Boxes and Arrows: Comments by Donna Maurer

Donna Maurer — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:19 GMT

I too would prefer to see a comparison than an advertisement.

Donna Maurer — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:19 GMT

I have no idea why two of these are stuckthrough (and I can’t figure out how to fix it) – I intend on including them ;)

Donna Maurer — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:20 GMT

It’s hard to explain it more in this limited space. That’s why I suggested an article ;)

But, when testing an information system (one without interactive elements), the main differences are: * defining tasks is different (writing a task makes everything a ‘known-item’ task) and testing exploratory tasks is more difficult * it is often more about testing the content than the site elements, and I find more usability problems within content than anywhere else * it is difficult to get good content coverage * collecting metrics such as time-on-task is less relevant * people often care less and use informational sites less infrequently * paper prototype testing is harder

etc…

Donna Maurer — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:20 GMT

Interesting, but sounds like you still haven’t thought it right through. I find it impossible to write an article if I haven’t nailed ‘the answer’.

Donna Maurer — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:20 GMT

It will cover the afters as well. ‘Exploratory’ & ‘revisiting’ definitely go beyond initial findability and this is one of the key aspects of designing for them.

Donna Maurer — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:21 GMT

This is just not relevant to anything I do or can see myself doing. I’m interested to see if it is something other IAs face as I consider it quite out of the realm of IA ;)

Donna Maurer — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:21 GMT

OK, so maybe one of us has misunderstood. I like the idea and think it interesting. My comment was just that, as I have written lots of articles, I know that it is impossible to write one until I really know what I think the answer is – suggesting that you will need to get there before you put pen to paper.

But then I wondered whether you were thinking of writing this yourself or throwing it out for someone else to tackle.

Donna Maurer — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:22 GMT

I love Jorge’s Mantra box list – both the idea and the contents. I’m going to create one to go with all the other lists in my life.

Donna Maurer — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:23 GMT

If you partner with someone who knows Visio, you could cover it in the same article (Visio does all this easily)

Donna Maurer — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:23 GMT

Background pages (which are nestable and work well for big decks) and shapes (which can be modified and updated across the wireframe deck with the right Visio version, and tediously copied with the wrong version)

Donna Maurer — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:26 GMT

Thank you so much for the update. I was reading the old article recently and wondering whether I had the time to figure out for myself how to do this in V2003.

Donna Maurer — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:29 GMT

I like it. Professional look, and pulls together some of the key content chunks better…

Donna Maurer — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:33 GMT

I think there is probably plenty of this type of information around, and has been around for years. What would you offer that is new and innovative?

Donna Maurer — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:33 GMT

But how will it be interesting for information architects?

Donna Maurer — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:33 GMT

I think this would be valuable as long as it is not a sales pitch (sorry, but I can’t tell what your affiliation is).