Archive for category Interaction Design

Adobe AIR links

Posted by Kshipra in Featured Post, Interaction Design, Web on December 11th, 2008

Here are some excerpts from an article i came across that would be useful to get to know Adobe AIR.

adobe_air

Adobe AIR

Published 28 May 2008 by Gil Harland

AIR stands for, the Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) and is one of the latest interesting development from Adobe.

AIR runs on Windows, Mac OS X and a very usable Beta version for Linux. It installs the first time you download and run an AIR application, much in the same way that Flash is installed on a computer if the user visits a web site using Flash and they don’t already have it installed.

AIR applications run on the desktop and are half way between web based applications (which run in a browser) and full blown desktop applications such as Word or Photoshop.

Developers can create AIR applications using the HTML, CSS, Javascript, Flash, Flex (A flash framework) and PDF knowledge they already have and AIR acts as a wrapper that allows them to run on the desktop and go beyond the limitations they would normally have if they were running in a web browser.

AIR applications differ from current web applications because AIR applications do not run in your web browser and therefore are able to use desktop features such as full drag and drop between applications, save files to the local hard drive or network and store data locally in a database.

When compared to traditional desktop applications, AIR applications are simple to deploy, easy and cost-effective to build, have better web integration and will run on all three of the major operating systems.

AIR is also smart enought to know when it is and isn’t connected so you can create programmes that work with online data and use the local database as a fallback if the connection to the internet is dropped.

more on AIR at Adobe® AIR™ Applications Wiki

Download the latest version of Adobe AIR

RefreshingApps.com – Showcase for Adobe AIR Applications and Resources

10 Adobe AIR -Must See- Applications

Adobe AIR Marketplace

,

2 Comments

my antics at the XYi atm

Posted by Kshipra in Interaction Design, Usability on November 17th, 2008

Do you get nervous standing being a first timer at a different bank’s ATM thinking about how the interface will be like (hoping the same as your old bank’s ATM interface) & how you would take out the cash with ease and take pride that you would have taken the least time inside the ATM than any of the members of the queue?

OK…i’m in, now what? i swipe the card, then i look at the monitor….stare to figure where to ‘touch’…i realize unlike  PIPIP bank’s ATM there is no buttons alongside the monitor, should i press the numbers or should i touch the monitor?….yes it is the monitor…..boy, if they were recording me on the security cam, i’m sure they would have had a blast!! and i’m taking more time than usual!

People behind me might think what a ‘dork’ i am….keeping them waiting. The information architecture is similar so i have no problem navigating and then i do the needful of withdrawing the cash.
Now my dilemma is, am i out the system? (it is very clear in my previous bank’s ATM) what if i am not logged out? i can’t figure out from the screen because it is showing me something that i cant seem to comprehend …because i’m tensed about getting out there as fast as possible. Now i don’t want the next person behind me to come and withdraw all my cash right? so i press multiple buttons and leave!

Phew!!
what was that??
Did i just behave like that? or do people generally freak out every time they need to use a new system?

,

No Comments

Acceptance and rejection online

Posted by Kshipra in Interaction Design, Usability on June 27th, 2008

How many of the people you know have email other than their names on it? I am sure you also know people who have ‘creative’ names for their email IDs. I’m sure they have their disadvantages to it. Most of the times the emails are considered as Spam by email engines to be subsequently filtered to the Spam/Junk folder. I’m sure many of my mails have ended up there :-P

For example: I add friends on chat, the chat engine (experience had with Gtalk) just displays my email ID and not my name. How would anyone who didn’t know that the email ID was mine accept me in the first place? I would first have to send them an email informing them about the email ID and then wait for their acceptance, just increasing my work load in my hectic lifestyle :-P

How about adding people on social networking sites? How do you know that the person you found had accepted or ignored your invitation? What if the person had not logged on since ages or was unable to retrieve his/her password; would you treat as a rejection?

In this hectic lifestyle do we really keep in touch with everyone we know? We just update our profiles to let people know we are alive and kicking!!

, ,

No Comments