Running The Ladder is the company blog of Bainbridge Studios, a tiny runt of a design practice based in lovely Tacoma, WA.
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20 Must Have WordPress Plugins For Every Website
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 | Tom Carmony
Carsonified’s Think Vitamin blog has a great rundown of some of the most useful plugins for the WordPress content management system. Some of these are well-known, others are more obscure, but every one is worth checking out.
20 Must Have WordPress Plugins For Every Website »
First Impressions of Wired’s iPad App
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 | Tom Carmony
Wired’s new iPad version (iTunes Link) of the magazine has finally hit the iTunes Store, beginning with the current June issue. Macworld has a good rundown of the basics here. As a subscriber to the print edition, I was particularly curious to see how the content was translated to the new tablet medium.
To date, most magazine-to-iPad transitions have been pretty underwhelming. Popular Science made a splash at launch with their highly interactive edition, and Time magazine’s effort has been generally well received (save for the annoyance of each issue being packaged as an individual app — particularly egregious for a weekly publication). Most other attempts at iPad magazine publication has honestly been nothing more than PDF viewers. Dwell (iTunes Link), Zinio, and other apps are fine as simple direct ports of the publications, but they bring absolutely nothing new to the table. It’s akin to watching a VHS tape on a HDTV.
Overall, I really like what Wired’s done here with the iPad edition. Their format seems to share a lot in common with Time’s, in that both strike a nice balance of some of the best aspects of what print offers for copy and image presentation, while slickly working in expanded multimedia content for many of the featured pieces, including audio, video, image galleries, and more.
The current issue features a great (albeit too brief) piece on Pixar, focusing on their design/development process for each film, and includes a neat walkthrough of the work involved in developing a single scene. This is well done, even in the print edition, but the iPad version is able to offer the added feature of actually showing you the finished scene. Yes, it’s a bit of a no-brainer, but it’s still a new feature for a new medium very much in its infancy. And it’s really well integrated.
Some of the advertisers are getting in on the interactivity as well. While this first issue features plenty of static display ads (ported over directly from the print version), a few others do stand out. Cameron Moll mentioned one in particular, and posted a quick video of the ad in action.
I’d gladly jettison the print edition (and feel better about the environmental benefits of utilizing less print) if it wasn’t for one factor — price. When I can get the print edition sent to my door for $20 (or often less, depending on special subscription offers), there’s just no way I’m going to pay 3x that ($5 per issue) for each month’s Wired. I understand $5 as a single issue price (comparable to the existing newsstand price for the print version), but publishers need to move quickly toward a subscription model for this content.
Whether that’s achieved via the iTunes Season Pass model, or through in-app purchases, I don’t really know or particularly care. But my hunch is that there will be few people who are going to buy more than an occasional issue at this price. Sure, the first issue will probably do well, as folks check out the new format and buy it for the shear novelty of it (it is a great demo for folks new to the iPad).
But that novelty won’t last for long at $60 per year.
Wired Magazine iPad App (iTunes Link)
Quick and Dirty Remote User Testing
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 | Tom Carmony
It’s often overlooked, particularly on small-scale projects, but even the most basic user testing can provide a wealth of invaluable information for both designers and clients. We all think we know and understand how our users will interact with a product or feature, but until you sit down and spend some time observing real people in real interactions with your site or web app, you’re probably greatly overestimating its ease of use and underestimating potential sticking points for the end user.
Nate Bolt discusses a range of easy-to-implement user testing options in the latest issue of A List Apart. There’s lots of great information crammed into his piece, both on tools we’re already familiar with (e.g., Silverback, CrazyEgg) and a host of alternatives. It’s definitely worth checking out.
Quick and Dirty Remote User Testing (via A List Apart)
Handy Code Snippets for Web Designers/Developers
Monday, July 27th, 2009 | Tom Carmony
Antonio Lupetti, via his excellent web design/development site Woork, has posted a handy round-up of HTML/CSS/Javascript code snippets. For users of Panic’s Coda development app on the Mac, these items should definitely be added to your Clips library.
10 Useful Code Snippets for Web Developers (via Woork)
Ski Lodge is an Ideal Example of a Top Notch iPhone User Interface
Friday, December 12th, 2008 | Tom Carmony
Since it’s introduction this past summer, the iTunes App Store has exploded with content, as thousands of applications across a range of categories vie for users’ attention and dollars. One of the toughest tasks for the consumer is separating the wheat from the chaff; identifying high quality mobile applications that provide value for their dollar.
There are different ways an application can stand out from the crowd. Word-of-mouth certainly plays a huge part. So to, for the lucky few recipients, does ending up as a featured app within iTunes or on the Apple website.
One other distinguishing characteristic is design. Specifically, user interface design. Currently, the App Store doesn’t allow for any means of demo or trial downloads of applications, so in many cases, one of the only pieces of information the user has is screenshots of the app in action (along with the much maligned user reviews).
The most recent iPhone app that’s really grabbed my attention, based solely on its UI, is David Watanabe‘s new Ski Lodge. Ski Lodge is an app that gives you access to information and current conditions at hundreds of ski resorts throughout North America. And it does so with an absolutely beautiful user interface.
I haven’t skied in more than a decade (though we’ve got some great runs within an hour’s drive of Seattle), but I’ve downloaded the app anyway. Why? Because gorgeous, functional apps like Ski Lodge are exactly what the iPhone platform is all about. Sure, there are a probably other ski information applications available for mobile phones, but Ski Lodge gets it right. It’s not just about the information; it’s about presenting the information in a novel, fun, engaging way that feels like a natural part of the whole iPhone experience.
Ski Lodge Website | iTunes Link