Donna Vitan

He’s in New York right now but I miss him  and hope that he comes home to me soon. I love you babe, in my heart and dreams always.

A class in the Art Institue of Atlanta built a quick survey asking which design elements you prefer, and by studying the results they can build better websites. Research ended on December, 2007 but the survey and results are still viewable. The survey is limited and is just scratches the surface of user interface design.

In my line of work, it’s very important to take into account the particulars of the UI (user interface) otherwise what’s the point? You’re just thrown into a website and left to fend for yourself without a clear understanding of which direction to go, which button to click and what to do with yourself.

I’m currently working on a website that very much needs a healthy dose of UI design… actually it just needs a UI. Period. Links are all over the place and sometimes, in order to get to the page you want, you have to go through a page which is only accessible if you go back to the home page and find it somewhere in the middle/bottom of the content. Did that make sense? No, it didn’t and that sucks. A website without a proper navigation will only lead to frustration and lost audience. So let’s not let that happen, shall we? (Maybe I’ll even show you the site once it’s good and ready.)

User Interface Design Links To Study

• Interface Research
• Usernomics: User Interface Design (Scroll below and you’ll find even more links to study)
• Bad Practice in User Interface Design - Misuse of the Drop-down Menu
  Simon Kitson wrote an article focusing on “the drop-down menu and its use, or misuse, in website interface design”.
• Apple Human Interface Guidelines
  Have a look at one of biggest brand in the world is doing with interface design, and not only that, they have a whole reference library on it. To me, this is a gold-mine of a resource, perhaps too large and all-encompassing to be of any use when designing for the individual or small to very small business website but you can’t go wrong where one mega company went right.

What Not To Do

• SAP Design Guild: Golden Rules for Bad User Interfaces
  From application systems to websites, SAP Design Guild rounded up the worst examples of UI design and urge you to do the opposite.
• Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design
  Jakob Nielsen has been rounding up these top-10 lists since 1996 and now that he’s updated this list for 2007, some of those mistakes are still in full force.

How awesome is this little nugget. LOLinator.com allows you to link a site and see what it would like if cats had designed it. In my case, I actually think that it looks cooler this way. It looks super awesome!

A lot of friends have moved or are currently thinking of moving, and now would be a great time for them to use this nifty little tool. It helps people find the walkability of a neighborhood. All you have to do is enter the address and you can instantly assess if that place is surrounded by convenience.

Score System:

• 90 - 100 = Walkers’ Paradise: Most errands can be accomplished on foot and many people get by without owning a car.
• 70 - 90 = Very Walkable: It’s possible to get by without owning a car.
• 50 - 70 = Some Walkable Locations: Some stores and amenities are within walking distance, but many everyday trips still require a bike, public transportation, or car.
• 25 - 50 = Not Walkable: Only a few destinations are within easy walking range. For most errands, driving or public transportation is a must.
• 0 - 25 = Driving Only: Virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range. You can walk from your house to your car!

This neat little site uses Google Maps to find your neighborhood, then calculates how far you are to all sorts of places such as grocery stores, movie theatres, restaurants, bars and even fitness clubs. My score is 82, which is very walkable. I’m sure there are much more stores and whatnot that are very close to me but are not mentioned in the map, so I think I deserve a better score. Hee hee.

One thing they don’t have is the local public transportation. I guess that would be a little more specialized but wouldn’t that just be ever more convenient.

Find your score at www.walkscore.com