Why a device that can auto detect what you eat and drink could be the most important consumer electronic device of our time
Posted on 1st February 2012 in Future of technology
Image a world where you could wear a device that could automatically track everything you consume and report on it’s nutritional value.
Scrolling is not the root of all evil and there is no such thing as “the fold”
Posted on 2nd December 2011 in Interface Design & User Experience
I have never once sat observing a user during any usability testing and seen them give up the task in hand because they had to scroll a page. They may have not been able to find what they were looking for, or they may have not understood what to do next, but not once have they not known how to scroll.
Native mobile apps and mobile optimised web apps are not mutually exclusive, you can have both.
Posted on 8th November 2011 in Business
When thinking about how to support mobile, instead of thinking about having to choose from one option or another, think about building your mobile strategy around a number of different degrees of support; with browser based access the bare minimum basic level, mobile optimised support as one level up and native applications as the ultimate, highest level of support possible.
Could audio QR codes help unsigned musicians find their audience
Posted on 31st October 2011 in Future of technology
What if as an artist you could upload an album, song, music video or even other promotional material to a website and then during your gig audience members who like a song you’re playing could access that content on their smart phones?
User Experience design is not User Interface design and neither is an optional extra in product development
Posted on 25th October 2011 in Business & Interface Design & User Experience
User experience design and interface design are not one in the same and neither should, or can successfully, just be added at the end of a product’s development as the “polish on top”
Contractor tip: Use Highrise to manage recruiter contact
Posted on 10th October 2011 in Business
Since setting myself up as a contractor just over a year and a half ago I’ve been contacted by a lot of recruiters. Some good, some bad, some terrible. I needed a way of keeping track of who was who and Highrise was the answer.
Interface design – Simple vs. Sparse
Posted on 30th September 2011 in Interface Design
In days gone by I’d get requests like “make it like Amazon / Google / Ebay / insert-poster-boy-application-of-the-day-here”
The most common request I get for now from all clients is: “Make it simple” (often followed by; “like Apple do“).
The death of the web app? I don’t think so
Posted on 19th August 2011 in Future of technology
Some predict the death of the web app citing native apps as the future. I say total rubbish. The future is an always on, always synced utopia where there is no longer any difference between a web app and a native local app. They are just apps. Apps that let you do whatever you want whenever you want on ANY device.
Don’t aim to fail fast aim to learn and adapt fast
Posted on 19th July 2011 in Business
Don’t aim to fail, aim to learn what works and what doesn’t and adapt.
Virgin Media – How 1 misleading web page led to a bad Customer Experience
Posted on 15th July 2011 in Business & User Experience
If you want your customers to trust you and, more importantly, stick with you when times are tough you must be open, honest and responsive when things go wrong. And you must also never raise expectations beyond what can be delivered. A lesson Virgin Media need to learn
Notes from MC ThinkCamp – mHealth June 3 2011
Posted on 6th July 2011 in Future of technology
The following are the notes that I took at The Mobile Collective’s thinkcamp mhealth on Friday 3 June this year. They are a collection of thoughts and questions that were sparked by the discussions and presentations that were given and by some of the conversations that I had with folk over the course of the day. I’m sharing them here as a reference for myself and those who attended. If anyone else who was there has shared their notes from the day, let me know and I’ll update this post to link to them.
A few words on the redesign / realignment of JMCQUARRIE.co.uk
Posted on 29th June 2011 in Business & Interface Design
Those of you who follow me on twitter (@jmcquarrie) will know that I revealed a new design here at jmcquarrie.co.uk this week.
The update was much needed and incorporates a number of changes that I’ve been meaning to make since I launched the last version of the site just over a year ago.
Reeder – My new favourite app
Posted on 3rd February 2011 in Interface Design
Reeder is what Google Reader should have been.
Why growing your development team lowers their productivity
Posted on 2nd February 2011 in Code
Time and time again I have worked with clients, managers and consulting teams who have believed that by adding more developers to a development team they will make that team more productive. Here’s why that is not the case…
Latest client work – The CV Nurse
Posted on 4th November 2010 in Code & Interface Design & User Experience
Let the CV Nurse tend to your CV and help you land your dream job
Blending online and offline: ASDA take a step in the right direction
Posted on 6th September 2010 in Business & User Experience
A follow up to my “How supermarkets could blend the online and the offline Worlds to make customers more loyal” article
New web site Consultive Magazine launched
Posted on 2nd August 2010 in Business
A brand new online publication Consultive Magazine launched today
How supermarkets could blend the online and the off line Worlds to make customers more loyal
Posted on 20th July 2010 in Business & User Experience
Providing online spend analysis for customers who shop with a loyalty card could help supermarkets keep customers coming back for more on and offline
Three reasons why Enterprise software, as a rule, offers such a poor User Experience
Posted on 5th July 2010 in Business & User Experience
1) The people who buy the software are not the end users. 2) Software designed to do everything for everyone will not be very good at any one thing. 3) It is really hard to define a great user experience, or prove that a system offers one
Why you need to offer a great User Experience as a cloud computing organisation
Posted on 27th June 2010 in Business & User Experience
As more and more organisations start offering their software using a cloud computing model the user experience of their offerings become more and more critical to the success of attracting and retaining customers.
As of today I’m a freelance web consultant, designer and developer for hire
Posted on 22nd June 2010 in Business & Interface Design & User Experience
Welcome to the official website of JMcQuarrie Ltd
HTML tables: Not totally bad. Part three: Putting tables into practise
Posted on 24th January 2008 in Code & Interface Design
The third and final installment of a series of posts about HTML tables
HTML tables: Not totally bad. Part two: An introduction to the table element and its associates
Posted on 20th December 2007 in Code & Interface Design
Part two of a three part series
HTML tables: Not totally bad. Part one: HTML tables are not the root of all evil
Posted on 13th December 2007 in Code & Interface Design
Lets talk about HTML tables properly
How card counting could make content personalisation possible
Posted on 6th December 2007 in Business
Content personalisation is the Holy-Grail of web design, could card counting be the answer?
One reason why cross browser compatability is a business issue
Posted on 29th November 2007 in Business
Building your application for one browser is always a business issue
Where then what vs. What then where
Posted on 22nd November 2007 in Interface Design
Which is the better model for Information Architecture?
The results – Your experiences of online shopping poll
Posted on 15th November 2007 in Business
Online shopping survey results
Online shopping. What’s your experience?
Posted on 8th November 2007 in Business
Online shopping survey
Sometimes trees grow sideways
Posted on 1st November 2007 in Business & Interface Design
Do you browse left to right or up and down?
Top web tools and resources that no web designer (or developer) should live without
Posted on 25th October 2007 in Interface Design
From browser plugins to image generators
CSS tip:- Using whitespace: nowrap and line-height on horizontal lists to stop splintering and overlapping
Posted on 18th October 2007 in Code & Interface Design
Two CSS tricks to make horizontal lists look better
10 point Design Manifesto – "my top 10 web design principles"
Posted on 11th October 2007 in Business & User Experience
10 principles for designing better websites
Aligning systems development with company strategy
Posted on 4th October 2007 in Business
What you design and build should align with where you’re going as an organisation
5 simple ways to make your mark up more manageable
Posted on 20th September 2007 in Code & Interface Design
HTML & CSS coding tricks that can save you and your team time
With the advent of Google earth and Google maps, a new dawn in advertising was quietly ushered in.
Posted on 13th September 2007 in Business
As advertisers realise this they will cotton on to a, as yet relatively untapped, marketing platform; roofs.
Introducing the "FAVE" pattern for web application administration functionality
Posted on 6th September 2007 in Interface Design
Find, Add, View, Edit
Designing and building User Experiences for web applications is very much like designing and building special effects for movies; in both cases you know you’ve been truly successful when no one notices what you did.
Posted on 30th August 2007 in User Experience
What you can learn from the special effects in Forest Gump
Documenting the design of a web application -Part three: Using "Page state" diagrams to illustrate dynamic interaction
Posted on 23rd August 2007 in Business
Part three of a three part series
Documenting the design of a web application -Part two: Using static HTML mock up screens to document the User Interface and show the User Experience
Posted on 16th August 2007 in Interface Design
Part two of a three part series
Documenting the design of a web application -Part one: Using Garrett’s Visual Vocabulary to document the Information Architecture
Posted on 9th August 2007 in Interface Design
For the past two and a half years I have been working in the world of User Experience and web interface design.
Could Social Networking be the answer (or at least part of it) to the Knowledge Management problem? (UPDATED 22 Aug 2007)
Posted on 2nd August 2007 in Business
For years organisation’s have struggled to realise the potential of their collective knowledge because they have no way of collecting or sharing it. Could Social Networking be the answer?
Welcome
Posted on 27th July 2007 in Business
I started building websites way back in late 2000, having read my way through the book “Learn HTML in a weekend”. It got me hooked, and I’ve been involved in designing, developing and maintaining websites in some form or another ever since.
Why a device that can auto detect what you eat and drink could be the most important consumer electronic device of our time
Posted on 1st February 2012 in Future of technology
Image a world where you could wear a device that could automatically track everything you consume and report on it’s nutritional value.
Scrolling is not the root of all evil and there is no such thing as “the fold”
Posted on 2nd December 2011 in Interface Design & User Experience
I have never once sat observing a user during any usability testing and seen them give up the task in hand because they had to scroll a page. They may have not been able to find what they were looking for, or they may have not understood what to do next, but not once have they not known how to scroll.
Native mobile apps and mobile optimised web apps are not mutually exclusive, you can have both.
Posted on 8th November 2011 in Business
When thinking about how to support mobile, instead of thinking about having to choose from one option or another, think about building your mobile strategy around a number of different degrees of support; with browser based access the bare minimum basic level, mobile optimised support as one level up and native applications as the ultimate, highest level of support possible.
Could audio QR codes help unsigned musicians find their audience
Posted on 31st October 2011 in Future of technology
What if as an artist you could upload an album, song, music video or even other promotional material to a website and then during your gig audience members who like a song you’re playing could access that content on their smart phones?
User Experience design is not User Interface design and neither is an optional extra in product development
Posted on 25th October 2011 in Business & Interface Design & User Experience
User experience design and interface design are not one in the same and neither should, or can successfully, just be added at the end of a product’s development as the “polish on top”
Contractor tip: Use Highrise to manage recruiter contact
Posted on 10th October 2011 in Business
Since setting myself up as a contractor just over a year and a half ago I’ve been contacted by a lot of recruiters. Some good, some bad, some terrible. I needed a way of keeping track of who was who and Highrise was the answer.
Interface design – Simple vs. Sparse
Posted on 30th September 2011 in Interface Design
In days gone by I’d get requests like “make it like Amazon / Google / Ebay / insert-poster-boy-application-of-the-day-here”
The most common request I get for now from all clients is: “Make it simple” (often followed by; “like Apple do“).
The death of the web app? I don’t think so
Posted on 19th August 2011 in Future of technology
Some predict the death of the web app citing native apps as the future. I say total rubbish. The future is an always on, always synced utopia where there is no longer any difference between a web app and a native local app. They are just apps. Apps that let you do whatever you want whenever you want on ANY device.
Don’t aim to fail fast aim to learn and adapt fast
Posted on 19th July 2011 in Business
Don’t aim to fail, aim to learn what works and what doesn’t and adapt.
Virgin Media – How 1 misleading web page led to a bad Customer Experience
Posted on 15th July 2011 in Business & User Experience
If you want your customers to trust you and, more importantly, stick with you when times are tough you must be open, honest and responsive when things go wrong. And you must also never raise expectations beyond what can be delivered. A lesson Virgin Media need to learn
Notes from MC ThinkCamp – mHealth June 3 2011
Posted on 6th July 2011 in Future of technology
The following are the notes that I took at The Mobile Collective’s thinkcamp mhealth on Friday 3 June this year. They are a collection of thoughts and questions that were sparked by the discussions and presentations that were given and by some of the conversations that I had with folk over the course of the day. I’m sharing them here as a reference for myself and those who attended. If anyone else who was there has shared their notes from the day, let me know and I’ll update this post to link to them.
A few words on the redesign / realignment of JMCQUARRIE.co.uk
Posted on 29th June 2011 in Business & Interface Design
Those of you who follow me on twitter (@jmcquarrie) will know that I revealed a new design here at jmcquarrie.co.uk this week.
The update was much needed and incorporates a number of changes that I’ve been meaning to make since I launched the last version of the site just over a year ago.
Reeder – My new favourite app
Posted on 3rd February 2011 in Interface Design
Reeder is what Google Reader should have been.
Why growing your development team lowers their productivity
Posted on 2nd February 2011 in Code
Time and time again I have worked with clients, managers and consulting teams who have believed that by adding more developers to a development team they will make that team more productive. Here’s why that is not the case…
Latest client work – The CV Nurse
Posted on 4th November 2010 in Code & Interface Design & User Experience
Let the CV Nurse tend to your CV and help you land your dream job
Blending online and offline: ASDA take a step in the right direction
Posted on 6th September 2010 in Business & User Experience
A follow up to my “How supermarkets could blend the online and the offline Worlds to make customers more loyal” article
New web site Consultive Magazine launched
Posted on 2nd August 2010 in Business
A brand new online publication Consultive Magazine launched today
How supermarkets could blend the online and the off line Worlds to make customers more loyal
Posted on 20th July 2010 in Business & User Experience
Providing online spend analysis for customers who shop with a loyalty card could help supermarkets keep customers coming back for more on and offline
Three reasons why Enterprise software, as a rule, offers such a poor User Experience
Posted on 5th July 2010 in Business & User Experience
1) The people who buy the software are not the end users. 2) Software designed to do everything for everyone will not be very good at any one thing. 3) It is really hard to define a great user experience, or prove that a system offers one
Why you need to offer a great User Experience as a cloud computing organisation
Posted on 27th June 2010 in Business & User Experience
As more and more organisations start offering their software using a cloud computing model the user experience of their offerings become more and more critical to the success of attracting and retaining customers.
As of today I’m a freelance web consultant, designer and developer for hire
Posted on 22nd June 2010 in Business & Interface Design & User Experience
Welcome to the official website of JMcQuarrie Ltd
HTML tables: Not totally bad. Part three: Putting tables into practise
Posted on 24th January 2008 in Code & Interface Design
The third and final installment of a series of posts about HTML tables
HTML tables: Not totally bad. Part two: An introduction to the table element and its associates
Posted on 20th December 2007 in Code & Interface Design
Part two of a three part series
HTML tables: Not totally bad. Part one: HTML tables are not the root of all evil
Posted on 13th December 2007 in Code & Interface Design
Lets talk about HTML tables properly
How card counting could make content personalisation possible
Posted on 6th December 2007 in Business
Content personalisation is the Holy-Grail of web design, could card counting be the answer?
One reason why cross browser compatability is a business issue
Posted on 29th November 2007 in Business
Building your application for one browser is always a business issue
Where then what vs. What then where
Posted on 22nd November 2007 in Interface Design
Which is the better model for Information Architecture?
The results – Your experiences of online shopping poll
Posted on 15th November 2007 in Business
Online shopping survey results
Online shopping. What’s your experience?
Posted on 8th November 2007 in Business
Online shopping survey
Sometimes trees grow sideways
Posted on 1st November 2007 in Business & Interface Design
Do you browse left to right or up and down?
Top web tools and resources that no web designer (or developer) should live without
Posted on 25th October 2007 in Interface Design
From browser plugins to image generators
CSS tip:- Using whitespace: nowrap and line-height on horizontal lists to stop splintering and overlapping
Posted on 18th October 2007 in Code & Interface Design
Two CSS tricks to make horizontal lists look better
10 point Design Manifesto – "my top 10 web design principles"
Posted on 11th October 2007 in Business & User Experience
10 principles for designing better websites
Aligning systems development with company strategy
Posted on 4th October 2007 in Business
What you design and build should align with where you’re going as an organisation
5 simple ways to make your mark up more manageable
Posted on 20th September 2007 in Code & Interface Design
HTML & CSS coding tricks that can save you and your team time
With the advent of Google earth and Google maps, a new dawn in advertising was quietly ushered in.
Posted on 13th September 2007 in Business
As advertisers realise this they will cotton on to a, as yet relatively untapped, marketing platform; roofs.
Introducing the "FAVE" pattern for web application administration functionality
Posted on 6th September 2007 in Interface Design
Find, Add, View, Edit
Designing and building User Experiences for web applications is very much like designing and building special effects for movies; in both cases you know you’ve been truly successful when no one notices what you did.
Posted on 30th August 2007 in User Experience
What you can learn from the special effects in Forest Gump
Documenting the design of a web application -Part three: Using "Page state" diagrams to illustrate dynamic interaction
Posted on 23rd August 2007 in Business
Part three of a three part series
Documenting the design of a web application -Part two: Using static HTML mock up screens to document the User Interface and show the User Experience
Posted on 16th August 2007 in Interface Design
Part two of a three part series
Documenting the design of a web application -Part one: Using Garrett’s Visual Vocabulary to document the Information Architecture
Posted on 9th August 2007 in Interface Design
For the past two and a half years I have been working in the world of User Experience and web interface design.
Could Social Networking be the answer (or at least part of it) to the Knowledge Management problem? (UPDATED 22 Aug 2007)
Posted on 2nd August 2007 in Business
For years organisation’s have struggled to realise the potential of their collective knowledge because they have no way of collecting or sharing it. Could Social Networking be the answer?
Welcome
Posted on 27th July 2007 in Business
I started building websites way back in late 2000, having read my way through the book “Learn HTML in a weekend”. It got me hooked, and I’ve been involved in designing, developing and maintaining websites in some form or another ever since.
Why a device that can auto detect what you eat and drink could be the most important consumer electronic device of our time
Posted on 1st February 2012 in Future of technology
Image a world where you could wear a device that could automatically track everything you consume and report on it’s nutritional value.
Scrolling is not the root of all evil and there is no such thing as “the fold”
Posted on 2nd December 2011 in Interface Design & User Experience
I have never once sat observing a user during any usability testing and seen them give up the task in hand because they had to scroll a page. They may have not been able to find what they were looking for, or they may have not understood what to do next, but not once have they not known how to scroll.
Native mobile apps and mobile optimised web apps are not mutually exclusive, you can have both.
Posted on 8th November 2011 in Business
When thinking about how to support mobile, instead of thinking about having to choose from one option or another, think about building your mobile strategy around a number of different degrees of support; with browser based access the bare minimum basic level, mobile optimised support as one level up and native applications as the ultimate, highest level of support possible.
Could audio QR codes help unsigned musicians find their audience
Posted on 31st October 2011 in Future of technology
What if as an artist you could upload an album, song, music video or even other promotional material to a website and then during your gig audience members who like a song you’re playing could access that content on their smart phones?
User Experience design is not User Interface design and neither is an optional extra in product development
Posted on 25th October 2011 in Business & Interface Design & User Experience
User experience design and interface design are not one in the same and neither should, or can successfully, just be added at the end of a product’s development as the “polish on top”
Contractor tip: Use Highrise to manage recruiter contact
Posted on 10th October 2011 in Business
Since setting myself up as a contractor just over a year and a half ago I’ve been contacted by a lot of recruiters. Some good, some bad, some terrible. I needed a way of keeping track of who was who and Highrise was the answer.
Interface design – Simple vs. Sparse
Posted on 30th September 2011 in Interface Design
In days gone by I’d get requests like “make it like Amazon / Google / Ebay / insert-poster-boy-application-of-the-day-here”
The most common request I get for now from all clients is: “Make it simple” (often followed by; “like Apple do“).
The death of the web app? I don’t think so
Posted on 19th August 2011 in Future of technology
Some predict the death of the web app citing native apps as the future. I say total rubbish. The future is an always on, always synced utopia where there is no longer any difference between a web app and a native local app. They are just apps. Apps that let you do whatever you want whenever you want on ANY device.
Don’t aim to fail fast aim to learn and adapt fast
Posted on 19th July 2011 in Business
Don’t aim to fail, aim to learn what works and what doesn’t and adapt.
Virgin Media – How 1 misleading web page led to a bad Customer Experience
Posted on 15th July 2011 in Business & User Experience
If you want your customers to trust you and, more importantly, stick with you when times are tough you must be open, honest and responsive when things go wrong. And you must also never raise expectations beyond what can be delivered. A lesson Virgin Media need to learn
Notes from MC ThinkCamp – mHealth June 3 2011
Posted on 6th July 2011 in Future of technology
The following are the notes that I took at The Mobile Collective’s thinkcamp mhealth on Friday 3 June this year. They are a collection of thoughts and questions that were sparked by the discussions and presentations that were given and by some of the conversations that I had with folk over the course of the day. I’m sharing them here as a reference for myself and those who attended. If anyone else who was there has shared their notes from the day, let me know and I’ll update this post to link to them.
A few words on the redesign / realignment of JMCQUARRIE.co.uk
Posted on 29th June 2011 in Business & Interface Design
Those of you who follow me on twitter (@jmcquarrie) will know that I revealed a new design here at jmcquarrie.co.uk this week.
The update was much needed and incorporates a number of changes that I’ve been meaning to make since I launched the last version of the site just over a year ago.
Reeder – My new favourite app
Posted on 3rd February 2011 in Interface Design
Reeder is what Google Reader should have been.
Why growing your development team lowers their productivity
Posted on 2nd February 2011 in Code
Time and time again I have worked with clients, managers and consulting teams who have believed that by adding more developers to a development team they will make that team more productive. Here’s why that is not the case…
Latest client work – The CV Nurse
Posted on 4th November 2010 in Code & Interface Design & User Experience
Let the CV Nurse tend to your CV and help you land your dream job
Blending online and offline: ASDA take a step in the right direction
Posted on 6th September 2010 in Business & User Experience
A follow up to my “How supermarkets could blend the online and the offline Worlds to make customers more loyal” article
New web site Consultive Magazine launched
Posted on 2nd August 2010 in Business
A brand new online publication Consultive Magazine launched today
How supermarkets could blend the online and the off line Worlds to make customers more loyal
Posted on 20th July 2010 in Business & User Experience
Providing online spend analysis for customers who shop with a loyalty card could help supermarkets keep customers coming back for more on and offline
Three reasons why Enterprise software, as a rule, offers such a poor User Experience
Posted on 5th July 2010 in Business & User Experience
1) The people who buy the software are not the end users. 2) Software designed to do everything for everyone will not be very good at any one thing. 3) It is really hard to define a great user experience, or prove that a system offers one
Why you need to offer a great User Experience as a cloud computing organisation
Posted on 27th June 2010 in Business & User Experience
As more and more organisations start offering their software using a cloud computing model the user experience of their offerings become more and more critical to the success of attracting and retaining customers.
As of today I’m a freelance web consultant, designer and developer for hire
Posted on 22nd June 2010 in Business & Interface Design & User Experience
Welcome to the official website of JMcQuarrie Ltd
HTML tables: Not totally bad. Part three: Putting tables into practise
Posted on 24th January 2008 in Code & Interface Design
The third and final installment of a series of posts about HTML tables
HTML tables: Not totally bad. Part two: An introduction to the table element and its associates
Posted on 20th December 2007 in Code & Interface Design
Part two of a three part series
HTML tables: Not totally bad. Part one: HTML tables are not the root of all evil
Posted on 13th December 2007 in Code & Interface Design
Lets talk about HTML tables properly
How card counting could make content personalisation possible
Posted on 6th December 2007 in Business
Content personalisation is the Holy-Grail of web design, could card counting be the answer?
One reason why cross browser compatability is a business issue
Posted on 29th November 2007 in Business
Building your application for one browser is always a business issue
Where then what vs. What then where
Posted on 22nd November 2007 in Interface Design
Which is the better model for Information Architecture?
The results – Your experiences of online shopping poll
Posted on 15th November 2007 in Business
Online shopping survey results
Online shopping. What’s your experience?
Posted on 8th November 2007 in Business
Online shopping survey
Sometimes trees grow sideways
Posted on 1st November 2007 in Business & Interface Design
Do you browse left to right or up and down?
Top web tools and resources that no web designer (or developer) should live without
Posted on 25th October 2007 in Interface Design
From browser plugins to image generators
CSS tip:- Using whitespace: nowrap and line-height on horizontal lists to stop splintering and overlapping
Posted on 18th October 2007 in Code & Interface Design
Two CSS tricks to make horizontal lists look better
10 point Design Manifesto – "my top 10 web design principles"
Posted on 11th October 2007 in Business & User Experience
10 principles for designing better websites
Aligning systems development with company strategy
Posted on 4th October 2007 in Business
What you design and build should align with where you’re going as an organisation
5 simple ways to make your mark up more manageable
Posted on 20th September 2007 in Code & Interface Design
HTML & CSS coding tricks that can save you and your team time
With the advent of Google earth and Google maps, a new dawn in advertising was quietly ushered in.
Posted on 13th September 2007 in Business
As advertisers realise this they will cotton on to a, as yet relatively untapped, marketing platform; roofs.
Introducing the "FAVE" pattern for web application administration functionality
Posted on 6th September 2007 in Interface Design
Find, Add, View, Edit
Designing and building User Experiences for web applications is very much like designing and building special effects for movies; in both cases you know you’ve been truly successful when no one notices what you did.
Posted on 30th August 2007 in User Experience
What you can learn from the special effects in Forest Gump
Documenting the design of a web application -Part three: Using "Page state" diagrams to illustrate dynamic interaction
Posted on 23rd August 2007 in Business
Part three of a three part series
Documenting the design of a web application -Part two: Using static HTML mock up screens to document the User Interface and show the User Experience
Posted on 16th August 2007 in Interface Design
Part two of a three part series
Documenting the design of a web application -Part one: Using Garrett’s Visual Vocabulary to document the Information Architecture
Posted on 9th August 2007 in Interface Design
For the past two and a half years I have been working in the world of User Experience and web interface design.
Could Social Networking be the answer (or at least part of it) to the Knowledge Management problem? (UPDATED 22 Aug 2007)
Posted on 2nd August 2007 in Business
For years organisation’s have struggled to realise the potential of their collective knowledge because they have no way of collecting or sharing it. Could Social Networking be the answer?
Welcome
Posted on 27th July 2007 in Business
I started building websites way back in late 2000, having read my way through the book “Learn HTML in a weekend”. It got me hooked, and I’ve been involved in designing, developing and maintaining websites in some form or another ever since.
Why a device that can auto detect what you eat and drink could be the most important consumer electronic device of our time
Posted on 1st February 2012 in Future of technology
Image a world where you could wear a device that could automatically track everything you consume and report on it’s nutritional value.
Scrolling is not the root of all evil and there is no such thing as “the fold”
Posted on 2nd December 2011 in Interface Design & User Experience
I have never once sat observing a user during any usability testing and seen them give up the task in hand because they had to scroll a page. They may have not been able to find what they were looking for, or they may have not understood what to do next, but not once have they not known how to scroll.
Native mobile apps and mobile optimised web apps are not mutually exclusive, you can have both.
Posted on 8th November 2011 in Business
When thinking about how to support mobile, instead of thinking about having to choose from one option or another, think about building your mobile strategy around a number of different degrees of support; with browser based access the bare minimum basic level, mobile optimised support as one level up and native applications as the ultimate, highest level of support possible.
Could audio QR codes help unsigned musicians find their audience
Posted on 31st October 2011 in Future of technology
What if as an artist you could upload an album, song, music video or even other promotional material to a website and then during your gig audience members who like a song you’re playing could access that content on their smart phones?
User Experience design is not User Interface design and neither is an optional extra in product development
Posted on 25th October 2011 in Business & Interface Design & User Experience
User experience design and interface design are not one in the same and neither should, or can successfully, just be added at the end of a product’s development as the “polish on top”
Contractor tip: Use Highrise to manage recruiter contact
Posted on 10th October 2011 in Business
Since setting myself up as a contractor just over a year and a half ago I’ve been contacted by a lot of recruiters. Some good, some bad, some terrible. I needed a way of keeping track of who was who and Highrise was the answer.
Interface design – Simple vs. Sparse
Posted on 30th September 2011 in Interface Design
In days gone by I’d get requests like “make it like Amazon / Google / Ebay / insert-poster-boy-application-of-the-day-here”
The most common request I get for now from all clients is: “Make it simple” (often followed by; “like Apple do“).
The death of the web app? I don’t think so
Posted on 19th August 2011 in Future of technology
Some predict the death of the web app citing native apps as the future. I say total rubbish. The future is an always on, always synced utopia where there is no longer any difference between a web app and a native local app. They are just apps. Apps that let you do whatever you want whenever you want on ANY device.
Don’t aim to fail fast aim to learn and adapt fast
Posted on 19th July 2011 in Business
Don’t aim to fail, aim to learn what works and what doesn’t and adapt.
Virgin Media – How 1 misleading web page led to a bad Customer Experience
Posted on 15th July 2011 in Business & User Experience
If you want your customers to trust you and, more importantly, stick with you when times are tough you must be open, honest and responsive when things go wrong. And you must also never raise expectations beyond what can be delivered. A lesson Virgin Media need to learn
Notes from MC ThinkCamp – mHealth June 3 2011
Posted on 6th July 2011 in Future of technology
The following are the notes that I took at The Mobile Collective’s thinkcamp mhealth on Friday 3 June this year. They are a collection of thoughts and questions that were sparked by the discussions and presentations that were given and by some of the conversations that I had with folk over the course of the day. I’m sharing them here as a reference for myself and those who attended. If anyone else who was there has shared their notes from the day, let me know and I’ll update this post to link to them.
A few words on the redesign / realignment of JMCQUARRIE.co.uk
Posted on 29th June 2011 in Business & Interface Design
Those of you who follow me on twitter (@jmcquarrie) will know that I revealed a new design here at jmcquarrie.co.uk this week.
The update was much needed and incorporates a number of changes that I’ve been meaning to make since I launched the last version of the site just over a year ago.
Reeder – My new favourite app
Posted on 3rd February 2011 in Interface Design
Reeder is what Google Reader should have been.
Why growing your development team lowers their productivity
Posted on 2nd February 2011 in Code
Time and time again I have worked with clients, managers and consulting teams who have believed that by adding more developers to a development team they will make that team more productive. Here’s why that is not the case…
Latest client work – The CV Nurse
Posted on 4th November 2010 in Code & Interface Design & User Experience
Let the CV Nurse tend to your CV and help you land your dream job
Blending online and offline: ASDA take a step in the right direction
Posted on 6th September 2010 in Business & User Experience
A follow up to my “How supermarkets could blend the online and the offline Worlds to make customers more loyal” article
New web site Consultive Magazine launched
Posted on 2nd August 2010 in Business
A brand new online publication Consultive Magazine launched today
How supermarkets could blend the online and the off line Worlds to make customers more loyal
Posted on 20th July 2010 in Business & User Experience
Providing online spend analysis for customers who shop with a loyalty card could help supermarkets keep customers coming back for more on and offline
Three reasons why Enterprise software, as a rule, offers such a poor User Experience
Posted on 5th July 2010 in Business & User Experience
1) The people who buy the software are not the end users. 2) Software designed to do everything for everyone will not be very good at any one thing. 3) It is really hard to define a great user experience, or prove that a system offers one
Why you need to offer a great User Experience as a cloud computing organisation
Posted on 27th June 2010 in Business & User Experience
As more and more organisations start offering their software using a cloud computing model the user experience of their offerings become more and more critical to the success of attracting and retaining customers.
As of today I’m a freelance web consultant, designer and developer for hire
Posted on 22nd June 2010 in Business & Interface Design & User Experience
Welcome to the official website of JMcQuarrie Ltd
HTML tables: Not totally bad. Part three: Putting tables into practise
Posted on 24th January 2008 in Code & Interface Design
The third and final installment of a series of posts about HTML tables
HTML tables: Not totally bad. Part two: An introduction to the table element and its associates
Posted on 20th December 2007 in Code & Interface Design
Part two of a three part series
HTML tables: Not totally bad. Part one: HTML tables are not the root of all evil
Posted on 13th December 2007 in Code & Interface Design
Lets talk about HTML tables properly
How card counting could make content personalisation possible
Posted on 6th December 2007 in Business
Content personalisation is the Holy-Grail of web design, could card counting be the answer?
One reason why cross browser compatability is a business issue
Posted on 29th November 2007 in Business
Building your application for one browser is always a business issue
Where then what vs. What then where
Posted on 22nd November 2007 in Interface Design
Which is the better model for Information Architecture?
The results – Your experiences of online shopping poll
Posted on 15th November 2007 in Business
Online shopping survey results
Online shopping. What’s your experience?
Posted on 8th November 2007 in Business
Online shopping survey
Sometimes trees grow sideways
Posted on 1st November 2007 in Business & Interface Design
Do you browse left to right or up and down?
Top web tools and resources that no web designer (or developer) should live without
Posted on 25th October 2007 in Interface Design
From browser plugins to image generators
CSS tip:- Using whitespace: nowrap and line-height on horizontal lists to stop splintering and overlapping
Posted on 18th October 2007 in Code & Interface Design
Two CSS tricks to make horizontal lists look better
10 point Design Manifesto – "my top 10 web design principles"
Posted on 11th October 2007 in Business & User Experience
10 principles for designing better websites
Aligning systems development with company strategy
Posted on 4th October 2007 in Business
What you design and build should align with where you’re going as an organisation
5 simple ways to make your mark up more manageable
Posted on 20th September 2007 in Code & Interface Design
HTML & CSS coding tricks that can save you and your team time
With the advent of Google earth and Google maps, a new dawn in advertising was quietly ushered in.
Posted on 13th September 2007 in Business
As advertisers realise this they will cotton on to a, as yet relatively untapped, marketing platform; roofs.
Introducing the "FAVE" pattern for web application administration functionality
Posted on 6th September 2007 in Interface Design
Find, Add, View, Edit
Designing and building User Experiences for web applications is very much like designing and building special effects for movies; in both cases you know you’ve been truly successful when no one notices what you did.
Posted on 30th August 2007 in User Experience
What you can learn from the special effects in Forest Gump
Documenting the design of a web application -Part three: Using "Page state" diagrams to illustrate dynamic interaction
Posted on 23rd August 2007 in Business
Part three of a three part series
Documenting the design of a web application -Part two: Using static HTML mock up screens to document the User Interface and show the User Experience
Posted on 16th August 2007 in Interface Design
Part two of a three part series
Documenting the design of a web application -Part one: Using Garrett’s Visual Vocabulary to document the Information Architecture
Posted on 9th August 2007 in Interface Design
For the past two and a half years I have been working in the world of User Experience and web interface design.
Could Social Networking be the answer (or at least part of it) to the Knowledge Management problem? (UPDATED 22 Aug 2007)
Posted on 2nd August 2007 in Business
For years organisation’s have struggled to realise the potential of their collective knowledge because they have no way of collecting or sharing it. Could Social Networking be the answer?
Welcome
Posted on 27th July 2007 in Business
I started building websites way back in late 2000, having read my way through the book “Learn HTML in a weekend”. It got me hooked, and I’ve been involved in designing, developing and maintaining websites in some form or another ever since.
Why a device that can auto detect what you eat and drink could be the most important consumer electronic device of our time
Posted on 1st February 2012 in Future of technology
Image a world where you could wear a device that could automatically track everything you consume and report on it’s nutritional value.
Scrolling is not the root of all evil and there is no such thing as “the fold”
Posted on 2nd December 2011 in Interface Design & User Experience
I have never once sat observing a user during any usability testing and seen them give up the task in hand because they had to scroll a page. They may have not been able to find what they were looking for, or they may have not understood what to do next, but not once have they not known how to scroll.
Native mobile apps and mobile optimised web apps are not mutually exclusive, you can have both.
Posted on 8th November 2011 in Business
When thinking about how to support mobile, instead of thinking about having to choose from one option or another, think about building your mobile strategy around a number of different degrees of support; with browser based access the bare minimum basic level, mobile optimised support as one level up and native applications as the ultimate, highest level of support possible.
Could audio QR codes help unsigned musicians find their audience
Posted on 31st October 2011 in Future of technology
What if as an artist you could upload an album, song, music video or even other promotional material to a website and then during your gig audience members who like a song you’re playing could access that content on their smart phones?
User Experience design is not User Interface design and neither is an optional extra in product development
Posted on 25th October 2011 in Business & Interface Design & User Experience
User experience design and interface design are not one in the same and neither should, or can successfully, just be added at the end of a product’s development as the “polish on top”
Contractor tip: Use Highrise to manage recruiter contact
Posted on 10th October 2011 in Business
Since setting myself up as a contractor just over a year and a half ago I’ve been contacted by a lot of recruiters. Some good, some bad, some terrible. I needed a way of keeping track of who was who and Highrise was the answer.
Interface design – Simple vs. Sparse
Posted on 30th September 2011 in Interface Design
In days gone by I’d get requests like “make it like Amazon / Google / Ebay / insert-poster-boy-application-of-the-day-here”
The most common request I get for now from all clients is: “Make it simple” (often followed by; “like Apple do“).
The death of the web app? I don’t think so
Posted on 19th August 2011 in Future of technology
Some predict the death of the web app citing native apps as the future. I say total rubbish. The future is an always on, always synced utopia where there is no longer any difference between a web app and a native local app. They are just apps. Apps that let you do whatever you want whenever you want on ANY device.
Don’t aim to fail fast aim to learn and adapt fast
Posted on 19th July 2011 in Business
Don’t aim to fail, aim to learn what works and what doesn’t and adapt.
Virgin Media – How 1 misleading web page led to a bad Customer Experience
Posted on 15th July 2011 in Business & User Experience
If you want your customers to trust you and, more importantly, stick with you when times are tough you must be open, honest and responsive when things go wrong. And you must also never raise expectations beyond what can be delivered. A lesson Virgin Media need to learn
Notes from MC ThinkCamp – mHealth June 3 2011
Posted on 6th July 2011 in Future of technology
The following are the notes that I took at The Mobile Collective’s thinkcamp mhealth on Friday 3 June this year. They are a collection of thoughts and questions that were sparked by the discussions and presentations that were given and by some of the conversations that I had with folk over the course of the day. I’m sharing them here as a reference for myself and those who attended. If anyone else who was there has shared their notes from the day, let me know and I’ll update this post to link to them.
A few words on the redesign / realignment of JMCQUARRIE.co.uk
Posted on 29th June 2011 in Business & Interface Design
Those of you who follow me on twitter (@jmcquarrie) will know that I revealed a new design here at jmcquarrie.co.uk this week.
The update was much needed and incorporates a number of changes that I’ve been meaning to make since I launched the last version of the site just over a year ago.
Reeder – My new favourite app
Posted on 3rd February 2011 in Interface Design
Reeder is what Google Reader should have been.
Why growing your development team lowers their productivity
Posted on 2nd February 2011 in Code
Time and time again I have worked with clients, managers and consulting teams who have believed that by adding more developers to a development team they will make that team more productive. Here’s why that is not the case…
Latest client work – The CV Nurse
Posted on 4th November 2010 in Code & Interface Design & User Experience
Let the CV Nurse tend to your CV and help you land your dream job
Blending online and offline: ASDA take a step in the right direction
Posted on 6th September 2010 in Business & User Experience
A follow up to my “How supermarkets could blend the online and the offline Worlds to make customers more loyal” article
New web site Consultive Magazine launched
Posted on 2nd August 2010 in Business
A brand new online publication Consultive Magazine launched today
How supermarkets could blend the online and the off line Worlds to make customers more loyal
Posted on 20th July 2010 in Business & User Experience
Providing online spend analysis for customers who shop with a loyalty card could help supermarkets keep customers coming back for more on and offline
Three reasons why Enterprise software, as a rule, offers such a poor User Experience
Posted on 5th July 2010 in Business & User Experience
1) The people who buy the software are not the end users. 2) Software designed to do everything for everyone will not be very good at any one thing. 3) It is really hard to define a great user experience, or prove that a system offers one
Why you need to offer a great User Experience as a cloud computing organisation
Posted on 27th June 2010 in Business & User Experience
As more and more organisations start offering their software using a cloud computing model the user experience of their offerings become more and more critical to the success of attracting and retaining customers.
As of today I’m a freelance web consultant, designer and developer for hire
Posted on 22nd June 2010 in Business & Interface Design & User Experience
Welcome to the official website of JMcQuarrie Ltd
HTML tables: Not totally bad. Part three: Putting tables into practise
Posted on 24th January 2008 in Code & Interface Design
The third and final installment of a series of posts about HTML tables
HTML tables: Not totally bad. Part two: An introduction to the table element and its associates
Posted on 20th December 2007 in Code & Interface Design
Part two of a three part series
HTML tables: Not totally bad. Part one: HTML tables are not the root of all evil
Posted on 13th December 2007 in Code & Interface Design
Lets talk about HTML tables properly
How card counting could make content personalisation possible
Posted on 6th December 2007 in Business
Content personalisation is the Holy-Grail of web design, could card counting be the answer?
One reason why cross browser compatability is a business issue
Posted on 29th November 2007 in Business
Building your application for one browser is always a business issue
Where then what vs. What then where
Posted on 22nd November 2007 in Interface Design
Which is the better model for Information Architecture?
The results – Your experiences of online shopping poll
Posted on 15th November 2007 in Business
Online shopping survey results
Online shopping. What’s your experience?
Posted on 8th November 2007 in Business
Online shopping survey
Sometimes trees grow sideways
Posted on 1st November 2007 in Business & Interface Design
Do you browse left to right or up and down?
Top web tools and resources that no web designer (or developer) should live without
Posted on 25th October 2007 in Interface Design
From browser plugins to image generators
CSS tip:- Using whitespace: nowrap and line-height on horizontal lists to stop splintering and overlapping
Posted on 18th October 2007 in Code & Interface Design
Two CSS tricks to make horizontal lists look better
10 point Design Manifesto – "my top 10 web design principles"
Posted on 11th October 2007 in Business & User Experience
10 principles for designing better websites
Aligning systems development with company strategy
Posted on 4th October 2007 in Business
What you design and build should align with where you’re going as an organisation
5 simple ways to make your mark up more manageable
Posted on 20th September 2007 in Code & Interface Design
HTML & CSS coding tricks that can save you and your team time
With the advent of Google earth and Google maps, a new dawn in advertising was quietly ushered in.
Posted on 13th September 2007 in Business
As advertisers realise this they will cotton on to a, as yet relatively untapped, marketing platform; roofs.
Introducing the "FAVE" pattern for web application administration functionality
Posted on 6th September 2007 in Interface Design
Find, Add, View, Edit
Designing and building User Experiences for web applications is very much like designing and building special effects for movies; in both cases you know you’ve been truly successful when no one notices what you did.
Posted on 30th August 2007 in User Experience
What you can learn from the special effects in Forest Gump
Documenting the design of a web application -Part three: Using "Page state" diagrams to illustrate dynamic interaction
Posted on 23rd August 2007 in Business
Part three of a three part series
Documenting the design of a web application -Part two: Using static HTML mock up screens to document the User Interface and show the User Experience
Posted on 16th August 2007 in Interface Design
Part two of a three part series
Documenting the design of a web application -Part one: Using Garrett’s Visual Vocabulary to document the Information Architecture
Posted on 9th August 2007 in Interface Design
For the past two and a half years I have been working in the world of User Experience and web interface design.
Could Social Networking be the answer (or at least part of it) to the Knowledge Management problem? (UPDATED 22 Aug 2007)
Posted on 2nd August 2007 in Business
For years organisation’s have struggled to realise the potential of their collective knowledge because they have no way of collecting or sharing it. Could Social Networking be the answer?