Yesterday someone in my Twitter stream pointed out a dialogue box from the iTunes Store, calling it “a rare example of confusing UI design from Apple”. Now, iTunes isn’t known for great UX, but this is mostly (IMO) due to deep structural problems, not surface UI design.
So it’s surprising that this screen design (from iTunes) made it through Apple’s quality-assurance process.
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“Content Is King” doesn’t mean “Content Is Everything”, it means “Content Is Where You Start”. And that is good advice, because a lot of projects don’t start with content, they start with design, or they start with technology, and put off content till the last 6 weeks of a 6 month project. (Yes, I’m looking at you, Client X.)
The reason you should start with content, even though design is also important, is that your design is will be much better if it’s informed by the content. For example, your navigation will be better if your taxonomy grows out of the implicit structure (I almost want to say “inner needs”) of the content. Your look and feel will be better if it reflects the character of the content. The opposite approach, starting with design and writing the content to fit, is less likely to work, IMO.
This is off-topic for this blog, some of my readers (yes, I have some – I can prove it!) may be interested. I market myself as a business analyst and writer, with a web specialization (content strategy and development, web business analysis, UX design). Like most contractors, I keep in touch with number of recruiting firms. One of these firms gave be access to some data on IT contracting opportunities in five Canadian cities.
Two caveats: (1) This data applies to me, and people with similar experience and skill sets. Things may look quite different for people like you. (2) For confidentiality’s sake, I’m not providing the raw data, just a summary.
Here goes:
The proportions of the iPad screen are 768 by 1024 pixels, a 3:4 ratio, usable in both orientations. What does this mean for layout?
Tuhin Kumar suggests fluid layout:
[Y]ou can view [the iPad] either in landscape or in the portrait mode. But for the designer that means two completely different layouts for which to design. It is for this specific reason that the iPad highlights the need for smart fluid width design.
With everyone sharing their thoughts on Apple’s new iPad, I thought I’d share mine, both of them.
Two posts, Part I today.
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The excellent infographics blog Visualizing Economics featured this interactive infographic from the USA Today last weekend. It’s an overview of U.S. incomes and income-tax rates since 1940. You enter an income and year; it shows you the corresponding (inflation-adjusted) income and tax burden for each year in the series, as well as what the taxes were spent on (Medicare, national defence, etc.). It’s a good example of the work established media like USA Today have doing on the web over last few years.
I like several things about it: read more »
