It has been about a year since I read Chris Noessel's article on one free interaction and was immediately filled with an excited tingle-y feeling. You know the one ... it's usually reserved for when you find an extra $10 bucks or when you're the guy to remember a song title that's eluding everyone else. It's actually the same feeling I got my first time reading William Lidwell's amazing Universal Principles of Design. He was putting names and principles to things that had only every just been common sense and "who doesn't do that" in my designs ... and it was awesome! That feeling.

Well, from the time I read about one free interaction and then subtly started dropping it into my curriculum conversations and project critiques to now, it is really interesting to see how the idea has evolved. Specifically, how the iPhone page snapback "freebie" is now being used to handle the activity stream refresh for both the Twitter (a.k.a. Tweetie 1) and Gowalla applications.

I'm not sure which applications starting doing it first (or even if there is another application that did), but I love it! Download either app (both are free) and give it a try. It has all of the joy and restlessness that make up o.f.i. and yet, it actually does something useful. Now, obviously, not every free interaction needs to accomplish an action or it would make the whole point moot. It is, however, great to see an otherwise fancy-free and empty action married to such a common and necessary function.

A new icon, just finished today after the DFP lecture. It should be available for purchase from GraphicRiver in a few days. The idea for it was to create something simple and bright, that could be used generally for an application ... from an app launcher to a Biology desk reference or anything in between.

It does feel like there is some sci-fi connection to it ... but that might just be me, considering I just finished watching Star Trek: The Motion Picture (the original 70's version) and it is all about color, light and geometric shapes. The movie was decent enough and I am especially fond of the color bar poster art.

** Update: You can now purchase the Starcon icon for use on your projects from GraphicRiver.

One only has to sit in on my DFP Icon lecture, perused my Flickr uploads tagged osx, or (for you privileged few) use my Mac for a few minutes to realize that I am very particular AND very protective of the way my Finder windows look. I have nice sidebar separators, several essential tool bar application launchers, Windows 7-like window snapping, and a fairly even background image to grid layout ratio ... and that's not even going into all the folder and app icon customization that I do.

Now, once I have a been using a new Mac for a few days and have I become successfully habituated to these preferred settings, it is slightly annoying to exponentially frustrating to have Finder present the file system in different view. Sometimes it is an old "as Icons" view I initially set up but have adjusted slightly and other times he'll switch it up with a complete change to the "as Columns" view, seemingly out of no where.

The Problem

I am probably right in thinking that the original UX pattern assumed by the designers at Apple, from way back in the OS 7 days, was "if the User changes the view, remember it ... forever ... unless they specify otherwise". In the limited scope of a Desktop world where I only have my Music, Movies and Documents folders to interact with, this was probably an okay choice. I, as the User, could essentially "set 'em and forget 'em".

As this is now a much more power and connected Desktop environment that continues to scale, the concept does not ... especially in my own frequent use case of occasionally needing a different view, but not remembering the need to change it back after I am done.

The Ideal Solution

Although this is a seemingly minor issue, finding resolutions for these are what makes the difference between an efficient designer/developer/human being and those that are not (Man, does that sound snooty!). How I would love to see this issue remedied would be with one global setting in the Finder Preferences window that is only temporarily affected by the User's manual change in view.

From the few times I have tested using a Finder-replacement like Path Finder, I have found this to be the default behavior ... but really, should I be forced to use a third-party alternative just to fix what is clearly a broken concept?

Also, this preferred behavior would make much more sense than what the current "Use as Defaults" button (in the 'View Options' panel) does ... apply the settings to any newly created windows, but absolutely nothing to previously-viewed folders.

The Stop Gap

Up until this point, I have suffered through having to manually correcting the settings in the "View Options" window; choosing "Always open in icon view", dragging the icon slider, arranging by "Name", choosing the background image, etc. Yeah ... a really pain.

Just today, I off-handedly tried holding down the Option key when adjusting the settings (a well-known way to 'Reset' the panels for filters, adjustments and such in several of the Adobe apps) and sure enough ... the "Use as Defaults" button updated to read "Restore to Defaults". While that labeling doesn't necessarily make me feel comfortable about pressing it the very first time (it kinda sounds like it is going to perform a Factory Restore on my Finder, right?), it actually did something entirely useful.

"Restore to Defaults" removes any of your previous View settings for that view/window combo and applies the settings you defined when the button read "Define as Defaults". You still will have to manually hold down Option and press that button for any offending windows, but it's still pretty handy, right? Anyways ... that is the end of my rant. Enjoy the find. Now ... Command+Tab back to work, kids.

The lovely geometric type icon I made during the DFP Lecture today. Simple and customizable, but after continually seeing all of the pretty things that James White keeps putting out, I really just wanted to make something colorful. The icon is entirely vector, which was really difficult to achieve with the color blending of the radial shape and the necessary drop shadow ... had to delve into that cumbersome Illustrator Transparency panel masking interface, which is not typically any fun.

As usual, the icon should be available for purchase from GraphicRiver later on this week ... once it gets approved, of course. Feel free to head over to GR and pick up a couple of my other icons too . My new XBOX 360 will thank you for the spending money. :)

Tonight's DFP icon experiment resulted in a pretty 2 for 1 tag special. It is not much of an easter egg, but I thought my name choice on the Christmas tag was a fun one. :) As always, these should be available for purchase soon on GraphicRiver and as always, I'll update this with the link when they are.

Thanks to the built-in screen capturing feature of Snow Leopard's new Quicktime X, I actually managed to record the entire creation of these two. Once I get a chance to mangle the before and after dinner pieces together (and probably speed up the footage), I'll be sure to post it.

It is time again for the monthly DFP discussion on icons. My über example today ended up being this lovely tribute to Kodak's belated Kodachrome plastic slide mounts. It's kinda crazy that these were still being widely used just back in the 1990s.

The icon should be available soon from the nice GraphicRiver folks, in both the hinged and notch variety.

**Update: It is! Buy it here, kiddies.

Another icon I worked up as an advanced example for my DFP students. Like the others, this one should be available from GraphicRiver within a few days.

** Update: The icon has been approved and is now available for purchase

You can purchase it here.

You should be able to pick it up on GraphicRiver really soon:
graphicriver.net/user/DraStudio

As a bonus, it includes a font I made of my quick-fast handwriting style … called "Thin Oscar".

If for some reason, they don’t like it, I’ll just offer it for free from here. Enjoy!

Of my favorite things I did on Wednesday (there were a few), definitely the highlight was the CE Seminar on creating “Effective Lesson Plans” … excellent material that was covered really well and offered lots of insight for the curriculum revisions I’ll be working on next month.

• Update: You can buy it now … whoohoo!

The Background

During a recent lecture in my Deployment of Flash Projects class, while discussing Adobe AIR and trying to summarize the essential parts of desktop User Interface design, I found myself lacking in a over-arching term and general category to which I could attach many of the nit-picky and minute ideas that collectively make for superb deployments (or at the very least, improve poor deployments to acceptable).

I mean, there was definitely plenty of discussion about the importance of sticking with expected design patterns (you HAVE read Tidwell’s Designing Interfaces book, right?) as well as reviewing some of the great concepts presented in James Hobart’s older Principles of Good GUI Design article, like:

• Too Many Features too soon
• Designing for Consistency
• Designing for Clarity
• Remembering the User
• Etc.

But one of the crucial aspects that I think many designers aiming at the Desktop miss, is the ability for their deployment to successfully live within the User’s operating system and among the rest of the applications the User is already using/familiar with. Frankly, it is just far too easy for experienced and novice users alike to spot (and quickly dismiss) applications that do not feel “native” to the system.

The Concept

Just as the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so the solution for this problem isn't going to be found in easy changes we, as designers, make to the cooking methods of our development cycle. Instead, it will only be with each ladled spoonful of user-delivered application goodness that will we be able to test and refine how we design for the Desktop.

If you didn't already know, Apple has been working hard at perfecting their recipe for UI deliciousness with a little something they like to call their Human Interface Guidelines and while I am at no where near that level of articulation in my thoughts on this matter, it isn't a bad goal to strife for. Really, my hope with this article is to spur some awareness among web designers looking at the future of Desktop development and (if I'm lucky) maybe even begin some conversation towards defining this concept that I've been lovingly referring to as "Harmonious Desktop Residence".

The Problem

The way I see it, while this problem does relate to overall design aesthetics and user-interface principles, it is very much hinged on delicate functional and visual intricacies that are simply being overlooked by designers and developers. Coming from the single-experience at-a-time world that is the Web, we are all just so accustomed to doing our own thing ... a habit that doesn't carry over when ours is just one of possibly 10-15 applications sitting in the user's Dock at any given time.

Even though he was talking about icon design at the time, I think Sean Hodge encapsulated this problem very well in his introduction for an article on the PSD Tutorial site:

Approach Icon Design Holistically
"Icons fit within graphic systems. Whether they are designed for desktop applications or Web sites, an icon is one of many graphic elements that need to work together harmoniously. Carry this logic across icon sets as well. Icons can be appreciated for their aesthetic solutions individually, but they don't function alone. Evaluate your icon designs relative to the graphic system you're using them in. Make sure that each icon differs from surrounding icons, while still working together as a whole." - Sean Hodge

Just to name a few, here are some specific issues currently plaguing so many of the current AIR and Mac OS X Dashboard deployments:

• The angle to and amount of drop shadow used by the application's main element
• The color, shape and style by which tooltips are handled
• The opacity/beveling, if any, that is used on button roll-over indications
• The default and/or User customizable screen startup location for the application

I could go on, but hopefully, you are beginning to see my point. None of these elements are major issues in themselves and none result in broken deployments ... but each one detracts, breaks the illusion, and further adds to the tumbling snowball of inconsistencies that is slowly culminating to our user audience's distaste for non-OS branded/developed applications.

In essence, when developing for the Desktop, our job as designers is to be a good neighbor to those other applications, widgets and what-not around us. Currently, we're all sitting Homer Simpson-style in front of our house, half-naked in a kiddie pool, drinking beer and refusing to mow the lawn. Something has to change.

The Solution

Like I hinted at earlier, there unfortunately isn't any one step or five principle-based solution that is going to put us in the right with our users. It's instead going to take some grit and gumption put into building our own list of guidelines to follow and then once there, clinging to them like one of those sticky finger hands ... before they got all dirty, of course.

They are brief, but here are some of my initial ideas to get us started:

• Don't be the gorilla on the block! - Size matters, so scale it down to something reasonable
• The first one out is always the first one wet! - Whether it's color, texture, gradients or drop shadows, your app shouldn't stand out like sour thumb
• Let them eat cake! - Give the Users what they want/expect, whether it is keyboard controls, mouse scrolling, interaction feedback, etc.
• Don't swap the salt and sugar on a blind man! - User are already familiar with certain icons and idioms. Don't bother to reinvent the wheel and definitely don't go breaking those.

Alright, gang. That's your start. Any thoughts?