Boxes and Arrows: Comments by Joe Sokohl

Joe Sokohl — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:45:23 GMT

As far as tools are concerned, I’d swear by OmniGraffle for flow representation (data or interaction). As far as wireframes, I’d strongly, strongly recommend Canvas (Windows & Macintosh) (http://www.deneba.com). You can do vector and raster illustration, multipage, multilevel, and even HTML export (along with PDF).

Anyone else using Canvas?

Joe Sokohl — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:19 GMT

I hate to be a naysayer or detractor, but I gotta say I’m looking at the new features a bit…askance. For example—the preview feature below is somewhat unnerving—it’s cool, yeah, but it interrupts my peripheral cognition.

Also, I’m not so sure that editing by committee is the best course of action. I’know y’all have probably cussed & discussed this issue. Let me just weigh in on the side of those who like their magazines edited by a few rather than by a lot.

Also, I’m not a fan of things like “reputation points.” it enforces an idea that somehow those kids who alwyas answer the questions in class are somehow better than those who listen & learn.

Just an initial thought—I’ll watch & learn, though.

Joe Sokohl — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:19 GMT

Hi Rob,

Because not everyone’s qualified to be an editor…in the same way that not everyone’s qualified to be a .Net programmer or a user researcher or an information architect or a CEO. Editing in all its forms takes specific skill, be it substantive editing, copy editing, or proofreading.

Joe Sokohl — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:19 GMT

Another approach would be to provide a case study, similiar to the Visio articles from Dan Brown et al. Too, some comparison between this tool & Visio for PC and Omnigraffle for the Mac would be helpful as well. In addition, I think this community would want to see how well Webwave plays with other common packages.

Joe Sokohl — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:19 GMT

Well, here’s an interesting usability finding with the new features:

I’d written the comment in response to the suggested article about Webwave…then I clicked the Suggest link in my heading. So imagine my surprise when my comment disappeared and instead ended up as an article suggestion!

Not the conceptual model that mapped to my mental model. I would recommend that suggesting an article not be possible from my name/rating/affinity/whatever bar.

Joe Sokohl — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:22 GMT

Nice comments, Christina. Too, I’ve been reading/browsing/lurking/participating, and taking the new version for a test ride. I do see the value in input from the crowd. I’m definitely not counting it out! You guys have done such good and hard work—I am impressed!

I would, though, recommend that the colors of the comments icons & things be toned down. That is, the stars, the pluses, the minuses, the bubbles…could they be a bit more subdued? even the same blue as the links? I’m just thinkin’...

Joe Sokohl — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:25 GMT

Very nice article! It fits closely with a pitch that I lost—that is, a situation where the client said they’d already chosen a technology platform and presentation layer. I know that I can use some of your techniques later to help me. Grazie!

Joe Sokohl — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:25 GMT

“stripping the context away to provide reuable components is a difficult proposition”—hence the reason why I agree with Alan Cooper that reuse is (mostly) a bad idea, from a UX perspective.

Joe Sokohl — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 17:37:45 GMT

Great use of Strunk & White. Too, your article supports the thesis that technical writers make great user experience designers, primarily because of their long-time attention to knowing their audience.

Joe Sokohl — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:48:50 GMT

One critical evaluation attribute that’s missing:

Works on Macintosh:

Would like to see that. Otherwise, OmniGraffle’s the hammer!

Joe Sokohl — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:53:39 GMT

Thanks, Fred. Since I’m running XP/Parallels, too, I suppose I shouldn’t complain. Let the G3 & G4 & G5 owners eat (digital) cake!

What I did miss, though, in the mix, is a review of OmniGraffle as a Visio-killer. I’ve used it with great success, especially with its ability to import and export .vxd
files.

Joe Sokohl — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:55:55 GMT

Interesting concept—and it’s something I’ve been promoting for the past 10 years or so. I come from the techComm world. I moved into UX precisely for this reason: instead of writing better manuals, I wanted to help create better products. After all, the best-written manual can’t fix a poor interaction design.
Contact Bogo Vatovec (principal at http://www.bovacon.de/), who has presented on this topic at STC conferences for the past several years. Also, feel free to contact me as well. Would be glad to chat about this.
I’ve felt for a long time that techComm should at least be a respected, integral path to UX. Often, tech writers are themselves their own worst enemies in this space, worrying about split infinitives, comma splices, or ending sentences with prepositions rather than user analysis, interaction design, and information organization—natural skills that tech writers possess.

Joe Sokohl — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:22:20 GMT

Nicely done, Erin. It’s an important topic that many of us find ourselves in at one time or another. Often it’s not that we want to be managers; we end up having to become managers, whether it’s because of a promotion path or need for a new job with higher salary.
A lesson I learned in Chicago years ago as a manager of a small team came from my great boss, the VP of development. He said, “As a manager, you don’t get to do the fun stuff.” Instead, you have to delegate, you have to mentor, you even have to let people fail.
I would also postulate that being a manager and being a leader are even more distinct than you make it. Rare is the person who’s adept at both. Too, most companies really want managers, even though they bloviate about wanting leaders. Manager wrangle resources; leaders inspire people.
Thanks much for this article!

Joe Sokohl — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 21:17:00 GMT

I applaud everyone involved. It shows how difficult a site redesign is. I do wish the type weren’t so godawful small—it’s broken on my Mac running Firefox. From my usability perspective, as a user I shouldn’t have to bump up the type size for the site.

Anyway, though, it really is a herculean effort. Accolades all around!

Joe Sokohl — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 21:38:11 GMT

“Past history”? Isn’t that the only kind of history out there?