In my never-ending search for interesting interface design, I had a chance to chat with Andy Budd, of Clearleft, about their new desktop application, Silverback. I believe it can bring usability testing to the masses and will be the go-to application for basic usability testing. It's simple, focused, thoughtful, polished, and a joy to use.
Comments: 35 (view/add your own)Like many, I hate to see mindless copying or stealing of visual designs. When it comes to interface elements though, I feel exactly the opposite. I want to see sites reusing bits and pieces of interfaces. It's key to improving the usability of the web as a whole.
Comments: 7 (view/add your own)Oftentimes, there's an abundance of relevant information to display on the screen, and not enough space to display it. One way is to make efficient use of information that's already on the screen and recycle it by visually connecting it in a unobtrusive manner.
Comments: 4 (view/add your own)One of my favorite topics is the influence of business decisions on interface design. It's an unfortunate truth that the underlying business structure and decisions will invariably affect the interface. It's important to recognize this fact and work to improve both simultaneously.
Comments: 6 (view/add your own)For my issue tracker, I've wanted a more natural process for updating issues. I decided that all activity would have to go through the comment form associated with each issue. This way any change in status, priority, category, or assignee could quickly and easily be associated with a comment.
It's been quiet around here, but things are about to pick back up. I've been spending all of my free time designing and developing an issue tracker that I'll be releasing as open source early next year. Until then, I'll be exposing and sharing the design and development process.
Webmaster Jam Session is right around the corner, September 21st through 22nd. There's a great lineup of speakers, and if it's anything like last year, it should be plenty of fun. I'll be doing a session on application interface design as well if you're into that sort of thing.
This year at Web Visions, I'll be putting on a workshop titled "Improving Interface Design". We'll take a hard look at the tangible and intangible aspects that affect interface design and discuss the steps we can take to make it better.