InfoQ Homepage User Interface Content on InfoQ
-
Is 2010 One of the Most Significant Years for Software Architecture?
Modern Software Architecture has been heavily influenced by the need to architect systems at the scale of the Web. It seems that the availability of new client models are pressuring aging software architectures to evolve once more. Jack van Hoof pointed last week a talk from Joshua Robin that lead him to believe that great architectural changes are coming at us with full force.
-
Microsoft Ribbon for WPF
Microsoft has released a new preview of their WPF-based Ribbon control. Though not the final version, it includes a go live license and a copy of the source code. The quality is quite high and it appears that all of the bugs and API design flaws from last year’s preview have been corrected. While the source code is available, the license only permits read-only access for debugging purposes.
-
Top Usability Books for Programmers
Most programmers would strive hard to build a robust product with Agile practices and clean code. However, the focus on usability leaves much to be desired. This is despite the well known fact that a good user interface design can spell the difference between acceptance of a software product and its failure. If the end users do not like the UI then the product has little chance of success.
-
WindowTester Pro 5.0 Released
<p>Instantiations yesterday announced the release of WindowTester Pro 5.0, a major upgrade to its GUI testing tool adding performance and Linux support to its SWT and Swing testing utility. In addition, a minor upgrade to WindowsBuilder Pro 7.4 and RCP Developer 5.0 were also released.</p>
-
PhoneGap Brings Cross Platform Development Back to Mobile Platforms
PhoneGap allows to build cross platform mobile apps with HTML5 and Javascript; it has APIs for accessing camera, accelerometer, GPS, etc. The code is packaged into native apps which can be deployed via app stores. PhoneGap support includes iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Symbian and Palm. InfoQ talked to one of the creators of PhoneGap, Brian LeRoux of Nitobi, about the current state of PhoneGap.
-
GWT Designer 7.2 released
Instantiations today announced the release of GWT Designer 7.2, an Eclipse-based GUI creation tool for developing interactive AJAX applications based on GWT 1.7 and Ext GWT 2.0.
-
Comparing Microsoft and Apple Websites’ Usability
In the article entitled Apple vs. Microsoft – A Website Usability Study, Dmitry Fadeyev, co-founder of Pixelshell, compares Apple’s and Microsoft’s web sites from a usability perspective, and Apple is the winner. Scott Barnes, PM at Microsoft, agrees with him and suggests the problem is because various site sub-domains have different management.
-
“Good” Lessons on How To Fail a RIA Project
In a presentation called "Ten Ways to Ensure RIA Failure", Anthony Franco, president of EffectiveUI, gives 10 pieces of advice to those who want their RIA project to fail. Gerd Waloszek, SAP AG, wrote "18 Golden Rules for Bad User Interfaces."
-
Gizmox Releases Visual WebGui 6.4 Preview Version
Gizmox announces the release of a free preview version of its Visual WebGui, version 6.4, product. VWG promises a point-and-click tool for RIA development (DHTML or Silverlight) that requires no HTML, CSS, or XAML coding; and that can be integrated with Photoshop, Expression Blend, and Flash CS.
-
Presentation: Meeting the Challenge of Simplicity
This session addresses the abstract notion of simplicity, looks at why it is critical in modern UI design and answers questions: Why does simplicity matter? Is there a meaningful definition of simplicity? Why do design processes and good intentions undermine simplicity? What processes and techniques can software developers use to achieve simplicity?
-
Article: Using SketchFlow to Create Better Prototypes
Simon Guest of Microsoft introduces SketchFlow by discussing why prototyping is an important developer skill and how a tool can enhance developer-customer interaction. The functionality and features of SketchFlow are presented in the context of an ongoing sample application (an on-line store).
-
Article: Amazing Charts In Rails
This article is an introduction to creating Flash charts using the FusionCharts Free library from Ruby, complete with a feature comparison of other charting libraries.
-
Article: What Would Alan Cooper Do?
In this article, Naysawn Naderi makes a summary of About Face 3, Alan Cooper’s book, noting some key takeaway points. The User Interface plays an important role in an application, be it a desktop one, a web application or a mobile one, and the guidelines contained by the article help creating better interfaces.
-
Presentation: Agile Methods and User Centered Design
In this presentation filmed during ThoughtWorks’ Quarterly Technology Briefing, Dave Robertson and John Johnston explain what the Agile and User Centered Design’s (UCD) common denominators are, common values being the most important one in their opinion.
-
Article: Colors and the UI
In this article, Dr. Tobias Komischke explains how colors used in a GUI can influence our interaction with a computer and offers advice on using the appropriate colors for the interface.