David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

What do AJAX and Web 2.0 Really Mean for IAs?

David Hellerwww.synapticburn.com

March 2006IA Summit 2006

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Buzz, Hype - So What?

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

How we got here - Web 1.0

• Publishing• Transacting• Communicating• Collaborating

• Documents• Forms• Frames• Thin Client

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

What is Web 2.0?

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

And then there is this …

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

What’s the biggest deal(s)?Primary● Letting it go free

– Access to content and services -- RSS, APIs● Playing with others

– The economy of mediating participation in concert with consumption

Secondary● Shaking up the page

– Desktop metaphors– Cinematic visual behaviors

● Mashing it up

● Systemic Changes to HOW–Offshore–Small team–No designers–Agile–Short turn aroundWhat other qualities do you all think?

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Patterns of Web 2.0● Spaces for collaboration

– Rate– Review– Comment– Tag– Blog– Feed

● Re-mixing & Mashing– Combining different content sources– Letting people use your content source– Enabling content and services to be mixed

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Defining AJAX• Uses technology from the 90’s

• Actually Microsoft DID do something constructive

• Simple Explanation– I can make any part of the browser do an HTML request

– I can retain entire (fairly large) datasets in memory

– I can then act on those datasets

• For the techies– XMLHttpRequest - this is a JavaScript method

– XML - a means of structuring data

– Asynchronous - Well, all the web is asynchronous.

JJ Garrett-Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Just for Fun - Comet

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (LZW) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Alex Russell’s - Coment: Low Latency Data for Browsers - alex.dojotoolkit.org

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Historical Contextthin

thick

mainframe

Client-server

Web 1.0

RIA

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

It used to be about content

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Time is our new constant companion

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Changing our ways● Prototyping vs. Documenting● New patterns for people designing for the web

● Planning to let people control your content

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Changing the Magic

Our primary job is to do what?● Design● Validate● Communicate● Document

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

What happen to our precious page?

“There is no [page].” - Neo

“There is no page; only pathways”-- Emily Chang & Max Kiesler of ideacodes

A page is a metaphor of a moment of uninterrupted context

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

The old page - Orbitz

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

The new page - Paguna

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Wireframes aren’t enough● Time is now our driving axis

– Needs to be explored like other parameters● Meat is in the details

– And the details are behavioral– And compartmental

● (no longer are we purely interested in the whole)● Gotta learn your tech● Breaking down interaction from structure from presentation

● Can’t test for use in the context of time without interaction

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Should everything be a desktop app?● What is a desktop application?

– Responsive– Content creation– Specific metaphors (i.e. WIMP)– Cinematic interaction with animation

● Mac OSX Dock with Genie Animation● What about ubiquitous Web metaphors?

– Back-button– Hyperlink– No windows (?)

● Do we really know what users want?– MS research and Apple designs are really pointing the way

● Progressive Display vs. Everything from Everywhere

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

AJAX Interaction Patterns

● Inline editing● Data set manipulation● In line/in context validation(s)● “instant” query results (version of progressive display)

● Contextual intelligent navigation and information display

● Data display from multiple interacting sources

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Examples from the public Internet

AJAX Examples• Yahoo Maps• Wufoo• Zimbra

Web 2.0 Examples• Frappr.com• Wayfaring• Shadows• Ning

Offline Web 2.0??

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Yahoo Maps Beta

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Yahoo Maps Beta

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Wufoo.com

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

More Wufoo.com

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Zimbra - email+mashing API’s

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Zimbra e-mail client

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.comZimbra email w/ Desktop

Interactions

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Frappr.com - Social Mashing

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Wayfaring.com - mapmashing

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Shadow Pages

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Shadow pages

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Shadow Pages - creating one

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Issues with AJAX & Web2.0● Accessibility● Too open?

– Abuse through all kinds of spam, phishing, etc.– Should all brands be open?– Should all brands promote participation?

● Controlling access? Loosing to our competitors?

● How to differentiate● X-browser concerns● Scalability - too many connections to the server?

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Rules of Design Engagement● Outline your story or choreograph your dance

– Interaction is indeed a play or dance● So many interacting aesthetic elements at play to create a whole

● Keep your developers in the loop during design– I mean it!– Dangerous moment of Serendipity– Scale and performance are key to design success

● This is software– Requires deep dive into pathways

● Exceptions will abound and need to be designed for

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Some take home advice● Don’t require a submit button for single field forms● Be careful of too much interaction inside of a table

– Unexpected & confusing● Control the back button (you can control it)● Dialogs are a powerful tool towards creating contextual modality

– WARNING: this is a desktop app metaphor– Dialog != popup window

● Even if done with a browser window (test for popup-blockers)● DHTML dialogs are very useful indeed

● Imitation is flattery– If you’ve seen it in a desktop app, try it out in your web app.

BE CREATIVE!

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Resources● Ajaxian.comGreat mix of technical insights and survey of examplesmix of contributors

● eHub - http://www.emilychang.com/go/ehub Listing of Web 2.0 apps with interviews of those making themEmily Chang

● Functioning Form - http://functioningform.com/ Insights on design issues about all types of interfaces including those rich and on the Internet.Luke Wroblewski

● Too many others to mention here. My reading list here: http://synapticburn.com/more.php?id=112_0_1_0_M3

Surf or drown!

David Heller

March 2006 IA Summit 2006

synapticburn.com

Thanx … questions?

David Hellerhttp://synapticburn.com/