Progressive Enhancement and Graceful Degradation

We are only as strong as our weakest link. That was my understanding of Progressive Enhancement: Paving the Way for Future Web Design, a reprint from The Triangle TechJournal. This article says that progressive enhancement is not only designing websites for earlier technologies first, but having designs that work in newer devices and browsers. Being able to adopt new technologies and strategies without leaving older ones behind keeps your options open. If you are looking for more users to visit your site, and most sites are, it only makes sense to have a more versatile site.

These days the more technologies a web designer knows, the better off he/she is. This is exactly what i am doing at the Art Institute. I started out playing around with flash and actually thought I knew something about web design. I may have made pretty looking websites, but my audience was very small. Only people with flash plug ins were able to view my sites, if they could even get there, but that’s a whole other story. Now days, progressive enhancement and graceful degradation have become part of my everyday design. The more scripting techniques I learn to make my sites work in more devices and browsers, the more I have dollar signs in my eyes.

Some other web articles on this topic:

http://www.xfront.com/progressive-enhancement-graceful-degradation/index.html

http://www.spokehq.com/blog/permalink/progressive_enhancement_graceful_degradation/

http://craigmdennis.com/web-design/graceful-degradation-vs-progressive-enhancement/

 

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April 13, 2011

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Using User Research

Gretchen Anderson: Making Use of User Research

The most important point of this article, in my opinion, is what the different methods of research are used for. I understood that usability and ethnographic testing is useful, I just wasn’t sure what exactly they were used for. Now I know the difference which will not only help me in my own work, but will help me to help others as well. With a clear understanding of what each is used for, I may not be the best person to test, but I can design my testing a little better and hopefully be able to explain the importance of different testing so people don’t get so annoyed with taking the time to be tested.

In my opinion, I think ethnographic testing is the most useful. Yes it’s important to see how well received a product is, but what about what the user really needs. By putting the tested person in a like-real situation you can get some major results. Not only can you test them on competitor sites, but you can also test your own demos this way.

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February 8, 2011

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Amazon Article Review

This article points out a handful of features that Amazon.com has to offer. It explains why it’s important for an e-commerce website to focus on certain things like product search and online buying.

I plan on designing an e-commerce site in the future. Articles such as this one will be helpful in my research. One feature I do like about Amazon is the look inside option. You can preview books before you buy. I think it’s a good idea to give your customers a taste of what they’re about to spend their money on.

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January 25, 2011

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Apple vs Microsoft-A Website Usability Study review

I agree with the author. As far a usability, Apple takes the cake. I understand Microsoft is working with far more content, but I believe in the fun theory. I’m partial to pretty things because I am a designer, I guess. I just know that I would only go to the Microsoft website if I absolutely had to. Not only does the Apple site always has some new exciting product, but they make it look really cool, which happens to be what I like.

I guess if I would take anything from this article it would be the power of simplicity. Too much content is bad. Use a process to break down the content and eliminate extra data.

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January 25, 2011

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Research to Solve the website Problem

I interviewed two people who have online accounts with a company. David has an account with QVC online and Jennifer has a membership with zappos.com.

Q: Why did you register for an account?

A:  Dave said that you had to register if you wanted to buy from them later. In order to access your account you had to sign up. Jennifer said she created a log in to complete her first purchase.

Q: What benefits came with the account?

A: Jennifer said the convenience of accessing her account 24/7 was a benefit. Davids answer was similar and said he was able to check his payments owed to the company. When he finished he could make another purchase.

Q: How did they take advantage of the benefits?

A: Jennifer was looking for the fastest way to get on with her shopping. It sounded like her only reason for signing up was because it was a necessary step in making a purchase. her being able to return and make more purchases without that extra step was her way of taking advantage of the benefit. David on the other hand was able to keep a close eye on what he owed the company.

Q: Any problems with the account?

A: While Jennifer had no problems with her account, David mentioned not liking being on there emailing list. He said there was an option for being informed of new products through email but ignored it and now regrets it. He realizes that there is a way to stop the emails, but didn’t want to deal with it.

Q: What additional benefits would they like to have in the account?

A: Both said to offer more discount. Dave recommended preferred customer discounts after so many purchases.

Q: How would they use the additional benefits?

A: Jennifer said a discount would benefit anybody for obvious reasons. David says he would purchase from the company more if he was rewarded with discounts for doing so.

I also interview two people who do not have a membership account to a website. David again and Helen who both  have ordered products from websites without registering for an account.

Q: Why they prefer not to join a membership?

A: Helen said she doesn’t like advertisements after a purchase. She said doesn’t want to be sold off to another company. David said he simply wanted to remain anonymous.

Q: What incentive would convert them to becoming members of a website?

A: David said privacy policies and discounts for members. Helen said she wanted complete control over contact between her and the company.

Solution: I would design a step by step process that recommends registering to make purchases in the future an easier process. I would give incentive to create a log in by awarding loyal customers with discounts. I would make the option of being on a mailing list clear to the user and also be clear on privacy policies.

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January 18, 2011

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User Centered Design Articles

Q1: What was the most important point this article made for you?

Q2: How will you use this information in your design work?

Goal-Directed Service Design by Chris Noessel

Q1: For me the main point in this article was that the users goals should match up with the designers goals.  By observing users you can find new ways of meeting their goals. Stay focused on user goals and continually check up on them.

Q2: Staying active with interviewing and keeping a constant eye on my users behaviors is a good way to incorporate information from this article into my own work.

Design Research: Why You Need it by Steve Calde

Q1: User research is the foundation of a good design process. This article lists some common excuses made for skipping out on user research, and it answers why you shouldn’t be lazy when it comes to knowing your user. Again, interviews are mentioned as one of the most important parts of this type of research.

Q2: Ethnographic research sounds like something I would use. A way to step into the shoes of the user without having to go by statistics alone. I am curious if there is a way to survey users without annoying them with an actual survey. They can be boring to me sometimes.

Getting from Research to Personas: Harnessing the Power of Data by Kim Goodwin

Q1: The main point for me was that persona’s have to be based on actual data from observing users. According to this article, anything other than that is not a real persona and results in having repeated problems.

Q2: By gathering information from many users and grouping them based on their feedback I can identify user patterns to create a persona.

Perfecting Your Persona’s by Kim Goodwin

Q1: This article gives good pointers on how to shape a good persona. Using simple fictional characteristics to give life to a persona is a good method. Also this article explains how a marketing/sales goal does not always meet the users goal. Therefore, designing for a preferred customer is not always the most efficient. The importance of persona goals are also talked about in this article.

Q2: Keeping marketing and sales targets separate from my design targets, remaining simple in my persona descriptions yet adding some fictional characteristics are all ideas i consider in creating my own persona’s.

We Cannot Except that Behavior by Emma van Niekerk

Q1: The main point of this article is that it is important how you communicate with customers. Do you communicate with them at all? Providing enough information to do complete a task in a polite way can is an effective way to avoid frustrating the user. That way the user is more likely to return.

Q2: Creating a friendly and informative environment for the user is good to focus on. Making sure the user gets enough information on how to complete a task and remain simple in design would be my way of incorporating information from this article into my own work.

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January 18, 2011

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Web Design vs Other Media

I really liked the article “A Dao of Web Design”. The word “Dao” roughly translates to “way” (of life). I think the writer was right on about a new way of designing. Web design combines all other media design and you can interact with it. Other types of media have features you can’t get from a website, but you can get all other media in one spot on a site. You can’t read a newspaper on the TV (unless you have a browser) and you can’t watch a video in a magazine. So it seams to me that the web designer has to be a jack of all trades.

Web designing is a new medium, which means it can go in any direction at this point . We don’t have to control our viewers as much as other types of media. Web designers can simply provide a way for users to decide how they want to receive information. I hardly watch TV or read a newspaper anymore. Magazines, I read a little more often, but I like being in control of what I want to know or even witness. That’s why I use the internet and that’s why I’m a designer.

Some other articles:

graphic design vs web design

The Sphere of Design

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October 29, 2010

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Some cool web designers

I liked Jason Santa Maria because it didn’t look like all the other blog style sites. Don’t get me wrong blog site are cool. It’s just nice to see something that I thought was a little different. He had a very easy way of navigating through his site. You can sift through his articles by category, tags or date. You can also check out his works by clicking portfolio all of which are pretty good I think. Nothing too crazy, but still experimental and I like that.

I thought Carlos Ullios‘ site was pretty awesome. Probably my favorite on the list. I would like to know more about how he does what he does. For example: navigating through a website like a video game would be fun to me. I know it wouldn’t be for everybody, but gamers would definitely like it. Energylab was really cool. I never figured it out though. Anyway I think this guy has a lot of fun designing and I would like to head that direction with web designing.

Last but definitely not least, I’ve got to give props to Andy Clarke. This guy makes web design look like a whole new medium of art. What I like most about this guy is that he is a great designer and he likes to write about it. He also has some dvds out now. They’re a little expensive but I’ll probably get them anyway considering that I want to do web design for a living.

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October 18, 2010

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Web Standards and well formed HTML

I think it’s very important to have a web standards and well formed HTML. It gives web designers a solid foundation to work from. They both make it easier to edit by organizing HTML in a way everyone can understand. Well formed HTML also makes it easier for web robots and automated search engines to understand.

I am a web design major and having a standard for coding is extremely important for me. Without it I would have a difficult time learning to code. I’m still an amateur at web design, but I would imagine without these two things I would make my job a heck of a lot harder. Plus at this point I don’t even understand how you can code without using web standards or a well formed HTML code.

http://www.developer.com/xml/article.php/784361/Well-Formed-HTML.htm

http://www.w3.org/

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October 11, 2010

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xhtml and css

In the web design field, it is important to understand web standards.  It is getting more and more popular to use and there are many reasons this is happening.  I’m very new at html and css so I don’t fully understand the benefits of using web standards.  I can tell you that the way it’s explained on several websites is that it’s a much more efficient way of designing and managing a site. 

http://www.maxdesign.com.au/articles/checklist/ This site says that web standards can mean different things for different people.   Russ Weakly explains that it can mean a table-free site.  Using a CSS based site simply makes managing a site easier than using tables.  This site has a list of reasons why using a table-free method is better.  One reason that makes sense to a beginner is that tables are “hard to look at” in HTML.  This would obviously make the site harder to manage.  Also as stated in my previous blog web standards helps with web accessibility making it easier for people with disabilities.

Another definition for web standards for some is “using valid code”.  According to this site (http://the16art.com/2007/04/03/the-importance-of-valid-code/ ) 

Using valid XHTML and CSS will:

1. Make your website easier for search engine spiders to crawl
2. Allow you to achieve an attractive appearance
3. Help you to keep that appearance on multiple browsers
4. Keep loading times to a minimum
5. Allow for easier updates and maintenance

Courtesy of Vandeley Design

To me this will mean a lot more when i learn coding.  Right now I can change fonts and color background in HTML.  That’s it. In the near future web standards will be a big part of my life.  Hopefully it will become second nature for me meaning I don’t have to worry about making thing hard for myself.

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March 11, 2010

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