Interacting with your computer by waving your hands may require just a pair of multicolored gloves and a webcam, say two researchers at MIT who have made a breakthrough in gesture-based computing that's inexpensive and easy to use.

Very, very cool!

Read More at: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/05/gloves-gesture-computing/

I have been searching for a Silverlight behavior where you have the ability to resize a column. Normally you can do such a thing with a GridSplitter onto a grid with several columns.

Unfortunately this doesn’t work when you also wants to implement something like a hide and show menu column.

Therefore I created this behavior myself and released it on CodePlex. So if you are developing a Silverlight application and you find yourself in need of a simple behavior that allows you to resize an element by dragging either in height or width, go to the ResizeDragBehavior on Codeplex.

The solution also includes a sample project where you can see how you can easily setup a menupanel-based interface.

The behavior is fully compatible with Expression Blend.

• 1st commandment

  The user is always right

  You are not the user. Neither is your boss

   

• 2nd commandment

  Understand the User

   

• 3th commandment

  Avoid Solutioneering

  Identify & fully understand problems before finding solutions

   

• 4th commandment

  Form follows function

  Form must play within the general realm of the familiar for easily understood functions.

   

• 5th commandment

  Content is king

  Design is about communication, and takes more than pixels to communicate.

  95% of web users do not read 80% of your content.
  This doesn’t mean that your content isn’t important, it means it’s more important.

   

• 6th commandment

  Innovate, do not Imitate

   

• 7th commandment

  Access is for Everyone

   

• 8th commandment

  Plan before you Design

  With our users in mind and the right vision, we can plan, and develop successful applications.

   

• 9th commandment

  Understand the Goal

  Executives can no longer afford to formulate strategy without embracing user experience.

  If your website could do only one small thing, what would that one thing be?

   

• 10th commandment

  Learn from Failure

  Failure is success if we learn from it.

   

From Nick Finck and Raina Van Cleave’s presentation from SXSWi.

At home I have a Windows Home Server which also has µTorrent running as a service. Luckily this application comes default with a Web Access which allows you to manage µTorrent without having a user logged in on your server. (installing µTorrent on your server as a service described here.)

What happens is that the Web Access is made available on another port. Something like http://homeserver:39295/gui/. And this might become a problem if you want to reach your Web Client from outside your personal network. Of course you can solve this by setting the port-forwarding, but in my case I wasn’t allowed to reach non-default ports when I was at work. The firewalls block these ports.

But because I am allowed to reach the default port 80 on my home server, I wondered if it was possible to have the Web Client on the IIS of the Home Server. Unfortunately is the µTorrent Web Access client not meant for this, so I looked around to see if there where other Web Access clients which does the same.

I did found one solution, and although it worked, it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.

So i created a little personal project to create a really simple µTorrent Web Access client that runs on IIS, so I have access to it from work. And now I have something working, I might as well share it for those who want to use it (or extend it).

It is a very basic solution, with lots of improvement possible. But it works.

The communication with µTorrent is realized by the DLL in the µTorrent Web Client API Wrapper Library project on CodePlex. This worked like a charm, except it throws an exception when trying to delete a torrent. (Can’t figure out what it is, but the functionality still works, you just receive a message)

My solution is based on the ASP.NET Ajax Control Toolkit, so if you wish to develop on it, you need that installed. 

Download here the entire solution:

SDN Magazine published my article about User Experience Design in their last edition. This article (in Dutch) can also be read here on their website.

What I realize more and more is that the end-users wants to be In Control. This applies especially with new developed applications that automates some of their work. By default users are skeptic. The application have to earn their trust. The more they get the feeling they are not in control, the less trust and the less acceptance of your newly developed product.

Only when the product doesn’t automate or replace existing work, an employee is likely to accept the application more easily. But still you first have to prove it and earn the users trust.

So what can you conclude from this:

At the moment you are working on a project that will automate a part of the users work, try to learn how he does that work, and don’t take away his flexibility. It´s allright that the application makes decisions and perform actions that he normally did, but certainly in the first releases, let him be the one that controls the final action.

For example when it comes to communication with customers. Originally he had to write and send the emails by hand. A desired functionality of the application is to do this automatically. A good approach to fully reach this functionality is to split it in several releases.

In the first release make sure the user can see all the emails that are about to be send, let him edit the emails if he likes to, and let him push the button that finally sends the mail. The user can see what the application is doing, and will build some trust with it.

So in the second release you extend this functionality with a scheduler and a “do send” / “do not send” checker. The user have to “check” the emails for “do send” and they are send automatically on a configurable time. The user can see if the scheduler works and that the emails are send correctly. So the trust in the application increases more.

In a third release all the emails are set default to “do send”, and the scheduler sends them every half our (or something). The user doesn’t really have to look to the emails anymore, because he now trusts the functionality of the application. He still has the possibility to go and check the emails, alter them, deny them or disable / configure the scheduler.

If you do it this way, the user feels he is In Control. So the acceptance of the new product is much higher then if you fully automate the sending of email, but nobody had the ability to check or prevent what is being send.
Even if a system is flawless and everything is working exactly as designed, there will always be exceptions in the process. And if the users don’t feel they can do anything about it, they get the feeling they are not in control. It is very likely that your new application won’t be accepted.

Just make your users feel they are In Control!

This post of Tim Heuer is something I completely agree with! So if you’re a developer and you work with designers, you do need to read this…

Since we appear to be in another revolution on user interface (UI) design and user experience (UX), I’ve seen a lot of people, companies, sites refer to the designer-developer workflow, including Microsoft.  Heck we’re building tools around it for Silverlight and WPF development!  One thing I see too often though is the conversation being diminished to UI only. 

I’ve heard conversations between developers saying things like yeah, now we just need a designer to make things look pretty or we take what the designer made pretty and put functionality behind it.

I have a plea for my developer brethren: please stop using the word pretty and diminishing the role a designer plays in defining UI/UX.

To me when I hear this I cringe for two reasons.  First, while I’m not a designer, I consider myself to have a strong appreciation for design and know that it isn’t easy to execute on a design for everyone.  Second I know many talented people in the design world who understand much more about how UI affects end user productivity and emotion more than just ‘making it pretty.’  So please stop, it’s insulting to the trade I think.

Imagine if you heard a conversation of designers…

Designer A: Sweet design man, I love how you anticipate the user’s next interaction and use the typography to really identify that action.
Designer B: Yeah, it took a lot of research and usability observations, but I think we got it right.  I hope the developers can finish this up so we can get it in the user’s hands.
Designer A: Totally, I’m sure they’ll finish the macros soon, I think it’s all wizard based anyway.
Designer B: Yep, I mean, I’ve created an Access application before, how hard can it be.

Yeah, see what I mean?  If you are insulted by hearing someone talking about the development craft reduced to macros and Access, then you should realize you’re doing the same thing.  Design is a craft just like software development and there are patterns and meaning to things that designers do, both in interactive design and print design.  It isn’t just about picking the right template.  Sure, palettes and animations are a part of the design, but their intent in the final design usually isn’t without thought.  Reducing a designer’s craft down to a simple “pretty” isn’t cool…at all.  And I’ve been guilty of it. 

If you want to work with a designer, then do it, but don’t hand them your finished product and ask them to make it pretty.  Make them a part of the process and have them help identify the right UI/UX for the application.  I realize it isn’t easy and sometimes isn’t possible to always have a designer, but when you have that need, just make sure you respect the trade or don’t be surprised if you get this book in the mail.  Take a moment and learn what makes good design.  For a start, watch Robby’s session from MIX08: Design Fundamentals for Developers.

I’ve got it off my chest…and I leave you with this:

Cheers.

Tim Heuer

The other day I was talking about how exactly the transition will be when switching from mouse/keyboard to touch when it comes to the User Experience. For example your operating system desktop. And then I came across this promotional video of BumpTop.com. Really nice!

Desktops are very personal, so I really don’t expect that the majority will use this. But it really is a nice approach that I simply just couldn’t ignore.

p.s. Sorry for not being able to embed the video in the page. Something with the blog-engine.

It’s not like I'm a trend-watcher or something, but what I really noticed is the increase on topics for augmented reality.

Augmented reality basically adds a layer onto the reality. This can be done using a hand-held device.

Here are 2 cool video’s I saw last week that shows what can be done.

ARhrrr - An augmented reality shooter

Augmented Reality Pool (Skip to 02:01)

This will bring a whole new experience to end-users. Not just for information when you’re walking down the street. But just think about the possibilities also for Line Of Business applications.

In Logistics. Where information about vehicles, packages, assembly lines, etc. are shown when the planner, mechanic, driver, etc. are walking by.

In a lab. Where you can see all the information on various ingredients and mixtures.

In a storage department. In a grocery store. Almost everywhere where people work with real-life products, augmented reality can have real benefits.

I can’t wait to see this technique evolve and be able to use it.

I’ve been using Windows 7 Enterprise (RTM) for about a week now, and I must say, I really see the benefits of working with it. Although you might consider it “Windows Vista +”, I’m sure that there’s still plenty of new features I haven’t noticed yet.
But for the end user (like me) there are a couple of things that I’ve used now (whether it’s desired or not). Here is an overview of these features for those who are thinking about using this new OS.

1. Taskbar

   For those who didn’t know yet, Microsoft changed the way the “start-bar” works. It’s now called Taskbar and it has combined the Quick-launch and the Active-programs part.
   When you’re working with it the first time, you kinda get to used to it first. But after you’ve configured it, it’s working just fine. Although I sometimes miss a quick overview of all my open windows (especially explorer-screens), the preview mode you see when hovering over the group is pretty neat (Seeing all your Internet Explorer tabs in the taskbar). But I wonder if it is faster when switching between screens, because you first have to see the group, then selecting the window. On the other hand, your Taskbar is now much more organized.
   If you want to read more about the new Windows 7 Taskbar you can view this blog post.
   

2. Docking

   A feature I'm using frequently is the docking feature. This allows you to drag a window to the side or top of the screen where it will be resized to a specific portion of your screen. (you can also use the Windows-Button in combination with an Arrow-key)
   
   Especially when trying to copy file’s between two explorer windows you can dock each to a side of the screen. Or when you’re writing a document where you will use different resources (other documents, internet browser, tooling, etc.).
   This feature is something I’ve missed in previous versions and I’m very happy that this is implemented in Windows 7.
   

3. Window Transparency

   When using Alt-Tab, hovering over a screen in the Taskbar or hovering over the Desktop button, the active windows become transparent.
   Maybe this is not really useful, but more a “pretty” feature. Tough with alt-tab or the hovering in the Taskbar it comes in handy to let you focus on the particular window. Be aware when on large monitors, because when hovering quickly over different windows, all these fast changes can make you dizzy!
   

4. Desktop button

   The desktop-button (or Windows-button in combination with D) is not really something new. But the change is they’ve now placed it in the right-bottom corner.
    
   I used the “show desktop” function very often in the XP and Vista, but always with the shortcut, because finding the button with your mouse took too much time. Now they’ve changed this, and that’s a good thing. Just throwing the mouse to the corner is a lot easier.
   The transparency kicks in when hovering above it, so you can see what's on your desktop. Now you can see the icons and (sidebar) gadgets. By the way; this is also what happens when using the Windows-button with the Spacebar. In Vista this showed the Sidebar. Now it makes all the active windows transparent.
   

5. Integrated fingerprint reader

   As the Windows OS evolves, additional functionality becomes a standard part of the OS. This also applies the the fingerprint support.
   
   Instead of using 3th party software, you now can use your reader directly with Windows. And I must say, It works quite well. It’s faster and more stable then what I used to have on Vista. Although I first had a little issue with the Ctrl+Alt+Del when logging-on which I explain next.
   

6. Ctrl+Alt+Del

   When using your computer in a Domain like I do for my work, you have to use the Ctrl+Alt+Del for entering your username and password.
     Although this isn’t really a problem, I did not have to do this when I used Vista. It's annoying in combination with the fingerprint reader. Because it’s not possible to scan when you haven’t pressed the Ctrl+Alt+Del yet (this also applies when locking your computer). And when you’re fingers are already on the keyboard, it’s just as easy to enter your password.
   After a bit of research I found out that you can actually remove this extra action through Local Security Policy (run “secpol.msc”).
   There you can find the option “Interactive logon: Do not require CTRL+ALT+DEL” in “Local Policies” > “Security Options” . When setting this to Enabled you’ll remove it.
   

7. Early adopters = Driver problems.

   When you’re an early adopter, you will encounter the problem with missing or incompatible drivers. But just after installing I’ve encountered only 2 problems. Video-card drivers and the Card-reader drivers.
   
   I were able to fix the Video-card drivers by installing the Vista-drivers and then using Windows Update because it could now identify the Video-card.
   The Card-reader doesn’t have downloadable drivers, because in Vista it was installed automatically by the OS. It’s quite odd that now with Windows 7 it didn’t install by default.
   Fortunately I don’t need the reader now, but I do hope that in time drivers will be made available by the manufacturer.
   

For the time I’ve worked with this new OS I think I made the right choice for switching to Windows 7. It certainly has benefits that I use. And with the driver problems… Well, I expect it’s just a matter of time. You can always try using the Vista-drivers.

Nate Dunlap has written a simple but clear blog post about the role “integrator”. Read it here (Where does “integration” fit into user experience design?). It gives an idea how this role is used.

Last Friday I was at the SDN Event in Houten, where I followed several UX tracks, and spoke with the speakers afterwards. I was trying to find out how they worked with Designers and Developers and the technique’s Silverlight and WPF.

And almost everybody agreed (except Kevin McNeish for some reason) on how to let these two groups cooperate. You will need someone called an Integrator. Somebody who can merge the work of the designer with the work of the developer.

Expression Blend is not a tool for Designers. Maybe Microsoft would really like the idea that Designers would work with it, but you cannot really design in it.

You probably can educate your Designers to let them work in Blend, but personally I think that’s rather strange. Because with Microsoft’s Philosophy about “People Ready” and “User-centered design” where the application is adjusted to the person’s specific needs. This one doesn’t seem to fit in. It looks like they’ve created a new role within the development process.

So how do you need to work with a “Integrator”.

Well, it really depends on how much your designers are willing to “bend” towards the tasks of an Integrator. If they only make the design as pictures, then the Integrator must build the entire interface in XAML.

I also may be possible that a Designer (or someone else) can do the work of a Front-end developer, and build the interface architecture in Blend. The Integrator will then connect it to the work of the Developer.

With the interface architecture ready (build by either a Front-end developer or the Integrator), and you have “learned” Designers how to Style the different elements in the interface, then they can do this styling themselves right inside Blend. But you do need to teach them how to work with the different styling types, bindings, resources, etc.

Luckily most difficulties are with integrating the Design. Development on the other hand is a bit more straightforward and can be applied through patterns as MVVM. This article by Josh Smith in the February 2009 issue of the MSDN magazine explains how you can work with this.

Conclusion: When working with Silverlight or WPF, and have both Designers and Developers, make sure to get yourself an Integrator (or someone who can fill in that role). Having a naming-convention like I explained in this post will just not work in this scenario, because you cannot expect Designers to be able to build the entire interface in Blend themselves.

What Wikipedia says about ALM:

Application lifecycle management (ALM) is the marriage of business management to software engineering made possible by tools that facilitate and integrate requirements management, architecture, coding, testing, tracking, and release management.

Like most people know, Microsoft supports this with their Team Foundation system.

This is very cool and keeps getting better and better. And with the introduction of Blend 3 (The tool for creating interfaces & prototypes in WPF or Silverlight) Microsoft is extending this towards application design. And this progress is where I have a special interest in.

TFS supports different roles within their ALM vision. Project Managers, Testers, Architects, Developers, etc… There have been very much attention towards specializing the tooling towards the specific needs of the roles within ALM. And now they’ve added Blend to this.

I am currently spending a lot of time trying to integrate User Experience Design in this ALM vision, with primarily using Microsoft technology. And yet I still haven’t figured out how exactly Blend fits in the process. I mean, it’s a really great tool, and I do like to work with it, but when you look at how it must fit within your development process, it’s hard to tell where to place it.

I know for a fact that a lot of Designers aren’t really enthusiastic about it. Why is that? Because you can’t really design in it. Microsoft knows this and that’s why they created the Photoshop and Illustrator import in Blend 3. I also know that Developers try to avoid using Blend, because they like to prevent a tool that will alter their code, markups or projects.

So that means to me that there are only two roles possibly using Blend. Interaction Designers and/or Integrators. And now I am wondering if this is actually part a of ALM. And does it need to be a part of it. How do you work together as designers and developers. And how do you do this with TFS, using Blend.

I’ve seen some great ideas, but every project so far (including projects within Microsoft) does it their own way. There is no real thought on how to work together.

Maybe it’s time to refine all these technologies, patterns and project guidance's and set up a good way for letting the User Experience part collaborate within the Application Lifecycle Management.

I’ll get back on this.

With my personal phone I used to be with Orange. But a while ago their mobile communication division was sold to T-Mobile here in the Netherlands. So they’ve asked me to change my Orange contract to a T-Mobile Contract. All right. No problem with that.

Now it’s common here that with contract renewals or extensions, you also receive a new device. So last weekend I’ve walked into their local shop and looked around for something to replace my E-Ten Glofiish X500+, which a have used now for nearly 2 years. It is a Windows Mobile device, and I was searching for something that offered the same functionality.

I noticed a couple of other WM devices, but I still was disappointed that in the last 2 years, this OS hasn’t changed a bit (although i know that Microsoft is about to launch a new version. Unfortunately it’s not available at the moment). So that’s when I decided to look beyond this requirement and focused on other devices as well.

That’s when I took a look at the Iphone 3G. At first I was very skeptic about it, because of the hype around it. But i wanted to know for myself if this device is really worth it. That with the fact that there where no extra costs when choosing the iPhone (instead of paying around 80 euro when choosing a WM device) made me take the iPhone as my new personal phone.

And so far I am actually very positive about it. I must really say that the User Experience Design of the device, compared with my previous phone, is really a huge improvement.

Below I summarized some pros and cons about my experience with the iPhone. note: This is compared with my previous private phone and my work phone which both use Windows Mobile 6.

Pro

1. Low learning curve
   Although i have some experience with mobile devices, I’ve never learned to know a device quicker than this one. It has one menu, one place for settings, and that’s it. Everything can be done from there. Although I spent a lot of time with Windows Mobile, I still get the feeling I haven’t seen al it’s options. It’s like Jensen Harris of Microsoft said about the previous Office products in a MIX08 presentation. “It’s Bloated!”. And with my new phone, I received the feeling I am in control. Now that’s a good User Experience.
2. Quick responses
   Another thing I really appreciate are the response times of the device. I know my X500+ wasn’t the fastest of all WM devices, but for my work I have a Samsung i780, and with that device I also experienced unpleasant delays when opening menu or configuration screens, or with incoming calls. This makes the device feel slow. And this is something I don’t have with the iPhone.
3. Resolution
   2 years ago I choose the X500+ because it has something that a lot of devices nowadays still don’t have. A screen resolution of 640x480. Everything looked sharper and more information could be displayed on the screen. Unfortunately this also required 4 times more processor power compared with 320x240 screens, and that’s what they forgot to add at the E-ten corporation. But after a while you get used to it.
   But now with this iPhone, the resolution is lower. 480x320. But somehow they’ve managed to build a render-engine that makes the display look very sharp and crisp. I looks better then the 640x480 of the X500+. And as I already mentioned, it also reacts much faster.
4. Additional programs
   I was always disappointed about the need of additional programs for improving the UX of my Windows Mobile device. Luckily the SPB Mobile Shell and the SPB Diary were a very welcome addition. But when you think about it, it’s rather crazy that you need such things. And that’s just it. The iPhone gives me a great experience, straight out-of-the-box. No extensions or additional programs necessary.
5. Without a stylus
   Windows Mobile devices aren’t meant for operating with your fingers. At least, that’s what I’ve experienced. You almost always need your little pen, the stylus. That’s frustrating. Especially when you can lose that little pen. Now there are possibilities for additional programs that’ll make some functionality easier to access without the styles, but that’s just it. It just won’t make the device faster in use. To do something “quick” isn’t an option. So it was rather refreshing that with my iPhone everything is made for finger-tough. This way i can quickly access and use the functionality I want at the moment. No need to fetch the styles first.
6. Keyboard
   Now the keyboard on the iPhone isn’t for everybody a Pro. But compared with other devices that doesn’t have a keyboard, it work’s quite well. Especially when you think about the WM on-screen keyboard. Before the introduction of the iPhone I’ve seen some prototypes about how to make a on-screen keyboard functional with the use of displaying your selection next to your finger. I guess Apple used this idea and displayed your selected character above your finger. It’s not the fastest way of writing, but it works. At least it’s the best option I’ve seen for a on-screen keyboard without the use of a stylus or mouse.
7. Local Access Connections
   What surprised me is the smart and fast access of local WiFi connections. When requiring an internet connection, it looks for local WiFi. When found, it asks the key if needed, and remembers it so it’ll connect the next time automatically. Easy and straight forward. Just how you want it. I remember that my WM devices where a little more complicated about it. Not very stable or reliable about their current connection. It’s rather normal for a mobile device to enter and leave WiFi area’s. So that’s what you want supported.
8. Multi touch
   And then there is the multi touch support. At the moment the only one who has that. Android G1 also is going to support it, but that device is not here yet. I have already had a good laugh when two people played Touch Hockey on my phone. Is multi touch needed… maybe not. But it’s certainly handy and allows you to use it for zooming and rotating in applications like Google Earth.

Contra

1. Less options
   But the iPhone is not just sunshine and miracles. It also has some cons. First of all, everything supplied comes out-of-the-box. It’s all there, and although it works just fine, it doesn't allow you a lot of customization. So “personalization” isn’t really an option. At the moment this is not bad, but after a while it might become something you want.
2. iTunes
   Yeah, well, it’s out then. iTunes. …sigh… I have to admit, it’s not quite the best program, but needed for the iPhone. Certainly when on a Windows environment. I’m currently using a Core i7 system with Vista x64, Raid 0 and triple channel memory. It’s a really fast machine. But iTunes seems to forget that. Very disappointing. And then the Apple update popup which also wants to install programs I don’t want. Also localization which disables you getting applications like wonderful iPint on your IPhone. Is it really necessary to disallow other languages? And when syncing photo’s to your device, you’ll get an additional iTunes “optimalisation” folder in you photo map. That’s not what I’ve asked for! Sorry Apple, but it’s just lacking.
3. Synchronization with Windows Contacts
   And next to iTunes, there’s always the synchronization between the Apple world and the Windows world. I do use outlook, and have outlook contacts, but I don’t have these on my desktop. Also my media library is on the desktop, and I don’t have outlook installed on that machine.
   Then how do you get your contacts in your iPhone? Synchronize with Windows contacts!
   I’ve managed to copy the contacts from Outlook on my laptop to my Windows Contacts folder on my desktop. I’ve attached new pictures to them because this was lost in the export. But from there, the sync worked. Until I tested it.
   I called myself on the iPhone, and the device hang! Really hangs! It starts vibrating, shows the call screen, but no sound, no reaction, nothing. Had to Google for how to restart the device, but after a couple of seconds holding the power button and the menu button simultaneously, the device restarted. Second try, same effect. A real hang again.
   After some guessing I’ve discovered the problem. Originally, when using Outlook contacts, the image of the contact is resized by Outlook. But this doesn’t seem to happen with Windows contacts. I’ve selected photos from my digital camera which were about 3MB in size and this must have been copied straight to the device (normally iTunes “optimizes” pictures). So with incoming calls, the device was trying to load and scale a 3MB picture. I guess that was too much. Little bug here?
   Now that I’ve resized my pictures to 480x320, this problem don’t occur anymore.

So far my first experience with the device is really positive compared to what I had. I really hope that this opinion stays this way. It’s possible that after a while I might change my statements, but by then, I'll let you know.

A while ago, a colleague gave me a link to a free book called “Working through screens” by FlashBulb Interaction. It is a wonderful document about how you can increase User Experience for your application. I can really advise people to take some time and read this. It may seem like a big document, but it did gave me a lot of new and usable insights.

Download it at http://www.flashbulbinteraction.com/Working_Through_Screens_Book.pdf

Beneath I displayed 2 pages which captures the essence of User Experience Design. First is without UXD, second is with UXD.