Related
we're currently developing a fairly complex web portal. To improve the user experience, we want to provide a context-sensitive online help system that can aid the user in understanding certain aspects of the site.
In our case, the site has a variety of widgets that display all kinds of tabular data, graphs, etc. For instance, one such widget may display the VIX and a the help system would offer a brief description of what the VIX is.
Now, I've looked around in the internet and found some interesting articles such as the Design Checklists for Online Help, but most of what I found seems fairly outdated. What I'm specifically interested in are design issues such as these:
whether (or when) to use popups, divs, or link to external pages
how comprehensive should the help entry be? how much is the average user willing to read?
what's a good way to provide access to the help system? cluttering the UI with questionmark-icons is certainly not optimal
should the help entry be loaded on demand with AJAX (kinda sucks, you want the info right away) or preload it (causing tons of unnecessary traffic)
other dos and don'ts
The answers to some of these questions may seem obvious, but when it comes to usability I've made the experience that the intuitive answer isn't always the best. Secondly, I'm a software developer and as such I tend to look at things from an engineer's point of view. And I think we all know that this is, more often than not, a pretty poor angle from which to approach the design of a user interface. This is why I would very much like get some feedback from people more experienced in this field.
See here:
https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/1351/best-practices-for-online-help
I am a CS grad student, and I am interested in spending some spare time in getting involved with development of Mozilla Firefox web browser . I would like to contribute to HTML renderer , JavaScript engine etc. But I don't have any solid experience in writing parsers or similar stuff, and I don't have any clue from where to start.
There are of course some links in https://developer.mozilla.org/En/Developer_Guide/ but since Firefox is already is very huge project, I don't know from where I should start learning.
So, my question is what core things I need to learn first to get started with Web browser Development and from where I can learn this (any links)? Do I have to revise how to write parsers/compilers? How do I learn to write HTML renderer/ JavaScript engine? Is it even possible considering they are already very huge projects? Sometime back, I downloaded source code of V8 JavaScript engine (http://code.google.com/p/v8/) but I couldn't understand much from it's source code as it was highly optimized code, and there were no much useful comments for beginner like me to understand what going on.
Update:
I am fairly comfortable working with C, C++, Java, PHP, C#, VB.Net, JavaScript and I am more interested in learning how web browser parses an web page, how it constructs and maintains the DOM, how CSS is applied, how HTML reflow engine works, how it interacts with JavaScript engine, how it interacts with web server, how the components are drawn on the screen etc.
Read the docs on getting started. Hang out on irc.mozilla.org in #developers and watch for interesting conversations. Introduce yourself in #introduction and ask questions. Go to http://bugzilla.mozilla.org and start searching for open bugs in components that sound interesting, then look for bugs that catch your fancy. Use tools like http://mxr.mozilla.org/ and http://dxr.mozilla.org to help you locate the relevant code, and ask questions in #developers. Learn, hack, repeat.
I wrote a post about my experiences getting involved over the past year, and it seems to reflect the path that a significant amount of Mozilla developers took.
You might want to review a list of known bugs and see if you're able to fix them. Other possible way to get a foot in the door is to get involved in quality assurance tasks, which would help you learn better internals of the application.
Bugs marked in Bugzilla with the [good first bug] whiteboard status are a good place to start. You can view the list here.
Find something you like and try to fix it! The developers on IRC (#developers in irc.mozilla.org) are usually happy to help when you get stuck.
If you are interested in parsing, learn finite state automata and formal gramars, it should be part of your CS curriculum at some point, like in a compilers class. For the javascript part, study about JIT compilers, specially on how a tracing JIT works. Follow Mozilla development blogs, here is a good starting article:
http://hacks.mozilla.org/2010/03/a-quick-note-on-javascript-engine-components/
Finally, but not least importantly, try to contact people already working there, and try to build a mentor-pupil relationship, they can assign you tasks and can help if you get stuck when working on the code. Going to opensource conferences is a great way to meet the people behind a project and get started contributing.
Mozilla Developer Guide
What are some open source client-server projects which might be best to look at and mimic their code organization style?
Java is preferred but not required.
Related:
I'm still trying to determine an answer to my question from a few minutes ago, "Should client-server code be written in one 'project' or two?" and I think it would benefit me to see how other projects organize their code (and hopefully deduce the pros and cons of why they chose to do it that way).
Well since nobody else dares answer, here are a couple, though I'm not sure they are good examples to go by: (disclaimer: I have only looked into the source code of a few of these)
Cube game & 3D engine, a multiplayer FPS with unique multiplayer editing capabilities, written from scratch using OpenGL and SDL
Cube 2: Sauerbraten, same as Cube with slightly more developed features
Planeshift, an open-source MMO
Red Dwarf Server, a Java server application primarily targeted at online games and MMOs; only comes with small example clients
I dont know if this is too late but heres what i have to say about it, i usually keep the server and the client in the same project just incase they both need access to a class. If you are still interested in some example code, ive been doing networking for 5 years+ and i have plenty of example code if youre interested.
This is a broad question, so let me narrow it a bit. I am a graphic designer entering the world of web design. I'm not totally green in this field, but I know enough to know that I have a lot to learn. From friends and from posts on this site I realize there is often a harmful disconnect between design and development.
I'm getting ready to place a client log-in/password "portal" on my website. Nothing fancy, just enough to provide some sound mind for my clients and a space for secure download of imagery. I am only handling the look and feel of this one, nothing more. What potential pitfalls should I know about, on my end, to avoid making the development end hairy?
And of course any other nuggets of wisdom are appreciated too. Thanks!
Perhaps the worst mistake that many designers make when working with developers is to assume that developers aren't creative, and that we couldn't possibly have any good ideas or inputs into the design. The fallacy of this is obvious because what we do all day, every day, is create things. It's taken for granted that designers can raise bugs against developers when our code doesn't represent the design exactly, yet many designers get very touchy when we raise suggestions about how their design could be improved even in minor ways. Sometimes the suggestions may not be suitable, but occasionally you might be able to improve your design.
In addition, I have frequently found that designers under-estimate the capabilities of developers to achieve what they want, so will sometimes suggest a simpler alternative. By opening up the dialog and giving a couple of options like a minimum one and an ideal one, you might be surprised that you can have elements of the ideal one, or all of it, or even something better as you discuss what actually can be achieved (sometimes what seems hard to achieve to a designer seems easy to the dev, and vice versa, because they are different disciplines). Of course the converse is true and you might be aiming too high, so you need to find that out as well.
In summary - you're absolutely right that any disconnect between design and dev is detrimental both to morale and the final product. So talk to the devs as soon as you have initial designs, and keep a good two-way dialog open.
I am a web developer, so I'm answering this from my viewpoint. There is really no serious pitfall as long as developer and designer understand each other. One tries to make websites look as attractive as possible, while the other tries to make the look of the website as close to the design as possible.
So when I'm asked to do the impossible, (like replacing the browser's default scrollbar with an animated image of a cat) I'll just tell the designer that it can't be done, the reasons for that, and suggest possible alternatives (Flash ?). After that being said, I expect the designer to understand and cooperate with me to choose the best alternative, not suddenly turning into grumpy mode or something.
A little basic knowledge of the developer's work would help, too.
Some ideas that may smooth the process :
Talk to the developers directly and ask if they have any specific requirements. Different platforms have different needs and requirements. Communication is important.
Get the basics of good HTML and CSS down. There are many references but you can try A List Apart as a starting point.
As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, visit the help center for guidance.
Closed 9 years ago.
I probably spend far too much time trying to make my visual interfaces look good, and while I'm pretty adept at finding the right match between usability and style one area I am hopeless at is making nice looking icons.
How do you people overcome this (I'm sure common) problem? I'm thinking of things like images on buttons and perhaps most important of all, the actual application icon.
Do you rely on third party designers, in or out of house? Or do you know of some hidden website that offers lots of icons for us to use? I've tried Google but I seem to find either expensive packages that are very specific, millions of Star Trek icons or icons that look abysmal at 16x16 which is my preferred size on in-application buttons.
Any help/advice appreciated.
Good icons are hard to design. I have tried to design my own, and have used in-house graphics designers as well. However, building a good icon set takes a lot of work, even for the graphic designer.
I believe your best solution is to buy/find a set of icons for use in your projects.
The silk icon set is a good, free set and can be found at FamFamFam. There are over 1000 icons in this set, and it is very popular.
If you are looking for something "different", you can purchase icon sets for a couple hundred bucks. Considering the cost of having a designer create them for you, or doing them yourself, the cost of these sets is cheap!
Here's a few icon designers I've come across of the web:
Icon Factory
Icon Experience
Icon Buffet
Don't forget either that unless you have lots of toolbar buttons or other such objects to fill, its possible to get by with very few icons beyond your own unique application icon and system icons. (Remember to call them from existing libraries on the user's machine, not repackage them, keep the lawyers happy.)
Having too many icons can be just as bad as having some ugly ones. Many guidelines state that if you can't have professional looking icons have some whitespace instead. It can help to keep the interface light and feel uncluttered.
If you have money, definitely go with a professional designer. At first if you don't have too many projects requiring a designer, just hire one on a contract basis. If you start feeling the need for a full-time designer then it's going to be beneficial to hire one.
Good looking free icon sets are available, but you should shop around for a decent icon set which you can reuse for most of your projects.
Finally, if you don't have access to a designer, just keep the look very clean and simple, because chances are that you can't do a good looking design (since you're not an artist).
You don't have to be a great designer to come out with a decent UI and a great user experience for your application.
I think there are certain principles you can follow that can dramatically improve your application.
At a high level this includes:
Identifying your top 3 use cases
Measuring and reducing the number of clicks it takes to get through the top use cases
Sketch, Prototype, Throw it away, and challenge yourself to do it with less
I've written a blog entry that attempts to write out some principles related to GUI design. Check it out and let me know what you think.
How to improve the User Experience of your GUI application with some simple principles.
These are the icon links I found some time ago, I think they were not posted yet:
Eyecandy for your KDE-Desktop
+3700 Free icons for your website or blog
Icons for people who need icons
Tango Icon Library
this also sounds interesting: OpenClipArt but their web does not seem to offer quick previews (thumbnails)
We have an in-house designer that does ours, although we also use freelance designers, too.
You could try starting a design competition on 99 Designs?
There are also some free icon sets available, like these.
If you google around, you'll also find quite a few commercially available icon sets that you can use (although obviously neither of the icon set options will get you an icon specific to your app!).
Hope that helps!
I have a couple that I really like:
GlyFx and Liquidicity Vector Icons.
Those from Liquidicity are specially useful for WPF or Silverlight, you can make an interface that even zoomed looks great.
I came across IconBuffet when registering my copy of Visual Studio Express. They have some awesome icons that you could use in your applications.
For application development I have also started playing with WPF interfaces in .Net, soon to be available on Mono as well. With the ability to use web images and pictures in Windows Applications even not creatives can develop some awesome interfaces.
For website layouts I use sites like OSWD for designs and layouts that are free.
I recommend IconFactory, too. Or to be exact: http://stockicons.com/ There are a lot of icon sets for an affordable price and I think buying a professional set is the best choice you have if you're not a graphics designer yourself.
If you only need a single icon, it's probably worth to hire a graphics designer.
But why on earth do you think you need to make icons to make your interfaces look good? Icon driven interfaces are the bane of UI these days. Look at a screenshot of Komodo IDE or Eclipse for example. These are horrendously badly designed interfaces. It's impossible to tell what the buttons do until you hover over them and get the tooltip. I suggest you use text unless there is an icon that better represents the concept, not feel you need to represent every idea visually.
I guess it depends what context you're developing UI for - have you a lot of users who don't speak English as their first language? Is it for occasional use or for power users to use every day? Is it a web site? Is it a desktop application?
But when you really need icons, there are some good libraries out there. I think consistency is really important; Tango for instance "exists to help create a consistent graphical user interface experience for free and Open Source software." and the rather attractive icons are licensed under Creative Commons
I thought it may be interesting to mention that Axialis has just released a version of the their Icon Studio for Visual Studio 2008 for free. It will only install if VS 2008 Pro or TFS is installed and plugs directly into the VS toolbar.
I have always liked the icon selections at VirtualLNK. They have a good number of icon packages that have a modern look at a reasonable price.
Try this site www.iconsreview.com, they offer reviews for a variety of icon packages, both free and for purchase.
www.iconshock.com has over 400,000 icons and you can buy the entire collection for around $400.
Alternatively there are a number of sites offering free icons, just be sure to check the licence.
I ended up getting $20 credits (min amount) from vectorstock - they have a lot of vector images, icons and stuff like that to choose from, selling for 1 credit (1$).
You can always go on Elance and hire someone to make any icons/logos for you. I've done it several times and it's pretty cheap for what you're getting. There is so much competition on that site that someone will eventually come in at your price point. I've always believed theres no point in spinning your wheels with something you don't really specialize in.
Oh yeah and like this site, keeping it simple is always best!
I try to keep my applications very simple. Simplicity and usability can be a good design in-and-of itself if done intelligently.
Take all of the buttons for Stackoverflow for example. It shouldn't be very difficult to implement something similar in your own application. They are simple and they get the job done.
Try aiming for clean and simple first, and then worry about aesthetic elements.
Cheat and use photo's!
I've struggle with this, What I tend to do now, is find photos of objects BUT on a plain white background. The background can be made transparent. I then use this Conversion tool to convert a PNG file into an .ico. When exporting include all resolutions up to 512 pixel size for good results.