[IxDA Discuss] We\'re Moving!

2010-02-28 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Hi Everybody, The moment is finally here, IxDA.org is going down for the launch of our new platform. This means that the website AND mailing list will be offline for the afternoon while we get everything ready to go on the new site. *Important Steps to Get Your Account Running* When the new s

[IxDA Discuss] Introducing myself

2007-10-04 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Hi, Since I just joined the list I thought I'd write a quick note to introduce myself. I'm Matt Nish-Lapidus, an Interaction Designer from Toronto Ontario, Canada. I've been involved in the web in various ways since 1995 and just recently completely switched focus to web based interaction design

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Who designs what? (see diagram...)

2007-10-04 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
My position is similar actually, I'm: 1) interface developer 2) interaction designer 3) usability expert I find that in a lot of companies, especially small-mid size people will wear many hats.. we seem to end up creating a position for ourselves doing a combination of what we love and are best a

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Tools for communicating styles to developers

2007-10-05 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
If you're working with a good (proper) interface developer/engineer and not just an app dev then you could probably trust them to interpret your visual designs accurately for the look and feel.. a good interface dev will have an interest in design and be willing to work with you to make it all wor

Re: [IxDA Discuss] [Edutf-pp] Introduction

2007-10-05 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Hi, > Get your hands on a copy of Web Redesign 2.0: Workflow that Works (Emily > Cotler and Kelly Goto). That book will help guide you through an > effective/efficient re-design process. I second the recommendation for this book. It is by far the best web process book I've read and has informed

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Distinguishing between Internal and External links

2007-10-05 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Hi Paige, How similar to Wikipedia do you mean when you say "similar." The Wiki software is called Media Wiki and is free to use for any purpose, if you haven't looked at it, it might be a good fit. To address your original question, if links are an integral part of the navigation like they are

Re: [IxDA Discuss] HCI and modern art

2007-10-07 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
For anybody here who has studied New Media Art or Contemporary Art in the last 10 years Lev Manovich is highly influential. That passage is from a paper I read just after my final year of New Media at Ryerson University.. it's probably one of the reasons that I decided to go into interaction desi

Re: [IxDA Discuss] d schools

2007-10-08 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
This is a common problem in many disciplines.. The same thing happens with developer (interface and application) .. there's no room to grow unless you move into management. This problem also means that you never end up with designers or developers who are really senior in experience and expertise

Re: [IxDA Discuss] JOB UX Designer, Fulltime/Permanent Role, Recruiter, Redmond, WA

2007-10-09 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I humbly disagree... A good technical background in html/css/javascript allows an interaction designer the freedom to prototype interfaces in a much more efficient way. Working with a full-time programmer to prototype can be time consuming and isn't always possible. If you understand the techn

Re: [IxDA Discuss] JOB UX Designer, Fulltime/Permanent Role, Recruiter, Redmond, WA

2007-10-09 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
That is very true. My response was aimed more at the general discussion, rather than this specific post. IxD/UX + interface dev skill = okay IxD/UX + server debugging = not right I think that sums up my position :) > This is a developer role. The recruiter simply pasted UX in to the > title a

Re: [IxDA Discuss] JOB UX Designer, Fulltime/Permanent Role, Recruiter, Redmond, WA

2007-10-09 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
> Let me see...how do I put this politely...If we'd been adhering to > this logic in 1993, you'd be out of a job. So would I. The Web was > strictly a markup language. People developing perl apps for pages > were on the cutting edge...and that was purely for very limited > functions...it certainly

Re: [IxDA Discuss] JOB UX Designer, Fulltime/Permanent Role, Recruiter, Redmond, WA

2007-10-09 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I couldn't agree more. This is exactly why a UX team needs to have designers and developers involved. Or people who can think in both spaces. The work of 37Signals is a perfect example of this.. they have contributed to both the practice of web based UX and web development.. They don't distingui

Re: [IxDA Discuss] JOB UX Designer, Fulltime/Permanent Role, Recruiter, Redmond, WA

2007-10-10 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I guess I can sort of address this by using myself as an example... I started with an interest in computers... Then I went to art school.. But, when I graduated, there weren't enough jobs for designers, and I didn't know that IxD existed as a discipline at the time, so I fell back into web coding

Re: [IxDA Discuss] straw poll: best messaging user experience

2007-10-10 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
That's interesting.. one of the things I like about gmail is that there's always more than one way to get at a control... that way I don't have to look for the buttons, they're always where i need them. It's the same reason I like gmail's labels rather than more traditional folders.. 1 to 1 catego

Re: [IxDA Discuss] straw poll: best messaging user experience

2007-10-10 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I'd argue that folders are broken on the desktop too.. which is why your see Mac OSX moving towards saved smart folders (searches) based on metadata.. and of course MS followed suit in Vista. Labels/tags can be used in the same way as folders, but it allows data to exists in more than one category

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Gmail archiving - was: straw poll: best messaging user experience

2007-10-11 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Steven, you bring up an interesting point that nobody has mentioned yet. Gmail's search is light years beyond any desktop email app search. This is one of gmail's greatest assets. Search makes it so easy to find old forgotten email based on label, sender, or just plain old keywords. Not to menti

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Green and not: ON and off

2007-10-11 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I tend to agree, although there are exceptions. For most devices that have an on/off switch it's pretty obvious if the device is currently on or off, so pressing the button will do the opposite of the current state. Can anybody think of a case where the current on/off state of a device isn't imme

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Moving and copying "items"

2007-10-11 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
That sounds like a good solution, except I don't think you need to go for an iframe, this could be done with a single document and divs. Also, if your engineers/devs are telling you there's not enough time to implement an ajax-ish solution either they're too slow or something is wrong with the tim

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Seth Godin's 10 steps to a great web site

2007-10-11 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I actually have a number of problem's with Seth's post... Some of the issues I had are summed up nicely here: http://bokardo.com/archives/be-careful-what-you-put-in-a-template/ The other big issue I see is his assertion that Photoshop is the best tool for designing a website, not to mention that

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Examples of excellent interaction design on the web

2007-10-11 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I actually disagree about LinkedIn .. I find the interface very confusing .. it looks really good, but the placement of buttons is not intuitive. I've gotten used to it, but when I'm with other people who try to add somebody to their network they always have to search for the button. There are to

[IxDA Discuss] A badly designed site about bad design

2007-10-11 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
The actual design of this site isn't very good.. but the content is fantastic. http://www.baddesigns.com/examples.html -- Matt Nish-Lapidus email/gtalk: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ++ LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mattnl Home: http://www.nishlapidus.com _

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Examples of excellent interaction design NOT on the web

2007-10-11 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
A friend of mine is an amateur pilot, here's what he had to say about Smart Deck "Yeah, I've seen it before. But, as with all things aviation related, it's the insurance companies and the lawyers that really control technology. You see, the Smart Deck is NOT FAA certified, and would cost about 5

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Green and not: ON and off

2007-10-12 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Wow, those are all great answers. So, now the question is, what type of state indicator/button would help solve these issues? For the baby monitor, would it be helpful to have an obvious volume level indicator? I completely understand the camera example.. My little digital point-and-shoot does t

Re: [IxDA Discuss] To Align or not and how?

2007-10-15 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Hi, Here are a couple links to some great guidelines on form design. These are the basic theories a always use when making a new web form. http://www.lukew.com/resources/articles/web_forms.html http://www.lukew.com/resources/articles/PSactions.asp On 10/15/07, Manish Pillewar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Re: [IxDA Discuss] A badly designed site about bad design

2007-10-15 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Hi, Pauric, this is a good example. For a site with lots of information, especially a long list of links, a side nav or some sort of easy to reach categories would make it much easier. The content at the link I originally posted is easy to read and clear, but I have no idea what's at the bottom

Re: [IxDA Discuss] A badly designed site about bad design

2007-10-15 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
On 10/15/07, Mark Schraad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Someone needs to be the champion - for ideas, designs and products. This is > one of the great failings of waterfall. Most times there is not a nearly > omnipotent champion to battle the compromise and mediocrity that comes with > design by

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Working in an Agency v/s Innie

2007-10-17 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
That's absolutely true. I've spent lots of time in the agency world and sometimes it's nice to get new projects all the time.. but on the other hand you never get a chance to refine your designs. I'm planning to move to a different place where I can focus on one project, work to make it really go

Re: [IxDA Discuss] A List Apart web design survey results - Blogging

2007-10-17 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
This survey is always incredibly interesting. I'm sure a lot of us on this list participated, and the number of total participants this year blew me away. Over 32,000! That's amazing. One results I found really interesting in a timely way is that 72% of web professionals have a blog. I just sta

Re: [IxDA Discuss] What's the difference between Delete and Remove?

2007-10-17 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
It's interesting that you bring that up.. because I've always though of "remove" or "rm" as being very permanent.. a command to be careful with. I'm sure a lot of fellow linux users feel the same way. Whereas "delete" in a GUI OS just moves things to the trash, which can be undone. But this all

Re: [IxDA Discuss] A List Apart web design survey results

2007-10-18 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I agree that the sample set is skewed towards ALA readers.. but they got over 32,000 responses. That's a pretty good number. And really, most people working on the web read ALA. I, and most people in my office, fill out the survey every year. On Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:54:03, Shareta Barnes <[EMAI

Re: [IxDA Discuss] A List Apart web design survey results

2007-10-21 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I've encountered a disturbingly high number of web professionals, be they designers or developers, in the agency world who don't know anything about the industry at large. A lot of people see this as a job, like all other jobs. .. however, if they're any good at all, or have any passion for their

Re: [IxDA Discuss] A List Apart web design survey results

2007-10-21 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Hi, On 10/21/07, Katie Albers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [snip] > this is starting to sound like some of you expect the people you work > with to stay 100% current with whatever it says, all the time and to > me that brings up the problem of making assessments of how to spend > one's time most use

Re: [IxDA Discuss] IxDA Toronto

2007-10-22 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Hi, There is a Toronto based group called UXIrregulars that does have events.. have you checked them out? Matt. On 10/22/07, Parth Upadhye <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Toronto IxD'ers. > > I would like to organize a series of Face to Face gatherings before > the winter sets in. All IxD'ers inte

Re: [IxDA Discuss] IxDA Toronto

2007-10-22 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I agree that an IxDA specific group is a great idea ... and in some cities there are probably enough people interested to support multiple groups, but so far in Toronto I haven't seen it. The one existing group isn't very big, and I think the overlap between it and an IxDA group would be 100%. I'

Re: [IxDA Discuss] why is flash so awesome? [user focused flash]

2007-10-23 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Just to preface this mini-rant, I've used Flash since version 3, spent 2 years working with Flash to build hollywood movie sites, and still use it on certain projects Accessibility in Flash has come a long way, but it is a lot of work to do right. When building a large Flash app the devs spen

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Keyurbsorathia wants to share Favorites with you

2007-10-23 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I just did the same thing :( The sign up for that site, which actually is interesting, auto-selects the "send this to all my friends" option, and it's not obvious until you've already pressed submit. Talk about bad interface design. Now I'm going to have to send out a couple hundred apologies...

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Data Visualisation

2007-10-23 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
This is the obvious answer I guess... but Edward Tufte is probably the best in the data visualization design area... here's his official site: http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/ On 10/23/07, Dan Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi all > > I am looking for good examples, tools, techniques, read

Re: [IxDA Discuss] why is flash so awesome? [user focused flash]

2007-10-23 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
The issue with all these techniques for adding bookmarks, deep links, etc.. is that they are a lot of work and have to be integrated at the very beginning of the project.. and in the end they give you a lesser version of what you get for free in a browser. On 10/23/07, Will Parker <[EMAIL PROTECT

Re: [IxDA Discuss] why is flash so awesome? [user focused flash]

2007-10-23 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
atform. If HTML had been closed the web as we know it would not exist. On 10/23/07, Will Parker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Oct 23, 2007, at 8:32 AM, Matthew Nish-Lapidus wrote: > > The issue with all these techniques for adding bookmarks, deep links, > etc.. is t

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Desktop Wallpapers

2007-10-23 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Right now I'm using a couple of John Maeda's Laws of Simplicity icon wallpapers.. i really like them. But I tend to change my wallpapers a lot. http://lawsofsimplicity.com/category/deskpat/ On 10/23/07, Maxim Soloviev <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello everybody! :) > > Just curious -- what Use

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Popup Folder

2007-10-25 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
You should take a look at the new version of Mac OS that comes out tomorrow.. it has a new feature called Stacks that's a lot like what you're proposing. On 10/25/07, Maxim Soloviev <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello Faith, > > > How is it different from a Windows desktop folder or folder shortcu

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Rich Media question

2007-10-30 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "how the video on this page was done" I'm sure you already know it's Flash video. As for the content of the video itself, it looks like they just had an animator do some simple 3D stuff with screenshots, mouse pointers, and screen capture vids. Pre

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Do Engineers Understand UX documents? (was "Alan Cooper on Software...")

2007-11-01 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Agreed! Anybody, developers or otherwise, will better understand the project if involved to some degree at each stage. "Throwing over the wall" never works, in any circumstance. At my office, a medium agency, we build project teams and try to keep all team member involved from the very beginnin

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Collaborative Project Management Tools

2007-11-01 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I'll throw in a vote for Basecamp. I use it all the time and love it. On 11/1/07, Mike Scarpiello <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Looking at two - Basecamp and Marketing Central. Has anyone used these, or > can you suggest alternatives? > > Thanks. > > http://www.marketingcentral.com/index.html >

Re: [IxDA Discuss] What tools do you use for prototyping?

2007-11-03 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I also use HTML/CSS/Javascript to prototype, and a lot of the time I use HTML/CSS for wireframes too. I just find it easier to manipulate than Visio/Omnigraffle/etc ... maybe it's because I do interface development as well as design As for wireframing functionality, I totally agree. It's a g

Re: [IxDA Discuss] What tools do you use for prototyping?

2007-11-06 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
On this matter I have to agree with Andrei. Paper is a design tool, and a design is different than a prototype. For prototyping interactivity the prototype has to be interactive... otherwise it's just a design comp with notes. That being said, paper is a valuable design tool and can be used to g

Re: [IxDA Discuss] HTML Prototypers

2007-11-07 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I use TextMate (http://macromates.com/) ... it's by far the best editor around. Mac only though, but IMHO worth the switch just for this alone. The only Windows editor that has the same features is jEdit, which is amazing but ugly and hard to use. Some people get used to it and love it though.

Re: [IxDA Discuss] How do you define a prototype [was:What tools do you use for prototyping?]

2007-11-08 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
To answer the question (even though it was posed to Andrei :) ... I would say no, once printed it's not a prototype. If the click action of the omni prototype is integral to the final product, then that click *must* be part of the prototype. Otherwise what are you prototyping? Without some simu

Re: [IxDA Discuss] How do you define a prototype [was:What tools do you use for prototyping?]

2007-11-08 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
e definitions on construction. > > Its all about the use. > > A car made of wood is still a car > http://www.tomstrongman.com/ClassicCars/JerryNickel/Index.htm > A house made of candy, is still a house > http://www.willcotton.com/paintingscans/candyhousezm.jpg > > etc etc... >

Re: [IxDA Discuss] How do you define a prototype [was:What tools do you use for prototyping?]

2007-11-08 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Agreed. Blanket statements are always wrong in certain cases :) In the end it depends what you're trying to prototype.. interaction? physical controls? physical objects? each will have different requirements and be better suited to different mediums. On Nov 8, 2007 9:19 PM, pauric analoguisati

Re: [IxDA Discuss] What comes first, the Design or the Technology ...

2007-11-13 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I also think this sounds a little strange... shouldn't we design for our specific medium? The medium dictates how the user/viewer will interact with the product, and thus effect the design. I don't see any way around that Design for TV is intrinsically different than design for print, than f

Re: [IxDA Discuss] What comes first, the Design or the Technology ...

2007-11-13 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
> determining factor when making design decisions, IMO. > > Jeff > > > On Nov 13, 2007 11:23 AM, Matthew Nish-Lapidus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I also think this sounds a little strange... shouldn't we design for > > our specific medium? The medium di

Re: [IxDA Discuss] What comes first, the Design or the Technology ...

2007-11-13 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
ramework, etc until you know > the goals and some high level needs of whatever project you're > undertaking. > > > On Nov 13, 2007 11:57 AM, Matthew Nish-Lapidus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > If it's not one of the major factors then what are you designing? &

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The Millenials are coming

2007-11-15 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Does every generation say that of the one older than them? And vice-versa? This doesn't seem like anything new to me On Nov 15, 2007 2:44 PM, Joseph Selbie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Robert wrote: > > Design managers beware. :) > http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/08/60minutes/main3475

Re: [IxDA Discuss] prototype voice and sensor driven UI

2007-11-20 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I use a language called PD (Pure-Data) .. it's a visual programming language aimed at artists, and it works really well for ready and translating sensor data... once you learn it (steep learning curve) you can throw together programs really quickly. On Nov 19, 2007 1:53 PM, oliver green <[EMAIL PR

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Equal column heights (with content) ?

2007-11-22 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
That sounds like it makes sense to me. What sort of content will you use for padding? You have enough extra content that will make sense within the article context, but isn't required? On Nov 22, 2007 7:31 AM, Johan Sjöstrand <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello. > > We're looking into possible s

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Kindle

2007-11-22 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
On what grounds? As has been mentioned a couple times (), the success of the iPod hinged on the fact that people already had huge digital music collections and no convenient way to play them... the Kindle is trying to start a market that doesn't really exist yet... and if you already have a collec

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The Rise and Fall of Friendster

2007-11-26 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
There was a great article about this on Bokardo a little while ago... Joshua Porter wrote that the success of any social networking site depends on the usefulness of that site in the absence of other users. In other words, "what does this site do for -me-," is the primary concern, the social aspec

Re: [IxDA Discuss] download-as-pdf v/s print

2007-11-26 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Hi, Both options are good.. also keep in mind that some people will have a print to PDF or save to PDF function in their OS (Mac always has this option, and Linux does a lot of the time) If all I want to do is print a page having to save the PDF first would be annoying, however, saving a PDF is

[IxDA Discuss] design patterns for list sorting and filtering

2007-11-28 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Hi, I'm working on a project where users will have potentially large lists of items, sometimes personal collections, sometimes search results. Each item in the list will have a number of fields, but not always displayed in discreet columns, some of the data will be merged into sentence form and so

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Verifying a user is human

2007-11-29 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Hi, CAPTCHA done right is very effective, and can be accessible as well. I suggest taking a look at the reCAPTCHA project (http://recaptcha.net/), they have an audio version available as well, and it contributes back to the Internet Archive project, always a worthy cause. There was just a great a

Re: [IxDA Discuss] design patterns for list sorting and filtering

2007-12-02 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Thanks to everybody who has sent suggestions so far! lots of great examples and ideas. In case anybody is interested, I'm working on a new product for public libraries called BiblioCommons (www.bibliocommons.com) ... no public site yet, but I'll be sure to send out a message when there's somethin

Re: [IxDA Discuss] design patterns for list sorting and filtering

2007-12-04 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
t;[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Did you receive more examples off list? If so, could you send them to > me privately or to the list? They would be helpful for my current > project and I'm sure others might find the useful as well. > > Thanks, > Jeff > > > On Dec 2,

[IxDA Discuss] Interaction08

2007-12-04 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Hi, I just registered for Interaction08... for anybody else who is attending it would be great to plan some sort of IxDA list meetup .. Are people staying in the Sheraton mentioned on the website? Anybody have any other recommendations for a hotel? Also, I've got to say it for an associatio

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Interaction08

2007-12-04 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Hi, I just mentioned it as a lighthearted jab... a bit of fun, I didn't intend to get into an analysis of the registration process. The biggest problem with the reg process is how disjointed it is from the Interaction08 site... more of a visual design issue rather than an interaction issue. The

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Interaction08

2007-12-04 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Thanks David, that's a great suggestion. I will check out that site to see if we can connect under various common interests. I'm sure there are lots of social type events planned for the weekend as well, so I'm looking forward to meeting a lot of you there. Matt. On Dec 4, 2007 7:11 PM, David M

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Interaction08

2007-12-06 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
like i mentioned in the other thread, i meant my criticism it all in good fun and completely appreciate the nature of third party services for things like this. the new IxDA site is great, and the conference looks amazing... so I'm not too worried about a less-than-perfect registration process. k

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bad Changes In The New GMail Version

2007-12-10 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
in response to the original comments about the new address book/contacts in gmail... i actually like it. yes, there is more going on and there are a lot of different content panes, but it now acts like all other desktop address book software and offers all of their features, which makes me happy.

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Design Masters Thesis & Extent of Realization

2007-12-13 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Not to completely derail the conversation (maybe a topic change?) but ... I actually experienced similar issues while doing some teaching at Sheridan college here in Toronto, but in reverse. The students all had a solid practical foundation in design, but were really lacking the theory and histor

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Forward/reverse in a mobile phone's music player

2007-12-14 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
The CBC Radio 3 podcast was actually my first encounter with chapters in podcasts and I loved it... I still look for it in all my other podcast subscriptions and am consistently disappointed. It's what makes podcasts more usable than a recording of a live radio show or a long MP3 delivered to my c

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Interesting tab navigation example

2007-12-20 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
yeah.. doesn't work in firefox or camino... i'm not sure the scroll bar on the tabs is intentional, i think it's just a symptom of bad web development and design. On Dec 20, 2007 6:11 PM, Mike Scarpiello <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I DO think it's hilarious that MS refuses to make their sites

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bring your OLPC XO laptops to Interaction08!

2007-12-21 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I'd love to try this myself, but it seems that the disk image download is gone from the link you sent.. know of another source by any chance? On Fri, 21 Dec 2007 10:02:30, pauric <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Also, its possible to run Sugar in an emulator on a PC & Mac. I've > had is running on a

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Interesting tab navigation example

2007-12-24 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
That's a fantastic idea actually... taking the common practice of progressive enhancement a step further, so that the "enhancements" aren't just about making things prettier/fun/fluid, but also about making things work better for different groups of people. this seems like a really great approach,

Re: [IxDA Discuss] When/Where/How did you decide to be a designer?

2007-12-24 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
This is a great thread! One for the archives for sure. My path to IxD started when I was a kid and we got our first C64 I suppose. I immediately took to programming, and when we got an Appl IIe with Logo on it graphics became my main interest. >From there I got more and more into computers and

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Must we be Leonardo de Vinci?

2007-12-24 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Agreed. There will -always- be compromise, even in the most ideal situations. Unless your project has a single stakeholder, then there will be compromise to please all parties. Compromise doesn't mean "bad" though, and sometimes compromises can actually lead to better solutions, ones that a sing

Re: [IxDA Discuss] OLPC: Sugar Not So Sweet?

2007-12-26 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I couldn't agree more with pauric on this one. Most people I know who are leaders in technology, programming, and even a lot of designers, got their start with computers as children. When we got our first computer I was 7 and it was a c64. No instructions, no GUI.. just the BASIC language and a l

Re: [IxDA Discuss] OLPC: Sugar Not So Sweet?

2007-12-26 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
the system to encourage hacking seems like a good idea to me. On Dec 26, 2007 4:59 PM, Dan Saffer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Dec 26, 2007, at 12:34 PM, Matthew Nish-Lapidus wrote: > > > If these kids are given access to a hacker friendly system they will >

Re: [IxDA Discuss] OLPC: Sugar Not So Sweet?

2007-12-27 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
is one thing, forcing it on all users of a system in > order to achieve basic tasks is another. > (I'm not saying this system is doing that - I just understood from the > discussion so far that there might be a risk of it doing that) > > On Dec 27, 2007 2:25 AM, Matthew Nish-L

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Arial vs Vernada?

2008-01-10 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
A great typography resource with a web focus is http://webtypography.net/ .. lots of great analysis and information about applying traditional typography practice to the web. On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:34:56, Jeff Seager <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Type is fascinating, both in its history and in t

Re: [IxDA Discuss] MacBook Air

2008-01-15 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I run CS3 on my current MacBook .. same screen, and it's fine for the kind of design you'd be doing away from your desk. 80gb should be lots for a laptop too... you could always have a USB2 drive on your desk for archiving. My current MacBook only have a 60gb drive, and it's been fine. I'm serio

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Mac Air - What part is the IxD?

2008-01-17 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
that's a great question it's say any Industrial Designer that's really passionate and good at their job would be part Interaction Designer, or at least Interaction Sympathetic. Which begs another question: Is any designer (visual, industrial, etc) who is passionate and talented part Interacti

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Good Rant on lack of Good GUI Design Software

2008-01-23 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
On Jan 23, 2008 7:56 PM, David Malouf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The Thermo stuff is definitely interesting, but thinks like a graphic > designer, not like an interactive designer. Expression in their tutorials > anyway is thinking similarly. i've always done my wireframes and prototypes with htm

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Good Rant on lack of Good GUI Design Software

2008-01-24 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Hey Dave, > But that being said, one of my issues with the method below is that it > assume that standard HTML controls are right for everything. This has been > my problem with HTML from the beginning. There needs to be a much easier > mechanism (I know there are custom controls for sale) to mana

Re: [IxDA Discuss] for type enthusiasts

2008-01-24 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I was there in december as well.. amazing exhibit. the whole design section at the MoMA was fantastic, if a little small. On Jan 24, 2008 8:00 PM, W Evans <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I was lucky enough to see the Helvetica exhibit at MOMA in NYC in December > and it was very interesting and insp

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Differnce between user interface and interactio design?

2008-01-31 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
i have another idea.. how about the Highlander approach. There can be only One. (sorry, late to the conversation, but that joke was just too good to pass up :) ) On Jan 25, 2008 11:37 AM, Jared M. Spool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > While we're exploring other models, I'd recommend a World of War

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Online newspaper software?

2008-02-07 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I can't think of anything that's made specifically for newspapers, but you could look at things like Wordpress, or on a more complicated but more flexible note, Drupal. Both will do the things you mentioned with a little work... Drupal is more of a full blown CMS, but will probably be more work to

Re: [IxDA Discuss] How to transition from technical writer to interaction designer?

2008-02-11 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I agree with you completely Robert. But I know, as somebody who has slowly moved into IxD from interface dev, that it's not always clear what is meant by a "portfolio" in the IxD context. As a graphic designer it's really easy to print and show your impact on that work, but I don't find it as eas

[IxDA Discuss] thoughts on interaction08, applying knowledge

2008-02-11 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
hi everybody, this has been an amazing weekend. i'd just like to thank all the organizers, the speakers, and the other attendees that i met while in savannah, i don't think i've ever learned so much in two days. one thing i've been thinking about since the end of the conference yesterday is how

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Monday. Ugh!

2008-02-11 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
same here.. just stepped in my front door. the weather here is cold and snowy.. and after spending a weekend listening to and talking about really exciting things with great people i have to now go back to reality. makes me wish i was a student again... :) On Feb 11, 2008 9:46 AM, W Evans <[EMAI

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Less talking, more doing (was: Thoughts on Alan Cooper's Keynote)

2008-02-13 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
I couldn't agree more. I've learned so much form this list and the community. I met people in Savannah that I wouldn't know at all if not for this list. BUT, I also agree that there is a lot of needless debate about questions that nobody here can wholey answer. So I just filter those out and re

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Less talking, more doing (was: Thoughts on Alan Cooper's Keynote)

2008-02-13 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Is this the right room for an argument? On Feb 13, 2008 6:50 PM, Jared M. Spool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On Feb 13, 2008, at 4:10 PM, Matthew Nish-Lapidus wrote: > > > BUT, I also agree that there is a lot of needless debate about > > questions that nobo

Re: [IxDA Discuss] friday fun: what's the coolest thing you've designed?

2008-02-15 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
my favorite has to be what i'm working on right now, BiblioCommons ... still not perfect, but by far the most rewarding. unfortunately there's nothing public yet, but when there is i'll be sure to let everybody know :) On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 3:02 PM, Ari Feldman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > be

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Digital Instrument Interfaces

2008-02-19 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
one of the most intriguing interfaces i've ever used for making music is software called PD (pure data)... sort of like Max/MSP, but with less initial structure. it's all about playing, discovering ... there's almost no manual and you start with a blank screen.. you can build your own UI with a mu

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Where are all the designers?

2008-02-21 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
In the many discussions (arguments?) about defining IxD this is by far the most reasonable answer I've ever hears. In reality, we're all going to have different specialties anyway, and there's nothing wrong with looking for employees with specific specialized skills, like coding, or IA, or whateve

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Where are all the designers?

2008-02-22 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Hi, Dave, you've said things like this is the past on the list, and while I understand what you're saying conceptually, there's some fuzziness because of the comparatively young age of IxD. A lot of people here started off as other types of designers, or as other things all together... so if you

[IxDA Discuss] intensives/cooper u

2008-02-26 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
hey all, there have been a few education related threads lately, and it got me thinking about what i could do to sort of "brush up" ... going back to school full time isn't really in the cards for me, and the part time/single courses offered near home aren't really interesting. so, i was wonderin

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Offtopic: What music do you listen to while you "design"

2008-02-26 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
for me it's generally punk and hardcore ... but i also love experimental music and a good chunk of 20th century classical when i get bored i'll throw on last.fm ... lately i've been listening to Von Sudenfed, and lots of Husker Du/Bob Mould since i'm going to see him play soon. On Tue, Feb

Re: [IxDA Discuss] IxDA Announces New Board of Directors for 2008-2009

2008-02-27 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
the undergrad BFA program in New Media at Ryerson here in Toronto has lots of IxD related stuff in it, although I don't think they really make the association. i've actually been trying to get in there to do a talk for their 4th years students, we'll see how it goes. undergrad education is a big

Re: [IxDA Discuss] iPhones on Campus

2008-02-27 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
i agree completely. .. i remember what a pain it was to transcribe all my course schedules into my old palm (yes, i was/am a nerd) ... if that type of information was available in a consistent way it would be amazing. On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 3:55 PM, Jerome Ryckborst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >

[IxDA Discuss] web app messaging

2008-03-06 Thread Matthew Nish-Lapidus
Hi Everybody. I've written to the list with a few of these practical questions and always received helpful answers, so here's one more. Are there any patterns or good examples of feedback/error type messaging in a web app? Here's a breakdown of the specific issues: 1 User can perform action on

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