Cool little article on the behind-the-scenes aspects of how the interfaces for Star Trek were conceived, and how they resemble the iPad of today. Continue reading How Star Trek artists imagined the iPad… 23 years ago
Tag: ux design
The wonderful world of API’s
Good morning my nerdy bretheren,
I’ve spent most of my morning researching an API to handle sales tax calculation within California. There are a handful of good options for that. I’m more impressed with the number of different API’s that have come onto the scene in a big way over the last couple of years. I’m looking into creating my own API for a product – more on that later – and the wealth of information available is incredible.
I love the design and resources over at ApiGee.com. It really appeals to the designer in me. They have a great set of resources on their blog. I’m also digging stuff by the APIEvangelist.
Oh, and I got engaged last weekend! Perhaps that’s more of an accomplishment. LOL!
Who’s in charge?
I was having an interesting conversation with my girlfriend last night. She’s notoriously anti-technology and I was curious why she felt this way. She kept going back to “I don’t like it when things tell me what to do.”
It’s a powerful concept. When software, websites and user interfaces are difficult to use your users might be feeling like the computer is telling them what to do. When something is properly designed and genuinely useful, users feel like they are telling the computer what to do.
If your software has a steep learning curve and is cluttered with instructions or multiple steps, ask yourself how you can simplify. These are the times when users can get most frustrated. But, when user interfaces are intuitive and feel natural, it makes us feel powerful and in-control.
Who doesn’t like feeling powerful and in-control?