Usability for Rich Internet Apps
Highly functional and responsive interfaces have long been crafted for the desktop, but bringing that same richness to the web is a still-maturing proficiency for both designers and engineers. In this talk, Nate will share lessons he's learned from focusing on this specific issue within Yahoo!, and from helping to create the open-source Yahoo! User Interface Library. In particular, he'll discuss the importance of moving beyond "implementation model" to "mental model", important new instruments for communicating today's more complex requirements such as "interesting moment's matrices", and a sane approach to creating the toolkits that make it all possible.
speaker: nate koechley
http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/
(ok I have to confess before I post my notes. I thought Nate was cute so I was staring at him during his presentation. So the notes are a little sloppy....)
we've been telling sotires without sufficient vers
- text display
- mouse click
- form submit
primitives
dom collection
event utility
connection manager (ajax)
drag & drop
animation
compounds
idioms
continuous cheap communication
high resolution visual language
- animation (yellow fade )
from implementation models to mental models
(You know, just because it's the way you think about things does not mean it's the way that it should be executed.)
don't confuse "drag and drop" with "mental model"
(As an example, when you eject a CD by dragging it to your trash can on your MAC! it "poofs", but it's actually not poofing!)
how the interface shows and how the function is showed does not mean it's how people would use it.
create new idioms. Use language.
i.e. autocomplete, tagging…
there is actually a very complex interaction model behind the whole autocomplete function.
- page load
- mouse over input field
- input field gains focus
- user input detected on input field
- ac data requested
- ac container opens
- ac container data loads
- etc.
storyboarding interesting moments.
- moment matrix.
- Think of it as a journey framework. What happens at what point.
Interesting moment catalyze:
- Design
- Development
- Communication
- Thoroughness
A back and forth action to have a perfect moment of interest between different people: refining
Characteristics of rich internet app:
- The pieces are small
- bookmarkable
- saveable
- shareable
- reusable - objects, not just tasks
things are working around events: flickr-photo, upcoming-events, del.icio.us-links, webjay-playlist.
And yahoo trip planner. (_but really, it's really not the best internet app. It annoys the hell out of me_)
Rich internet is not the same as internet applications.
http://www.yuiblog.com
http://nate.koechley.com/blog
Technorati Tags: usability, webapp, web, webvisions, webvisions06
