»interface«

So... these could be a starting page to the overall web application - thus the first page any user will see. From there it can be chosen which country is actually of interest (ok, the way I do it now, you can only choose for Poland but that's still an option).

Saving the pictures seems to kick out some soft shades - gonna work on that later. And typo.... gee... I don't have the nerves (and neither the eye) for typo..

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(going sheckerd - haha)


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So.... I'm back to the big overall concept. Clicking on the picture gets you to a Flash-page demonstrating which pages will be interlinked with each other.



Still need to re-work the typeface but should be alright for now. Any suggestions welcome.

I decided on the structure board to be so fullfullfull because it is reflecting the collage-character of the web application. There will not be a typical navigation bar with the main categories and their sub categories. Each screen will include several linkages which will take the user to different sights.

The page on "continued training" for example could link to "motivation" but as well to general "concepts of education". The later would for example link to the "model employee" since the way and content of learning reveal quite a lot about desirable character traits.

I'm not sure if it works. I can understand that people get lost but for now it's my working model. Maybe I can break it down into more general categories later but in the moment that would not help me much - I need the overview...

An official consultation today revealed the following....

Another possible layer of structure could be categorized into business life with two sub-categories - issues within and issues outside the company -, and a second main category concerned with the individual (private) living situation.

I, too, need to think about user rights. My teacher drew my attention to information that is enterprise-sensitive - thus information they do not want to share with their competitors. On the other hand, employees might not want to share problems they encounter in their private lives with their superiors nor with their subordinates.

I agree that I will at least need to think about it theoretically. This leads to the general question of the level of participation of users: do I want them to put in their own content? While I love things to be interactive I'm very afraid that this web application is growing too big. I don't have the time to put every possible feature into one website. Nevertheless I definitely need to include possible features in my thinking.

While talking about corparate-sensitive content he also suggested to create an extra area that companies can "buy" and design according to their own guidelines, including their logo and stuff like that.


Discussing the interviews coming up he also pointed out that I need to be a bit neutral about the topics I want to talk about. This means that I will have to be open to see which topics are actually relevant for expatriates. Thus even though I anticipate the historical impact on German-Polish relationships to be relevant I should not push people into that direction. He said that for example the rebellion in the Ghetto of Warsaw might come up in one interview again and again but that could be simply due to the location of the company in Warsaw.

Janet hinted me towards "Karambolage". It's a programme running on arte, the French-German tv station. They pick out differences, sometimes just minor details between the two countries and explain where they come from.

They put their last four editions online, so I get to see them even without tv:

• in German
• and in French

I really like their concept of collages and presenting culture in little bits and pieces. Additionally they seem to have different designers each time: some styles I really like, others are too trashy for me but for sure always interesting...

from the emission on Oct, 29:


from the emission of Nov, 19:

It's done. What a relief. The structure board for my web application. I tried to put in all possible aspects of work. This might seem a little crowded at first but it reflects pretty much the collage I have in mind. Additionally, I will have to kick out points to which I will not get enough information. Thus:



click to enlarge ...

Tomorrow I'll add specific information about Poland to this abstract. Stay tuned ;-)

Ulf Schubert, too, accumulated the essential demands on interface design based on Nielsen, J. (1993, Usability Engeneering):

• easy to learn/understand
• high efficiency: the interface allows the user to fulfill his/her aim fast and easy
• easy to remember even when you haven't used the programme for a long time
• low rate on mistake
• high degree of content and satisfaction: the user likes the programme since it helps to achieve set goals faster and easier

Followed by a list of smart slogans to be rememberd when designing:

• The best guess is not enough. (As in: you might wanna test drive your interface.)
• It's not the user's fault. (As in: well, it's kind of self-evident.)
• The user is not always right. Plus: the user is not a designer. (As in: after all you're the expert.)
• Less is more. (As in: if you didn't hear this universal design principle until now, it was about time. Plus: it's right. But: design principles are there to be overthrown as well.)
• Help doesn't help. (As in: if the interface is too complicate then something is wrong... wonder what?)

Since I believe in lists, I'll put them on my wall. (...und gut ist!)

And anyway, I had wanted to put a tiny little picture up.
It's a detail from Ulf's interface design. He had put little squares to give a short introduction on each class/file/subject/whatever. In order to show how many people where attending this class and to promote cooperative learning, each users was shown in form of a circle clustering onto the respective square. The circles were marked in different colors and had special features to show their online status, if they were available or if they previously had been marked in your list of friends (or any other characteristics which you might consider important....).
I just thought it looked cute. (And yes, I know, that cute is not the appropriate comment but it's true!)

Ha! I found the website: Steven Sebring. And it's nothing like I remembered:



The website works like a scrap-table with loads of stuff lying around. The different parts of the website are actually located on this table.



I definitely don't like how they put the content but the idea of navigation. Even though it would be even nicer if you could move the picture just using the mouse instead of clicking on a link and then the image travels for you.
But I really like that the image turns and does not only move on a horizontal or vertical axe.