universal by design

James Craig at his deskThis ain’t your mom’s accessibility panel. This is how universal design benefits everyone, not just those with disabilities. Universal design is “design that is so thoughtful that it works for everyone from the start instead of needing to be ‘patched’ for the disabled.” The idea is to make a more enabled future for everyone, not just traditional disabled people.

The curb cuts (ramps) on sidewalks or roads are probably the best examples of universal design. Think about how many non-disabled people use those ramps for pushing strollers/prams, riding bikes or skateboards. This was a solution that helped everyone.

Presenter
James Craig, Apple Inc
Date
Tuesday, March 17
Site
cookiecrook

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designers and developers:why can’t we all just get along?

I arrived at this session and it was SRO and full. I got some final ideas (after making it inside with 15 minutes to go):

  • When designers push their vision out to “version 10”, it can cause tension with developers who are usually starting from the other end (i.e., Agile). Developers want to start small (and efficient/elegant) and progressively build toward a design. Balance is key.
  • The best possible thing a designer can do for a developer is to share the problem and challenges, not just ask for a composed feature. That way the designer is asking to partner on the solution with the developer. Happiness ensues.
  • The best possible thing a developer can do for a designer is to communicate principles and needs to designers to create a more common ground. For example, talking to designers about considering both real-time interactivity and asynchronous actions.
  • The best possible thing both can do is hang out with each other outside the office.
  • Build trust.

For the rest of the notes, I depend on my trusty Michigan friend, daniel slaughter. He takes amazing notes.

These are notes from a session at sxsw interactive. My own take on topics are mixed in with what the presenters were actually saying, so do not assume all of this content is my own.

developing super senses: tools to know your users

holy crap, it’s andy budd.

holy crap, it’s mark trammell.

usability testing and user research should be at the beginning, middle, and end of of a project. regularly scheduled user research sessions can start interweaving user research into the entire process.

Presenters
Mark Trammell (Digg)
Juliette Melton (User Experience Mgr, Lumos Labs)
Nate Bolt (Bolt|Peters)
Carla Borsoi (VP Research & Analytics, Ask.com)
Andy Budd (Clearleft Ltd)
Date
Monday, March 16

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wireframes for the wicked

There is not just one wireframe for a project. You need a wireframe for each type of documentation user: design team, business people (how does this affect them during day to day), managers (are the ideas good ones?), developers (details so they know how to build).

Presenters
Nick Finck (Principal / Director of User Experience, Blue Flavor)
Donna Spencer (Maadmob)
Michael Angeles (Dir of User Experience, Traction Software)
Date
Monday, March 16
Sites
The Slides! The Slides!
Balsamiq Studios
OmniGraffle
iplotz
Books
Sketching User Experience

Iterate from sketches to a wireframe.
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core conversation:how not to be evil (even by accident)

I apparently am evil enough to need this session.

There is an intersection between what is ethical to do and what makes good business sense. Let’s find out! Free speech, civil liberties, and privacy online. There is a mismatch between intellectual property law and terms of online use.

Presenters
Danny O’Brien – EFF
Eva Galperin – EFF
Date
Sunday, March 15
Sites
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Best Practices for Online Services

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designing our way through web forms

Forms suck. Creating a style guide for form design is difficult.

Presenters
Christopher Schmitt – Heat Vision
Eric Ellis – Bank of America
Kimberly Blessing – Comcast Interactive Media
Date
Sunday, March 15
Sites
web form elements research
jquery validation
moz monkey

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core conversation:should i build my startup on ruby on rails?

What are the most important qualities of a programming language when you are starting from scratch?

  • how easy to get a prototype out?
  • will it scale? or do i need to scale right now?
  • what existing code libraries are out there and do they support my industry?
  • what kind of talent is out there?
  • do i already know the language?
  • does the language encourage good developer habits?
  • is the language well accepted by a large community/industry?
Date
Saturday, March 19
Sites
Ruby on Rails

These are notes from a session at sxsw interactive. My own take on topics are mixed in with what the presenters were actually saying, so do not assume all of this content is my own.

CSS3: what’s now, what’s new, and what’s not?

Let the W3C be with you. Woo! Cross-browser compatibility problems should end.

Presenters
Molly Holzschlag – Opera Software
David Baron – Mozilla
Hakon Wium Lie – Opera Software
Sylvain Galineau – Microsoft
Date
Sunday, March 15
Sites
david baron
molly holzschalg
Jonathan Snook

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journey to the center of design

jared spool is my cruise director.

It’s time to retire the dogma of user-centered design. Instead, we should focus on informed design and build a reward system based on informed measurements: vision, feedback, and culture (three core UX attributes).

Presenter
Jared freakin’ Spool, UIE
Date
Sunday, March 15
Sites
UIE
brain sparks
putting a ring on it

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