Design Patterns & Principles for Rich Internet Applications

Abstract
With the advent of Ajax and the current resurgence of flash as platforms for building rich internet applications, it has become apparent that some


With the recent rise in popularity of web technologies such as Ajax and Flash, it has become possible to create richer user experiences on the web. Even though these technologies are not actually new, we are now seeing their widespread adoption. One of the hallmarks of this experience is the move away from the neccessity of always having to refresh the page for interaction. Instead of a standard page-to-page experience, we now have the opportunity to more closely model the real flow of the user.

Obviously a whole economy has been built around the page-based model. Designers have designed in "chunks" while user's have thought more in "flows". Information Architects have traditionally embraced this page model in design artifacts such as wireframes. This presentation takes a survey of these interaction styles, looks at why they work or don't work and explores a set of design principles that can inform future design projects.

The eight principles of design that are explored are:

    * Make it Direct
    * Keep a Light Footprint
    * Cross Borders Reluctantly
    * Provide Live Feedback
    * Offer an Invitation
    * Use Transitions
    * Think in Objects
    * Tie Information to Interactivity

Each principle is illustrated with a set of common design patterns that are currently in vogue. The nuances of each of these principles is explored with examples that illustrate good choices and bad choices.

Core IA Related Issues
The role of Information Architect varies from company to company. Some IAs are struggling to understand exactly how to incorporate richer interaction into their designs. Others are exploring ways to capture RIAs in wireframes. This presentation will lay out what needs to be considered, what is currently in practice and a set of best practices for designing rich internet applications.

Bio:
Bill Scott is Ajax Evangelist at Yahoo! where he spreads the goodness of "rich and sane" Ajax design & development. Bill is a frequent speaker at conferences and workshops discussing the nuances of good design and the challenges of great engineering. At Yahoo! Bill was also the Design Pattern curator where he launched the public Yahoo! Design Pattern Library (http://developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns).

Before Yahoo! Bill led User Experience at Sabre Airline Solutions. It was there he co-founded Rico (an open source Ajax framework - http://openrico.org.) His first venture into the world of user interface design was in creating GATO, a very successful early Macintosh submarine simulation game. For 20+ years Bill has bounced back and forth between design and engineering projects, creating & designing products in areas as diverse as video games, widget libraries, war gaming, IDE tools, airline management and Web consumer sites.  Bill has a special interest in the process of designing great interfaces as well as understanding the underlying patterns and principles of good design. His musings can be found at http://looksgoodworkswell.com.