Discussion Archive: April 2008

Designing for Specific Audiences- in this caseFinance

Paige-
The one thing I have noticed in designing productivity and decision support software for financial folks (specifically bond fund managers and traders) is that they can manage a staggering amount of information all at once. In fact, the reason I was brought on to that project (replacing a more dogmatic colleague) is because I was willing to increase the information density to an almost absurd level...imagine a color-coded dahsboard with almost no whitespace and 8-point fonts! The key was, they LOVED it.

how to position a new "beta" feature -- examples?

I imagine this might be a tough one, but you IxDAers never fail me, so
here goes.

Can anyone think of any sites that are currently offering two versions
of a particular *feature*, classic and beta?

To be clear, I'm NOT looking for:
- brand new sites that are still in beta testing mode
- existing sites that have an entire beta replacement site to try out
(e.g. Gmail's Older Version / Newer Version)

Instead I'm looking for sites that have, say, two different searches
available - their old search, and a new search that they're testing.

Direct manipulation and personalized homepage

Hi all,

I am interested in receiving any feedback on designing interactions for
personalized homepages (based on direct-manipulation).
Anyone involved on this kind of design project or involved in usability
testing ?

Force Sensing Interaction Paradigms

I haven't been on the list in awhile but it doesn't look like anyone has
posted this.

Microsoft researchers built a prototype exploring force sensing technology
for mobile devices that lacked keyboards and had standard, rigid, components
that resist form articulation. This brings it more into the realm of
practicality, as many companies are not going to develop more pliable
casings (and thus more haptic feedback) due to manufacturing and materials
cost.

They hacked a Samsung Q1 UMPC with the standard Phidget analog kit.