For the love of iPad and iA’s Writer App
By admin | October 6, 2010
The iPad is very popular in my house… it was love-at-first-use, for kids and adults alike. I like to describe it as ‘any-way-up’ computing. It’s so portable and in such a simple format that it liberates you from being tied to desk, lap or TV…
The kids like nothing better than to lay on the floor playing their favourite games in the same animated dynamic as I used to play board games on the floor as a kid. It’s great for reading in bed without feeling like you’re ruining a lazy morning in the same way bringing a laptop into bed does. Also, it’s perfect for using those online recipes while cooking without having to print it out or take up valuable food preparation area!
At my recent leaving do down the pub I was rather hesitant about taking the iPad along when the audience was a clutch of ‘new media’ types, mac fans, programmers and tech-savvy business types. However, I had promised a usability challenge as well as beer and I had thought of something that involved the iPad. I needn’t have been worried, it didn’t lay idle and get beer spilt on it. In fact, it was a warmly received distraction, discrete and easy to handle around the pub table.
The usability challenge? Well, I had downloaded the well-received iA Writer app which boasts ‘Focus’ as it’s special sauce / point of difference / key selling point. Not only does it strip down and re-think word processing to it’s bare bones beautiful minimum with a writer’s take, but it has a ‘focus’ mode to help you… focus!
Anyway, the first time I used it I couldn’t for the life of me find the key feature that backed up the ‘focus’ promise… Yes, I was falling foul of Jakob’s assesment that the iPad suffered low feature discoverability. I thought this situation ironic and took the challenge down the pub to share with others in my field…
The result? Well, my peer UX architect was none the wiser (phew, not just me then!) and was rescued by a developer who’d clocked the last icon that had gone untouched. The die-hard mac fan was positively Italian in his flurry of arm movements and gestures to reveal the hidden feature and clearly had become accustomed to a world where a little more discoverability effort paid dividends. And what was the icon that hid the valuable ‘focus’ mode? A lock (opened) which is locked when in focus mode. All agreed it was unintuitive, our understanding of convention had told it was for something else. However, now we know what it means in this context…
Next post: Can you really touch type on the iPad?
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Information architecture is to digital spaces what architecture is to physical places
By admin | February 25, 2010
That’s the catchy line that concludes my definition of information architecture…
Here it is in full (below) and you you can see all the other entrants to the ‘Explain IA’ competition run by Peter Morville of Semantic Studios on flickr: Explain IA
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Information Architecture is…
The user-friendly organisation of information
In the same way that an architect can help make the most of your home or building, an information architect can help you make the most of your website or digital application.
That’s why they’re called architects, because they’re responsible for the structure that upholds the design. They understand how things can work and the limits of what can be done.
The first port of call when you design a building is an architect. The first port of call when you design a website should be an information architect.
Information architecture is to digital spaces what architecture is to physical places
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This definition is also available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42840294@N05/4322913677/in/pool-explainia
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I love libraries. Especially the new Central Cambridge one!
By admin | February 5, 2010
Is it old hat to love your library? Do I care? I’ve always been a big fan and user of libraries. They’re great. They democratised learning, entertainment and access to information before the internet came along.
I could easily digress into the current state of print publishing (too much to say!) or the way technology news stories in the media fall into a handful of clichés that aim to polemicise our opinions (too annoying to begin), but I won’t!
The newly opened central library in Cambridge City centre nestles neatly into the newly updated shopping centre that has always been around it. The library has had a refreshing make-over that has brought it up-to-date not only in furnishing and habitat but also in technology. Read the rest of this entry »
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Top SharePoint (MOSS) IA / EIA links and resources (plus my advice for a successful SharePoint IA implementation based on my experience from the coal face)
By admin | February 2, 2010
I spent a fair bit of 2009 working with (enterprise) information architecture challenges presented by using SharePoint as a replacement for a traditional file storage system.
At the outset I was confident that my ‘transferable’ IA skills could be applied to this situation without too much difficulty. This turned out to be the case, and the main challenge it transpired was finding out about the nuances of SharePoint and how best to design an information architecture and user experience that would play to its strengths and not require aeons of development to implement and consequently a horrible maintenance overhead when a new release came along.
I searched high and low online to find the gems from other IA practitioners who I imagined would have it all sorted out. However, I didn’t find a load of useful blog posts as I expected…. Why the dearth of information about SharePoint? Read the rest of this entry »
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Smashing new book…
By admin | June 12, 2009
I’m a little biased it has to be said as the author is my big brother but the brilliant new Professor Potts book is out: ‘The Smash! Smash! Truck‘. It’s all about recycling told in a refreshing blast of punk style! I hasten to add that it has been read and approved by my 8 year old son who found it so dazzling he had to wear sunglasses and he’s not been able to put it down.
“It’s brilliant and smash-tastic” Reid, 8
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