Making of a Web App is Synap Software’s step-by-step look at designing and developing a web app. In this article I share one iteration of an evolution of web application design layouts for PlaybookIQ.
I set up a flickr photostream to show screenshots as they evolved. Read the rest of this blog entry first, [...]

Making of a Web App is Synap Software’s step-by-step look at designing and developing a web app. In this article I show an example of reducing and refining an interface.
Reduce to:

Make it easier for people using the application.
Remove unneccessary clutter.
Expose the level of development work required.
Are the easiest way to iterate, collaborate and communicate.

Use [...]

It’s an impressive speaker line up at the Business of Software Conference, October 29th and 30th in San Jose. Scheduled to speak: Guy Kawasaki, Joel Spolsky, Eric Sink, Rick Chapman, Bill Buxton, Jeffrey Pfeffer, Hugh MacLeod, Dan Nunan, Tim Lister, Jennifer Aaker and others to be announced.
In the words of organizer Neil Davidson:In October [...]

Making of a Web App is Synap Software’s step-by-step look at designing and developing a web app. In this article I share why, despite best attempts by the anti-paperwork crowd, I like written use cases.
Use cases:

Contribute directly to the final, deployed app.
Expose risks to simplicity.
Expose the level of development work required.
Are the easiest way [...]

I’m asking for some help. If you can help me troubleshoot this, please respond in the comments section of this post.
Is anyone else seeing my blog posts duplicated in their reader? Has it been going on for a while? What reader are you using? Have you ever experienced this on your [...]

Money, get away.
Get a good job with good pay and you’re okay.
Money, its a gas.
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.
New car, caviar, four star daydream, Think I’ll buy me a football team.

Everyone, sing it with me:
New box, database, VP daydream, Think I’ll buy me an IT team.
Money
In Making of a Web [...]

Making of a Web App is Synap Software’s step-by-step look at designing and developing a web app. In this article we get a little bit ahead of ourselves and talk about styleguides.
Early PlaybookIQ Styleguide decisions:

Use of the International Style
Tab-based navigation
Persistent search box

A styleguide communicates an application’s look and feel, including fonts, colors, element sizing, [...]

I love this photo – “Understanding how to use a remote is made easier by a friend” – as an example of the power of reduction to make something easier to understand and give people a better experience. Take away all the stuff people don’t need and suddenly instead of fumbling around feeling [...]

Making of a Web App follows the design, development and deployment of a web application. This is the seventh article in the series. In this entry we pick a name for Synap Software’s new sales team collaboration application. Here’s the steps we followed:

Wrote down the categories, benefits, and differences that describe the [...]

Designing Interactions is Bill Moggridge’s collection of interviews with the people behind great product designs.
One of those interviewed is Cordell Ratzlaff, senior designer at Apple for five years. Prior to OS X, Apple was an engineering driven company. Steve Jobs turned it around into a design driven company. That change; designing for [...]