Clive Jame's art world TV Series Talking in the library. It's what main stream TV should be; Interesting people talking about interesting things!...
Continue reading "When I grow up I want to be Clive James...."
Rocky Balboa
A strange fact that most people don't know about me is that I love the Rocky films, even Rocky V which was dismal. Last night I finally found the time to watch Rocky Balboa, the six installment in the Rocky...
Continue reading "Rocky Balboa"
RNIB See it right - Book and CD launch
Tonight I wen to the launch of the new RNIB See it right booklet and CD. It was a rather wonderful evening and hosted in the magnificent City Hall on the south bank of London. (we we're on the 9th...
Continue reading "RNIB See it right - Book and CD launch"
Older Essays
What is usability anyway?
The fun thing about running your own business is that all the family want to know what you're upto. When i tell them I usually hear "usability what???", "user experience what's that?". Well here is my answer....
Continue reading "What is usability anyway?"
The first day of the rest of my life - PART 1
Today was my first full day running UX Consultancy my full services user experience consultancy. I'm not exactly sure what i expected feel at the end of the day, but I'm glad to say the feelings of blind panic have...
Continue reading "The first day of the rest of my life - PART 1"
User experience in a software development team - UPDATE
My article, User Experience in a software development team, as been translated in to Chinese and is being featured on uiGarden. The English version of the article is also available....
Continue reading "User experience in a software development team - UPDATE"
Well there it is.... i've actually gone mad
As anyone who come here knows (when they not looking for Lawn Design) I don't usually write personal post on this site, it's more of an essay brain bump but today is different. Today I handed in my notice at...
Continue reading "Well there it is.... i've actually gone mad"
Technology is transient!
Still in draft essay on the diffrence between programmers and developers - Technology is transient
Continue reading "Technology is transient!"
Book/Essay List
A list of books and essays that anyone involved in the software/web development industry should read, understand and learn from.
Continue reading "Book/Essay List"
Windows Live Writer (BETA) (Masqueraded test message)
As is normal - I'm the last the hear! The Windows Live team have released a rather fantastic tool called Windows Live Write. It's fantastic - you can write as if in word and have it publish directly to your...
Continue reading "Windows Live Writer (BETA) (Masqueraded test message)"
World Usability Day
14th November - World Usability day. To celebrate I'm going to wear Velcro shoes and hire out an automatic car, perhaps with variable cruise control. I may even get a Velcro jump suit just to top the out fit off....
Continue reading "World Usability Day"
Speaking Events
Hear me speak! I'm now available for speaking engagements. Where I can talk about user experience and the health of the software development team.
Continue reading "Speaking Events"
Wear sunscreen! (Advice for aspiring developers)
Some advice for aspiring developers
Continue reading "Wear sunscreen! (Advice for aspiring developers)"
The future of design
I have seen the future and it is the Horse metaphor... apparently!
Continue reading "The future of design"
Tech Events - Understanding your users
On the 28th March I'm hosting the first of what I hope to be many half day seminars. My intention is to get as many of the best speakers down to speak to Hampshire and Dorset base software/web developers. The...
Continue reading "Tech Events - Understanding your users"
Social "Social Networking"
Incomplete thoughts on internet social networking and their tools and how they are used in real off line communities.
Continue reading "Social "Social Networking""
Utopian Entrepreneur by Brenda Laurel
I've just finished reading Utopian Entrepreneur by Brenda Laurel a really interesting and though provoking book on Brenda's experience running PurpleMoon.com and a critique of the girls computer games market and narrative based product development. Sounds a little boring...
Continue reading "Utopian Entrepreneur by Brenda Laurel"
Access to NHS Direct
Two new important pieces of work have been uploaded to the NHS Direct Website. The first on the 25th November and the Second today (20/12/2005). Marking the start of an ambitious new programme of digital inclusion. Tableless Content The main...
Continue reading "Access to NHS Direct"
"close" to system tray.
In the past week I've had some real problems minimising applications to the system tray which has made me feel really stupid and now I'm angry. After all, I'm a bloody software engineer and usability specialist and if I can't...
Continue reading ""close" to system tray."
One column or two - Does multi-column displays effect readability?
The Software Usability Research Laboratory of Wichita State University have published a fascinating research paper entitled Is Multiple-Column Online Text Better? It Depends!, which looks at how multi column layout and text justification can effect readability and comprehension on...
Continue reading "One column or two - Does multi-column displays effect readability?"
Microsoft's accessibility guidelines
A comprehensive resource from Microsoft on accessibility issues. Microsoft accessibility guidelines...
Continue reading "Microsoft's accessibility guidelines"
PDF accessibility
Joe Clark has written an interesting article on (the newly re-designed) A list apart, where he argues that there should be a unified user experience when considering the accessibility of html and PDF documentation. "Contrary to popular opinion, and also...
Continue reading "PDF accessibility"
IBM accessibility guidelines
IBM's accessibility guidelines which cover both desktop and web development. They also provide information on the issue faced by people with visual, cognitive and motor disabilities. IBM accessibility centre developer guidelines...
Continue reading "IBM accessibility guidelines"
Using FireFox to asses web accessibility
Get Tooled Up:'Evaluating Web Sites for Accessibility with Firefox', Ariadne Issue 44 An excellent essays on the features available through FireFox's Web developer toolbar to asses how accessible your website is....
Continue reading "Using FireFox to asses web accessibility"
Customising XHTML
Zeldman's A List Apart has published a series of articles on creating a custom DTD for XHTML. Starting with Peter-Paul Koch article JavaScript Triggers which uses custom attributes to create javascript triggers. This article was then quickly followed up by...
Continue reading "Customising XHTML"
Methodology: 5-second user test
Whilst playing with beta 2 of "desktop" (as the Financial Times calls it). I found this useful user testing approach in one of Jared Spool's UIE email alerts and wanted to put it some where useful. Feature Article: 5-Second Tests...
Continue reading "Methodology: 5-second user test"
Usability@90mph
Paul F. Marty and Michael B. Twidale have published an article entitled Usability@90mph in the peer review journal first monday. In the article they introduce a rapid approach for demonstrating (selling?) user testing. On the whole it's a interesting approach...
Continue reading "Usability@90mph"
Response: Why Readability Testing is not Enough
In September 2004 I had an essay published on usabilitynews.com, on why readability testing shouldn't solely be used to gauge how understandable your site's content is.
Continue reading "Response: Why Readability Testing is not Enough"
User Experience in a software development team.
User Experience (UX) design is traditionally seen as the domain of user interface designer, but within a software development team it could mean so much more! UX should permeate through the whole development team. It should influence the way middle tier developer craft their components and the way database design create their tables, stored procedures and views.
Continue reading "User Experience in a software development team."
Personal Development
There are other ways to learn without working; read philosophy, science fact, science fiction (Kim Stanley Robinson = mars trilogy, Antarctica, icehenge, pacific edge, books by asimov, Arthur C Clarke, William Gibson is very cool - neuramancer - who popularised...
Continue reading "Personal Development"
Usable....but is it useful
Andrew Swartz, managing consultant from Serco Usability Service has written and interesting article on testing to see how useful a product or service is as well as how usable it is. As an example he cites public internet terminals, an...
Continue reading "Usable....but is it useful"
Personas - Are they stereotypes?
In June I gave a talk at the DIHNet event "Making a difference" one if the questions I was asked was, "what the difference between a persona (a design archetype) and a stereotype is". I felt that the answer I...
Continue reading "Personas - Are they stereotypes?"
Persuasive Design: Amazon
I'm not sure when Amazon introduced this feature but they've started putting internal advertising in the top left hand corner of the screen, where the logo used to be. A couple of time now I've clicked it expecting to go...
Continue reading "Persuasive Design: Amazon"
Design for the few, please the many.
Quite often when I'm describing interaction design and advocating a narrow focus for design, I use the analogy of how roll on suitcases were created (which I stole from Alan Cooper) to explain my point of view. A new article...
Continue reading "Design for the few, please the many."
DiHNet: Making a difference
The designers in health network hosted it's eighth annual event, "making a difference" last Friday (16th July) and judging from the feedback I heard it was a big success. Andrew Dineley and Brian Parkinson, the event organisers, deserve a round...
Continue reading "DiHNet: Making a difference"
British Government to dilute the BBCi services
Despite the fact the BBCi is recognised the world over as an example of excellent web design BBC News online and other news sites have been reporting that BBCi will have to shut down a series of sites after the...
Continue reading "British Government to dilute the BBCi services"
BBCi: Redesigning medicine containers
BBC News Online are running an article on how Faraday Packaging Partnership have redesigned medicine containers to be mentally challenging instead of physically challenging - reducing the stress on the elderly and infirm by 90% yet still keeping the young...
Continue reading "BBCi: Redesigning medicine containers"
Ethical Media: 58% of disability organisations failt to meet basic WAI guidelines
According to a report carried out by Ethical Media on the top 50 disability organisations (as ranked by google.co.uk); 58% fail to meet an A rating 86% fail to meet an AA rating 92% fail to meet an AAA rating...
Continue reading "Ethical Media: 58% of disability organisations failt to meet basic WAI guidelines"
DRC: 81% of websites fail to meet basic WAI guidelines
"81% [of 1000 websites studied] fail to satisfy the most basic Web Accessibility Initiative category" So says the Disability Rights Commission's (DRC) in their Formal Investigation report into web accessibility The report contains 15 recommendation for making websites more accessible,...
Continue reading "DRC: 81% of websites fail to meet basic WAI guidelines"
Developer's Bookshelf
I used to write books review on my old site, but since moving to Typepad I haven't kept it up. So here are a list of the books which I've recently read and recommend buying (or at least getting your...
Continue reading "Developer's Bookshelf"
UsabilityNews: Seeing design in context
Usability exists to understand how to make things functional..user experience exists to make things function while allowing humans engage with each other
Continue reading "UsabilityNews: Seeing design in context"
Distributed computing in dotNet
Do you remember those DCOM days and the struggle of authenticating over a firewall or proxy server? If you succeeded you were hailed as a hero (but secretly vowed never to do it again). If you failed you could join...
Continue reading "Distributed computing in dotNet"
Signal vs Noise: Yellow fade technique
The Signal vs Noise guys have invented the Yellow Fade Technique (YFT), a technique which highlights an updated screen area with a yellow background which then slowly fades to white. I like this idea a lot, I think it's an...
Continue reading "Signal vs Noise: Yellow fade technique"
Good design days
I love days like today! Today I've been redesigning some of our internal content management pages and have simplified the process for keyword searching massively. We used to ask the content editors to select the keywords they want to assign...
Continue reading "Good design days"
BJ Fogg: Seven steps to innovation
BJ Fogg author of Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do. has documented his seven steps to innovation. His points are reminiscent of Joel Spolsky's article Getting Things Done When You're Only a Grunt....
Continue reading "BJ Fogg: Seven steps to innovation"
Information pollution
Jakob Nielsen wrote an article where he gave advice on managing information pollution; Better prioritization, fewer interruptions, and concentrated information that's easy to find and manage helps people become more productive and stop wasting their colleagues' time. I agree but...
Continue reading "Information pollution"
Scoble hurting Visual Studio's marketing
In reply to article written by James Robertson accusing him of hurting Visual Studio's marketing Scoble writes; I'm learning to program. Not learning to use Visual Studio. I wanna know how to branch my code. How to properly call objects....
Continue reading "Scoble hurting Visual Studio's marketing"
Is being a generalist really a good thing?
Let me get one thing straight before I start! Although I pay particular attention to design and usability issues I'm a generalist by nature. I fit to where ever I'm needed in a software development team; I'm just as happy...
Continue reading "Is being a generalist really a good thing?"
Zeno's Paradox: Designing for seniors
(Ron) Zeno provides some links on designing for seniors and comments on Tom Tullis's article on designing for seniors. Highlighting what's needed to make website senior friendly makes me wonder just how we can continue to design for the conflicting...
Continue reading "Zeno's Paradox: Designing for seniors"
A moment of clarity
I've been thinking a lot recently about how to create the best possible web application for my users and I've started to realise that no matter how user focused I've been in the past, I've completely missed the point. I've...
Continue reading "A moment of clarity"
Digital Web Magazine: Soft Skills for Information Architecture.
Jeff Lash has written an interesting article in Digital Web Magazine on Soft Skills for Information Architecture. Reading through them I think that they apply across other disciplines too, most notably software design. Know how to win arguments, but know...
Continue reading "Digital Web Magazine: Soft Skills for Information Architecture."