Web Design
December 27th, 2011 by Matt Haff
This year has been a wild ride for me, like every year before, a lot of ups and downs. More than any year before I’m really looking forward to the beginning of 2012. What makes 2012 so different?
Over the past 9 months I’ve been battling my way into a new beginning. My outlook on life, what I want to accomplish, my overall attitude and where I want to be. This new year is not just another notch on my belt, it is a time to start fresh and aim high. This year I’m aiming higher than I ever have before and I fully commit to hitting those marks.
2012 is going to be a great year for me, what are you looking forward to accomplishing next year?
Mobile Devices, Web Design
November 8th, 2011 by Matt Haff
The moment all web developers have been waiting for is finally here, sorta. As of October, Internet Explorer’s global market share is below 50%, the lowest it has been in the past decade. This is due in part by 6% of web browsing now occurring on mobile platforms such as smart phones and tablets.
What does this mean for you? Absolutely nothing, IE is still the most common browser and will be around for years to come. However to web developers a glimmer of hope shines as modern browsers continue to grow. It also reaffirms that mobile web use is continuing to grow and take over the desktop market.
Google Chrome is the primary browser benefiting from the decline of Internet Explorer while Firefox and Safari have stayed relatively steady. Safari continues to dominate mobile browsing with over 63% market share, while Opera is down to 18% and Android drops to 12%. Checkout the original article and pretty graphics
Web Design
October 27th, 2011 by Matt Haff
One of the most annoying, painful, hair-pulling, time consuming responsibility of a web developer is cross-browser testing. Imagine you’ve spent about 8 hours developing a pixel perfect website in Safari or Firefox (for you PC people) and you’re getting to the task of testing it cross-browser. You get multiple computers, browsers, devices all together and start to pull up your website on each of them… What if it didn’t have to be that way?
I have a couple setups that I use when it comes to testing across multiple platforms & browsers and this is by far the easiest way. Adobe Browser Lab allows you to test 11 browsers at once. Now while it doesn’t allow you to do much interactive testing and debugging it works great for getting a glimpse of your site and observing any design issues.
When it takes more than a quick glimpse then I use Parallels (I use mac) to open up Windows 7 and test across multiple Internet Explorer versions with IETester. I know it’s not the best looking program but it’s accurate for testing IE5.5 – IE9.
How do you test cross-browser?
User Experience, Web Design
September 21st, 2011 by Matt Haff
The Five Stages of the Usage Lifecycle
- Unaware
- Interested
- First-time Use
- Regular Use
- Passionate Use
Sign-up
Once you have people interested, the next major challenge is to convince them to actually sign up to use your app for the first time. This is one of the most important steps for several reasons:
- The first, and lasting, impression – your best chance to turn a person into a loyal user
- All questions, few answers – answer their questions and tell your story
- Potential to kinetic energy – people are getting ready to use your app
- Critical choice – people are choosing to either start a relationship with you, or someone else.
As people settle into using your app, they’re making judgments about its long-term value. They are assessing whether this site is really for the, and worth switching from what they currently have. First-time use is a crucial step for keeping momentum. If people don’t see the value in your service and fall off here, they may never return.
Keep It Simple
Like journalists, web designers have a core task when designing for sign-up: they have to answer the basic inquiry questions:
- Who is it for? Who is going to use it?
- What is it? What does it do? What are its capabilities?
- Where can I use it? Is there a mobile version?
- When can I use it? Is it browser-based, or can I use it when not online?
- Why is it important to me? Why will my life be better as a result of using this?
- How does it work? How can I take advantage of this? How do I get started?
If Possible, Build for Yourself
When designers and developers build for themselves they are more likely to be successful. Building for yourself has a few advantages that can make a huge difference. It requires less user research because you are the target user and you know what you like. You’re using it from day one, so you are dealing with the core issues each and every day. You’re finding all the little nits, quirks, and hiccups that only real use finds. However, the biggest difference of building for yourself is passion.
There’s a real difference between being a hired hand on a project for a specific amount of time and someone who has ownership as well as passion for what they’re working on (ownership and passion can be exclusive as well, but combined, they pack quite a punch). The short-term, part-time attention of a freelance designer or developer can often lead to clunky, duct-taped solutions after the contract is over and the site is actually being used by real people. Cork’d has been the complete opposite situation, where we’ve been able to launch a product that would be considered “done” under most circumstances and then react to member feedback using the same attention to detail that went into the initial construction.
Dan Cederholm,
Designer, Corkd
User Interface
If the interface is too confining, people won’t use it. If the interface is too flexible, people won’t know how to use it. Each feature means more complexity. The applications people find most compelling allow them to excel at a single activity. Ask yourself, what do people have to do in order for us to be successful?
A complicated interface suggests a complicated service, so keep it simple. Good how-it-works features provide multiple levels of detail, at increasing depth of description, allowing people to dig deeper as needed. This is one of my biggest pet peeves, upon signup, ask only for information that’s absolutely necessary. Don’t make me fill out my full address, phone number, gender, date of birth, etc. when I’m signing up for an online service.
