30. Juni 2010

Mobile First

Liebe THS-Leser, das hier ist ein sehr guter Podcast mit Luke Wroblewski: Design for Mobile First!

Luke made a strong and valid case of why we should focus on designing for mobile vs. the desktop. Not only did he tell us why, he also focused on how we should design for the mobile. Listen to the full podcast as your read through the highlights below.

Luke Wroblewski ist der Autor von Site-Seeing: A Visual Approach to Web Usability.

29. Juni 2010

Seven Monkeys

Liebe THS-Leser, jetzt ist endlich das Buch zum Video erschienen: The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us.

THE INVISIBLE GORILLA is filled with fascinating and revealing experiments that call into question assumptions we have about our mental abilities and those of others...a must-read for anyone who wants to better understand how the mind works.

Wie, ihr wisst nicht welches Video ich meine? Na dette:

28. Juni 2010

Plastic Surgeons in Web Design

Nette, kurze MontagslektüreWhy Good Web Designers are like Good Plastic Surgeons.

Like plastic surgery, once people have a website they can never really stop evolving it. It needs constant changes to keep it fresh and looking modern. You need to keep up with the trends and evolve with them.

Tja, ich weiß nicht. Schönheitschirurgen haben für mich immer etwas anrüchiges und undurchsichtiges. Mit einem Fuß immer im Knast. Mit einem Fuß im Porno Business.

Eigenschaften die sicherlich auch einigen Web Designern gut täten ... ;)

27. Juni 2010

You're the Boss

Would You Hire Yourself? fragt ein sehr lesenswerter Artikel auf freelancefolder.com.

This post will look at some of the main reasons you may or may not be able to claim without a shadow of a doubt that you would hire yourself. In the process, we will attempt to identify ways we each can spot those things that would keep us from hiring ourselves. We’ll also discuss how to improve on any weaknesses that we discover.

Der Artikel richtet siche eher an Freelancer - ich bin aber der Meinung, dass gerade Festangestellte sich diese Frage stellen sollten.

26. Juni 2010

A/B Testing

Das hier, liebe THS-Leser, ist eine wunderbare Wochenendlektüre für Euch: The Ultimate Guide To A/B Testing.

A/B testing isn’t a buzz term. A lot of savvy marketers and designs are using it right now to gain insight into visitor behavior and to increase conversion rate. And yet A/B testing is still not as common as such Internet marketing subjects as SEO, Web analytics and usability. People just aren’t as aware of it. They don’t completely understand what it is or how it could benefit them or how they should use it. This article is meant to be the best guide you will ever need for A/B testing.

Sehr interessanter Beitrag mit ebenfalls einigen guten Kommentaren.

25. Juni 2010

On Decision-Making

Im Smashing Magazine ist mal wieder eine gute Lektüre erschienen: Decision-Making Models In Web Development.

When was the last time you made a decision? A big one. What was the outcome? Was it good, and how did you get to that outcome? Every day we all make plenty of decisions without a thought to how we structure them or the basis on which we make them. We simply make them. We’re lucky that we work in an industry in which erroneous decisions may have serious financial consequences but rarely, if ever, costs lives.

Der Artikel ist wirklich lesenswert und enthält einige gute Beobachtungen.

Good decisions can save both time and money, and experience, forethought and planning can help you make them. The difference between bad and good decisions is not always clear-cut, and our opinion of our own decisions will often change in hindsight. But making measured and well-considered decisions will make us more comfortable with the course we have chosen and more confident in future decisions.

Ich habe zu diesem Thema einige Bücher die ich durchaus empfehlen kann. Da wäre zum Beispiel The Paradox of Choice. Sehr unterhaltsam und lesenswert. The Wisdom of Crowds - natürlich eine Pflichtlektüre. Und dann könnte ich Euch evtl. noch Tribes empfehlen. Auch sehr gut... wobei das schon ein wenig weiter gefasst ist.

Usability Tests

Das hier ist ein interessanter Beitrag zum Thema Usability: Five ways to make any usability test more credible.

Whether you're conducting an early stage test of a prototype or late validation, these five tips can make any usability test more credible. The tips both temper skepticism about small samples and help you avoid overstating your findings

Wie immer, sind ein paar gute Tipps dabei.

24. Juni 2010

Arts Based Learning

Ich bin neulich beim Frühsurfen über diesen recht guten Text gestolpert: Why Arts Based Learning is The Next Organisational Learning and Development Frontier.

The first and most striking of the trends we have observed has been an accelerated growth of interest in our field, to a point that today arts-based learning in the workplace is no longer a little known or fringe phenomenon. Indeed, it has been experienced by hundreds of thousands – perhaps millions – of people, and incorporated into organizational development programs at a majority of the Fortune 500. Arts-based approaches have also been integrated into the curricula of many of the world’s most prestigious business schools, and arts-based tools are being used in employee training programs by a growing number of local, regional, and national governments in North America and Europe.

Am Ende des obigen Artikels wird auf das 13 Seitige PDF verlinkt welches es problemlos zum downloaden gibt.

Nice Infographics

Ach, wir lieben doch alle Infografiken, oder? 30 of the Best Infographics that Effectively Showcase Data.

Infographics have been around for decades. They’ve allowed us to convert data into a visual structure making it easier for everyone to read and understand the information being conveyed. Infographics have radically impacted the way we display content to the point that it simplifies the entire process of data comprehension. Without these visually enticing structures we would have a harder time deciphering complex information. Because of how vital they’ve become, we have put together this amazing showcase that contains a variety of quality infographics.

Sind ein paar schöne Beispiele dabei.

23. Juni 2010

Horseless Carriages

Das hier, liebe THS-Leser, ist ein recht lesenswerter Beitrag: What’s Next for the Online Experience?

New technologies begin by imitating older technologies before evolving to their true forms. For example, early automobiles looked like horseless carriages, and early television shows imitated radio programming before finding their own forms. Online experiences have followed this pattern—getting their start by imitating the printed page. Although many of today’s online experiences have evolved to include more function and interactivity, the “Web page” still dominates our thinking. So the question still remains: what new form will the Web take as it continues to evolve over the next five years? Three types of trends are driving online experiences into their next phase: capabilities, consumers and competition.

Der Beitrag erwähnt einige gute Punkte. Lest mal drüber, wenn Ihr Zeit habt.

22. Juni 2010

Design of Business

Nachdem ich Change by Design gelesen habe, muss ich nun endlich auch Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage angehen und zu Ende lesen.

In "The Design of Business", Roger Martin offers a compelling and provocative answer: we rely far too exclusively on analytical thinking, which merely refines current knowledge, producing small improvements to the status quo. To innovate and win, companies need design thinking. This form of thinking is rooted in how knowledge advances from one stage to another-from mystery (something we can't explain) to heuristic (a rule of thumb that guides us toward solution) to algorithm (a predictable formula for producing an answer) to code (when the formula becomes so predictable it can be fully automated).

Bislang ist es eine recht gute Lektüre.

21. Juni 2010

When to Say ‘No’

Ich bin heute Morgen beim Frühsurfen über diesen sehr netten Artikel gestolpert: A Designer and Developer’s Dilemma: 9 Detestable “Requests”.

When the Internet was a new trend there was no such thing as a professional Web Designer or Developer. Individuals interested in making their simple sites prettier and more interesting can be considered the pioneer Web Designers and Developers. Because it wasn’t a popular or well developed profession at the time, everyone just needed to roll with the punches and do their best to design and develop their own websites with the software they could get their hands on. Today, the web industry has blossomed and grown so rapidly that more and more people have noticed this niche trade. This rapid growth and progression have further shown the important role the web has in each individual’s lives today. The Internet is the new cash on card; you can’t leave home without it.

Sind ein paar gute Beispiele dabei.

Kanban vs Scrum

Hier habe ich ein wirklich sehr lesenswertes PDF - für die Seniors unter den THS-Lesern: Kanban vs Scrum - a guide (PDF, 41 Seiten).

Scrum and Kanban are two flavours of Agile software development - two deceptively simple but surprisingly powerful approaches to software development. So how do they relate to each other? The purpose of this book is to clear up the fog, so you can figure out how Kanban and Scrum might be useful in your environment.

Jeder der sich mit Scrum und Agile befasst (und wer tut das nicht?), sollte sich mal die Datei zu Gemüte führen.

20. Juni 2010

Faceted Navigation

Das hier ist ein netter, kurzer Artikel, liebe THS-Leser: Faceted Navigation: Bring Back the Dead Ends.

We’ve really just started to understand the intricacies of faceted navigation, I believe. Sure, Flamenco and other examples have made great strides. But there’s still lots more that can be done, particularly in real-world situations.

Wer Flamenco nicht kennt, sollte unbedingt mal ein Blick drauf werfen.

Chasing the User Experience

Das hier, liebe THS-Leser, ist ein recht guter Beitrag: Optimizing for the User Experience

Truth be told, search engines are moving toward chasing the user experience, which is mainly accomplished through triangulation of signals such as end-user data, social signals, and incoming links, with the super objective of accurately predicting and serving the highest quality content. Simply put, if the search engines are making significant changes to please users, shouldn't websites do the same thing?

UX durch die SEO Brille betrachtet. Ein Thema das ich immer wieder sehr interessant finde.

19. Juni 2010

Designing for Delight

Das hier ist ein recht lesenswerter Artikel: BEYOND FRUSTRATION: THREE LEVELS OF HAPPY DESIGN (noch jemand der nicht weiß, wie man Großbuchstaben via CSS macht).

It seems we're all aspiring to an ideal of designing for delight, but most of us are landing somewhere short of delight, but at least better than frustrated. Users can use our designs, but they're not excited about it. (Okay, you can't be excited about everything.) We want users to trust our designs, but there's still too much overhead for users to easily reach their goals.

Lohnt sich da mal drüber zu lesen.

Change by Design

Sodelle, ich habe endlich Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation zu Ende gelesen. Tim Brown, der Autor des Buches, erzählt von verschiedenen Aspekten des Design Thinking, wie man sich diesen nähert und warum man dies tun sollte.

This book introduces the idea of design thinking‚ the collaborative process by which the designer′s sensibilities and methods are employed to match people′s needs not only with what is technically feasible and a viable business strategy. In short‚ design thinking converts need into demand. It′s a human−centered approach to problem solving that helps people and organizations become more innovative and more creative. Tim Brown is the CEO and president of IDEO. Ranked independently among the ten most innovative companies in the world, IDEO is the global consultancy that contributed to such standard-setting innovations as the first mouse for Apple and the Palm V.

Das Buch lässt sich sehr leicht lesen (ich hatte die englische Ausgabe) und ist auch einfach zu verstehen. Zuvor hatte ich ja Designing the Obvious gelesen - im Nachhinein betrachtet scheint mir das eine gute Aneinanderreihung von Büchern zu sein.

Na ja, Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation ist auf jeden Fall lesenswert.

18. Juni 2010

Google Cheat Sheets

Das hier ist mal wirklich ein sehr brauchbarer Post: 11 Helpful Cheat Sheets for Popular Google Products.

Think about all the tools you use each day to do your job. Chances are, more than one of them are made by Google. Google puts out great products that help us perform our daily tasks. Whether it be email, creating docs, or communicating with clients and colleagues, there seems to be a Google service for just about everything. But just like other tools and applications there are lots of features, which means more stuff to remember. So if you’re like me and have trouble memorizing things like keyboard shortcuts, we’re here to help. Here are 11 Helpful Cheat Sheets for Popular Google Products.

Beispielsweise ohne die Gmail Shortcuts könnte ich gar nicht mehr arbeiten. Wenn man die drauf hat, geht einem der Umgang mit Gmail wirklich viel schneller von der Hand.

Customer Experience

Das hier ist ein recht interessanter Artikel auf den ich neulich aufmerksam gemacht worden bin: Customer Experience Design: The Ritz-Carlton vs. IKEA Philosophy.

It might be the most fashionable approach to improve customer experience (everybody wants to work on projects that make a brand more "premium" and "exclusive") but this is not the only possible path. Let’s look at two different philosophies for creating remarkable customer experiences.

Die Kommentare sind ebenfalls recht lesenswert.

User Experience Podcast

Hier gibt es was auf die Ohren: Gerry Gaffney interviews Adam Greenfield.

Der aktuellste Podcast hat mir mal wieder sehr gut gefallen. Ist vielleicht was für die Bahnfahrt oder den Weg ins Wochenende?

17. Juni 2010

Augmented Unreality

Irgendwie seltsam: wenn ich nachts von meinem Rechner hoch blicke und auf die Straße schaue, sehe ich diese fette IE8 Werbung.

Ist das Augmented Reality? Krass, was heute alles möglich ist.

Ein Glück haben sie bei uns in der Straße alle Häuser schon saniert - sonst hinge da wo möglich noch die IE6 Werbung dran. Nicht auszudenken was das für Sicherheitsrisiken mit sich brächte...

Aber der IE8 ist gut. Damit habe ich kein Problem. Oh, da fällt mir ein: hatte die EU in ihrer unendlichen Weisheit nicht neulich beschlossen, dass auch konkurrierende Browser auf dem Desktop zu sehen sein müssen? Au Backe! Wenn da demnächst auch noch ein Flock- oder Konqueror, Plakat hängt drehe ich durch...

Showcases - 99% Bad

Falls man mal wieder ein wenig Inspiration benötigt, hilft dieser Beitrag eventuell: 48 Examples of Excellent Layout in Web Design.

Beautiful graphics and colors are great and play a big part in web design, but most would agree that the backbone of a solid user experience is the layout. After all, what good is all of the eye candy if one can not easily read and digest the content. There is nothing better than opening a perfectly organized and readable website – a page where the layout invites you to browse the site’s content. There are several ways to organize and put together a nice layout for your website, and here we’ll show some examples of sites that use grids, columns and blocks to showcase their content.

Wer sich mit diesen ganzen Inspirations-Gallerien so garnicht anfreunden kann, dem wird wohl dieser Artikel zusagen: Inspiration Kills.

If you do go out to seek inspiration, don’t look for it in the usual places, the countless galleries and showcases displaying work of your fellow designers. Going this route will ensure your originality gets killed. Look for it elsewhere, in nature and in designs unrelated to your subject.

Schöne und wirklich lesenswerte Blog-Posts. Reinschauen lohnt sich.

16. Juni 2010

Don Norman Video

Ich weiß nicht, ob Ihr dieses Don Norman Video schon gesehen habt: Don Norman at IIT Design Research Conference 2010.

Don Norman ist der Autor vieler toller Bücher - zum Beispiel The Design of Everyday Things.

Das Video und seine provokanten Thesen ist wirklich sehens und hörenswert.

15. Juni 2010

The UX Leadership Journal

Liebe THS-Leser, kennt Ihr schon das The UX Leadership Journal? Ein neues Magazin von zwei sehr einflussreichen Denkern aus der UX Szene (Will Evans und Daniel Szuc).

Hier beschreibt einer der Autoren des Journals die eigene Vision:

No one organization or discipline “owns” user experience design. It is greater than each of us, just as the challenges today are greater than any one person or organization can face. We must come together, just as the early founders of our nation did, so that we can create a brighter future. We believe we can design a better future. Let’s do it. It’s time to start a revolution.

Diese Seite wird ein Hit. Das kann man sicher jetzt schon sagen.

User Research

Das hier ist ein sehr lesenswerter Artikel aus einer ganz guten Reihe: Early user research, simulation and evaluation.

As product development projects usually hit the ground running and time pressure remains high throughout, it is recommendable to execute the user research for a project during the implementation of the previous project. In the later phases of product development usability specialists and interaction design should still be involved, but more in an advisory capacity, so they should be available to start conducting the user research needed for the next generation of the product.

Die vorherigen Texte sind ebenfalls einen Blick wert.

14. Juni 2010

Use sketching

Das hier ist ein wirklich netter Beitrag: How sketching will take your design process to the next level.

When you first start a project, there’s a tendency to automatically start coming up with different ideas. These ideas may seem great at first, but the truth is, there’s a big chance that your first ideas are pretty obvious. For example, if you were creating a logo for an orange juice company, the first, obvious solution most people would think of would be an orange. While the logo will probably end up having something to do with an orange, what can you do to present this orange in a new and unusual way? Use sketching to find out.

Der Text enthält auch ein paar ganz interessante Kommentare.

Digital Inspiration

Das hier, liebe THS-Leser, ist eine ganz brauchbare Sammlung: 6 Apps for Collecting Digital Inspiration.

The online design community is simply overflowing with inspiration. Every day countless blog posts are being published showcasing 30-100 amazing examples of “insert item here.” Further, CSS galleries like our own contain hundreds or even thousands of great site designs. With all this inspiration being tossed at you all the time, you need a way to catalogue and store it. Today we’ll look at a few tools out there that do exceptionally well at this very thing.

Ein paar der Tools sind vielleicht nicht ganz so bekannt. Schaut mal drüber.

13. Juni 2010

Art vs. Illustration

Das hier scheint mir ein recht lesenswerter Artikel zum Thema Illustration zu sein: The process behind good illustration.

The type of art we call illustration has a two-fold purpose. The first and foremost is that it speaks to you. It tells you a story, visually represents an idea, conveys a message, delivers information, offers a visual accompaniment to text, etc. — it does something. Second, but certainly not least, it presents that “something” in an interesting and engaging fashion.

Es handelt sich hierbei um den ersten Teil. Bin schon auf Teil Zwei gespannt.

iPad vs. iPhone

Dieser Artikel ist aktuell und lesenswert: iPad vs. iPhone: A User Experience Study.

By now, one thing we know is that the iPad is not simply a larger iPhone, nor is it a smaller computer. Developers have been quick to port their apps from the iPhone to the iPad to ensure they don't miss out on this trend, but there are big differences in the underlying specs and form factor of the iPad that make this a fundamentally different user experience.

Guter und relevanter Artikel für alle die sich mit UX und/oder dem iPad beschäftigen.

CSS Techniques

Ich sag ja immer, dass wir Informationsarchitekten und UX Profis auch Ahnung haben sollten von so einfachen aber wichtigen "Sprachen" wie CSS, HTML oder JavaScript. Für Interessierte ist hier nun eine gute Liste erschienen: 50 New Useful CSS Techniques, Tools and Tutorials.

In this round-up we present fresh useful articles about less-known CSS 2.1 and CSS3 properties as well as an overview of recently published CSS techniques, tools and tips for designers and web-developers. Please stay tuned: next week we will present the second part of this article, featuring fresh CSS3 techniques, tools and resources.

Da ist wieder einiges zu lesen dabei. Ein Glück, dass es bals wieder regnet.

12. Juni 2010

Rules-of-thumb Science

Is Usability a Science? fragt Jeff Sauro in einem seiner typischen Blog-Posts.

There are a lot of generic guidelines, heuristics and rules-of-thumb floating around the Internet about how to make an interface more usable. If you think of usability as just generic advice such as "users don't scroll" or "put the most important content in the upper-left" then it's easy to see why usability is dismissed as some half-baked pseudo-science.

Ein lesenswerter, kurzer Text.

HTML5

Das hier ist ein interessantes Poster: WTF is HTML5 and Why Should we Care?

... along comes HTML5 to rock the boat a little bit and that description is both vague and very far from the point. So, what is HTML5? HTML5 is HTMLs latest major revision, with a lot of added features and exciting attributes. To most, understanding all of these new features may be a little bit overwhelming and at first glance may seem a little bit unnecessary, but when you dig deeper into it a new and exciting world will open up to you, not just as developers and designers but for users as well.

Die Illustration befindet sich weiter unten auf der Seite.

11. Juni 2010

Global IA

Lou Rosenfeld hat ein sehr interessanten Blog-Beitrag veröffentlicht: Globalizing an information architecture.

So in the interest of resurrecting a six-year old conversation, here are some questions. I plan to use these to get my client to think strategically about the challenge of developing a multi-lingual, multi-cultural, and multi-regional information architecture. Being the information architect that I am, naturally I categorized them. Please chime in with your own suggestions...

Viele gute Komentare zeigen das breite Interesse an diesem Thema.

Schland o Schland

Never stop dreaming.

Ich bin neulich beim Frühsurfen über diesen kurzen Blog-Post gestolpert: Never Stop Looking Ahead.

For most of us, the majority of our work involves refining, updating and improving existing systems. However, we must never forget that our job is fundamentally about shaping and creating the future. As designers, the very heart of what we do is visualize in our mind what does not presently exist and then set about creating it.

Ein wirklich sehr schöner Text.

10. Juni 2010

Personas

Ach, das hier ist doch mal wieder was schönes für uns Informationsarchitekten: Personas as User Assistance and Navigation Aids.

The inclusion of the personas in the portal itself provides a training aid that lets users experience the Body of Knowledge in the way another person—or, in this case, a persona—with the same type of problem or goal would. Not only does this create an educational experience, the embedded links are likely to result in users getting to the topics or sections in the Body of Knowledge portal that are most relevant to them.

Ein netter Erfahrungsbericht. Sowas liest man doch immer ganz gerne.

9. Juni 2010

SharePoint Usability

Does SharePoint Destroy Intranet Design? fragt Jakob Nielsen in seiner aktuellen Kolumne.

As intranet projects benefit from powerful implementation platforms, teams should focus on optimizing the user experience for specific organizational needs, as 4 winning examples show.

Schöner Artikel.

Great Researchers

Das hier, liebe THS-Leser, ist ein guter Artikel: So, You Want to Do User Research: Characteristics of Great Researchers.

One of the best things about user research is that anyone can do it. On the other hand, it takes real commitment and a lot of personal development to do user research well. People commonly assume that research is research—and doing any kind of research is better than doing none at all. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Not all user research is created equal. Flawed research can be a significant liability to the success of a product, as well as the company developing it, so it really is important to get it right.

Guter Text der sich auch schnell lesen lässt.

Design Principles

Das hier ist ein lesenswerter Blog-Beitrag: The Principles of Design.

Web design is a relatively new profession compared to other forms of design, due to the youth of our medium. As with any design discipline, there are aspects of the Web design process that are unique to the medium, such as screen resolution, additive color spaces and image compression. But too often these more unique details override our sense of the bigger picture. We focus on the fact that it is Web design and push aside core design concepts—concepts that can that make any project stronger without interfering in the more technical considerations later on.

Interessanter Artikel mit einigen hübschen Beispielen.

8. Juni 2010

iPad Websites

Viele von Euch haben ja mittlerweile iPads. Da wird Euch evtl. das hier interessieren: 34 Inspiring iPad Application Websites.

A while back we published an article showing you 50 Inspiring iPhone Application Websites. Since then, we’ve seen the launch of Apple’s iPad along with thousands of apps designed just for the device. This means that just like the iPhone, many of these iPad applications have their own website for promotion. So in order to bring you more inspiration, we’ve sifted through them and found 34 of the best.

Sind ein paar nette Beispiele dabei.

Interview with Lou Rosenfeld

Das hier ist ein sehr interessantes Interview mit Lou Rosenfeld: Lou Rosenfeld talks past, present and future of User Experience Design.

How has the UX profession changed since you began? Well, I don't really see UX as a profession. I'm not sure that a single person can know enough to be a UX professional. Instead, I'd say we're all practitioners of UX-related disciplines, sharing enough in common that we're able to meet under a nice Big Tent. If anything's changed since the late '90s, it's that there are a lot more people who share this perspective, which is heartening.

Recht lesenswert. Schaut mal rein, wenn Ihr Zeit habt.

7. Juni 2010

Poster: UCD

Liebe THS-Leser, ich bin über dieses tolle Poster gestolpert. Das ist doch was fürs Büro, oder? Principles and techniques in a user centred design process.

This is an information graphic poster illustrating the underlying lifecycle, methods, principles and techniques in a user centred design process where the visual part is only the tip of the iceberg.

Mit so einem Poster an der Wand kann der Montag nur super werden :)

5. Juni 2010

Usability News (June)

Die neueste Ausgabe von Usability News (June) ist da.

Usability News is a free web newsletter that is produced by the Software Usability Research Laboratory (SURL) at Wichita State University. The SURL team specializes in software/website user interface design, usability testing, and research in human-computer interaction.

Gute Artikel und wohl genau das richtige für ein langes, sonniges Wochenende.

4. Juni 2010

Magento eCommerce

Im Smashing Magazine ist ein wirklich interessanter Artikel erschienen: Download a Free Magento Theme: HelloWired.

Magento, an open source e-commerce web application, is often a good choice for an e-commerce website. The system is quite powerful and the community around the product is strong, making Magento one of the first options to consider when choosing an engine for your online shop. In this post we present our first Magento-release: a simple and beautiful HelloWired Magento Theme, designed by HelloThemes and released especially for Smashing Magazine and its readers. The theme features a clean white background with a simple navigation that will allow you to customize the colors very easily.

Hier geht es direkt zu Magento.

Q. What is Magento? A. Magento is a feature-rich eCommerce platform built on open-source technology that provides online merchants with unprecedented flexibility and control over the look, content and functionality of their eCommerce store. Magento’s intuitive administration interface features powerful marketing, search engine optimization and catalog-management tools to give merchants the power to create sites that are tailored to their unique business needs. Designed to be completely scalable and backed by Varien's support network, Magento offers companies the ultimate eCommerce solution.

...und hier ist ein Beispiel für ein Magento Demostore. Dazu hier die im Smashing Magazine erwähnte Demo

Es ist sehr interessant sich mal die Beispiele anzuschauen. Im Artikel werden auch einige Files (z. B. PSD) zum Download zur Verfügung gestellt.

3. Juni 2010

Good Navigation

Das hier ist ein recht guter Blog Beitrag: Signposts: Helping Users Navigate Content.

Can a navigation bar be full of “no”s? Certainly, if the website doesn’t have what the user wants. Good navigation isn’t about providing the answer at any cost. It simply guides people to the content they want with the least ambiguity. The goal of an effective navigation bar, then, is to turn as many “probably” links into either “yes” or “no” links.

Guter Text. Ein Blick lohnt sich.

Berlin IA Cocktail Hour

Es ist endlich mal wieder so weit: die nächste Berlin IA Cocktail Hour findet im Stagger Lee statt.

Und zwar schon am Mittwoch, dem 9. Juni ab 19:00 Uhr.

Hier ghet es zur Xing Event Seite. Ich freue mich mit Euch anstoßen zu können. Sabine wird leider nicht dabei sein können, da sie noch immer durch Afrika reist.

Wir werden aber sicher an sie denken, wenn wir unsere leckeren Cocktails schlürfen.

2. Juni 2010

Usability Test Sample Size

Liebe THS-Leser, beim Frühsurfen bin ich über dieses PDF gestolpert: Determining Usability Test Sample Size (5 Seiten).

The authors presented empirical evidence for the models and made several important claims: Most usability problems are detected with the first, three to five subjects. Running additional subjects during the same test is unlikely to reveal new information. Return on investment (ROI) in usability testing is maximized when testing with small groups using an iterative test-and-design methodology.

Sehr interessante Lektüre. Zwar von 2006, aber noch immer aktuell.

1. Juni 2010

UX Café

Ich habe heute Morgen auf dem Weg zur Arbeit endlich Zeit gefunden mal in den neuen, deutschsprachigen, UX Podcast namens UX Café reinzuhören.

In Folge Nummer eins stellt Johannes die Frage: Welche soziale, moralische Verantwortung hat der Konzepter? Zu den weiteren Fragen über die wir diskutieren gehören: Wo fängt die eigene Verantwortung an? Wollen, müssen und können wir überhaupt Verantwortung übernehmen? Welchen Einfluss haben Konzepter? Und: Welche Verantwortung gibt es im Team?

Das UX Café wird veröffentlicht (oder betrieben?) von Holger Eggert, Johannes Stock, Stefan Freimark und Tom Allison.

Im ersten Podcast geht es um das Thema moralische Verantwortung (des IAs) - sicherlich nicht gerade meine Stärke (hey, I make money, not art).

Der Podcast ist aber richtig gut und macht Spaß zuzuhören. Die vier Moderatoren sind so unterschiedlich, so dass man auf spannende Diskussionen hoffen darf - und die Stimmen lassen sich auch gut auseinander halten.

Dafür, dass der Podcast noch in Beta ist, ist er schon ziemlich gut. Hört mal rein, lohnt sich.

Brick, what do you want to be?

Das hier ist ein lesenswerter Artikel namens Teach Design: Think Dumb.

People who think that small things don’t matter have never slept in a room with a mosquito.

Sind wirklich ein paar gute Zitate und Aussagen drinne.