Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Recent Works: UI design for imDict
imDict is a popular online dictionary in China. Contributed by its intellectual search engine and dictionary robot on Gtalk and MSN, imDict has attracted nearly 10 thousands users.
Since the developer of imDict, Gao Pinker planned to embark on a major upgrade for imDict, I was commissioned to design its gadget UI, new profile picture and website.
Here they are:
1.Gmail & iGoogle gadget
3.IM profile picture
4.Homepage
5.Other webpages(Everyday English/ Google Images/ Wiki/ Visual Thesaurus)
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
New iPod shuffle
I know it's for gym/jogging and to some degree functionaility can be sacrificed for size(or, just for cool).
But at least it's not good for me because of these points:
1. Because of the ultimately simplified controls, I cannot go back or repeat the song I'm listening to.
2. I have to bear Apple's poor quality earbud because the controls are located on the earbud cord.
3. It'd be too slow to play playlist if you have many of them, you have to wait for the voiceover to read all until the very last playlist you wanna play. (quoted from one of my friends)
4. I thought apple would not add a feature that might be helpful but not mature or good enough. However now they did. That is VoiceOver.
5. For those left-handed people, the controls on right earbud cord might be inconvenient.
(of course they can swap left and right, but why do they have to do that?)
What's next?
iPod shuffle, iPod flea, iPod germ, iPod atom, iPod quak, or iPod nothing ?
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Recommendation:An website of useful UI principles
http://designinginterfaces.com
this is acomplemental website for the book "Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design"
The principles introduced in this site are simple but important.
this is acomplemental website for the book "Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design"
The principles introduced in this site are simple but important.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
3 useful usability glossary
Rachel mentioned some concept of usability in her comment on my last post. When I tried to find out the meaning of those terms I found some good glossary that might be good for study:
- Interaction Design Encyclopaedia
A growing encyclopaedia on interaction design; the articles not only explain usability terms and issues, but also provide a detailed description of their use in modern design.
- Usability First Glossary: Alphabetical Index
One of the largest usability glossaries with hundreds of articles about usability-related issues.
- Usability Glossary
Usability 101. Usability Glossary from the Information Technology Systems & Services of the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Usability Flaws of Google Reader
No doubt, Google reader is definitely a great product.
Google reader has entirely changed my living pattern. Other than the other rss reader, the friends shared items of Google reader greatly integrate the high-quality items. If my time is limited, I can easily pick out and read the articles shared by my friends who have a similar taste as me.
However, I also found some annoying flaws of Google Reader ：
1. Subscriptions Title
As shown in the picture, there are two rows of the subscriptions title. One is the name of the subscription seed, one is relevant settings. The point is that these rows take too much area for reading. The name of subscription is necessary because it notifies the user where he is, but the settings might not be used so often. I think there are two easy solutions: one is combining them into one row, if there is no room for the buttons, use icon; the other solution is hiding the second row of settings and allow it to slide out once your cursor moves to the bottom edge of the first row.
2. Share with note
Share with note is a great feature. I would like to see my friends' comment on the items they shared. However, after you finish the task of "share with note", there is no feedback on the button of "share" which is just beside it. I always ask myself does it mean I added a note but didn't share it? Can others see this item if the share button is not highlighted? After I saw some of my friends shared two same articles one with note after one without, I know he has the same problem with me.
The solution is, once you shared with note, the share button will be highlighted to notify you that you have shared it.
3. Feedback when hover on the article title
Clicking the article title will lead you to the new tab of the original site of the item. However, when you hover your cursor on the article title, except cursor turning to be a small hand, there is no other indication to tell me where is the button area. Please note that there is a small arrow icon after the title, are they in the same button are? At least I didn't know before I click them respectively.
Solution: Make it look like a button.
4. The unexpected items position change
The left bar of google reader is about the information of subscription. Sometimes when you don't need it, or you need your reading area expanded, you can hide the left bar by clicking the arrow on the vertical rule. However, once you do that, you will find that the position of the article will change(Typically, they will go up because the number of words per row is increased). That is stupid.
Solution: when you hide the left bar, the top row stays the same as it was before your hiding.
5. Button hover feedback
This is not a big problem. But I don't like when my cursor moves on the button and only the frame color of the button changes a little.
Google is great. However, interestingly, I always find flaws that should not existed in products of such a great company. I guess this may be rooted in their organization for innovation. I learned that no matter how big the project is, Google insists on forming a group of only 3-5 people to work on it.(I don't know whether it is ture now) Perhaps this not only makes their product very innovative but also increases the likelihood of emergence of flaws.
Google reader has entirely changed my living pattern. Other than the other rss reader, the friends shared items of Google reader greatly integrate the high-quality items. If my time is limited, I can easily pick out and read the articles shared by my friends who have a similar taste as me.
However, I also found some annoying flaws of Google Reader ：
1. Subscriptions Title
As shown in the picture, there are two rows of the subscriptions title. One is the name of the subscription seed, one is relevant settings. The point is that these rows take too much area for reading. The name of subscription is necessary because it notifies the user where he is, but the settings might not be used so often. I think there are two easy solutions: one is combining them into one row, if there is no room for the buttons, use icon; the other solution is hiding the second row of settings and allow it to slide out once your cursor moves to the bottom edge of the first row.
2. Share with note
Share with note is a great feature. I would like to see my friends' comment on the items they shared. However, after you finish the task of "share with note", there is no feedback on the button of "share" which is just beside it. I always ask myself does it mean I added a note but didn't share it? Can others see this item if the share button is not highlighted? After I saw some of my friends shared two same articles one with note after one without, I know he has the same problem with me.
The solution is, once you shared with note, the share button will be highlighted to notify you that you have shared it.
3. Feedback when hover on the article title
Clicking the article title will lead you to the new tab of the original site of the item. However, when you hover your cursor on the article title, except cursor turning to be a small hand, there is no other indication to tell me where is the button area. Please note that there is a small arrow icon after the title, are they in the same button are? At least I didn't know before I click them respectively.
Solution: Make it look like a button.
4. The unexpected items position change
The left bar of google reader is about the information of subscription. Sometimes when you don't need it, or you need your reading area expanded, you can hide the left bar by clicking the arrow on the vertical rule. However, once you do that, you will find that the position of the article will change(Typically, they will go up because the number of words per row is increased). That is stupid.
Solution: when you hide the left bar, the top row stays the same as it was before your hiding.
5. Button hover feedback
This is not a big problem. But I don't like when my cursor moves on the button and only the frame color of the button changes a little.
Google is great. However, interestingly, I always find flaws that should not existed in products of such a great company. I guess this may be rooted in their organization for innovation. I learned that no matter how big the project is, Google insists on forming a group of only 3-5 people to work on it.(I don't know whether it is ture now) Perhaps this not only makes their product very innovative but also increases the likelihood of emergence of flaws.
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