Broadcast worthy!

We are in a era of self propogation, through blogs, social networking sites and lots and lots of other amazing things. So the web is now really empowering you with self expression mediums. With video broadcasting – its totally gone to the extreme. You can actually configer a television channel for free!. The applications are immense. I see a channel coming up from every corner of the earth, talking about argiculture, politics, education, amatuer bands and god know what else.

So here i have a few application that let you do just that and maybe even more,

•  You tube and google
•  Moghulus

please do let me know of other web 2.0 apps you come across in the same line.  

App review some crazy apps

“Why would i do that”, there are many apps that are so innovative and out of normal line, that you wonder. Anyways here is my list of some amazing apps that i have come across.

voki.com
Vocalize yourself, this web site offers flash based talking characters that let you record stuff and then send it across to friends. There are multiple ways in which you can record, either using the in-build typer or you can call a number and record yourself.
Why would i do that: Unless i really want to impress my friends with an out of the way wish, or maybe send a wish in a different language :

shopalize
THE joy of shouting out to the world, what i just brought.
Why would i do that: I promise my first ferarri will be listed out there until then its for shopoholicks and the neat bargainers.

unpackd
How often do you not know what’s in the box. Well maybe when its a gift from someone. unpackd collects information about what everybody found in the box.
Why would i do that: Am really happy about something i got. But with needs for registration and all that i still wonder why.

pictogame
Definately an addictive experience. Pictogame lets you upload your pics and convert them into some amazing games and puzzles. And then invite friends to a fun with the pics.
Why would i do that: Its the fun part of the games themselves. Maybe a popular thing already in the teenage generation.

For the readers:
if you wish to add any other applications that are out of the normal, please let me know by adding a comment to the post

web 2.0 App reviews

For someday’s now i have been out researching web application to help plan my pet project. The research helped me a learn a lot of fabulous things of how people are today building applications.  These are  differently way apart from the  anything  i have seen before both in quality and variety. So why not share more of this stuff on the blog!

Quick JavaScript Prototyping

The usual hickup designers and user researchers face in wake of validating interface design is getting an environment that will behave like the actual application. Until now i used to think this was almost impossible. Imagine data getting transported from one page to another seemlessly. The most we could do was use xml to display large chunks of data and thats about it.

Enter hidden frame technique and arrays!,
I was in a class room listening to all the jargon in AJAX, when someone wrestled the word hidden frame to my dormant brain. They said hidden frame was the in thing before ajax was on the sunrise. Ahhh…. the concept, use a frame to retrieve and send data while the visible frame provides the reassurance of one major metaphor (). So the next time somebody posed the challenge of sending one form values to the next, i considered looking at a hidden frame.

The problem definition: we need a prototype that functions Like the actual application. One complete medical apps that can take patient details across the prototype and give the idea to stakeholders how the thing is going to work.

Approaches used, sending variable through url etc etc. The most decent solution. An uncompromising tinge of HIdden frame scripting supported by the almighty javascript and yes the arrays. Its so easy to retrieve and display values this way. And now that i have learnt i would like to share. I am off developing a prototyping framework that can make sending data across forms a child play. Cheers to myself.

The story so far..

In my few years of professional life i have crossed many domains and fields. Each time acquiring newer strengths and capabilities that complement my role as a communications professional. I began my en devour with Graphic design including advertising and tough ass multimedia and elearning. This gave me strong understanding of corporate branding, conceptualization and eye pleasing photoshop work.

That was not enough so i travelled and got deeper into interaction designer. Learning the ropes of usability and user experience. This paid handsomely as i got to design some really cool application ground up. from Internet to desktop to mobile apps. That was all hunky dory when the vicious technology pulled me in its wake. I consulted for small apps design. But remain awfully short of ever programming even a little bit on my own.

Now i am again on the footsteps of change, as i proceed towards javascripting. It was tuff, crazy and not so cool a thing too do. looking at how +++ and — makes sense never apealed to me, though logic did. As usual i was put in a spot and got a hang of it. And now i feel all so cool looking and code and for the first time writing some elegant stuff all on my own.

Okay the sense in writing this post. I am going to write a few post on scripting, cross browser coding, coding complainces etc etc …

Why great ideas fail

I have often come across magazine, blogs, seminars with the screaming new idea that you missed. Something that might take the world with storm. And then a revisit after a few years find these very ideas waiting for some kind of rejuvenation

Is it got something to do with great promises made in haste. Is it about one techology replacing the other and yet standing weak in front of the next great promise. 

This was a great discussion topic among a few philospher techno wizard friends of mine. I find questioning a great way of learning and revisiting topics that otherwise seem clear. We dwelved on the dot com boom. Why it turned into such a sudden and global disaster. 

Questionnaires – How effective

From usability perspective, Surveys and Questionnaires are tools used to enlist information from users for evaluating or collecting design input for a task, process or system (” A questionnaire is a method for the elicitation, and recording, and collecting of information -Jurek Kirakowski, Questionnaires in Usability Engineering”). Questionnaires and surveys hold importance since these provide qualitative and quantitive information in the exact format the evaluator plans.

All said, dobt regarding validity of questionnaires are often raised. Are questionnaires effective tools?

How accurate can a questionaire or survey be for design input,
Should we use questionnaire/ survey methods to drive design input. Most of the time design input is driven by facts. Quesitonnaires and feedback elicitation methods can often err by saying something that might be a lot about background noise rather than actual task.

The yes or NO likert scale – why does it really mean to users,
In a brainstroming excercize i conducted users acknowledged thier answers actually meant – They are positive, negative or indifferent (score randomly to get rid of the form)

Should questionaires have other formats of data entry,
It might almost sound like putting words in the users mouth, but what if questions were designed to input pre-defined choices instead of 1 – 10/ Hate love matrix

My Experience,
Questionnaires were one of the most despicable thing for me as a student, as an applicant for services. The max i could enter in a form with good detail of attention was about 4 questions, after that urgency to complete and get 0ut of it took over.

Thankfully I don’t come across questionnaires that often. A few days back i got an oppurtunity to fill a quesitonaire, i was glad that it gave me an opportunity to experience the phenomenom as a user – after long long time. I filled atleast 10 pages and finally left mid-way dis-oriented.

Resources – Questionaire,

• Link: Questionaires types:
  Contains links for sample questionaires based on – QUIS, PUEU, NAU, NHE, CSUQ, ASQ, PHUE, PUTQ (acronyms are usable:) )
• Link: Questionnaires in Usability Engineering
• Link: Usability measurement and Questionnaires
  

Effective CSS Writing

CSS writing becomes fun, just like coding becomes poetry when its is optimized and is effective. Here are some quick tips on make CSS go that extra mile of maintainability, clarity and Optimization.

W3C Validation a free service that checks Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in (X)HTML documents or standalone for conformance to W3C recommendations.
» Validator Link

Use CSS Shorthand
CSS shorthand properties allow authors to specify the values of several properties with a single property

• Web credible
• 456bereastreet
• http://www.dustindiaz.com/css-shorthand/
• NO.net

What i do as a practise is keep a ready list of shorthand properties handy on my desk. It helps to refer to the right properties fast.

Structure CSS for effectiveness
HTML Elements
HTML elements can be included in style definitions for optimized and maintainable code instead of defining classes individually

Use of ID and Class with Element Definition
Use ID and class in conjunction with HTML element definition,

When to use ID when to use Class
ID’s should be used only if the definition in the HTML is provided only once in the entire HTML document. ID’s are meant especially for cases where javascript requires to access objects in the document.

Keep it organized, clean
Organize placement of CSS definitions in related block. Further Comments placed for a block of related definitions helps.

Is it too early for web 3.0

I came across the term in a NewsPaper – hmm.. maybe people dont want the web 2.0 to end so soon, i mean just a few days back everybody just got used to the term.

Web 3.0 by definition involves some concepts that are already part of web 2.0 – just like most people would say RIA was already there before web 2.0.

I would like to quote lots of articles i have read but would refrain before i am sure there is no considerable change in web 3.0 definition. Basically web3.0 definition is inclusion of lots of activities that were not included in web2.0.

Blah Blah … Some links

• Zdnet Blog
• Business Week
• John Hagel Blog

The news article i read was web 3.0 doing something about helping people shop, without browsing and going through the search engine process. Hmmm…

WOW.. the heat is on (microsoft live)

Google Vs Microsoft Vs Yahoo Vs numerous developers world over waiting to get taken over for ingenious ideas in Rich Internet Apps. This is true return of the boom. Unlike the earlier times when conceptual ideas helped people with the books, we have working solutions with users getting ready to be sold. WOW!

Now this post is about Microsoft Live, Unleashed just a few days back on my hotmail account. I should say – finally microsoft web based ui makes sense.

• Search for images,
• Mail & Theme, did you think it was possible on web
• Plus the normal desktop capabilities

Gmail is a lot about rich functionality, Yahoo is a lot about brand legacy and Microsoft is a lot about os based design achievements in RIA. I strongly feel microsoft is in a position to give google a good run for thier innovations and mergers.