A Couple of Items from APS

A couple of issues have come up around the APS interface and reports:

• Where do you display cues? How should cues be formatted? Should example cues be displayed differently than meta cues?
• What styles are applied to the section headers within findings reports?

Thanks, --JB

Adventures in TWiki Land

Earlier this week, Colin and I had a personal growth opportunity to post some changes to documentation on TWiki. Of course, when we went to peform this feat, none of our partners in crime were around, you know, the usual suspects: Chris, Jessica, and Laura. After a couple of false starts, we were successful. I thought I should describe our steps, so that if I forget in the future, I can come back here and refresh my memory. If any of you have an easier way of posting, please comment. Although I like TWiki, it's organization and processes seem a little topsy. So here's what we did (eventually) to post an updated document on TWiki for APS:

1. Go to TWiki at http://collaborator.
2. In the left navigation menu, click the eSolutions link.
3. On the eSolutions Welcome page, click the eSolutions Groups link in the right column under Contents.
4. On the eSolutions Group Pages page, click the User Research and Interaction Design link in the Business Groups and Links section at the top of the page.
5. You might want to bookmark the UserResearchAndInteractionDesign page.
6. On the UserResearchAndInteractionDesign page click the Attach icon and link in the page header.
7. On the Existing Attachments page, click the Action link for the document that you want to update.
8. At the bottom of the screen is a Local File field. Click the Browse button to locate the updated document that you want to upload to TWiki from your computer's hard drive.
9. After you have located the file (and the Local File field is filled in), click the Upload button at the top of the page.
10. Poof!

Wasn't that easy?

Book List

Books and Book Lists

I've just started reading Jeffrey Zeldman's book, Designing with Web Standards. It's looking to be a good read (yeah, I got no life). I think Chris has this book, too. I also purchased Eric Meyer's CSS Style Sheets, the Definitive Guide, and it's pocket reference. If you want to borrow these books, just let me know.

I know at one time we were going to inventory the books we had among our various desks. I also have quite a few books at home that others might want to borrow (and even read). I think it would be useful to maintain a book list here on URID.org. I'll even volunteer to do it, if you all think it would be worthwhile.

About Face 2.0

I’m looking to borrow a copy of Alan Cooper’s About Face 2.0. Please let me know if you have one that you would be willing to share for a few days!

Changing TWiKi Names

Please do not change the names of documents/links in TWiKi once they’re created. Someone changed the names of APS docs and added them to a “WireframeExample” section, and now the link in the table doesn’t work, and there are no previous versions being shown. Also, the links created to access these docs from the APS section in TWiKi are no longer working.

Some Experiments with HTML/CSS Prototypes

A couple of weeks ago, I had a discussion with Erika and Bill about the shortcomings of wireframes used in evaluations. I put in my two bits that we should really test with HTML prototypes. Bill pointed out that HTML prototypes had a couple of drawbacks in our work here: they require additional resources to create, and people who see them tend to think that they are the "real thing" -- decision makers can be seduced by the prototype and believe that the design is already baked.

So I think the requirements for HTML prototyping comes down to this: we have to build the HTML prototypes very quickly on the cheap, and they can't be mistaken for the final design.

Friday or Monday, Chris sent me some "cool" links that address these issues head on. Chris, I don't know where you find these websites, but they are gems. The upshot of this is that I could quickly create an interface, including form elements. Being the geek that I am, I wanted to know how effectively this could be applied to a template and across a web site. My personal website (which you should never visit at work) is template driven. In about 15 minutes I designed a new layout template and applied it to my web site. The results, while aesthetically challenged, showed to me that an HTML prototyping approach is feasible.

So I guess I'd better list my caveats. I acknowledge that I have a fair amount of experience with HTML and CSS. If you want to build HTML prototypes quickly with the tools, you need to have an understanding of CSS and HTML.

I suggest the books, Cascading Style Sheets: Separating Content from Presentation, Briggs et al., Glasshaus, 2002, and Cascading Style Sheets, Designing for the Web 2nd ed., Lie and Bos, Addison-Wesley 1999. For HTML, I always suggest Werbach's Barebones.txt.

And now, Chris' super-cool links that changed my life:

• Layout
• Lists (I use these for navigation components)
• Forms generation
• Form elements (for custom tweaking)

All of these tools generate HTML code and the underlying CSS. These really are better than sliced bread!

Gerette has hit the nail on the head

Thank you both John and Chris for your thoughtfulness.
Hopefully, as the hours and days go by, you will all continue to feel better about this “Brave New World” and come to embrace it ever further.

URID will, of course, continue to live among the ongoing collaboration of all of us that Erika will be coordinating—and URID.org will be an essential part of that.
And, Chris is exactly right that each of you will continue to be usability professionals, and you will not only be able to, you are expected to, make a greater impact by working from a position that gives you greater control over the product development lifecycle.

It has been—and I expect it to continue to be—a source of great personal joy and pride to work with all of you, individually and collectively. I’m very proud of each of your professional development, professional accomplishment, and contribution to Fannie Mae’s success, and I anticipate continuing to have reason to feel that way far into the future.

Thanks,

Bill

After sleeping on it...

Well, the shock has begun to sink in, and after some thinking, some amusing distractions (i.e., The Daily Show), and singing along — loudly — to Wilco I’m feeling a good deal better about what John accurately describes as a Brave New World.

A few random thoughts:

• Many of us have often joked that URID sounded either like the name of a disease or a Balkan nation (as in URIDstan). Well, in keeping with the nation metaphor, I think it’s appropriate to think of URID’s future as a loose confederation of states that will continue to work closely together to achieve common goals.

• In many ways, URID.org becomes more important in this brave new world. Because we will be decentralized, there is an even greater need for a single place where we can exchange and archive information.

• For me, at least, the key to making peace with this new world is to continue to see myself as a usability professional who will be able to make a greater impact by working from a position that gives me greater control over the product development lifecycle. I think a big part of my reaction yesterday was in thinking that this identity as an expert was going to disappear and that we would just be assimilated into the product management machine. I now realize that this doesn’t have to happen.

A final comment. When I was talking to Gerette last night about the fact that one of the goals of these changes was to bring a more user-centered design perspective to the product/project management process, she said “It’s like Usability Eye for the Project Guys”. I laughed, but she said — quite accurately it turns out — “I guarantee you’ll be using that line at some point tomorrow.”

W2W NetRaker Eval

I’m finalizing the usabilty eval for W2W and I wanted to ask the team to do the dry run before I “start” the eval. I’ve got a couple of questions about how things are set up, and I’m guessing that if everyone goes through it more will come up. I’d like to ask everyone to give feedback on what they think.

Thanks!