Web Development

Google Maps API v2 or v3 September 29th, 2009

For those of you who deal with mapping functionality, I’ve worked with both Microsoft and Google products for this. My app of choice is Google Maps (although when going down this road, you have to sacrifice some level of control for their efficiency optimizations – this is usually a very reasonable trade-off). Anyway, Google came out with v3 for its API this year, which has some slimming down of its codebase, and probably has some back-end improvements on their server as well (although I’ve seen mixed reports on v2 vs. v3 latency).

Web Development

Web Analytics in Flash September 16th, 2009

“Adobe Systems said it would buy the Web analytics software company Omniture for about $1.8 billion, giving the maker of content-creation software a way to let marketers monitor the effectiveness of such content.”

NY Times.

Web Development

IIS and OTF Fonts September 12th, 2009

To enable OTF fonts (CSS3) in IIS you need to register the MIME type.

Extension: .OTF
MIME Type: font/otf

Application Development, Project Management, Web Development

Waterfall vs. Agile vs. The Real World September 11th, 2009

In a nutshell, the “Waterfall model” to software development consists of taking a project from design to implementation in one single pass; the “Agile model” consists of very short iterative cycles.

Web Development

eCSStender 1.0 Released September 8th, 2009

From the release notes:

eCSStender does nothing on it’s own, but it facilitates the use of eCSStensions developed by the community. Some eCSStensions do simple things like reduce your dependence on proprietary CSS extensions like -moz-border-radius; others push CSS beyond the spec and pave the way for future iterations of the language.

Social Networking, Web Content Management, Web Development

Future of Content Management September 3rd, 2009

Julian Wrath has asked those of us interested in the world of CMS to comment on the “The Future of Content Management.” While I’d like to presume I know what the future will hold in that world, I’d like to express where I hope that it’s going.

Information Architecture, Insight Article, User Experience Design, Visual Design, Grids

Creative Standardization in Web Site Design September 1st, 2009

Beautiful Solutions

When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.

Buckminster Fuller, architect, designer, and inventor:

Recently, Jeff Applegate, an Art Director in our office gave a presentation explaining the origins and advantages of using grids in Web site designs. He explained that grids are used to create visually harmonious design layouts and that principles of good design are rooted in the Golden Mean, a mathematical proportion that—when followed—produces designs that are aesthetically pleasing to most people.

Information Architecture, Usability, User Experience Design, User Research, Webcast, Healthcare

M. D. Anderson: Creating a Hospital Web Site to Drive Value September 1st, 2009

If you missed the live session of the “M. D. Anderson Case Study: Creating a Hospital Web Site that Drives Value,” you’ll find the presentation below.

To learn more about applying Web strategy and a user experience design process to a hospital Web site, you’ll want to view the presentation.

The presentation covers: