Reading Joel on Software - Rub a dub dub, it suddenly occured to me that this is also an excellent approach to curing a site.

Don't redesign the whole thing, throwing out all that's working!

What if instead you slowly gently fixed all the little bugs, one at a time. One week check and fix all the error messages, and rewrite them into human language. The next week gently redo the labels, making sure they make sense, addign sublabels as necessary. The next week add alt tags to everything that doesn't have it. And so on, until the site is more acessible and more usable.

My redesign has been haunting me-- I haven't gotten to finish it, I am disappointed with how some aspects work. But I've been feeling so overwhelmed. Now I wonder if I should just slowly polish it, rather then tear my hair out trying to figure out how to redo it again....

Structured Writing - An Outline is a lovely article on one of the most undervalued arts: writing.

I was particularly cheered to read "While spelling and grammar are grossly overrated as an indicator of personal worth or general intelligence, they are important when writing to teach or convey other important information. "

whew! So Im knot a lewser after all!

Telling the Truth is an article about the lies sites tell their users. It doesn't really matter if these are really technical glitches, or confusion in communication or editorial mistakes-- to the end user they are lies, and one never trusts a proven liar....

"Why Your eMail Newsletter Annoys Your Readers"

There is No Such Thing as Information Design by Jef Raskin

"As a curmudgeon, I am delighted to point out that the popular term, Information Design, is a misnomer. Information cannot be designed; what can be designed are the modes of transfer and the representations of information. This is inherent in the nature of information, and it is important for designers to keep the concepts of information and meaning distinct. "

and yet

"This is where we-graphic designers, computer-interface specialists, artists, musicians, sound technologists, lighting directors, cognitive psychologists, type designers, ergonomicists, and even mathematicians and physicists-come in. It is our job as designers to create effective representations of information for human consumption. "

An interesting article, but this seems more semantics than revolution to me...

Moving WebWord > Information Architecture for the Rest of Us is a nice article on wayfinding, but not on IA....

This isn't on the site yet (not that I can find) and it looks quite valuable so I'll broadcast here. I saw Jared at Macromedia world and was very impressed with his new findings. He's always an entertaining speaker, and it was pretty cool to get some insight on UIE's discoveries.

"BayCHI-East talk
Title: Designing for Revenue: Using Research to Fulfill Business Goals
Speaker: Jared Spool

Date & Time: Tuesday February 5th, 7.00 p.m.
Location: Sibley Auditorium, 230 Bechtel Engineering Center
University of California, Berkeley

Talk Abstract:
Web site designers tell us that they have thousands of ideas on how to
improve their web site. But how do these designers determine which
improvements will actually help the business achieve it's goals? New
research from User Interface Engineering shows that careful measurement and
observation can demonstrate exactly how this happens. In this presentation,
Jared will show you how an e-commerce site can change its design to
generate more impulse purchases. He'll demonstrate how designers can change
the way categories are displayed to dramatically increase the site's
revenues. Jared will also discuss how other types of sites can use these
same principles to better achieve their goals."

I admit it: I read the entire Sunday comics section. The ones that make me laugh (rhymes with orange), the ones that don't (the rest)-- I even do the kiddie puzzles. Don't ask me why, I'm not sure.

So I did see Sunday's Cathy Strip . And as soon as I saw it I knew: opportunity is everywhere. Please go read it, and come back. I'll wait here. It'll just take you a sec.

Each and every frame is an opportunity. Each frame of that comic is a place where a product has failed, and a competitor can sneak in. Each problem is a chance to steal market share. Each problem is a opportunity to innovate...

Usability News - UML is not ready for users, finds seminar

"The Usability and UML seminar in Scotland this month concluded that basic UML (User Modelling Language) is seriously restricted, and restricting, in modelling complex, collaborative human activities involving computer-based systems."

Finally 1.0 of Denim, the website sketching tool is available. Lots of sweet features, including a zoom tool to go from sitemap to wireframe.

Download it at Group for User Interface Research - Projects - DENIM and SILK - Download

Jesse takes on the big question: who are we as IA's. Are we the role, or the job? Are we our specialty, or all the fine stuff that goes into getting the job done.

Jesse and I have argued a lot on this topic-- he has always in the past championed the difference between information architecture (organization of information for retrieval) from information architects (who do that + interaction design, information design, and maybe some project management, code, business analysis and so on). I've always held that information architecture is architecture in the information space, and must embrace content architecture (a.k.a. little or narrow IA), interaction design and information/interface design, and the architects are those who practice and excel in those arts.

We do always agree that something must be done about the state of the web-- a lack of thoughtful premeditated architecture results in sites that are difficult to navigate, difficult to use, unprofitable, unrealized and generally stinky.

I look forward to part two....