UX
Millenials won't use subpar enterprise software
Millenials won’t use subpar enterprise software
Paul Boag writes at Smashing Magazine:
Frustration will only increase as millennials enter the workforce. These people are digital natives, and they expect a certain standard of software. They expect software to adapt to them, not the other way around.
My generation were loud about the outdated software our employers used. We begged, insisted and shouted from the rooftops that efficient workload management demanded a higher level of polish, functionality and user experience.
Even massive software makers like Oracle do little if anything post-sale to ensure their products get the design and functionality upgrades they so desperately need. You can pay an army of contractor-consultants to customize the database architecture and processing flow, sure, but the interface is still all ’90s.
That was then, though. Today, the up-and-comers are just as unlikely to accept awful software and user experience. The difference is they won’t ask or shout at all, they just start using third-party tools. Sometimes this is fine, but other times there are serious security concerns with using third-party software for company work.
Read Boag’s article, especially if you manage any young folks, because this stuff is happening and you should take the opportunity to learn from them. They’re going to gravitate toward good user experience and efficiency, and that’s good for business.
Details and summary tags in HTML5
HTML5 includes two tags, details and summary, that can be used to generate expanding menus you once needed JavaScript or jQuery for.
A code snippet opening and closing with the “details” tag can include a summary that, when clicked, expands to reveal additional HTML.
As of this writing, I’ve implemented it in this site’s header, but I’ve also included a working example below, which won’t work in the Tumblr Dashboard.
All you’ll see is the summary line: “Click here to expand this example.”
So this link opens this post in a new tab. Problem solved.
Now, here’s the example:
Here is a paragraph. Links work, as well. This one goes to my home page.Click here to expand this example.
Learn some more about this simple and elegant way of making web pages more dynamic for HTML5-compliant browsers at W3Schools and Hongkiat.com.
Longread: Brand as Context in Interaction Design
Longread: Brand as Context in Interaction Design
Ben Fullerton of Method, writing in UX Magazine on the interplay between user experience design and brand messaging:
For designers, the development of a compelling brand helps to round out the design, creating a before and after. It builds a background narrative and meaning that empowers people to respond to design in more complex ways.