UX Hooligan, The Blog of Frank Garofalo (blog.frankgarofalo.com)

Blog

The latest topics, tips, and reviews from Frank Garofalo.

2 February 2012

Posted by Frank Garofalo | Topic: User Experience

Geographic Information Systems vs Maps

Here is a description I've found myself using quite frequently in the past few weeks. Just to note, this is purely my view and option - this does not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

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Esri takes a geographic approach to problem solving to ensure better communication and collaboration for understanding our world. We are more than just a mapping company, we are a geographic information systems company. Sometimes this means viewing your data on a map, sometimes this means viewing your data in a table / data-grid, and sometimes this does mean a combination of the previous two.

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userexperience, ux, esri, map, gis

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2 February 2012

Posted by Frank Garofalo | Topic: RIAs, User Experience

Simplicity: Google, Apple, and Your Company

I saw this on UsabilityCounts.com (Patrick Neeman's Blog) but it is originally from StuffThatHappens.com

userexperience, ux, usercentered, interface, simplicity

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30 January 2012

Posted by Frank Garofalo | Topic: User Experience

UX Strategy OneSheet

User Experience Strategy OneSheet
View more presentations from Frank Garofalo

userexperience, strategy, ux, usercentered, usersstory

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26 January 2012
Posted by Frank Garofalo | Topic: User Experience

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is launched
The web site for the 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map was launched.
- Web site: planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/
- News Coverage: USAToday.com - USDA Climate Zone Map
userexperience, web, ux, esri, interface, jquery, government, news

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25 January 2012

Posted by Frank Garofalo | Topic: User Experience

The Future of Government Online

Today I came across a white paper on the web site for UX Magazine. The white paper was published by Modius Associates, a digital strategy and design firm, in December 2011.

In the paper, titled "Yes We Can: The Future of Government Online" there are several excellent points made. One section in particular stood out to me, On Page 11, labeled "Law #4: Design around people, not technologies or Org Charts." Here the author discusses keeping a fundamental principal in mind when starting a project: "Know your users and plan everything with them in mind." The author goes on to state "... the single most important thing you can do to ensure the success of your web presence is to follow a user-centered design process."

The primary difference is to not start by focusing on the technical aspects (databases, servers, algorithms). But, to "optimize the user experience around how people can, want, or need to work, rather than forcing users to change how they work to accommodate your system."

The below diagram is from the white paper (pg 11):

Read the white paper at: www.uxmag.com/resources/yes-we-can-the-future-of-government-online

userexperience, ux, user, uxmagazine, usability, ucd, usercentered, government

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