IxDA Discussion

Axure Site Down?

Joe Sokohl — May 31, 2008 8:45pm

Joe Sokohl. Hi all, I'm trying to get some pricing info and other stuff for a presentation.and www.axure.com seems to have disappeared. What the f??? Anyone know anything more than "it's not there"? Best, joe Joe Sokohl joe at sokohl.com www.sokohl.com/ IM: joe at sokohl.com (MSM) +1-804-873-6964 (mobile)

Re: What do you do best?

Petra Liverani — May 31, 2008 7:38pm

Petra Liverani. Yes, I think I point out the obvious, too. Sometimes something seems so staggeringly obvious you can't understand why no one else has thought of it. (And I kvetch.) An example of the obvious: a couple of days ago I was shown a form for traffic operators to enter messages such as "INCIDENT AHEAD" for the electronic signs on the side of the road. The form contained a single frame with a radio button to choose "Alternate" for a two-frame message and a forward button to click for the second frame. The form easily allowed side-by-side display of two frames so I suggested that it do that. This eliminated the need for "Alternate" and forward buttons (even with frames displayed on two screens only one button should be required) and also allowed operators to view the complete message. Apart from other things that might trigger this idea of side-by-side display, the lines of the frame far exceeded the length required to display the number of characters allowed. There had been about four people working on the form and no one had thought of it, even someone who was very exposed to side-by-side frame display in another system. It was shown to me two days before development was to start and the others were very surprised that I had something to contribute because they felt satisfied it was such a big improvement on the previous version and thought they'd covered all possible angles whereas to me a two-frame display was a no-brainer. Regards, Petra Liverani -----Original Message----- From: discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Robert Hoekman Jr Sent: Wednesday, 28 May 2008 7:04 AM To: Bryan J Busch Cc: discuss at ixda.org Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] What do you do best? > > Ask the questions that nobody else is asking (granted, sometimes > that's because the answer is "obvious", but it doesn't hurt to > ask). > Funny-another thing I do best is . point out the obvious. I feel like it's half my job. (Of course, many things are not "obvious" unless you're a designer thinking like a user, so you have to keep pointing them out.) -r- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list . discuss at ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help http://www.ixda.org/help

Re: qualitative and quantitative research

Jessica Enders — May 31, 2008 7:04pm

Jessica Enders. Gosh I'm loving the way IxDA is getting input from all sorts of other fields. This forum rocks! I'm have a market research background and what you describe sounds to me like qualitative coding. If you do a search for this term, you will find heaps of references for: - software to assist the process (usually assuming you're working from transcripts of interviews or focus groups, so probably not so useful for you) - papers and books about how to do it - papers and books about its reliability and usefulness. My experience in market research was that the subjective nature of qualitative coding was recognised and mechanisms were put in place to manage it. These included ensuring the same person or people coded, that the coding frame was discussed and reviewed by all parties, and that a random sample of coded information was quality checked to look for glaring inconsistencies in how the frame was applied. The thing to remember is that if you want to draw conclusions about patterns you are observing, then you need to be working with a complete or at least statistically representative sample. This is usually *not* the case in qualitative market research but it might be in your situation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=29646

Omnigraffle IA stencils

Christian Crumlish — May 31, 2008 6:30pm

Christian Crumlish. Graffletopia is great. For those interested, the Yahoo! Design Pattern Library has just released a set of wireframe stencils in OmniGraffle, Visio (XML), PDF, PNG, and SVG formats (thanks to Graffle wizard Lucas Pettinati): http://developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns/wireframes/ -xian- On Fri, May 16, 2008 at 11:44 AM, Jeff Gimzek wrote: > i think > > http://www.graffletopia.com > > is the only one you need. > > OG rules. you'll wonder why it tool you so long. > > jd > > > > On May 16, 2008, at 8:48 AM, Will Evans wrote: > > Hi all, >> For once - a non-snarky Will post. As of this week, I have made the >> complete switch to Mac - and after installing Omnigraffle (new OS, new >> machine, new everything including new way of doing wireframing and >> sitemapping), I am on the hunt for all site mapping and wireframing >> stencils. So if people could email me with links to stencils, I will >> digest >> it and post back to group. >> > > > - - > > Jeffrey D. Gimzek | Senior User Experience Designer > > http://www.glassdoor.com > > > > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list . discuss at ixda.org > Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help http://www.ixda.org/help > -- Christian Crumlish http://xianlandia.com Yahoo! pattern detective http://design.yahoo.com Yahoo! Developer Network evangelist http://open.yahoo.com IA Institute director of technology http://iainstitute.org

Re: Thoughts on Tourfilter

Dmitry Nekrasovski — May 31, 2008 6:07pm

Dmitry Nekrasovski. Actually, to me it looks like it's taking a page from craigslist (with the pros and cons implicit in that comparison). It seems a bit odd that, when I search and get no results, it still flashes the "free X concert email alerts" call to action at me. Whether intentional or not, this makes it look like all they care about is getting my email address by any means necessary. Also, not a comment about the IxD per se. but since when are Toronto and Vancouver "U.S. cities"? :) Dmitry On Sat, May 31, 2008 at 7:15 PM, Will Evans wrote: > A very good friend of mine designed Tourfilter - we worked together at > Gather.com, and I wanted to know people's thoughts on the stripped down > design - definitely taking a page from my kayak design: > http://www.tourfilter.com/ > > -- > ~ will > > "Where you innovate, how you innovate, > and what you innovate are design problems" > > > Will Evans | User Experience Architect > tel +1.617.281.1281 | will at semanticfoundry.com > twitter: https://twitter.com/semanticwill > > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list . discuss at ixda.org > Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help http://www.ixda.org/help >

Thoughts on Tourfilter

Will Evans — May 31, 2008 4:15pm

Will Evans. A very good friend of mine designed Tourfilter - we worked together at Gather.com, and I wanted to know people's thoughts on the stripped down design - definitely taking a page from my kayak design: http://www.tourfilter.com/ -- ~ will "Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems" Will Evans | User Experience Architect tel +1.617.281.1281 | will at semanticfoundry.com twitter: https://twitter.com/semanticwill

Re: qualitative and quantitative research

mark schraad — May 31, 2008 2:56pm

mark schraad. As Jeff eludes, It is a mistake to put ethnography solely in the qualitative box. Agar, Maanen and many of the other early ethnographers took meticulous counts and quantified their findings. On May 31, 2008, at 10:09 AM, Jeff Howard wrote: > They're both engaged in some pretty serious ethnography (IIRC, > primarily shadowing and video analysis) and neither skimp on the > quantification.

Re: qualitative and quantitative research

Jeff Howard — May 31, 2008 10:09am

Jeff Howard. christine wrote: > Does anyone have any experience with "making" qualitative > research as quantitative as possible? It is not worth the while to go round the world to count the cats in Zanzibar. --Thoreau That being said, a couple books come to mind with examples of this type of research. William Whyte wrote a short book called the Social Life of Small Urban Spaces and Paco Underhill (who worked for Whyte on the Project for Public Spaces) wrote Why We Buy and calls his approach "the science of shopping." They're both engaged in some pretty serious ethnography (IIRC, primarily shadowing and video analysis) and neither skimp on the quantification. // jeff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=29646

Re: Loan Calculator

Dmitry Nekrasovski — May 30, 2008 7:42pm

Dmitry Nekrasovski. John, In general, I would tend to agree with your argument. But, the answer you are looking for may depend on whether the scenario of the user working back from a monthly payment figure, rather than from a desired loan amount, is important. This may in turn depend on the kind of loans your client is providing (auto, line of credit, home equity, etc.). That, combined with the specific usage patterns you are trying to address, should dictate whether the monthly payment scenario is accommodated explicitly, or implicitly through real-time feedback. Dmitry On Fri, May 30, 2008 at 1:29 PM, John Gibbard wrote: > Scenario: A loan calculator (for amounts under $50,000 / £25,000) > > Option A: > Two sliders (with associated input fields) one for total amount, > second for duration. > Moving the sliders affects a results panel which shows amount > repayable per month & total cost of loan. > > Option B: > Three sliders, as option A but this time also including a 'monthly > amount' slider. Moving 'amount' and 'duration' moves the 'monthly > amount' automatically. User can also move the 'monthly amount' slider > to affect the total amount slider. > > I don't agree with option B, I think it is over complicating the > calculation. When you are considering a mortgage you consider what you > can afford per month and calculate backwards to work out what this > will let you spend, I'm not sure the same is true of smaller loans as > in this case where you generally have an amount and purchase in mind. > In option A you are able to see the cost to you per month in real-time > so can make a decision about whether you can afford it. > > what do you guys & girls think? > > J. > > -- > John Gibbard (User Experience Architect) > t. +44 (0)7957 102577 skype. johngibbard > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list . discuss at ixda.org > Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help http://www.ixda.org/help >

Re: What do you do best?

Ken Mohnkern — May 30, 2008 7:37pm

Ken Mohnkern. Simplify.

Re: qualitative and quantitative research

Paul Eisen — May 30, 2008 7:32pm

Paul Eisen. Christine asked: > Does anyone have any experience with "making" qualitative research as quantitative as possible? I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for: Fuzzy logic is a mathematics that has been used to model imprecise values. It allows you to apply values from 0 to 1 to constructs that a researcher may be interested in such as, "Easy", "Engaging", etc. Fuzzy logic has been used with varying levels of success to represent subjective impressions, as we often like to do in user research. Check out Wikipedia if you want to learn more. A Google search will lead you to some examples of the use of fuzzy logic in usability-related research. Regards, Paul Paul Eisen Principal User Experience Architect tandemseven

Re: qualitative and quantitative research

christine chastain — May 30, 2008 7:25pm

christine chastain. I'm going to give it a go.;) I mean, how much worse can it be than a time-motion study of knee replacements including all players using various surgical methods for the purpose of creating new instrumentation? I'm a glutton for punishment. Your suggestions are great! On Fri, May 30, 2008 at 7:02 PM, Christine Boese wrote: > Hi Christine, > > Yup, that sort of tagging is just like more formal methods of content > analysis, such as like socio-linguists use. You might pick up one of those > small paperback Sage publications that run through an overview of content > analysis methods, just so you are rigorous in your tags and how you assign > them, or perhaps look to multiple raters/coders/taggers and establish a > baseline of inter-rater reliability. > > See, the trouble with winging it is you could spend a lot of time on a > taggin/coding schema, and you might discover (or worse, not discover and be > oblivious) to the fact that your schema is giving you bad data, which then > becomes bad conclusions. That would be a nightmare. > > So you'd want a really STRONG pilot project, and lots and lots of feedback > to make sure the method will yield both reliable and useful results. Hone > the method out, THEN turn it into your hamburger grinder and see what kind > of burgers you get. > > And then trot your great new method out at the next IxDA conference and > tell us all about it, so we can try it too, and replicate it, and further > test the usefulness of the results! > > I don't say this to put you off by the amount of work entailed. Following > vigorous and careful research methods may seem like a huge mountain to > climb, but it can also be creative, interesting, and really valuable. I'm > hoping you do it! We could use some fresh and innovative methods. > > Chris > > > On Fri, May 30, 2008 at 2:40 PM, christine chastain < > chastain.christine at gmail.com> wrote: > >> Thanks for your thoughtful input, Chris! Being a designer and >> ethnographer, I think what I have in my head is actually tagging behaviors, >> interactions, even materiality in video or other self-reported data and then >> coming up with a way to code those that would show patterns over time. So >> imagine taking all visual materials from a time-motion study, for example, >> and tagging all behaviors, interactions and things, feeding that into some >> magical formula that would allow you to cross tab and identify patterns from >> which you could then produce a lifestyle narrative. So awesome.time >> consuming but could be amazing. And you could still have "other" qualitative >> input overlayed onto that. >> >> >> On Fri, May 30, 2008 at 11:30 AM, Christine Boese < >> christine.boese at gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Generally (and forgive me if you are already familiar with these methods) >>> the way to go is with methods of content analysis such as sociolinguists >>> use. I always used to think part of the beauty of Q-sort methods is that >>> they have wonderful open-ended approaches, yet the data can be crunched. >>> >>> But this is an area where invention and inventiveness could really push >>> on boundaries of what is possible. The problem is, most researchers tend to >>> have either a quantitative or qualitative bias. Multi-modal stuff is >>> interesting, tho! Triangulate! >>> >>> >>> >> >

Re: qualitative and quantitative research

Christine Boese — May 30, 2008 7:02pm

Christine Boese. Hi Christine, Yup, that sort of tagging is just like more formal methods of content analysis, such as like socio-linguists use. You might pick up one of those small paperback Sage publications that run through an overview of content analysis methods, just so you are rigorous in your tags and how you assign them, or perhaps look to multiple raters/coders/taggers and establish a baseline of inter-rater reliability. See, the trouble with winging it is you could spend a lot of time on a taggin/coding schema, and you might discover (or worse, not discover and be oblivious) to the fact that your schema is giving you bad data, which then becomes bad conclusions. That would be a nightmare. So you'd want a really STRONG pilot project, and lots and lots of feedback to make sure the method will yield both reliable and useful results. Hone the method out, THEN turn it into your hamburger grinder and see what kind of burgers you get. And then trot your great new method out at the next IxDA conference and tell us all about it, so we can try it too, and replicate it, and further test the usefulness of the results! I don't say this to put you off by the amount of work entailed. Following vigorous and careful research methods may seem like a huge mountain to climb, but it can also be creative, interesting, and really valuable. I'm hoping you do it! We could use some fresh and innovative methods. Chris On Fri, May 30, 2008 at 2:40 PM, christine chastain < chastain.christine at gmail.com> wrote: > Thanks for your thoughtful input, Chris! Being a designer and ethnographer, > I think what I have in my head is actually tagging behaviors, interactions, > even materiality in video or other self-reported data and then coming up > with a way to code those that would show patterns over time. So imagine > taking all visual materials from a time-motion study, for example, and > tagging all behaviors, interactions and things, feeding that into some > magical formula that would allow you to cross tab and identify patterns from > which you could then produce a lifestyle narrative. So awesome.time > consuming but could be amazing. And you could still have "other" qualitative > input overlayed onto that. > > > On Fri, May 30, 2008 at 11:30 AM, Christine Boese < > christine.boese at gmail.com> wrote: > >> Generally (and forgive me if you are already familiar with these methods) >> the way to go is with methods of content analysis such as sociolinguists >> use. I always used to think part of the beauty of Q-sort methods is that >> they have wonderful open-ended approaches, yet the data can be crunched. >> >> But this is an area where invention and inventiveness could really push on >> boundaries of what is possible. The problem is, most researchers tend to >> have either a quantitative or qualitative bias. Multi-modal stuff is >> interesting, tho! Triangulate! >> >> >> >

Re: qualitative and quantitative research

Itamar Medeiros — May 30, 2008 6:45pm

Itamar Medeiros. If you're talking about how to turn qualitative data into something "measureable", there are several etnography methods now that are moving in that direction. You should check out -- for example -- the "Insight Matrix", developed by Vijay Kumar and Brandon Schauer at the IIT Institute of Design (http://www.id.iit.edu/568/). { Itamar Medeiros } Information Designer http://designative.info/ http://www.autodesk.com/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=29646

Re: qualitative and quantitative research

Gretchen Anderson — May 30, 2008 4:10pm

Gretchen Anderson. Tables. Percentages. Pie Charts. I'm serious. Sometimes I refer to this as being "scientistic". I always approach research problems with a somewhat scientific framework (coding activities, keeping tallies). It's just important to be clear with yourself that the samples sizes you are dealing with generally mean that true quant claims are meaningless. And, heck even dangerous, sometimes. That said, it's especially helpful for skeptical clients who are quant jocks. Just make sure to let anyone on the project who actually gets the difference know what's up. -----Original Message----- From: discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Jared Spool Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 3:31 PM To: christine chastain Cc: discuss at ixda.org Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] qualitative and quantitative research On May 30, 2008, at 12:35 PM, christine chastain wrote: > Does anyone have any experience with "making" qualitative research as > quantitative as possible? This is a rather nebulous idea in my mind > for the > moment but I was thinking about something like using images from > still or > video footage and tagging those such that they could be coded in a > quantitative way. Sort of like a heuristic evaluation on steroids. We've been doing it for years. Most of our research is based on it. It's hard work, but quite doable. At one point, we had a sign in the office that read: "Scientific advancement through mind-numbing manual labor." Jared Jared M. Spool User Interface Engineering 510 Turnpike St., Suite 102, North Andover, MA 01845 e: jspool at uie.com p: +1 978 327 5561 http://uie.com Blog: http://uie.com/brainsparks Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list . discuss at ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help http://www.ixda.org/help

Re: Managing Complexity of Wireframes

Erica — May 30, 2008 3:49pm

Erica. Burak Delice wrote: > is there any WEB based forum version of this mail list messages data? > because I cant't follow messages effectively via mail list system > althought i use a mail program. Hi Burak, You can indeed follow on a web version hosted by Nabble at http://www.nabble.com/ixda.org---discussion-list-f6702.html -- Cheers, Erica Technical Communicator, Budding User Experience Designer, Mama of Two Little Boys. http://designingux.com

Re: Usability = Predictability

Eugene Chen — May 30, 2008 3:47pm

Eugene Chen. >> Seems to me that frustration and delight are measures of "enjoyability", not "usability". I think there's a difference, and that the difference is important. I agree. I would not push "usability" too far to become an umbrella term. Frankly, it's kind of a dry, uninviting term. To me describing a design as "usable" sounds like describing a meal as "edible". As others have said on this list before, "usable" would seem to be the minimum goal for a design. Of course, as someone who does this every day, I acknowledge how surprisingly difficult this minimum is to achieve - and that making food edible is certainly the first priority. But assuming we're maintaining reasonable "usability", there ought to be many qualities we can aspire toward. Take for instance, "interesting", "intriguing", "amusing", "fascinating", "absorbing", "fast-paced", "punchy", "diverse", "soothing". I agree with the reformulation If predictable > Then usable. But notice that "predictable" would be considered an insult in a restaurant review. Eugene Chen Design User Experience | Strategy Research Design http://www.eugenechendesign.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=29451

Re: qualitative and quantitative research

Jared Spool — May 30, 2008 3:30pm

Jared Spool. On May 30, 2008, at 12:35 PM, christine chastain wrote: > Does anyone have any experience with "making" qualitative research as > quantitative as possible? This is a rather nebulous idea in my mind > for the > moment but I was thinking about something like using images from > still or > video footage and tagging those such that they could be coded in a > quantitative way. Sort of like a heuristic evaluation on steroids. We've been doing it for years. Most of our research is based on it. It's hard work, but quite doable. At one point, we had a sign in the office that read: "Scientific advancement through mind-numbing manual labor." Jared Jared M. Spool User Interface Engineering 510 Turnpike St., Suite 102, North Andover, MA 01845 e: jspool at uie.com p: +1 978 327 5561 http://uie.com Blog: http://uie.com/brainsparks

Re: Expense and income tracking apps?

Robert Hoekman Jr — May 30, 2008 3:01pm

Robert Hoekman Jr. > > ClearCheckbook.com is free as well. > Thanks, everyone. I think I'm looking for something that doesn't exist. Some of these apps require link-ups to my bank, which none of them have listed and can't promise support for. And so far, none of them lets me plug in current balances, pending income, and expenses (recurring and occasional, like PearBudget does). These are my requirements, and apparently, the app that does this is a giant purple squirrel. Thank anyway. Cheers! -r-

Re: Why haven't video calls taken off

Gretchen Anderson — May 30, 2008 2:59pm

Gretchen Anderson. I'll second Nancy's point. Research we've done points to a desire for more of an "Eye of Fatima" type experience. I'd also add that the etiquette of video calls is still awkward. I can tell if you are tuning out, (or more likely, am nervous that you might pick up on the fact their I'm multi-tasking), and it's hard to "end" calls gracefully. That said, corporate video calls is coming along and (anecdotally) I'm certainly starting to experience more of them. But these are with companies who've invested a lot in the systems. Gretchen -----Original Message----- From: discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Nancy Broden Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 9:47 AM To: IXDA list Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Why haven't video calls taken off Add to these the fact that simply seeing the other person on the other end of the line adds very little to the communication. Now, if I were to see what you see, instead of just seeing you On May 30, 2008, at 9:34 AM, Peyush Agarwal wrote: > Alexander, > I'm not sure I agree with the notion of 'greedy interface' as the > problem. I mean, it's the whole point when you do video calls, no? > > I think rather that there are 3 general issues with video phoning - > 1. Technology - they are bandwidth heavy, and unreliable in terms of > quality. Sometimes it's good other times choppy etc. It has to work > like tv all the time from any location. Sort of how audio phoning > works. > 2. Logistics - maybe this is also technological, but it's too much > hassle to sit in the right place, have the right lighting etc. to > make it worthwhile. I remember when I first used webcams (low res, > choppy etc.) the excitement of seeing someone from another part of > the world was quickly overcome by constantly wanting to 'place' them > such that I could be 'eye to eye' with them, and be able to see > their face properly etc. Typically, lights behind the person that > work fine as local ambient light are terrible for the person on the > other end of the call - all they see is a silhouette. > 3. Privacy - I think it would be just terrible if you HAD to use > videoconferencing - I don't have to pat down my cowlick in order to > speak over the phone today, or put on a tie etc. > Nancy Broden nancy.broden at gmail.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list . discuss at ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help http://www.ixda.org/help