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Unexpected
slow-down.
I should have known better than to
promise a site re-design for the January issue (see next paragraph).
Obviously it's not done, and I apologize. It's gotten a little crazy
around here. The new semester started, with its usual demands of revised
course materials, new software to learn (Photoshop
6), and new courses
to set up. Then we decided to start a major renovation of our 100-year
old house, meaning lots of phone calls to suppliers, plumbers, and miscellaneous
interested parties. Oh yea, the downstairs heating system decided to
die, too. More phone calls to plumbers. And so on. Not to mention that
the new design has provided its own share of speed bumps and potholes.
I'm cautiously optimistic that it will be online early in February (don't
quote me, though). Thanks for your patience.
and
here's what I was saying in mid-December:
What
you think is what matters...
Eighteen
months ago Interactive Design Forum was launched, about a year
ago it got a new look (the monthly banner graphic), and now I'd sure
like to know how we're doing. YOU are the target audience for this website.
Right
now we're working on a major re-design for the January issue. We'll
be switching to Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to wrangle the typography
into line, and will be experimenting with new ways of both organizing
the information and expressing it via design.
High on
my list is a dynamic format for the four major sections (COMMENT, EDUCATION,
RESOURCES, BEST OF). At the start of each month they will appear in
four equal width columns. As you vote with your mouseclicks throughout
the month, the column widths will be adjusted to reflect the popularity
of each section: continuous feedback.
But that's
just one idea, and maybe not even an important one (just one I like).
If you
have a minute, please send me your
thoughts about Interactive Design Forum. Is it too wordy? the
design too boring? colors yucky? Do you like the type of information?
the writing? What should there be more of? less of?
Here's
what some other visitors had to say:
home
page - there's an awful lot to take in in one go. Designers have the
attention span of goldfish. Maybe a layer whereby you can go in through
what you do / want to do? ... maybe some of the verbal content could
be replaced by graphics? I love the way it's written, by the way,
so many people putting sites together forget about the words! (Lydia
Thornley, London, UK)
I would
suggest grouping the homepage items into larger titling chunks and
making the page therefore more scanable... Perhaps also considering
a way to get things cycled through the homepage (maybe by date?),
but then locatable after they are "fresh" and have disappeared. Overall
I think the idea is a very strong one, however, it feels more literary
than design-driven to me in its current iteration. (Jennifer Kilian,
San Francisco)
Expand
the site's level of sophistication by using graphics in place of verbiage
where possible, early on in the navigation... For a content driven
site, this is a great start and the content is good, but I would like
to be romanced more before I marry it. (Dave Nixon, Kanga Interactive)
overall,
IDF provides great breadth on the design issues that are interesting
to me. perhaps soliciting writing, comment, through weird contests...or
setting up participation of displaying design work (static, or non-static)
and writing using the "And She Told 2 Friends" approach. (Diana
Black, Minnesota)
Project
ideas ...
This
month's addition to our Open Source EDU section was sent in by Diana
Black, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Minnesota State
University, Mankato. She has created three challenging projects for
her Interactive Graphic Design class [in EDUCATION].
Talk
with Chip
If you're
in the Cleveland area between now and Jan. 19, 2001, let me invite you
to meet Chip at the Cleveland State's People's Art Show. Chip is the
life-sized wood sculpture that houses my introspective, interactive
piece Image/Self-image (description
& photos).
The folks
at the CSU Gallery
have hosted this "free, unjuried, uncensored exhibition celebrating
creativity, diversity, and imagination" for 14 years, despite frequent
ridicule and criticism. The quality of the work varies wildly, but it's
always fun to see "art" through the show's unfiltered lens.
This
month's banner graphic
I pretty
much struck out thinking of a clever holiday theme for this month's
banner. Nothing fit. Getting a little desperate, I looked through a
batch of pictures from when I was in Chicago last month for the ACD
Living Surfaces conference. The one
that showed threatening signs ("WARNING" "24 hour video
surveillance" "WE WILL PROSECUTE") struck me as typical
of urban life, not only now, but maybe in general.
It
seems that these signs, aimed at discouraging homeless people from camping
out in dumpsters behind the buildings, are an updated version of the
"No room at the inn" Christmas story I learned growing up
Catholic in the 50s.
For better
or worse, I have little use for organized religion anymore, but I appreciate
the values of love, hospitality and care for others that all religions
seem to have at their core.
That Chicago
alleyway and the little town of Bethlehem have a lot in common.
-
Al Wasco 12/12/00
Tell
a friend or colleague
It's
easy to tell your friends about Interactive Design Forum: send their
email address(es) to feedback@awdsgn.com
and we'll add them to our email
list for a monthly update message.
Or
just click on the Recommend-It icon to generate an automatic email message
right now.
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PREVIOUSLY...
Labcam
goes on (and off) line... Open Source EDU...
[Nov. 2000]
Flash reviewed...
Times Square... Education...
[Oct.
2000]
School's
in... Smackdown scores... give it away...
[Sept. 2000]
Lust objects...
Usability Nazis... Mac vs. Windows Smackdown!
[August 2000]
New magazines...
Fireworks revisited... Director doomed?
[July 2000]
Cancer on
the Web?... Barcelona... New CD-ROMs
[June 2000]
Kent State
remembered... AIGA-Advance...
[May 2000]
Macintosh
myopia... Lab survey... Student web projects...
[Apr. 2000]
Flash animation:
devil or angel?... Mexican graffiti...
[Mar. 2000]
Web usability...
Mexican graveyards... online Valentine cards...
[Feb. 2000]
Yahoo!...
CoolSTOP Award... Multimedia, the Web & CD-ROM...
[Jan. 2000]
Our new look...
Goodbye, AOL... Ideas for critiques...
[Dec. 1999]
What I know
about you... Teaching computer-based media... Nudes in Parma
[Nov. 1999]
Graffiti
& hip-hop... Better critiques... Photoshop 5.5 vs. Fireworks 2
[Oct. 1999]
Swiss
Design Quiz... Barcelona... AIGA / NASAD briefing
paper...
[Sept.
1999]
Upgrade
junkies,
Part 1.
[Aug. 1999]
Report
from International Design Conference at Aspen
[July 1999]
"Interactive
Design" or "New Media?"
[July 1999]
If no author
name is show, article is written by Al Wasco, author of this
website.
©1999, 2000
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the conversation! Please send your comments
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