Glitches with MS Visio

Hi,

Lately I found all dese while working with MS Visio :-
1. Every page needs to be aligned indivdually for the same view. If you have changed the view of a page to center with 75% zoom, it will not be consistent across the rest of the pages. This hurts my eyes and expectations.

2.When you copy paste common elements across a couple of pages it does not maintain its relative position across pages leading to unnecessary rework. I cannot keep on making backgrounds for everything till I get confused which background is for what.

3. The guides need - bring to front functionality. Y?? Arn't guides supposed to be on the front by nature?!

4. Evertime I click on a textbox to edit the text...the entire thing is erazed to enter fresh text. Then I have to press Ctrl+Z to bring it back...One extra unnecessary step.

5. There is no facility to duplicate a page which is required in case you are just keeping the primary page the same and making changes in the seconday windows only.

6. There are no group align buttons. If i select a couple of elements on the screen, i cannot simply press a button and align them left or right. Instead I have to specify the position of the elements according to the ruler in a text box and see the cahnges happening. y?!!

7. When i press F5 to view my screens without the toolbars and paraphanelia, i does fit to screen and does not show the actual size which is not right. Therefore, if I have made 800x600 wireframe on a 1024x768 resolution it streches the screen to full size.

8. Also, if I am frequently changing my mode of interaction from pointer tool to text tool, then why shouldn't there be short cut for the same.

9. Also, it should by default try and put all screens at the center of the screen where it is ergonically right.

10. If I select an item and change the view to 200% it zooms not on the selected item but at the center of the screen. Why doesn't it do that when it is supposed to:(

Anybody got any answers?

New Handloom Site
http://www.etsy.com/index.php

Colors in Motion
www.mariaclaudiacortes.com/colors/Colors.html

UI patterns

http://time-tripper.com/uipatterns/ by Jenifer Tidwell

Card Sorting

Card Sorting is a technique for exploring how people group items, so that you can develop structures that maximize the probability of users being able to find items.



It enables

• easy and cheap to conduct
  
• Enables you to understand how 'real people' are likely to group items
  
• Identifies items that are likely to be difficult to categorize and find
  
• Identifies terminology that is likely to be misunderstoo
  

Card Sorting can be conducted in a variety of circumstances using various means - one-on-one, during workshops, by mail, or electronically. The following is the basic process.

You can use cluster analysis to get a pictorial representation of the resultant groupings. An easy way to do this is using IBM's EZSort program

People vary widely in the amount of time they take to sort cards. As a rule of thumb, allow half-an-hour for a participant to sort 50 items.

At times,it may vary considerably for different user groups. Does not take into consideration the user tasks. Participants may just sort it according to surface characteristics.

For existing site - closed card sorting
For new sites - Open card sorting

Preferred for small sites with simple and homogenous content


http://www.boxesandarrows.com/archives/card_sorting_a_definitive_guide.php

Cognitive Walkthrough..hmmn

It is a 'review technique' where 'expert evaluators' construct 'task scenarios' from a specification or early prototype and then role play the part of the user working with that interface. ( esp. for pointing out learnability issues )

Goals -> tasks -> actions (cognitive + physical)

Orig: Code walkthrough by developers.
Established process by Wharton et. al (1994). Hence abbreviated occassionally as WCW.

Every step evaluated using
1. Will the users achieve the right effect?
2. Will the user notice that the correct action is available?
3. Will the user associate the correct action with the effect the user is trying to achieve?
4. If the correct action is performed, will the user see that the progress is being made towards solution of the task?

Outcome: Learnability issues, gap in design, design ideas, faulty task flows.

Constraints: Lengthy design discussions, Design Defensiveness and Time Pressure

See Also:
Rick Spencer, "The streamlined cognitive walkthrough method"

IDE(Integrated Development Environment)

Allows programmers to edit code,design user interfaces, compile code, debug code, and perform most other programming tasks within a single computer program. Therefore, it tends to be extermely feature rich.

For eg:
Eclipse provides extensible tools and frameworks that span the software development lifecycle, including support for modeling, language development environments for Java, C/C++ and others, testing and performance, business intelligence, rich client applications and embedded development. Built in Java.

JCreator is a powerful IDE for Java. JCreator provides the user with a wide range of functionality such as : Project management, project templates, code-completion, debugger interface, editor with syntax highlighting, wizards and a fully customizable user interface. Built in C++.

How to be a millionaire...!

Hi, I had recently attended a conference in my company and here is what i got to know.

If you have a vision then convert them into goals which you could further break down into targets. Get it!

Vision -> Goals -> Target

So use this to become watever you want to become..;)

Java Swings...

It is the GUI toolkit of Java. It is part of JFC. Much fancier display than raw AWT. They are written in pure Java so provide the same look and feel across platforms unlike AWT. They are light weight components that have slower execution.

IFC (Internet Foundation Classes) - Graphics Lib of Netscape and JFC (Java Foundation Classes) combined to form Java Swings.

SWT (Standard Widget Toolkit) originally developed by IBM, now maintained by Eclipse Foundation is a competing toolkit. It is a heavyweight component which means that modifying it for a different look and feel gets tricky here. You have to convert it to lightweight component whereas Swing is already a light weight component. Therefore for custom crossplatform look and feel Swings is preferred.

It has pluggable look and feel support due to which it can have 100s of different look and feel. Provides accessibility for screen readers and braille readers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Swing
http://javalobby.org/eps/galbraith-swing-1/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J2EE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J2EE
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/components/html.html

Information Architecture

ID= IA+IV

IA:-
Structure and oraganization of descreet pieces of information..?!!
http://synapticburn.com/comments.php?id=24_0_1_0_C

BY Information Architecture Institute

1) The structural design of shared information environments.
2) The art and science of organizing and labeling web sites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability and findability.
3) An emerging community of practice focused on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape.

http://iainstitute.org/pg/about_us.php

Asilomar: refuge from sea (met: of information anarchy)

By Scott Nelson- Roles and resp in a a/w company

1) delivering and gathering information from end users (an IA, forexample, would not IMHO
design the Photoshop Interface.
2) less likely to involve Visual Design
3) probably a dedicateddesigner on team
4) more likely to involve content creation
5) somewhat "Production Tool Agnostic"; the final product's shape iswhat matters, not the
material used to build it.

skot@penguinstorm.com
http://www.penguinstorm.com/

For IV:- Look for Edward Tufte

Viral Marketing

Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence.


An effective viral marketing strategy:

1.Gives away products or services - FREE!
2.Provides for effortless transfer to others - Keep it short, simple, compelling and and easy to transfer. It works the best on the Internet.
3.Scales easily from small to very large
4.Exploits common motivations and behaviors
5.Utilizes existing communication networks
6.Takes advantage of others' resources

Thinking about Mixed Reality...

Newer paradigms in interaction between real and virtual worlds has lead to the concept of mixed reality in the near future. Already there are many mobile games in this domain. I was imaginaing a few scenarios and thought i useful it would be if
- if you need to find your way to a certain destination in a busy crowded city where you just hate to stand at one of the crossroads in the labyrinth and figure things out for yourself. Instead, if you have a camera phone, then dial a number for request for service to locate a destination in a city. Answer a few questions to confirm the place you are looking for... wait for the database connectivity and information retrieval... gottcha! Now follow the direction. Point the camera in any direction...the information about the users current postion and the orientation on the camera goes to the database that maps it onto a map and finds out the displacement from the destination, looks for optimal path to detination...shows the information to the user on the screen as arrows poiting in certain direction. Alternate paths could be followed here. User moves in the most convinient direction and reaches destination.

You know wat the marketing buggers can do?..They can get the user profile and take them in the direction of their product. As the user moves in front of the showroom he is given information on the latest schemes that they have to offer to the concerned user profile. SO wat do you day, you pay extra for spam free ride to destination in minimum time.

Hey these technologies can also be useful in cases of accidents where the ambulance can find the optimal paths to the injured person. Can also look at the severity of the wound and decide for treatment required. Can also inform the specialist doctor in advance so that when the patient reaches the hospital things are prepared for him.

Hey wat if you combine it with Google's search engine and use it to locate things around. Type the thing that you are looking for. Rotate camera across room, see the an arrow pointing to the object/s searched for you. Not the thing that you looking for..refine search or select from a category that google has guessed that you might be looking for in the room. Cool life! can afford to have an untidy room them. Thanks to technology! ;)

Evolving Network Services - Singularity

We have the core facet of singularity where the Internet will evolve as a singular computing environment. It will benefit adaptable enterprises and small modular project teams ditributed across the globe having the need to act anytime anywhere based on dynamically changing market and business needs.

.

Therefore, Imagine a scenario where you have set the way you like your coffee to be made. You certain amount of caffiene and sugar and you wouldn't like to change it because you are a patient of diabetes. So you are chatting with an employee in office and in midst of an interesting discussion, you press on the coffee button on the vending machine... the machine identifies you by your fingerprints, authenticate you and get your preferences from a central server and gives you your coffee. Wherever you are whatever you do, you get your own thing, the way you like!!

Its like every machine you log-in to your get u'r desktop and your "my documents"...
How'd that sound?! i dunno personally. Sometimes I have fun exploring someone else's desktop.. i don't need to see myself everywhere unless i am busy and have very improtant work to do. No headache of transferring files through mails anymore..phew!

There's another one, this one's more familiar.. changes in your contact information at one place, consistently reflects it across platforms/devices so that you don't need to the needful a 100 times at all places that you can possibly think off.

Network services also aim to enhance a players experience through multiplayer across networks/platforms/devices. They also intend to mix domains of game and marketing craeting unique oppurtunites for brand and loyalty development.

It will also benefit all music lovers who can listen to any music they like.
Hmmmmmn! that's SOUNDS interesting to me!

Crusha Cows Interactive Campaign

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"Crusha" is a milkshake mised brand with a campaign centered on new interactive TV and online game concept. The game not only extends the branding experience but also its effectiveness is directly proportional to the sales of the product.

"Crusha Cows" game will be accessible through interactive TV ad which will link the user directly from the ad to the start of the game. Photographic images of the characters of the game exactly match the look and feel of the TV ad, thereby enhancing the brand experience. It introduces the first ever cheat code element that the user will have to enter o improve the chances of getting a score to enter a competition. The cheat code is available when the user enters the last four digits of the bar code of the bottles. The players ar also encouraged to enter the code via SMS. The web game is available at crusha.co.uk.

Link to article:"http://www.immediatefuture.co.uk/198"