Presentation for IT Skills 4 Rural Kenya

I recently gave a seminar on how to build a good website to a group of volunteers for IT Skills 4 Rural Kenya. This was in association with the 'Brighton Youths Volunteer' project, a 3-6 month P/T volunteer opportunity for 16-25 year olds from Brighton and Hove that is funded by Southern FM and Global Charities' v Project partnership.

More » 19 June 2009 | No comments yet

Latest read

Despite being on a break I can't help myself and have been geeking. I'm currently reading Killer Web Content by Gerry McGovern and, to be honest, finding it fantastic. It is such a simple, concise explanation of how to create a truly successful website and despite the words "usability" and "information architecture" never actually appearing in the book, anyone interested in those subjects should grab a copy. McGovern's message is clear: "Focus on your readers, their tasks, and their carewords, and you will ... reap rich rewards." McGovern also talks of the shift that is happening in website creation away from the mechanics of the web towards the content. This can only be a good thing for everyone who uses the web.

20 December 2007 | No comments yet

Web Development Best Practice

For what it's worth, here is my opinion on the subject of front-end web development best practice. This document assumes you are already coding confidently with HTML and CSS. It is also highly subjective! It covers everything from choosing a doctype to SEO tips and suggestions on how to make your pages more accessible.

More » 05 March 2007 | 1 comment

Print stylesheets, what are they good for?

I was recently asked to justify print stylesheets to a client. Here is what I wrote.

More » 05 March 2007 | No comments yet

More on accessiblity

Recently at Madgex we have been debating the use of "skip to..." links and whether people using screenreaders find them helpful. I found a very useful article: Source Order, Skip links and Structural labels about this and other accessiblity issues.

21 February 2007

Invaluable Information Architecture articles

Recently I have been exploring ideas for information architecture white papers and I came across this useful set of articles and links at Elegant Hack. Something for everyone interested in the subject.

27 January 2007

Best Practice Basics

While searching for the best practice for displaying quotes on this site I came across Brainstorms and Raves by Shirley E. Kaiser. There are some good articles on there including a useful tutorial on how to create a solid, semantically correct webpage.

24 April 2006

IA Hell

I was recently recommended this as a site for good Information Architecture information. Now, I'm sorry but what?! OH. MY. GOD. I think it's the most unusable site I have ever visited. Using nested tables for layout? Check. Using tiny fonts I can't read? Check. Navigation using Javascript controlled image maps? Check. 100's of lines of code before you even hit anything useful in the source? Check. Ugly as hell? CHECK! Really, only visit if you have a strong constitution. I was criticised for not even reading it. But surely if you are writing on IA you should practice what you preach? How can I value his knowledge when his site is so awful? 29 March 2006

Modular design

I've been experimenting a bit lately with the idea of designs built on a modular layout. I still haven't quite worked out how to do that in a usable way - allowing for accessibility. I like the idea of designing a page around set columns with "modules". UX Magazine takes it to the extreme. Ultimately I'd like to utitilise drag and drop. 29 March 2006

Information Architecture Tools

Although this link is listed on my delicious page I just had to include it here. A fabulous set of Information Architecture tools including templates for usability testing, business briefs, affinity diagramming, persona charts, competitive analysis and more. 28 March 2006