Posts by theme: UX

Posted 05 Mar 2010
Sharing Ideas at South By Southwest
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George DeMet
Founder and CEO
0

Of all the conferences that Palantir attends every year, one of my favorites is the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, which is being held this year from March 12-16th.  SXSW brings together a wide variety of people from all areas of interactive culture for five days of panel sessions, book readings, film screenings, small conversations, and keynote presentations on a full range of thought-provoking topics (and the parties are pretty good, too!). For the past few years, we've been privileged enough to participate in a number of sessions, and this year is no different.

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Posted 01 Mar 2010
Better Know a Module: Menu Block (Part I)
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John Albin Wilkins
Senior Front-End Developer and Engineer
3

Everyone knows the top-tier Drupal modules, but with over 5,000 modules available for Drupal it’s no surprise that many useful ones go unnoticed. As a public service to the Drupal community, Palantir is working to raise awareness of some of these unsung heroes.

In part 3 of our ongoing 5,162-part series, we present: Menu Block

The Menu Block module is a little-known module, but has actually been around since June 2008 and is our solution to the limitations in Drupal’s built-in site navigation.

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Posted 27 Jan 2010
Assume That It Isn't Obvious
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Steve Fisher
Senior UX Designer
0

We all have our favorite Web sites that we go to when we want to check the news, drool over the latest gadget, read our favorite blog, or just waste some time online. If you’re like me, you go there and feel right at home because everything is where it should be (or least where you’ve gotten used to it being). Now, think back to the last time one of your favorite sites got redesigned...

Ah! The horror!

Even when done right, a Web site redesign inevitablely requires a major cognitive shift for its existing audience.  In order to minimize the impact of this shift while simultaneously creating an experience that will draw in new users, I find that the key is to start the process by asking the question, "Is it obvious?" 

In order to avoid overwhelming even the most experienced users, a Web site's visual cues and structure needs to just make sense. Let's start by taking a look at an example from real life:

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Posted 19 Jan 2010
The UX Mystery
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Steve Fisher
Senior UX Designer
2

User experience (UX) design is still one of those fields that is viewed as essential, but mysterious. A strange combination, but everyone loves a good mystery. Looking for a single definition online, in print, or through conversations is nearly impossible, so I have adopted two different versions.

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