Flash, iPad, Standards

This article from Zeldman.com was very interesting. This article is very relevant to me because i recently purchased and IPad, which i absolutely love! When i first found out that flash wasn't supported on the IPad i was very disappointed. However, i have since enjoyed the benefits that were illustrated in this article.
"Lack of Flash in the iPad (and before that, in the iPhone) is a win for accessible, standards-based design. Not because Flash is bad, but because the increasing popularity of devices that don’t support Flash is going to force recalcitrant web developers to build the semantic HTML layer first."
I think the lack of flash support will really push designers to put more thought into design in the HTML layers.
However, i am also very excited about HTML5. I have started playing with HTML 5 at work and i think that it could almost completely replace flash. I recently heard that Adobe now has a way to convert flash apps into a language that iphones and ipads will support.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

What i have learned

I have learned a lot this semester in this web design class. The most useful thing that i have learned was Garretts 5 planes of user experience. Surface, Skeleton, structure, scope, and Strategy. I found that if I would make a conscious effort to identify these 5 planes of what ever website i am working on i am much more effective. The surface is what the user initially sees. It is the mixture of text and images that make up a website. The Skeleton plane is the actual placement of the images and text and buttons ect... The structure of the website is the concrete version of your abstract website. You need to have an efficient overview of you website so that users can get from one page to another in a manner that makes sense and functions properly. The scope of a website is how the users experience is enhanced by the use of the websites functions and capabilities. finally, strategy is where everything comes together. You set a goal or strategy for your website. For example if your goal is to sell product then your strategy and all of the previous planes of user experience should assist in this goal.

David Jones

Two website designs

Growing a Business Website: Fix the Basics First

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/design_priorities.html


The article "Growing a Business Website:Fix the Basics First" was full of great ideas and insight. I enjoyed how Jakob Nielsen just highlighted some of the biggest problems and explained why these were web design problems. This article was written for the new wave of web developers. It seems like web designers got caught in a trend of trying to do to much for the websites own good. Jakob explained that we need to return to basics. My favorite part of the article was when he listed the biggest flaws to web design which were:
* Communicating clearly so that users understand you. Users allocate minimal time to initial website visits, so you must quickly convince them that the site's worthwhile.
* Providing information users want. Users must be able to easily determine whether your services meet their needs and why they should do business with you.
* Offering simple, consistent page design, clear navigation, and an information architecture that puts things where users expect to find them.
It is so important to remember that we as web developers are the abnormal users of the internet. I can go to almost any site and it doesn't matter wither it has a good layout or not i can figure out where to go. This is because i spend a large portion of my day online and I also am an experienced web user. However, the average user needs to be able to interpret the information easily. We need to give the users what they are looking for and make the experience enjoyable and not just usable.

Top 10 Best Designed Websites in The World

http://canvas.instructure.com/courses/22132/modules/items/18130

This article went over what Ben felt was the top 10 best designed websites in the world. Ben mentioned why he felt each one was in his top 10. Most of Bens choices were simple websites as far as layout and concept are concerned. Color balances and the flow of the website also seemed high on Bens priorities for websites.

In my opinion this is not a very overated list of websites. I don't feel like the article is well written simply because he didn't justify the choices enough to convince me that they could be considered in the top 10. If you are going to make a statement like these are the top 10 best designed websites then you should backup your choices with why you feel these websites qualify. I can think of several websites just off the top of my head that could qualify for this list. #7 on his list was because it had "Big text, simple nav, high usability, all wrapped in strong colour and finished off with nice graphical touches. " I am sorry that sounds like a junior high kid trying using simple words to describe a website.

Even though i do not feel that he justified his choices he did have a reason to put these websites on his list. They do shed light on concepts that should be thought of while designing a website. Ben pointed out several times that the websites that were easy to read were reasons he choose them.