Separating behavior and structure By Peter-Paul Koch published on April 14, 2004 In my previous column, I confessed a fear for “accessibility zealots” who really are anti-JavaScript zealots. More than once I’ve encountered a hostile reaction to the idea of using any JavaScript at all, although fortunately this attitude remains confined to the fringes of Web development land. … Read more
The Designer Is Dead, Long Live The Designer! By Didier P. Hilhorst Published April 7, 2004 Usability maharishis, with idiosyncratic attitudes and blaring random opinions about design, irritate me. While the importance of their field has been acknowledged for some years now, it is simply a sham to assume or suggest their role is principal (or sole) … Read more
The Behavior Layer By Peter-Paul Koch published on January 14 2004 Now that Web developers have a solid grip on the XHTML structural and CSS presentation layers, it’s time to consider the JavaScript behavior layer and especially its accessibility. In the past JavaScript has been much abused, mainly because people misunderstood its purpose. Many sites used … Read more
In: Columns > Wide Open Column By David Wertheimer Published on March 24, 2004 One of the hardest things to do during Web site creation is to finalize a vision for the home page. So much to do, and so little real estate! How will users find anything? Where will it all fit? Yet the same questions … Read more
Accessibility and usability By Peter-Paul Koch published on February 18 2004 At the moment we Web developers are learning the basics of accessibility, as once we mastered the basics of usability. However, in my last column I hinted at a potentially dangerous “accessibility vs. usability” question. The time has come to study this question in more detail. First, … Read more
Now that Web developers have a solid grip on the XHTML structural and CSS presentation layers, it’s time to consider the JavaScript behavior layer and especially its accessibility. In the past JavaScript has been much abused, mainly because people misunderstood its purpose. Many sites used JavaScript for presentation only, for instance in ubiquitous and ultimately … Read more
By Craig Saila Clearing Up the Confusion Change Is Good What The Future Holds Clearing Up the Confusion Digital Web: There seems to be some confusion over the future path of the various Mozilla Foundation products. (An interview with Christopher Blizzard suggested the Mozilla Application Suite will remain, but the Mozilla Firebird browser and Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail client will become the primary products … Read more
12/3/2003 11:07:52 PM – Posted by Nick Finck: It is now officially winter and the cold weather outside makes it a good time for those indoor projects. Something a lot of sites have been meaning to do is to implement globalization. Thankfully we have Ken Westin to write a great article about how to implement Web Globalization On A Local … Read more
Keep CSS Simple By Peter-Paul Koch When I wrote my first Keep it Simple column I assumed the old, overly-complex way of looking at Web site creation was on the way out. Web developers were consciously moving towards a simpler way of making sites, or so I fondly imagined. Not so. The complexity monster has reappeared, right in … Read more
User Interface Design for Web Applications It’s a Different World from Web Site Design By Jean Tillman published on November 12 2003 This article could be also be titled “Things I Wish I’d Known Before Designing My Latest Web-Based Application.” You see, I had experience designing Web sites. I’d mastered the art of creating catchy content. … Read more
User Interface Design for Web Applications It’s a Different World from Web Site Design By Jean Tillman published on November 12 2003 This article could be also be titled “Things I Wish I’d Known Before Designing My Latest Web-Based Application.” You see, I had experience designing Web sites. I’d mastered the art of creating catchy content. … Read more
An interview with Joe Clark By Craig Saila Accessibility in general Techniques Captioning Accessibility in general Digital Web: “Accessibility” is now part of the Web development community’s lingua franca. However, it’s often used as shorthand to mean making a site function for blind people. How would you define it, in the Web development context? Joe Clark: I … Read more
By Jeff Lash While much of one’s success or failure depends on the skills specific to information architecture—like diagramming, documenting, organizing—an even greater indicator is soft skills: dealing with conflict, negotiating, and communicating. These soft skills are important in any profession or job role, but are of high importance in information architecture, which requires applying them … Read more
Keep JavaScript Simple By Peter-Paul Koch On a few occasions, Java programmers mailed me the URLs of the JavaScript libraries they had created, asking me to take a look at them and suggest improvements. I reject the whole idea of JavaScript libraries, so I never answered these mails. They made me think, though, “Why do people … Read more
An interview with Jeffrey Veen By Craig Saila Digital Web: In your keynote at WebVisions 2003, you’ll be discussing ways designers can still innovate within the current economic environment. You’ve just come back from Milan, Italy, where you did an Adaptive Path workshop on the topic. Are Web designers there experiencing similar hurdles as those in North America? … Read more
Designing for visitors who don’t enter through the home page By Jeff Lash One of the most overlooked aspects of designing a Web site is how users get to it. Separate factions are often devoted to promoting, designing, and maintaining a Web site, and the lack of communication and involvement can lead to apathy or confusion. … Read more
The Information Design approach to Web development By Dirk Knemeyer Aside from people, information is the single most valuable asset for business. At every level, in every department, for every company, information is critical. The better the information, the more successful the company and the people within it can be. Improving products and services, understanding markets, … Read more
Forms, usability, and the W3C DOM By Peter-Paul Koch Despite the specification having been around for nearly five years and a workable level of browser support for about three, the average Web developer doesn’t yet have a clear view of what the W3C DOM can do for Web sites. Sure, in those five years many good and bad, technical and less technical introductions have been written, but these all … Read more
The Ideal Web Team (part 2) By Peter-Paul Koch In this column I’ll continue my investigation of the ideal Web team, which consists of three sub-teams: The client-side specialists, who create an attractive, clear front end. The server-side specialists, who create a smoothly operating back end. The supporting specialists, who make sure that the other two sub-teams can do … Read more
In this column I’ll continue my investigation of the ideal Web team, which consists of three sub-teams: The client-side specialists, who create an attractive, clear front end. The server-side specialists, who create a smoothly operating back end. The supporting specialists, who make sure that the other two sub-teams can do their jobs. In the previous column, an ideal Web … Read more
The Ideal Web Team (part 1) By Peter-Paul Koch Anyone can tell you that to create a good Web site you need a good Web team. Less people can tell you exactly how this team should go about creating the site. This two-part series presents one view of the ideal Web Team. The ideal Web team … Read more
By Jeff Lash Intranets have become immensely popular over the past few years. While they were usually found only in large organizations five to ten years ago, the past few years have seen companies, non-profits, and institutions of all sizes beginning to see the value of creating a Web site specifically for internal use. Often the … Read more
Although some web developers balk at the idea of using WYSIWYG HTML editors to develop professional sites, the fact remains that they are widely used by design and development firms and have contributed to making the web a nicer-looking place. The code created by these editors isn’t always clean and lean, but they offer … Read more
I’ve always disliked the “Dummies” books—you know, the ones with the bright yellow covers. Despite the potential for funny titles (“Cooking for Dummies”), I’ve always found them to be vaguely insulting. When it comes to the burgeoning field of Information Architecture, however, a book for beginners (not always dummies) would be welcome. And now it’s … Read more
Navigation Complex By Peter-Paul Koch Years ago I did some navigation research. My goal was to find out if any type of navigation was particularly suited to certain kinds of sites. I also wondered if navigation isn’t too complex in general. I identified six forms of navigation—three main types and three subtypes. The main types are: … Read more