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In short, pagination refers to breaking up large chunks of data or information into multiple pages. It is our job to create an intuitive interface for users to navigate those pages. For example, when you do a Google search, and the results are in the thousands, Google does not give you all the results in one page. It gives you 10 results on 1 page and breaks up the remaining results on subsequent pages. 

I just found a great blog article on some best practices on handling pagination navigation on SmashingMagazine.com. It gives a lot of examples of the different ways pagination is handled by various websites, and explains some principles on why some techniques might be better than others. 

There are a lot of tools, plugins, code libraries out there on various programming frameworks out there to help handle pagination issues. It’s a good idea to work these elements into your design if you are working with large data sets. 

This is the first time I’ve seen a “hi-fi” pen and paper conceptualization. Brilliant! In conceptualization phase, all we’re really trying to do is distill an idea in a clear way…showing, on a high level, why and how users will use our software. After initial conceptualization and buy in…we start working on wireframes, prototypes, etc. 

Maybe this is a little overkill for initial conceptualization, but it brings to light just how effective pen and paper can be in communication vision!

Great work Sachi and Lee LeFever at CommonCraft.com…very clever!

Last week, I posted about how Microsoft Touchwall can really effect the User Experience industry, especially since it brings multi-touch technology down to an affordable level. This input method may radically change how users will want to interact with software in the future. 

Today, I just stumbled upon this CrunchGear article showing Seth Sandler’s multi-touch device made out of a cardboard box and about 50 bucks worth of accessories! 

If you’re interested in learning more about this multi-touch HCI (Human Computer Interaction) method, you can also check out: NUI (Natural User Interface) Group. 

methink.com is a place where we learn about UI, UX, Usability, etc. What better way than to learn from other real life Professionals in the industry! 

We want to start featuring one-on-one interviews with YOU…the Usability Professional.

Contact Us if you love what you do and you’d like to share about your company, projects, advice, or pretty much anything under the (usability) sun. We would love to feature you and your company here on methink.com!

UPA-Boston’s Seventh Annual Mini UPA Conference

Welcome to the UPA Boston Annual Conference ‘08

Join us on May 28th for the seventh annual Boston Mini UPA conference at Bentley College in Waltham, MA. Hear and discuss critical topics in usability and user-centered design with practitioners, students, and experts in the field. Whether a newcomer, a seasoned usability professional, or member of a product team interested in usability, this conference offers unique content and one-of-a-kind learning opportunities.

We expect more than 300 industry professionals from New England to attend– This is the place to be for learning about best practices for user-centered product development, usability research, and real-world case studies from website, mobile device, software, healthcare, globalization and other fields!

More Sessions! More Speakers!

This year we’ve upgraded the event with more speakers and a greater diversity of session topics. The conference will have four simultaneous tracks giving you a choice of over 30 presentations. Topics are relevant to thought-leaders, designers, developers, usability professionals, usability novices, and others. There’s something for everyone! Explore the current schedule of events.

More Sponsors!

This year the event will have even more sponsors giving attendees the opportunity to network and discover companies that are hiring, meet local design and usability organizations, and try out new technologies and products.

Networking!

The core of any conference is the networking opportunities. Last year this event attracted people from all over the country and overseas. We hope to do the same this year. We feature top names and top talent in the interface and user experience world.

Early registration is open until May 14th so sign up today.

Agenda (San Francisco)

7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. Event registration
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Program
Morning and afternoon refreshments will be provided.

Monday-Wednesday, June 16-18, 2008

Choose one of the following three-day tutorials:

• Usability In Practice: 3-Day Intensive Camp
  Jakob Nielsen, Kara Pernice, & Amy Schade
• Interaction Design 101: 3-Day Immersion
  Bruce “Tog” Tognazzini

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Choose one of the following full-day tutorials:

• Fundamental Guidelines for Web Usability
  Jakob Nielsen & Kara Pernice
• Writing for the Web
  Chris Nodder
• Email Newsletter Usability
  Amy Schade

Friday, June 20, 2008

Choose one of the following full-day tutorials:

• Application Usability 1
  Chris Nodder
• Intranet Usability 1
  Kara Pernice & Amy Schade
• B2B Experiences in a Consumer-Oriented Web World
  Martin Hardee & Marilyn Salzman

Saturday, June 21, 2008

• Application Usability 2
  Chris Nodder
• Intranet Usability 2
  Kara Pernice & Amy Schade
• Websites that Sell
  Bruce “Tog” Tognazzini

Ok, I know, this looks like something out of the Barbie website. But I’ve been using Skitch for a couple days now and find that it’s really a cool tool for simple image annotation and design collaboration. I wasn’t even sure to categorize this post as a “Tools of the Trade” or as a “Usability Design” example of great UI…so, I categorized it as both!

Tools of the Trade:

As a UI tool, Skitch is a great little gadget that I use to quickly annotate notes on mockups, designs, and wireframes. Just grab the design element in question and quickly mark it up with notes and comments. Another click of a button lets you email the image or send it via bluetooth to another device! It’s a simple and effective way to collaborate on designs and ideas. You can even quickly and easily upload onto the Skitch.com website to share collectively on the internet. (Here’s an example I created with Skitch in less than 1 minute)

Usability Design:

This is a great example of intuitive user interface. Every function is self-contained in the window container. It’s amazingly fun to use, and I no longer need to open up Mac Grab and Photoshop to do some simple image manipulations. Definitely a useful time saver! When I imagine future interfaces taking advantage of surface and multi-touch technology…I imagine an application like this, where most of the interaction can be accomplished by directly interfacing with the various areas of the application by touch. Even the “Save Image” function can be accomplished by a simple dragging of the bottom tab into a folder, desktop, document, etc…brilliant! 

Hard to describe how intuitive the interface is…just download Skitch and try it yourself for free! Here’s a cool video that shows you what you can do. Skitch definitely has a place on my Dock! (oh yeah, sorry PC friends…Skitch only available for Mac). 

A great resource, bringing readers through web development process, workflow, and methodology…from conceptualization to maintenace. Perfect for Project Managers to wrap their hands around entire the development process. 

Book: Web Redesign 2.0

Author: Kelly Goto, Emily Cotler

Amazon Description: If anything, this volume’s premise–that the business of Web design is one of constant change-has only proven truer over time. So much so, in fact, that the 12-month design cycles cited in the last edition have shrunk to 6 or even 3 months today. Which is why, more than ever, you need a smart, practical guide that demonstrates how to plan, budget, organize, and manage your Web redesign - or even you initial design - projects from conceptualization to launch. This volume delivers! In these pages Web designer extraordinaire Kelly Gotoand coauthor Emily Cotler have distilled their real-world experience into a sound approach to Web redesign workflow that is as much about business priorities as it is about good design. By focusing on where these priorities intersect, Kelly and Emily get straight to the heart of the matter. Each chapter includes a case study that illustrates a key step in the process, and you’ll find a plethora of forms, checklists, and worksheets that help you put knowledge into action.

By popular demand, we’ve created a “Jobs Board” category for employers and recruiters to list their UI/UX related job openings here on methink.com. 

Just one more step in becoming a true meeting place for the web UI/UX community!

Contact methink.com today to post your job openings here…for FREE of course.

By now, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably already heard of Microsoft Surface which debuted about a year ago. In case you haven’t…here’s a recap:

Yesterday, Microsoft just announced what seems to be the next generation of their multi-touch technology, Microsoft Touchwall (see video below). Wow…and I thought multi-touch on my MacBook Air was cool! Touchwall technology seems to have the ability to transform any surface into a multi-touch platform…for a few hundred dollars!

I think we’ve all already started dreaming about what practical possibilities this holds for interesting new applications and user experiences! No more traditional white board presentations! Sequential power points would be a thing of the past! Would the linear layouts we generally have in websites be as effective with this type of input device?

We need to start asking…how will we harness this new technology to bring about rich user experiences? How should websites look and act when the entire computer screen surface supports multi-touch? These are important questions given that such a low price point for such technology is tangibly bringing us one step closer to Minority Report becoming reality!

More at TechCrunch Touchwall report.