05
Jan . 2010
The fabulous folks at Environments for Humans are presenting four separate online workshops on January 14-15 topics on some great topics relevant to all web designers and developers: HTML, CSS3, Microformats, and Findability. The Workshop Summit Series lets you build your skill set without having to leave your computer. Each Summit is a virtual conference—all you need is a computer and broadband internet connection to attend. The Workshop Summit Series consists of four three hour sessions spread over two days. Attendees can chat with each other and ask questions of the presenters throughout the day.
Here’s who will be speaking:
Want to attend all of these workshops for free? Simply tweet the following message by noon (ET/-5 GMT) Jan 13 for your chance to win a free pass (that’s a $749.00 value in case you’re counting):
Get 10% off HTML5, CSS3, Microformats, and Findability online workshops with discount code WKSHOPAARRONW http://ow.ly/T1xh /via @aarron
I will announce the winner on Twitter on January 13. Follow @aarron to see if you won.
19
Jan . 2009
2009 is shaping up to be a busy year for me. I’m going to be speaking at a number of conferences around the United States, and I hope to meet you at one of them to share a beer and conversation about our craft.
Here’s where I’ll be speaking:
February 3, 2009: Web Directions North at Denver, CO
Ed Directions, a highly focused, in depth whole day symposium aims to address the challenges of educating web professionals, by helping teachers, trainers, course and curriculum developers, and others in the education field keep abreast with the latest developments in standards and best practice, and to develop and deliver the best possible curricula and courses.
March 16th, 2009: No Web Professional Left Behind at SxSW Interactive
Far too often, students aspiring to be web professionals leave school with a degree yet without adequate training to prepare them for the real world. The Web Standards Project (WaSP) announces a living curriculum to help schools, colleges and universities bridge the gap between educators and industry best practices.
May 5th, 2009: Findability Bliss Through Web Standards at An Event Apart Seattle
Connecting with your audience is objective number one for any website. Findability—the discipline of helping users discover the content they seek—not only helps businesses get their message out, but it improves the user experience, too. The secret to attaining findability bliss, both with search engines and beyond, lies in the wisdom of web standards.
June 23th, 2009: Findability Bliss Through Web Standards at An Event Apart Boston
Connecting with your audience is objective number one for any website. Findability—the discipline of helping users discover the content they seek—not only helps businesses get their message out, but it improves the user experience, too. The secret to attaining findability bliss, both with search engines and beyond, lies in the wisdom of web standards.
28
Jul . 2008
When I was researching my book, I asked a group of my students at The Art Institute of Atlanta what sorts of content they’d hope to find in a book exploring findability and SEO through web standards. Thinking like students with limited time to work on their projects, they all agreed that “the book should include coverage of what needs to be prioritized, and what can be done later if you run out of time”. Brilliant idea! I never would have thought of that. Well it’s covered in chapter 9 thanks to them.
As I was running through my table of contents with them, they pointed out that it’s all useful info, but it would be nice if there were a quick reference that you could just print out and keep nearby as you start new projects. That way you don’t miss any of the important stuff you should be doing to make your site findable.
I’ve created what I think is a pretty comprehensive findability strategy cheat sheet that will guide you through all of the stuff you should be doing when creating new websites or even redesign existing ones. All of the advice follows industry best practices and web standards, and have references to the places in my book or in the 5 free online chapters where you’ll find detailed explanation and examples of how to do this stuff.
I hope you find it useful!
download free findability strategy cheatsheet [PDF 200k]
13
Jul . 2008
User Experience Designer Robert Hoekman Jr has written a pair of wonderfully lucid books that examine best practices in interaction design. In Designing the Obvious, and Designing the Moment, Hoekman extolls the virtues of understanding specific user tasks rather than generalized user personas. It’s easiest to design usable interfaces when the activity it serves is clearly understood.
Read on »
27
Mar . 2008
A List Apart recently published an article I wrote entitled Findability, the Orphan of the Web Design Industry. It’s a story of a sadly neglected little boy named Findability whose siblings―Information Architecture, Usability, Project Management, Design, and Development― all garner ample attention from folks in a web design agency while he remains unnoticed despite his essential role to the success of all projects.
Read on »
