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Heuristic Overload

A heuristic put simply is 'a method to help solve a problem'. In computing heuristics usually take the form of a set of informal guidelines that can be applied to test the usability of user interfaces. The most widely cited by far are Jacob Neilson's Ten Usability Heuristics which can be found on the following link:

http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html

..........tbc

Is Content King?

Anyone working with the internet as a publishing medium will probably be familiar with the expression 'content is king'. The term established itself as a sort of a truism with designers returning to minimalist designs (web 2.0 design ethos) and a restored faith in the power of the internet as a repository for information (Wikipedia). However to state that content is king is to view the internet primarily as a content delivery system. There are some who challenge this perception and suggest that it is connectivity rather than content which has always been the primary driving force of the internet with E-mail as the true 'killer-app'. The success of services like text messaging and social networking sites such as Facebook baffled industry experts. Why was it that people would swarm in their masses to inferior content delivery services. The answer 'connectivity'. Traditionally users of telecommunications systems in particular the web have pushed for advances not in content but in services. So what does this mean for web developers. There are practical issues involved in this debate one of which is search engine optimization. The search engine google assesses a pages value largely through the quantity and quality of links to and from the page. Although the search algorithm does consider content and keywords it became obvious early one that this was not an effective way for judging the value of a web page (see link).

http://www.google.com/technology/

Web Developers must build connectivity into their sites if they are to make successful and useful web sites/applications. In truth content and connectivity operate interdependently and can be seen as two sides of the same coin. Content is still a primary concern for web developers but it is how we connect that content that makes it truely useful.

View the links below to see the two sides of the argument:

content is king
content is not king

Comments on this post or any other posts are welcomed. What do you think? Is content king?

Manipulating Media

Meet Snowball, he's a friendly sort of chap when he's not out eating dogs for breakfast. Although this is an extreme example, the manipulation of photography is a common occurance throughout all media and the web is no exception. However, manipulating media in this way has various ethical and legal implications. Perhaps the most widely publicised criticism has been focused at the fashion industry, in particuler the manipulated images of models in magazines (in particular those with a young target audience.)

For designers, developing media for the web can be a bit of a minefield. The Misrepresentation Act (1967) and Trade Descriptions Act (1968)can provide some guidance on the legal aspects involved. Even so there still exists an ambiguous area between a promotional statement that is not intended to be binding (artistic licence) and the possibility of customers regarding promotional statements/material as literal representations. There is no one set precedence in contract law and different countries have different views on what constitutes misrepresentation.

Despite this there are a number of places out there to get help and advice:

Ethical Codes of Practice for digital photography

Photomanipulation powerpoint

answers.com article on the history of photo manipluation

What makes a good design?

This week we have been considering what makes a good design? In particular what are the aspects of web development that result in an intuitive and memorable user experience. The exact definition of good design is hard to pinpoint and their are various fluctuating ideas on what constitutes a good design. It is perhaps easier to consider what good design is not. The following link below explores this in detail:

http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/

It is important to remember that design can create as many problems as it solves. When we are taking about design in this sense we are really talking about user interfaces. Jenifer Tidwell's book 'Designing Interfaces' suggests that many designers attempt to reinvent the wheel instead of using established solutions and building upon them. Resources such as patterns (general) and techniques (specific) can help to achieve designs based on a strong foundation. Adhering to resources such as style guides, user analysis, and coding standards will help ensure that designs remain relevant, usable, and perhaps most important of all 'useful'.

Check out the following link to see Smashing Magazine's 10 principles of effective web design:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/01/31/10-principles-of-effective-web-design/

Fun with CSS

This week we have been mostly looking at how to transform table based layouts into pages styled with CSS. Although this can be time consuming especially when dealing with large sites, the benefits of styling with CSS will far outweigh the cost of adoption in the longrun. Have a look at these useful links I've found:

The home of web syntax standards which also has loads of CSS examples with a great editor to see how changes to CSS affect layout.
http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_examples.asp

This renowned site displays the potential of seperating style from content.
http://www.csszengarden.com/

Huge list of CSS resources.
http://www.alvit.de/handbook/

Inspiration for all those lists and menu's.
http://css.maxdesign.com.au/listamatic/