Just last week we launched an updated version of one of our client’s sites: http://www.ultreo.com/.
The launch was all about adding a few mechanisms for customer contact — a technical support form and a means of subscribing to a mailing list. We used progressive CSS to produce an intuitive, elegant and consistent cross-browser set of form controls. We also deployed a simplified captcha using a collection of words relevant to the client, as to ensure spam control didn’t get in the way of legitimate submissions.
Also worthy of note, the site was built on the Kohana framework. It is a lightning fast PHP development framework that helps us code faster and spend more time focusing on the stuff that matters. We’ve already started development on a number of libraries and plugins to assist Kohana development that we plan to make available for public use. Stay tuned for more on this in the future.
Washington state loves its wine (who doesn’t), and with the local wine industry enjoying continued, rapid growth it’s important that the Washington Wine Commission website keeps up with the needs of the expanding collection of state wineries, vineyards, and other wine-related businesses. Thats why we recently launched a new version of http://www.washingtonwine.org, which includes a powerful new set of tools focused on providing a more streamlined approach to managing contacts and their relation to the vast collection of WA state wineries and vineyards.
The new industry section provides a series of intuitive interfaces for adding individual business profiles and contacts, and more importantly for relating these businesses to the individuals that own and operate them. The resulting complex web of relationships provides a vital source of data for the Washington Wine Commission itself, as to help them continue to expand the services they provide to the WA state wine industry. The new industry section also provides a central mechanism for individual wine-related businesses to manage their growing collection of contacts and their presence on the Washington Wine Commission website — where consumers can browse local wineries and vineyards using an interactive map, search for local wines by vintage and variety, and much more.
In addition to the new industry section, we’ve also refreshed the Restaurant Awards sub-site with an updated design. The color palette was refreshed to conform with the featured glass work of noted artist Jesse Kelly. We also reflowed the submission form to introduce a multi-step, more intuitive process — including a killer jQuery file upload control that makes uploading logos and supporting materials a breeze. Definitely take a look.
Our team also worked behind the scenes on this release to introduce a series of performance improvements as to handle the steady increase in traffic. Our UI team worked to reduce the CSS and javascript required for the site’s presentation — resulting in 84% less CSS and javascript in total. This makes a pretty big difference and is particularly impressive when you consider that the new toolset involved the introduction of new, rich interfaces which required expansion of the site’s styles! Our database team also worked to improve performance by refining the data model for industry entities, helping to reduce query times which drastically affect the site’s performance.
We’re extremely happy with this release. Check out the site today — we’d love to hear what you think.
This is a new, but really amazing JS graphics library that clearly displays the power of JS and the W3C recommended approach to render vector graphics in a web browser — without using Flash. Here’s what they have to say:
Raphael is a small JavaScript library that should simplify your work with vector graphics on the web. If you want to create your own specific chart or image crop and rotate widget, for example, you can achieve it simply and easily with this library.
Check it out
The first and second generation iPhones have some really impressive applications. I’m continuously amazed with the success of the iPhone and the App Store, which had over 1.5 BILLION downloads in the first year. Now, with the third gen iPhone, the 3GS, we’re seeing some really jaw-dropping stuff. Reality augmenting applications are on their way. Check this out.
I wonder if anyone believed Steve Ballmer when he told USA Today, “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”
This just goes to show that users will always buy products and services that are well designed, particularly if they make you say “Holy Crap!” because the experience is so off-the-charts cool.
Shaun Inman launches his latest software, Fever, a really slick feed reader. There are a lot of really interesting things to note. First it’s a very slick interface based on the average temperature of the human body. The hotter the feed, the higher the temperature. Written for WebKit or Gecko-based browsers, it’s a really smooth UX. This is a bold move and provides us all a glimpse into what the web might be like without IE.
Lastly, it’s not a hosted application. Like Inman’s very successful analytics tool Mint, this is a PHP/MySQL application that needs to be installed on a web server. Inman’s audience seems narrow: developers or very web savvy users who are willing to use non-microsoft tools and want a fantastic user experience. Narrow is good.
Check it out www.feedafever.com
On June 6th The Wall Street Journal wrote up a quick review of www.washingtonwine.org. Here’s a peak.
This Web site, for the burgeoning wine industry of Washington state, has it all: good maps, drool-worthy photographs and plenty of information about the wineries, even including current weather conditions.
Read the whole article here.
This site was designed and produced, and is currently hosted and maintained by PLY. Look for an updated Explore section coming in mid-June.
Early last week Wave was announced at Google I/O. It’s Google’s new communication and collaboration tool, due out sometime towards the end of this year. Of course it’s a web app. If anyone’s questioning when when the desktop will meet the web, well, it’s here. Expectedly, it has some really advanced UI functionality. It’s built on HTML 5, has real-time IM, and true desktop integration where you can drag files from iPhoto and drop them into a Wave. To top it off, it’s open source.
There are a couple question marks for me though. One, it looks a lot like Outlook in it’s general appearance. I’ll admit, I’ve never used Outlook, so I can’t say from experience if the interface works or not. But I’m surprised Google didn’t take the opportunity to move away from the Outlook paradigm. Secondly I question it’s complexity. Google has always created conceptually simple tools, and Wave is very complex. Let’s all hope this isn’t the beginning of over-designed, over-thought Google tools.I’ll be first in line to check it out when it hits the street, with fingers crossed that it’s easier than it looks.
wave.google.com
Motion graphics + Typography = Motionography.
I’ve seen a lot of motion graphics using type, but this takes the cake.
http://motionographer.com
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam collaborated with Vimeo and created this amazing ad for the new Honda Insight. The ad itself is great, but how it effects the entire page is pure creative genius.
Prepare to be wowed.
Interaction designers tend to focus on the interaction part of web design. We like engaging experiences, intuitive interfaces, and game-changing visuals. Usability is a given, and often times assumed. Accessibility, to most, is simply a checklist to ensure compliance. After reading this article, I realized we have it all wrong. Accessibility is usability and is a personal issue. It matters.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 was released in August of 2001 — it’s almost 8 years old. That’s like 72 in web years and it should be retired. We spend countless hours troubleshooting bugs, hacking CSS, and compromising the user experience to support it. Maybe sites like Bring Down IE 6 will help put it out of its misery sooner than later.
iPhone application designers should follow a simple rule: each screen should do only one thing, as simply as possible. The Password Engine app breaks this rule about 15 times. I can’t believe anybody would spend $2 on it. You couldn’t pay me $2 to install this app simply because of it’s design.
I discovered this interesting little bookmarklet that allow you to load a site without all the visual distractions of ads, sidebars, callouts, and other generally useless page elements so you can just see the text and primary images. It’s amazing how much better a site can perform if you cut the crap and just focus on the content — users might actually hang out and read.
This is just an experiment and maybe a bit buggy, but still interesting to check out:
http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability
Allworth Design, one of PLY’s oldest clients, call us back for a redesign of their site. We only had about a four week window and limited resources. Sometimes, the best things happen when you’re under pressure. The objective was simple — create an experience that showcased Allworth Design’s exceptional work through photography, and use a little text as possible. In addition, we knew the site needed to feel different and have a stand-out experience. All of the page views are AJAX-driven and use jquery for smooth transitions.Check it out
The Spokane Regional Transportation Management Center recently shared the following feedback recently captured on their website (www.srtmc.org):
“I’ve seen a number of traffic webcam sites on the internet, but if I
could vote for the BEST - I’d vote for yours. It is by far the easiest
to use, best layout, etc. You did a great job on this.”
- Jim A.
We love this kinda stuff! When an end user acknowledges the quality and usability of our work, it carries a much greater compliment than any industry award could offer. This is why we do what we do.
What happens when your type decisions are based entirely on availability and utility? There are no rules when the intent is entirely utilitarian, then beautiful things can happen. The Journal of Urban Typography is an great collection of signage — the type of stuff we see everyday and pay no attention to. I guarantee none of the sign creators were swiss-trained designers, yet they all communicate a unique attitude and spirit.
Check it out: tjout