Fluid...

Cannot decide whether this is a good idea or not a good idea, either way, it's certainly an idea... maybe you should try Fluid and draw your own conclusions.



Just bear in mind you will be participating in Site Specific Browsing (SSB's y'all), which sounds jolly well very 2 point oh!

Sell your soul to Santa

It's a sad day when the best news services on the Internet show you plans to "improve" their interface by adopting a block style ready for MPU's. BBC's new and improved beta interface is now just like every other "adversite" (yeah, i'll use that one again), although as expected their UI think tank has come up with some cool interactive toys to keep you from the reality that is, big boss wants more cos enough is never enough, attitudes.



Web two point ohh's frosty finger of accountability and communibility is slowly touching and infecting the very heart of what is innocent communication to the masses. I'm all on for making money, but with garage 2.0 entrepreneurs in a disorderly queue waiting to steal the spotlight and become the Jim Clark's New New Thing, we should be standing up to advertisers and say "Do it our way, we have a service to maintain".

Interface Studies...

I am gradually compiling solid examples of contemporary, online interfaces (here). The aim is to create a useful quick reference to some (NB some) ideas and concepts that will hopefully inform how we think about what we want to have on our sites...



It would be great to alert ourselves of any other good examples, so please email me with any suggestions for the list. I want to keep this as mainstream and commercial as possible. Anything that seems too abstract for this list (despite being of great interest), can go on the blog proper.

Link to Interface Studies

Beyond DOCTYPE: Web Standards, Forward Compatibility, and IE8

For seven years, the DOCTYPE switch has stood designers and developers in good stead as a toggle between standards mode and quirks mode. But when IE7, with its greatly improved support for standards, “broke the web,” it revealed the flaw in our toggle. The quest was on to find a more reliable ensurer of forward compatibility. Is version targeting the answer?

Full Article

World Wide Fido

Okay... this site is about the four legged sods that yap and bark and, er...you get the idea.



Quite how the dogs upload, let alone record their tails (geddit?) is beyond me, but it's all good fun and the design and function of the site is, anything but, a dogs dinner. Really nice extension of brand through little details such as 'fetch' next to the search box...
WOOF?

Seriously Cool Work Places

Cool workspaces for cool dudes. Cool man!



Cool Workplaces

What the crab are we?

While working on my continued life's work of creating the worlds longest sentence, and thus appearing in the Guinness Book of Records I stumbled upon this wonderful site. Its about page describes - in my opinion - exactly what kind of crabs we should be. Focusing on user experience design (as well as the make-up side of things of course ladies!).

Here is a run down:

"What is User Experience Design?

In the same way that traditional architects create blueprints for a building before it is built, and directors storyboard a movie before it is filmed, a successful website needs to be planned. This is what our user experience designers do.

Our user experience designers will sit down with you and your users to learn as much about the project and its goals as possible. They will then start planning the content, structure and navigation using a variety of techniques. The result of this process will include things like a site map, a set of representative personas and a wireframe prototype of the site.

The Benefits of User Experience Design

The wireframe prototype is like a movie storyboard in the sense that it allows you to see and feel how the site will function before the design and programming has begun. This prototype can be tested on real users and changes can be made simply and easily at very little cost. Without testing on a prototype first, any changes required would need to be made to the actual site, and this can be a costly and time consuming process.

By planning the site in this way, nothing is left to chance. You will know exactly what your users will be getting by experiencing it yourself. This level of planning helps ensure that the site is easy to use and matches your users’ goals with the goals of your organisation. In short, a good user experience is the sign of a good website.

With the site structure and functionality planned out, you can then move onto the interface design"

Click for the full 9 yards

Top 10 obscure google search tricks

Take a click at these nifty input tips for getting the most out of our dearest inter-mate, Google...



From LifeHacker

as seen on TV

genuinely interesting portal that reports and comments on the latest televisual idents and graphics. Tune in at idents.tv

Full Phat!

Get to know Turbo Milk. Awesome design crew from Russia, great icon & identity portfolio and a really slick site to boot!...

battle of the ads

Electronic Arts is to release a free online version of the popular Battlefield game to be supported by adverts and micro payments.



The expected progression of gaming, more a matter of 'when' than 'if'. Be interesting to see who follows. More importantly I feel this highlights the reliance of ad revenue than the platform, which is secondary to the marketing options available.
EA's spin on it is this -

"We're removing all barriers to entry and we hope there is broader audience for the title. You will be able to play this game on grandma's laptop."

which could cynically translate as -

"Basically anyone can 'get' the game and play it so we can reach more people with more ad tie-ins. Cha-ching $$$$"

;)

It shall remain to be seen whether actual game play and development takes a back seat to the influx of ad dollars...

Full article

possibilities of data portability

Despite the, sometimes, annoying jargon used in the idea behind this project, at it's core it is a simple proposition. It will be interesting to see what/if corporations sign-up and whether the idea will get ripped off or iterated to death. Can there really be one common personal data holder on the web (short, mid and long term)?

If you look at the High Def discs, we have Blueray and HD-DVD targeting the same market, potentially with one of them dropping out at some point (a la Betamax) am I missing the point or can this same 'model' be representative of data portability? Sure we will find out.

DataPortability - Connect, Control, Share, Remix from Smashcut Media on Vimeo.

Funky business / funky websites

Funky Swedes Jonas Ridderstråle and Kjell A Nordström have long been banging on about a business able to 180 it's model and adapt with little fuss. This should also be the case with sites, although as we all know the bigger the site the longer the development. I'm sure there should be a "funky alternative" plan for every web project allowing a late site re-focus with little disruption to the delivery times.

Talent makes websites dance too!

pipe dreams

"...Pipes is a powerful composition tool to aggregate, manipulate, and mashup content from around the web..."

1 hit wonders

I really like sites with a simple but useful MO. Junglecrazy.com is no exception, it's not the most original idea and it's functionality is very basic by todays standards, but, with the cute branding and simple interface this does exactly what it set out to do. I am sure if traffic is good, the scope of the site would expand.



The technology is available (constantly being developed and improved by users) and marketing can take care of it's self by way of (buzz term alert) viral and word of mouth*.

If only 500 people use the site on a regular basis - a service has been provided (freely) for an audience which reaps the benefits*. Of course commercially, this would not be good enough, but, not everything online has to be a money spinner for it to be a worthwhile project.

(*directly proportional)

design felony

Nice idea to promote good design from The Design Police. Will undoubtedly become incredibly annoying if you are on the receiving end of the long arm of the 'law'!...

15 Footers with great usability

Pop Upon Magazine picks 15 footers that make for rather usable experiences..

5 Hard Questions...

...You Should Answer Before Starting a New Project

Rally them troops...

If only One could, just once, articulate a rant as good as this one. Great cameo performance from Baldwin...

(contains language, some may call 'fairly robust')

Designing a bus to look like a sports car

If websites were vehicles, commercial requirements would be the number of passengers the vehicle needs to carry (Google ads would be the passengers that you don't want to sit near).

When designing a site full of 728's, 160's, MPU's, shopping partners, competitions and advertorials you can't help but feel you have the short end of the stick when it comes to design expression. That said, commercially led sites do (if you are lucky) contain quality editorial, hosting and marketing budgets to ensure the visitors return.



Next time you watch Sky news, notice how the weather sponsorship is exclusive to Sky. Maybe this could be the future for some commercial sites to drop the standard banners, give sales better design support, and be more sports car and less bus.

Barack Obama

Even if he doesn't make it to the white house (this time round), at-least he had the slickest campaign website. Spot on tone and plenty of accessible, relevant media...

Barack Obama | Change We Can Believe In | Home

Blogged with Flock

Scylla & Charybdis & Online Adverts

Content is Content is Content

Your users rule the experience. Your advertisers pay for the experience that your users rule. And trust me, your internal constituents are not afraid to remind each other. You’ll silently hear things like, “Without our work, people would never come to this site.” And the flip… “What site… the one we advertise on?”

Full article here

Oh and if you were wondering what the f*ck Scylla & Charybdis are then look no further...

Blogged with Flock

Clever Marketing

So, footballers have gone viral eh(ish)? It seems no-one is immune (geddit!) This goal celebration is a positive message to promote a scheme for young people to get into sport... wonder if they thought of it or their PR suits!

From BBC NEWS | Magazine | What's the 'A' goal celebration all about?

Blogged with Flock

BannerBlog : Where Banners Click

A growing aggregation of the good, the bad and the ugly of the banner world...

BannerBlog : Where Banners Click

An introduction to HTML 5

The web is constantly evolving. New and innovative websites are being created every day, pushing the boundaries of HTML in every direction. HTML 4 has been around for nearly a decade now, and publishers seeking new techniques to provide enhanced functionality are being held back by the constraints of the language and browsers.

To give authors more flexibility and interoperability, and enable more interactive and exciting websites and applications, HTML 5 introduces and enhances a wide range of features including form controls, APIs, multimedia, structure, and semantics.

Full artcile