SpecLog is here... the new tool for organizing requirements.

Hi,

I'm very proud to inform you about a cool tool where I'm involved as a Usability Engineer in the development. The tool is called SpecLog and should help to organize requirements for agile projects in a more natural way using story maps for showing the relation between goals and user stories and capturing the acceptance criteria.

The best features in my opinion are the TFS integration, the customization of the requirement cards (language and process independent) and of course the synchronisation of the repository (backlog) from different clients. Useful if you have already a backlog is the Excel import.

SpecLog is free at the moment because this is now the beta phase so you have enough time to have a look and try it out.

We already have a lot of ideas how to improve but we are always looking for new inspiration and ideas so your feedback is highly appreciated.

You can find more information and the download link at http://www.speclog.net/.

Have fun...
Claudia

Book Review "Forms that Work"

The book "Forms that Work - Designing Web Forms for Usability" by Caroline Jarrett and Gerry Gaffney is a must read for all usability experts dealing with business applications and online forms. I would also recommend it for developers interested in these topics.

Like the books by Steve Krug ("Don't make me think" and "Rocket surgery made easy") this book is filled with a lot of great examples and the focus of the content is on the relevant topics.The chapters are dealing with Persuading people to answer or making questions easy to answer to choosing the forms controls and making a form look easy.



A lot of examples with good explanations



More information about this topic and the book can be found on the Forms that Work website.

Have a nice day,
Claudia

Links - "Best of": Wireframes to Code, Best Podcasts 2010 & Crappy Surveys

Hi,

perhaps you have at the moment - between Christmas and New Year - more time, so I want to share with you again some interesting articles from the last weeks.

From Wireframe to Code (Part1)

UX matters, Bill Schmidt - 20th of December 2010

How can the workflow be optimized? Is it more useful to have a integrated code approach (use the same artefacts for design and code) or separate code approach (artefacts to communicate design are separate from the final code)?

***

Lauren Cramer, User Interface Engineering, provided an article about the most interesting podcast of 2011 (part 1/part 2) and I want to provide you two I find most interesting:

Design Lessons from Facebook’s 350 Million with Julie Zhuo
2nd of March 2010
A few years ago we heard the following wishes from the customer ... "It should work like google.." "It should work like amazon.." Since a few months (in Europe) we hear "It should work like Facebook"... This is an indicator that this are the trendsetters - Brian Christiansen talks with Julie Zhuo, the Product Design Manager at Facebook, about the balance between the need to launch new features and the necessary user research.

Moving Beyond Static Forms with Luke Wroblewski
11th of February 2010
Last time I already shared a link about Better Form Design... and in this podcast Luke Wroblewski (authour of the popular book "Web Form Design") talks about the changes in the last years reagarding Form Design.

***
User Experience For Developers
UX Magazine - Pek Pongpaet, 23rd of December 2010
Quote: "UX shouldn't be the purview solely of UX specialists; a well-rounded developer can become a UX professional, too." Interesting links and what interested developers should focus on.

***
19 Lessons from United Airlines on How To Build A Crappy Survey
User Interface Engineering - Jared Spool, 26th of December 2010
A funny and interesting to read article about Jared Spools experience with a crappy survey from United Airlines.

 

I wish you all a happy New Year 2011 :-)

Claudia

Links - "Best of"

Hi,

today I want to share with you three interesting links from the last weeks....

10 Surefire Ways to Screw Up Your iPhone-App 
UX Magazine, 10th of December 2010
An interesting and fun to read article about how to screw up an iPhone-App - from Information Overload to Not Doing Usability Tests.

When is design done?
The Cooper Journal, 3rd of December 2010

Is the design done when it reaches "perfection", when the requirements are met or when time and money runs out...










Need Better Data? Pay more attention to your webforms
UX matters, 6th of December 2010
"Web forms are like the poor relations when it comes to their getting the attention they deserve from the usability community."
This article is a must read for all who are dealing with webforms in their daily business.

Br, Claudia

Difference between male and female designers

Today the Webdesigner depot (WDD) provided a interesting post and infographic about the differences of web-design by gender.

Have a look and find out some interesting numbers about the tendency to use large numbers of typeface colors or the use of straight or rounded lines. (Of couse the numbers are no rules, there are only a rough insight.)

Br, Claudia

The Power of Wireframing - Kits

Hi everybody!

Now it's autumn (already with some snow) (at least in Vienna & Salzburg) and it has been a long time since my last post. In the future I will try to share with you at least one interesting information per month (because I have a lot in my mind).

Now back to the topic ... Wireframe Kits.
The great Smashing Magazine published an huge article with a lot of useful wireframe kits. A few of them I want to share with you directly.

As I'm a big fan of magnetic protoyping this kit is a real help - the Wireframe Magnets (DIY Kit).

A also very useful kit is the User Interface Design Framework for Illustrator and OmniGraffle including GUI Elements, Icons and Styles. 

And the last Wireframe Kit is the Free Sketching and Wireframe Kit, available for illustrator, as svg, pdf and eps.

If you want to see/try more wireframe kits - have a look in the article.

Br, Claudia

Book Review "Selling Usability"

Hi everybody!

Verena - a friend of mine and an user experience designer from Artefact (Seattle) - recommended to me a book called "Selling Usability - User experience infiltration tactics" by John S. Rhodes published in 2009.

I would strongly recommend reading this book if you are responsible for Usability/User Experience in your company and you want that your organization cares or cares more about usability.

The book consists of 40 small chapters (each 3-6 pages) and it's easy and entertaining to read. Especially the headlines of the chapters (and the related comments) made me smile ... for example "Designers & Developers: These Bees Give You Honey" or "Teams: What Mama Didn't Tell You".

Even if not everything mentioned in this book can be applied to your situation, everybody will find some good hints where he can start within the organisation.

Best wishes from sunny Vienna,

Claudia