Tag: User Experience

Advent Calendars 2012 for Web Professionals

I love this time of year when my favorite websites post advent calendars for people who work on the web. It’s like Christmas comes early with all the tips and resources!

If you missed it earlier this week, .netMagazine published eight advent calendars for web designers and developers, leading off with the well-known 24ways site and including UXMas, a new advent calendar for user experience professionals.

Here’s a few more web-focused advent calendars you might enjoy:

Online Marketing Advent Calendar

The Online Marketing Advent Calendar shares a digital marketing tip each day, focusing on SEO and content strategy.

Systems Administration Advent Calendar

With tips and resources written by fellow sysadmins, the Systems Administration Advent Calendar has been publishing their calendar since 2008.

It’s a Shape Christmas

For illustrators, the It’s a Shape Christmas interactive advent calendar features 25 downloadable shapes from illustrators around the world.

MDN Calendar

The Mozilla Developer Network (MDN) Calendar offers a puzzle-interface for demos and to learn about new resources.

WebKrauts Advent Calendar 2012

Though written in German, it’s easy to use Google Translate on the WebKrauts Advent Calendar 2012 which features web topics including CSS, wireframes, SASS, tools, and mobile web.

Connect with University of Michigan School of Information: October 27, 2012

University of Michigan School of Information (UMSI) is hosting Connect with UMSI, an informative session for prospective Master of Science in Information and doctoral program students.

The event is October 27, from 1:00pm to 5:00pm in the Rackham Graduate School (next to North Quad) in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The Master of Science in Information program includes students who are studying:

  • human-computer interaction
  • archives and preservation
  • information management
  • library and information science
  • information analysis and retrieval
  • social computing

UMSI also offers a new Master’s program in Health Informatics, where students learn how information can improve health care. UMSI Ph.D. students are working to better the field of information by working with top scholars to explore information through research.

If you plan to attend Connect with UMSI, register at UMSI Connect website.

Recap: Share Your Favorite Application Night

At tonight’s Refresh Detroit meeting, we had an excellent time talking about and sharing our favorite tools and applications. While we didn’t have big attendance at the meeting, our discussion lasted almost two hours.

We took time to demo several applications and shared our experiences on how the applications improved our workflow. I know I have a few more tools to add to my work toolbox.

Here’s a list of some of the applications we discussed:

  • Evernote: free note taking application that seamlessly synchronizes your notes on the web, desktop, and mobile. It’s easy to take notes, scan images, capture screenshots with the browser Web Clipper, and share notes with others (premium version only). Not sure what to do with all those business cards you collect at events and conferences? Scan them with your phone, add to Evernote with a note. Evernote uses OCR (optical character recognition) to scan the text in the business card so you can easily search at a later time.
  • EchoSign: online electronic signature application built into the free Adobe Reader application. If you’ve ever had to send hard copy contracts back and forth via post, or scan PDF signature pages, this application is for you. Sign your contracts and other documents in minutes with EchoSign. The Federal E-SIGN Act makes online electronic signatures equivalent to a written signature
  • Trello: online project management application that organizes your work into boards. The interface is all visual, updates in real time, and you can easily drag and drop tasks, lists and archive weekly work.
  • Cleo: Cleo (Compact Library Extension Organizer) is a Firefox add-on that allows you to combine themes and extensions into one package. You can easily share your favorite extensions by creating a package. Or install the package in a new Firefox profile.
  • jsFiddle: An online application that allows you to test your HTML, CSS, JavaScript code. While there are many similar online applications, jsFiddle is one of the best-known and most-used.
  • Axure: Desktop application used to create wireframes, mockups and interactive prototypes. Though the cost might be beyond the freelancer, Axure is the tool of choice for many large organizations and corporations.
  • Balsamiq and Mockingbird: Online wireframe and mockup applications. Many web developers and user experience professionals have moved from traditional desktop applications to online applications for ease of use and cost.

Thanks to Washtenaw Community College for hosting our meeting.