Erik Spiekermann: Typography and design today

“(…) calls himself an information architect. He is equally comfortable and prolific as a writer, graphic and typeface designer, but type is always at the epicentre of this communication dynamo. He founded MetaDesign in 1979, started FontShop in 1988, is a board member of ATypI and the German Design Council, and president of the istd International Society of Typographic Designers. In July 2000, Erik withdrew from the management of MetaDesign Berlin – which created a bit of a stir – and set up his new studio, United Designers Network in the same neighbourhood.” (Uleshka – PingMag)

The Website Development Process

“Think about how you are going to structure things. What is important? What is not? What needs to be on every page? Depending on the scale of the project you might want to create a visual sitemap for your client. Preparing a sitemap is essential if you are reorganising content in any way.” (PingMag) – courtesy of kelake

The Future of HTML (1/2): WHATWG

“In this two-part series, Edd Dumbill examines the various ways forward for HTML that Web authors, browser developers, and standards bodies propose. This series covers the incremental approach embodied by the WHATWG specifications and the radical cleanup of XHTML proposed by the W3C. Additionally, the author gives an overview of the W3C’s new Rich Client Activity. Here in Part 1, Edd focuses primarily on two specifications being developed by WHATWG: Web Applications 1.0 (HTML5) and Web Forms 2.0.” (Edd Dumbill – IBM)

From Information Design to Experience Design: Smart Artefacts and the Disappearing Computer

“It seems like a paradox but it will soon become reality: The rate at which computers disappear will be matched by the rate at which information technology will increasingly permeate our environment and determine our lives. This notion of the ‘disappearing computer’ is one of the starting points that determines our work. Another one is the shift from information worlds to experience worlds. This was a consequence of our work on innovative office environments where we explored the range of social processes that should be supported with information technology and the shift to a new application domain, i.e. games and entertainment in the context of home environments.” (Norbert Streitz et al. – uigarden)

Why Ajax Sucks (Most of the Time)

“Judging from the email I receive, the most controversial statement I have made in my Alertbox columns so far was to make ‘the use of Ajax’ one of the mistakes in my list of top ten mistakes in Web design. For new or inexperienced Web designers, I stand by my original recommendation. Ajax: Just Say No. With respect to the use of ajax by highly skilled Web designers, I have changed my opinion somewhat: people who really know what they are doing can sometimes use Ajax to good effect, though even experienced designers are advised to use ajax as sparingly as possible. (…) This is a spoof article. Please compare it with the original and you will see how little it has been changed.” (Constructed by Chris McEvoy with apologies to Jakob Nielsen)

Storyboarding RIA with Visio

“With the recent rise in popularity of web technologies such as Flash and AJAX, it has become possible to create richer user experiences on the web. Even though these technologies are not actually new, we are now seeing their widespread adoption. Within the last six months, we have seen the christening of the term ‘AJAX’ and its broad acceptance. Most major websites are adding rich interaction to their existing features” (Bill ScottBoxes and Arrows)

Computing machinery and intelligence

“Propose to consider the question, ‘Can machines think?’ This should begin with definitions of the meaning of the terms ‘machine ‘and ‘think’. The definitions might be framed so as to reflect so far as possible the normal use of the words, but this attitude is dangerous. If the meaning of the words ‘machine’ and ‘think ‘are to be found by examining how they are commonly used it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the meaning and the answer to the question, ‘Can machines think?’ is to be sought in a statistical survey such as a Gallup poll. But this is absurd. Instead of attempting such a definition I shall replace the question by another, which is closely related to it and is expressed in relatively unambiguous words.” (Alan Turing, 1950)

Visual Explanations and Information Graphics

“Infographics are traditionally viewed as visual elements such as charts, maps, or diagrams that aid comprehension of a given text-based content. However, visual representation of information can be more than just the manner in which we are able to record what has been discovered by other means. They have the potential to become the process by which we can discern new meaning and discover new knowledge.” (acrStudioVisual Organization and Information Design) – courtesy of venkatrajamanickam

Crossing Frontiers of Understanding

Lecture at the ICOGRADA/FRONTEIRAS congress, Sao Paulo, April 29th and 30th, 2004 – “Structure is an important way to start: structure information in ways that make it accessible to others: facilitating access is like giving out a passport: if designers help their users to cross frontiers of cultural knowledge and experience, and facilitate them to exchange and share information and experiences with others, then design has answered its first and most important brief: to build interfaces.” (Max Bruinsma)

Inaccessibility of CAPTCHA: Alternatives to Visual Turing Tests on the Web

“A common method of limiting access to services made available over the Web is visual verification of a bitmapped image. This presents a major problem to users who are blind, have low vision, or have a learning disability such as dyslexia. This document examines a number of potential solutions that allow systems to test for human users while preserving access by users with disabilities.” (W3C) – courtesy of accessify

Online International Journal of Usability Studies

“(…) a peer-reviewed, international, online publication dedicated to promote and enhance the practice, research, and education of usability engineering. Its aim is to provide usability practitioners and researchers with a forum to share: empirical findings, usability case studies (research case studies, not business case studies), opinions and experiences (regarding the practice and education of usability engineering), and reports of good practices in usability engineering.” (The Usability Professionals’ Association) – courtesy of markverderbeeken