I am not a designer and I could not design images and a color scheme for a website to save my life.  However, the most beautiful website with vivid, popping imagery and a great color scheme does not always mean that the website has good usability.  In this article I am going to talk about User Interface Design – but I will not be referring to the design aspect of colors and images, rather, design in the terms of usability, or the user’s ability and desire to use your software.

Usability is the difference between good and great software (using the term software generally for both desktop applications and websites).  While there are technical, financial, project management, and other factors that can affect software project success, usability is ultimately what can make a software project succeed or fail.  This is an no-brainer but low usability = low use.  How the users perceives the software in terms of how they like the software, how it makes them feel, and if it makes their job easier or harder to perform, affect the user’s willingness to use the software.

The Simplicity Factor
How is it that simple and sometimes plain or even ugly websites become the most widely used and most profitable?  Take Google, eBay, Amazon, YouTube, and MySpace for example.  While largely lackluster in design, all of these websites are very simple to use and push function over design.  These sites are so simple to use that anybody can use them and as it turns out, everyone does use them.  Enough said.

Task Based Interface
What is the user actually trying to accomplish?  Putting all of the options in front of the user at one time, on one screen is way too confusing.  Highly usable interfaces should focus on one task at a time and guide users through that task.  Ask the following two questions:

• “What content is the user expecting to see while performing this task?”
• “What actions will the user expect to do while on this task?”

Draw the user’s attention to information and options by using subtle styling clues such as layout & grouping, light background colors, thin borders, etc.  If more information is needed from the user to complete a task, show a dialog to gather more precise information rather than cluttering one screen with all options available.  Use tips, tool-tips, or inline-callouts for a call to action.  For example, showing an inline tip or callout when the user is creating a password is much more informative than having a user type in their password twice, and then hit the submit button only to learn that the password that they entered was too short.  Inline tips that appear when needed can explain why information is needed, how to enter the information, and ultimately help the user instantly know what is expected of them so they do not have to resort to help documents, use the Contact Us link, or leave your website in frustration.

A Rockin’ Interface
Fortunately for you, at Rockfish our passion encompasses design, usability, and functionality which you will find in all of our products.  Usability is engrained in our company, from sending large e-mail attachments via filesend.us, to delivering content to your website via our advanced Content Management System.  Simply put, our interfaces rock!

Press F1 for Help…
Finding the answer in a sea of solutions.

For me RTFM* is not my SOP**.
I’m your typical guy… “I don’t need no stinking manual” and I don’t particularly care for the F1 key either, it’s a waste of my keyboard real estate.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against a “good” manual. However a lot of technical books are filled with tons of regurgitated verbiage and very little real world examples. Same goes for “online help” and the MSDN library. These methods of help are fine to get you started and headed into the right direction, provided you’ve got time to research them.

As for the rest of us… those of us who work on a deadline, those sifting through the muck searching for that small chunk of useful code that will bring our stress level back down into the black... there’s a better solution. It’s called “Social Networking”.  No I’m not talking about your buddy's MySpace page. I’m referring to online communities of people who share the same interests.  Sites like The Code Project and DevX .NET Zone.

Community based sites are driven by its users. These types of sites provide a wealth of real world examples, examples you will not find in any book. They provide forum for discussion, collaboration, and it’s users are not afraid to let you know that “dude, this code sucks” .

Honestly, how many times have you been knee deep in Google results only to find the solution sitting right there on The Code Project the whole time? It’s happened to me on many occasions. Often enough that I make many of these sites my first line of search. I subscribe to their RSS feeds, I engage in online discussion, and even giving back by uploading my own solutions to problems that plagued myself.

These sites were developed by people like you and me who are sick and tired of sifting through the muck. And believe me, we can all use a little less muck and a lot more solutions.


* Read the <Expletive> Manual
 ** Standard Operating Procedure

I'm not here to debate how Firefox dominates Internet Explorer or vice versa. No I'm here to talk about the silent battle we as web developers face each day as we strive "to make this look easy".

To put it simple… developing for the web is like dating multiple people at the same time and trying to please them all.  Anyone who develops applications for the web knows immediately what I am talking about. Those who do not… well this post is for you!

Nothing breaks our workspace silence like "what in the @!&$"... this sound usually means one of two things.  My frogs are barking again (yes I have a frog terrarium behind my desk)... or someone just pulled up their beautiful design in (insert your favorite browser here) and it looks like total crud.  Ah yes, what looks great in one browser will almost always look slightly different in another.

So how do we as developers deal with this? Well, while we try to make it look easy... truth is, that is not always the case. All of our developers have a minimum of 3 browsers installed on their computers with another 3 installed on test machines just down the hall.  So that's a minimum of 6 browsers to test on for those of you that were not counting.

I'll summarize:
• Internet Explorer 6
• Internet Explorer 7
• Firefox for Windows
• Firefox for Mac
• Safari for Windows
• Safari for Mac
• I'll throw in Opera just for fun (and a laugh)

Now you would at least think things would remain consistent between OS versions right? Not always the case.  So what do we do? Well since we can't force the general public to switch to Firefox (as much as I would like to) we TEST, TEST, and TEST again. Then test some more.

As we strive to maintain a perfect balance of "Production vs. Perfection", exceptions will always be there to bite you. Web technology is constantly changing and we as developers remain in a perpetual learning process.

So as you leave from work at 5:00 to head home to your family, just remember... there's a nerd out there banging his head on his keyboard all night, just to make your website look great.

Over the next couple of months I will be taking an in depth look at the next generation of web applications, Rich Internet Applications (RIAs). Web technology is rapidly changing to support many of the programming techniques and languages used to create an RIA and all the major players have a hand in it. The widespread adoption of AJAX and Adobe’s Flash has paved the way for the future of the Web and it is going to be one heck of a ride.

For those of you not familiar with RIAs let’s start off defining them. Wikipedia defines RIAs as web applications that have features and functionality similar to traditional desktop applications. RIAs typically transfer the necessary processing for the user interface (UI) to the web client but keep the bulk of the data back on the application server.

This isn’t a glorious definition as it does not mean much to anyone other than resident computer nerd sitting in his basement right now trying to hack the CIAs central database. There is actually much more to RIAs as they come in many shapes and forms and have many benefits to users. They range from simple websites that have incorporated AJAX eliminating page refreshes to complex applications deployed to users’ desktops whose primary data storage and processing occurs over the Web.

OK, I know what you are saying. Enough talking man!! Give me some examples!! Well, if you are talking about the internet then you have to talk Google. Some great examples of RIAs are Google’s Docs, Spreadsheets, and Gmail. These applications perform in nearly the exact same fashion as the traditional Microsoft Office desktop applications Word, Excel, and Outlook.

Here at Rockfish we are incorporating many of these technologies to produce applications for our clients as well as ourselves. If you have some time you should check out Fourthbook.com and Filesend.us.

Now that I have wet your appetite a little, I hope you will check back soon to read more about RIAs. In my next entry I will outline many of the emerging and existing technologies that are being utilized to create this breed of more engaging, user-centric, and responsive Web applications. This isn’t your parents Web anymore!

Rockfish Interactive announced today the release of Fourthbook.com. 

Fourthbook.com is 100% web-based Church Management Software. It is designed to be very easy to use and can be accessed anywhere via the Internet. 

Since launching less than a year ago, more than 200 churches of all sizes have signed up to use Fourthbook.com. Encouraged by its rapid growth, Rockfish Interactive decided to significantly upgrade the existing functionality and add many new social networking features.

Fourthbook.com is an example of our commitment to provide innovative and creative solutions that solve problems and improve efficiencies!  As a product developed and managed by Rockfish Interactive, we continue to strive to strategically help our clients use the Internet as a means to grow their business. 

Click here to visit Fourthbook.com.