The Q2 2007 issue of GUUUI is a third edition of an article on using Visio for rapid prototyping for the web. The new edition includes a minor update of the GUUUI Web Prototyping Tool that eliminates a major shortcoming: the inability to create scrolling pages. The update also includes brand new sketchy interface widgets.

Links:

• Visio - the interaction designer's nail gun (3rd edition) 

Henrik Olsen - April 08, 2007

See also: Prototyping and wireframing (119)  Tools (106) 

In this 1.5 hour video, Bill Buxton talks about sketching and prototyping user interfaces.

To Bill Buxton, sketching is fundamental to ideation while prototyping is an evaluation technique. In ideation, the goal is to come up with many different ideas. In evaluation, you narrow down choices of ideas. Sketching is a way of "getting the right design" while prototyping is "getting the design right."

Links:

• Bill Buxton's talk on sketching and prototyping 
• Jared Spool's summary of the talk 

Henrik Olsen - April 03, 2007 - via UIE Brain Sparks

See also: Prototyping and wireframing (119)  Audio and video (48)  Talks and presentations (18) 

In web applications, we sometimes need selection-dependent forms, where users need to provide additional information after having made a selection. There is a myriad of ways to solve this design challenge. Luke Wroblewski provides an overview and discusses their pros and cons.

Links:

• Selection-Dependent Inputs 

Henrik Olsen - March 06, 2007

See also: Forms (30)  Tips and guidelines (95) 

Jessica Neuman Beck has written a nice little piece on how turn scanners into readers by making copy easy to process.

Here's her advice:
- Give your words some breathing room by increasing your margins and choosing short, concise paragraphs
- Organize information into sections with headlines to make it easy to decide which section to read and which can be skipped
- Break up your pages using relevant images and illustrations
- Use pull quotes to highlight important lines of text
- Include descriptive blurbs below headlines to explain what the text is about
- Use icons to denote certain site elements and break up text-heavy pages
- Style links in such a way that they're easy to recognize even to the people who aren't reading the copy
- Use lists that distill information to its essence

Links:

• Does Your Copy Hold Up To A Quick Glance? 

Henrik Olsen - February 28, 2007

See also: Text (24)  Tips and guidelines (95) 

In January 2007, a new book on prototyping was published. It's a practical step-by-step book on how to create rapid paper and computer generated prototypes.

The book covers issues such as choosing prototyping method, deciding on fidelity, diagramming flows, evaluating prototypes, and how to create prototypes using different approaches and tools. It also has a short chapter on interface design guidelines.

The book is impressive 624 pages. The authors have reached this high volume by operating with a somewhat broad definition of what a prototype is (for example card sorting is called prototyping) and by explaining prototyping as an process composed of a myriad of phases and steps.

The exhaustive step-by-step approach might be educational for those new to prototyping. To me, it makes prototyping appear as an overwhelming and rigid undertaking rather than a creative and playful one.

Links:

• The book at amazon.com 
• The book at amazon.co.uk 
• Companion website with sample chapters 

Henrik Olsen - February 21, 2007

See also: Books (47)  Prototyping and wireframing (119) 

Altia has released a new tool called PhotoProto that translates Photoshop files into clickable prototypes. By arranging screens and widgets in layer combs and naming them with special keywords, PhotoProto can automatically turn projects into working prototypes.

The prototypes can be viewed in a browser with the ProtoPlay browser plug-in installed.

Links:

• Altia PhotoProto 

Henrik Olsen - February 12, 2007 - via IxDA

See also: Tools (106)  Prototyping and wireframing (119) 

The site HallwayTesting.com is an interesting concept. Submit a site and get the participants' views on your usability questions.

Links:

• HallwayTesting.com 

Henrik Olsen - February 11, 2007 - via DigitalWeb

See also: Tools (106)  Expert reviews (11) 

Microsoft has published a series of videos with interviews of people such as Jakob Nielsen, Steve Krug, Lou Rosenfelt, and George Olson talking about usability and development.

Links:

• Microsoft's Great Minds in Development Video Series 

Henrik Olsen - February 04, 2007 - via Usability in the News

See also: Audio and video (48)  Interviews (30) 

Luke Wroblewski has published a video featuring himself talking about the shifting role of design as mere styling to design as innovative problem solving.

His presentation provides an overview of why design and creativity has become a decisive source of competitive advantage.

Links:

• Video: The Shifting Role of Design 

Henrik Olsen - February 01, 2007

See also: Talks and presentations (18)  Audio and video (48) 

Folksonomies are spreading. A survey from December 2006 has found that 28% of internet users in the US have tagged or categorized content online, such as photos, news stories or blog posts. On a typical day, 7% of the users say they tag or categorize online content.

Taggers are classic early adopters. They are likely to be under 40 and have higher levels of education and income.

The survey was carried out by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Links:

• Report on the tagging survey 

Henrik Olsen - January 31, 2007

See also: Navigation (63)  Information architecture (15)  Research (129)