I have been a big fan of the PNG image format for several years, or I should really say I am a fan of the alpha-transparency* you can achieve with the 24 and 32-bit versions of the format (you get the more GIF-like transparency with the 8-bit PNGs). Not only that but the use of PNG files as backgrounds for divs and such allow me to better cut up and position elements using CSS in semantic ways that allows for more flexibility in the future as well as each component is self-contained.

The thing is, aside from all the benefits, I could only use PNGs sparingly because I would feel guilty about the large file sizes that result. Until now that is! I am not sure when it was implemented but using Adobe Fireworks you can export 8-bit PNG files with alpha transparency! This is a huge file-size savings and in most cases there isn’t a noticeable degradation in image quality.

* Alpha-transparency is the ability to show multiple levels of transparency/opacity instead of the GIF format’s simple transparent or not, resulting in much better looking transparent transitions and less “choppiness” around the edges.

There is plenty to be said for (and against) the new iPhone and all the new apps flooding to our screens but aside from the sluggish response times and occasional crashes, the biggest problem I have is keeping track of and organizing all these apps.

Applications of all types are now spread across multiple screens as I try, mostly in vain, to come up with a strategy that doesn’t leave me needlessly flipping through 3 to 5 pages just to find the thing I want. I have tried to organize them by grouping like apps together on screen but I don’t really want a whole screen for music-related apps or games. Then I tried by frequency of use with the most frequently used apps on the first couple screens and then those I rarely use on the last few. This too was less than ideal as it isn’t readily apparent when I am search for something how many times I really use it. I guess I could try alphabetical.

How about adding folders?

The folder is a simple organizational mechanism that could help keep my applications in order: Creating and naming folders and then dragging apps into them could work nicely. (like shown above)

Double tapping the folders brings up a radial menu of its contents - app icons - that can be clicked. I have mocked up how that may look (see below). A simple, dark overlay similar to a lightbox effect to represent the mode change would work well.

This example only shows a folder with six applications in it and I am uncertain how to deal with folders containing more than eight. Perhaps there would be a number on the the folder and then single tapping would tab through them.

Until I get something like this the number off application I will be downloading will be significantly restrained.

Bonus gripes to Apple:

1. Please let us delete (or at least hide) those app you included on the phone that we do not use. I don’t need stock quotes and notes.

2. When updating an app, don’t move its position. This is very annoying.

3. Get the stability and fluidity of the interface back to the point where it was when the phone first launched. I don’t think you can totally blame the apps being installed, but if you can, then be more stringent on the apps you let in the store.

4. For next iPhone INCREASE THE RAM!

Often times the best designs come about when the designer is forced to deal with constraints. In this case some terrific architecture and landscape design has come out of the space constraints presented by the rooftops of urban buildings.

When designers are forced to think about space differently they will come up with ideas and concepts that they would not have otherwise.

I am hoping to see some very interesting things in iPhone application design and pushing what that platform has done and can do in terms of the interface and experience.

I am interested in finding out more about how people in the industry (web/software) utilize prototyping. To that end (and to try out some new software from questionform I have set up this brief survey. Please answer these 5 questions and send it on to your friends and colleagues.

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The Creating Passionate Users blog is quickly becoming one of my favorite sites. It is posts like this one called How much control should users have? that keep me coming back.

These graphs from the post succinctly illustrate a point that is often difficult to convey to people: user happiness dos not increase as their control over an application increases. It’s the paradox of choice as mentioned in an earlier Refactr post and also The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz “looks at how the overabundance of products today makes buying even toilet paper stressful. We shut down when we’re faced with too many choices, even when those choices are about relatively simple things.”

The post touches on a key idea behind configuration options and preference settings in software, Of which I am generally not a fan:

“As user capability (knowledge, skill, expertise) increases, so should control — at least for a lot of things we make, especially software, and especially when we’re aiming not just for satisfied users but potentially passionate users. The big problem is that we make our beginning users suffer just so our advanced users can tweak and tune their configurations, workflow, and output.”

The ideal would be to have a piece of software understand where a user is at in their comfort-level with it and and suggest ways they can improve their experience. However, we have all seen how this has not worked with Microsoft’s annoying paper clip in Word.

Until we get to a point where this is a reality, we should strive to match the amount of pain a user has to endure with payoff a user gets from the feature or feature’s being presented.

As Kathy Sierra puts it: “Putting users first does not necessarily mean putting users in charge.” I would argue that in many cases, giving users preference settings and various customization options is just a lazy way to put the decisions onto the users rather than making it yourself as the software designer/developer. As 37signals would say “make opinionated software“. Your software doesn’t have to be all things to all people, especially when it is better to be a great thing for a few people.

The post is worth checking out for many reasons, not the least of which is the comparison of Apple’s iMovie and Final Cut products and the corresponding graphic depiction of the “canyon of pain” that is gulf between them, in terms of their respective learning curves.

In a recent post, Microsoft employee, ahem… wildchicken hurls some rather ill-founded accusations at something that is near and dear to me. In his opinion (or actually the opinion of several unnamed “respected” UX friends of his) the agile method and effective user experience design are not compatible.

“In the case of user experience people, a friend on mine whose judgment I highly respect estimated that it would take about 2x to 2.5x the number of user experience resources to adjust successfully to Agile. This guy’s a UX director at one of the world’s largest software companies, and he’s been around the industry for much longer than I have, and he’s just an all-around smart, well-read guy. He’s not one to exaggerate. One reason for this estimate is that many UX activities can be done serially, so a fewer number of people can do them and they roll from one thing to another. With Agile, you would need to do many of the same things in parallel, so you would need more people to do them.“

I guess that would be true on very large projects, where one designer is trying to support upwards of ten developers, but in my experience, on small agile teams, iteratively designing the interface with continual customer feedback is far better than the old ways of having an intake meeting, (perhaps) presenting a creative brief, and then going away for 2-4 weeks and coming back with a “completed” design for review. On an agile team, I get to see what the developers are doing - the challenges that they are facing, while my concepts are still forming, and I can adjust to make better decisions with more information and context.

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