Re: [IxDA Discuss] Date display formats in tables
I had done some research on this in the past. We ultimately went with the ISO format of -mm-dd since that is the best format when data is sorted. If you spell out month names and have those first, when sorted it sorts alphabetical, not chronological unless your developers are willing to code it to sort accurately. My developers weren't willing to do that due to time constraints. And it stopped the argument that we were always doing things the "American way". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36335 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Date display formats in tables
> > The table columns are sortable, so they can sort by dates. In most > cases they will be comparing days & months. Comparing dates in > multiple years is rarer. Then I wouldn't begin with the year. What I would use is a fixed width font, because padding alone isn't enough to make it more scannable as shown below: Nov 19 , 2010 Dec 31, 2008 Jan 01, 2009 Nov 19 , 2010 Dec 31, 2008 Jan 01 , 2009 Feb 02 , 2010 Mar 23 , 2009 Apr 11 , 2009 May 28 , 2008 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Date display formats in tables
Whatever you do, they're all standard formats, so you can't go too far wrong... and it should be easy to run a test. As far as words vs numbers, think about your users' task (or activity) and see if that leads you to one or the other; eg, if they're comparing the time between items, is Aug minus Apr easier than 08 minus 04? If you use numbers, more white space between the numbers, and less non-informative markings, will help readability at small sizes onscreen. so, 12-31-08 or 12.31.08 should be more scannable than 12/31/08 (even if slashes are more common). As for the dash or the dot, that may depend on whether your font is fixed or proportional, as the dot uses fewer pixels but will usually kern tighter. I'd try dash for a proportional font and dot for a fixed-width font, and see how that works. And if you use letters, do continue to use mixed case rather than all caps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36335 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Date display formats in tables
Numbers VS Words. A go in the same way as Karl & Shep. Month and Day numbers create confusion if you repeat the information again and again. Words are words, they clarify the subject. Date numbers are short hands. I would not build a data grid based on short hands information. Sort by Year. This option can clarify information that is posted in December and January period. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36335 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] ffffound invite?
I don't think yayhooray.com is invite anymore - think anyone can create an account - but I could be wrong. Regardless, I have 5 yayhooray invites I'll never use. If somebody wants one, post back and I'll email you one. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36291 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] UK based user experience freelancers?
Hi all, Apologies for the duplicate post - it took a long time to come through, so I thought I'd posted from the wrong email address, so re-posted. Thanks for taking the time to write your interesting detailed responses. I think the thing I find most attractive about freelancing is the variety of projects you get to work on, which in turn leads to a good variety of experience for future contracts, good for surviving a downturn. On the other hand, a graphic designer friend was telling me he'd stopped freelancing for agencies (as opposed to running his own show) because he was frustrated at getting the projects the agency's in-house staff didn't want... Thanks again Sam 2008/12/11 Carl Myhill (UXD +44 (0)7952 502067) < carl.myh...@userexperiencedesign.co.uk> > Hi Sam > I'm a UK freelancer I suppose. I've been at it for about a year now (though > was permie for 16 years). > > I like it a lot! I've got a nagging uncertainty about work but I'm not too > bothered. I have a friend in a big bank in london. He has been a contractor > for 8 years and has survived 2 rounds of lay-offs. He's not in UCD but he is > a software engineer. I think this supports the point you are making - he is > not headcount so he survives. Well, he is also very good so that is why he > really survives! (not many of his contractor colleagues have survived so > long). > > I work in Cambridge. I dont think there is loads of freelancing work here > really. I think London is better, though Bristol also seems to be a hot bed > of usability these days. > > Why dont you take a look at 'london_usablity' yahoo group and 'london-ia' > and see what jobs are popping up on there. > > All the best. > > Carl > > 2008/12/10 Sam Menter > >> Hi IXDA list >> >> A few questions for UK based UE freelancers / recruitment agencies... >> >> *About the current UE industry* >> >> • It seems to me there's lots of work about at the moment... how are you >> currently finding things? >> • How do you feel about the recession - could it be good for freelancers >> as >> companies cut in house headcount? >> • Are there currently any particular specialties with high demand? >> • What's your strategy for 2009? >> >> *About freelancing in general* >> >> • Is freelancing a dead-end career - a nice day rate but no long >> relationships? >> • What's the most satisfying thing about freelancing? >> • What don't you like about freelancing? >> • What advice would you give someone thinking about full time freelancing? >> >> Thanks for you thoughts! >> >> All the best, >> Sam >> www.pixelthread.co.uk >> >> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! >> To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org >> Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe >> List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines >> List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help >> > > > > -- > User Experience Design > (http://www.userexperiencedesign.co.uk) > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] getting feedback and improving collaboration
Cozimo has recently put out a handy free tool for people like Ivy who like to use IM, Skype or other networks for collaborating. It's let you upload an image or screengrab a webpage and whiteboard on it as you talk - no accounts needed - just share the link and draw. http://collaboratenow.cozimo.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36145 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Design for impulse & Behavior Economics
David Malouf...great, provocative post. OK...this is what I believe in: Design to empower people. Design to encourage and allow people to question. Design to encourage mindfulness of self. Design to encourage, teach, and reward critical thinking. Design to allow people to see there are choices...that there are always choices. Design to encourage non-lemming-like behaviors. Design to reward people for being themselves and thinking in their own unique ways. Design to help people understand their impacts on others and the environment. Design to create comfort around the existence of negative capability, ambiguity, complexity and "not knowing." Design in ways that reward finding that there's almost never one "right" answer and to distrust claims of absolute correctness. Design to communicate divergence from any groupthink is ok. Design to convey it's more important to their gut, instincts, and passions rather than someone on twitter. Design to show that we're all different, and we're all connected. Design unashamedly with love and inspire love in others. That is what I'm a zealot about. It's none of my business (or concern) what precisely somebody believes, or what they do with their highly functioning brain and heart. My work is done if people are more mindful after interacting with something I've designed than beforehand. If they're smarter. If their awareness of choices is greater, rather than narrowed. If they don't feel duped, or helpless, or hapless, or less important. If they're willing to take a chance on something scary, and be a little bit more ok with doing so. I don't believe the concept of choice architect is literally about placing multi-grain organic crackers on central shelves rather than Cheez Whiz. The point, as I see it, is to be mindful of choices we're making as designers -- to know with every breath and with every decision that our decisions are NOT value neutral -- they are not made in a vacuum from ethics and morality, and even minutely may impact people's lives and they way they move forward in their lives. That we're designing for human beings and we *are* impacting them. That power is embedded in our position, and to use that power thoughtfully . Whenever possible, to share our power with "users," rather than take it away by telling what to do. And to own, and take responsibility for, the behaviors we are eliciting, encouraging, and rewarding. Manipulation is manipulation whether it's intended for [what an individual or group considers] Good or for Harm. Propaganda is propaganda whether convincing children not to smoke, or discouraging people not to throw trash out the car window because it makes the Indian or Baby Jesus cry, or conveying that turning to a pill to sleep is normal, expected, The Answer. To be unflinchingly plain with ourselves about what we're doing, and do our best to rationalize. The example provided of Obama is important, but undifferentiated. What Obama as an individual seems to have espoused vs what his campaign and soon Administration are catalyzing via IxD (and social media) are radically different. The latter (campaign and Administration) have clear agenda and vested interest in the specific actions people take. They are/were intended to benefit the campaign and the Administration. They also had/have aims for benefiting communities, humanity, etc. But clearly a keen element of self-interest. The end of the civic engagement, thus far, has not been the Kantian "Ding an sich" -- in this case: civic engagement as an end in itself -- to empower individuals to participate actively in a democracy, regardless of specific policy-supporting outcomes. Rather, it's designed to achieve ends that benefit the campaign/Administration. While I agree with a lot of what the Administration hopes to achieve, I'm ambivalent about what I perceive as the "yoking up" of a volunteer workforce. Rather than the priority being to cultivate legions of smart, empowered thinkers, actors, and decision-makers -- without whom are democracy is a farce. I personally hope this shifts, and if it does, it will indeed be the most radical administration in the history of our country. Because it will be about empowering people to make their own decisions and inspire them to engage -- but stop short of telling them HOW. And to me, that's the most interesting challenge for designers. caveat: of course in our worklives we sometimes will have to "guide" users and tell them what to do. I have done some things I consider fairly heinous interns of respecting the humanity and autonomy of "users." I also deliberately do otherwise every chance I can. I'm suggesting, basically, to consider subversion by way of creating experiences that value simplicity but acknowledge underlying complexity and individual choices and empowerment. Something like that :) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=362
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Paperback swamp?
Eva, just throwing an idea out there would you be interested in taking ownership of a Boston IxDA bookclub or bookswap meetup next year. We plan our every third event to be a 'social' I'm all for seeing that be a little more IxD orientated other than drinks p.m. boston.i...@gmail.com if you or anyone else would like to set this up. Thanks /pauric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36419 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
