Designing in the browser

Ever since reading about designing in the browser in Andy Clarke‘s ‘Walls come tumbling down’ slides I’ve wanted to push Photoshop out of my workflow and jump straight into the browser.

The first thing that strikes me is how fast it allows me to work, going from one paper sketch to a working wireframe prototype within a few hours, and I’m able to see what works very early on in the process, something that doesn’t usually become clear until after Photoshop. Iterations and revisions are much easier, meaning that what would usually be major, structural changes take a fraction of the time and effort to complete.

I know skipping Photoshop isn’t for everyone, but my first experience has been so positive, adding an element of freedom I haven’t had in a long time and I can’t wait to work like this again.

CSS 3

Although we have been dabbling with CSS 3 at work for a while now, I often feel tied down by our commitment to legacy browsers and always have to tread carefully when implementing some more ambitious ideas. I’ve designed the majority of this site with CSS 3 in mind; the letterpress effect on the headings, differing levels of transparency and rounded corners are all pure CSS 3 and although not every browser will get the same visual experience, the progressive enhancement built into CSS 3 (pictured) ensures I don’t spend time making sure that the basics are in place universally.

Progressive enhancement in CSS 3. Left to right: Safari 4, Firefox 3.6, IE8 in Windows 7

IE6 and friends

I decided to forget IE6 during development completely, save for a glance on launch day, just to see what would happen. After all the CSS 3 and reckless behaviour on my part I was expecting to launch IE6 on a test machine and see a complete mess, although surprisingly, apart from two minor bugs (the background of the content areas isn’t showing, and the accommodation entries don’t line up) it’s completely intact. Maybe all those years of coding defensively have hardwired my brain to avoid IE6 bugs.

Still to come

I’ve still got plenty of things I’d like to build into the site later; I’ve got a pretty neat idea for a countdown timer which I will attempt in-between my client work and when we send out our invitations I’m going to implement an AJAX RSVP form.

Overall this has been a really fun personal project that has given me a chance to try out some new things and work in a way I’ve never worked before, I’m really happy with the final result and would love to hear what you think, so love it or hate it, drop me a comment.

Following the initial reaction from Birmingham residents, local government bloggers and webbies everywhere a group of volunteers led by Stef Lewandowski have combined their efforts to create BCCDIY. A wiki built on the content of the Birmingham website; the goal is to improve the content, and make the information easier to find, understand and update and after their first hack-day, it’s looking great with plenty of advanced functionality already in place.

There are plenty of examples in the wider web world where a wiki style website has worked, but could this ever work for a local government site? Could (or even would) a council effectively hand their content over to the people? It will be a huge investment in time for moderation and administration, but surely no more than writing it all yourself?

What about handing over key online services to third party products and mashups? Green Box Day gives you bin collection times if you are willing to hand over your data, Fix My Street gives you an excellent way to report problems and Get Satisfaction gives a solid customer support service.

Using community generated content and services could have endless benefits in the quality of data and the standard of service but do the pros outweigh the cons? Is there a council out there brave enough to try it?

The truth is I don’t think anyone knows, but when a council does get the guts to go with a community driven site, we will all be watching with baited breath. In the meantime with interest from SOCITM, TV news and even the UK Parliament, BCCDIY will certainly give some weight to the notion.

Research is a diverse activity and can range from reading industry blogs and magazines and interviewing clients to looking at the competition and the wider industry. It can be used to predict customer needs, support or inform your decision making and as a catalyst for change.

Research is not wasted time, and past research should always be kept handy. You never know when you’re going to encounter the same problem again, or find another use for some prototype code or wireframe. Having a good repository of research means you have something to refer back to, although managing this research repository can be large task in itself, there are plenty of tools around around to help.

We should not be afraid of approaching new challenges or doing things we have never done before, if we use research it can help the unknown become known, it can turn guesses into more concrete, realistic estimates and most of all it can help us broaden our knowledge and experience.

I think too often in the design community we like to jump right into the design stage of a project, relying on inspiration or chance to help us, but taking a moment to research can lead to better decisions, better designs and most importantly better websites.

There are still some things that need my attention until I can relax, including the measure in blog posts (feel a bit short to anyone else?), IE6 testing and finally I need to build the portfolio section (and get rid of the ‘coming soon…’ placeholders). I’m holding off on the latter until I get a few jobs under my belt.

In the meantime please take a look around, feel free to critique and report bugs to your heart’s content