Community Embraces New Word Game at Mid-Year Play Day This past Sunday, families at Takoma Park’s Seventh Annual Mid-Year Play Day had the opportunity to experience OtherWordly for the first time. Our educational language game drew curious children and parents to our table throughout the afternoon. Words in Space Several children gathered around our iPads […]
Read moreAuthor: IDEA
Author: Elisa Warner Trusting and supporting your tech team helps them to achieve collaborative goals. Problem Although your technical knowledge is limited, you must effectively manage a group of technical professionals. Solution Earn the respect of your team by utilizing your unique perspective and abilities, while acknowledging your limitations. Help your team to shine by
Author: Elisa Warner Supporting creative differences through leadership can help a project reach its potential. Recognizing that enthusiasm is a more powerful motivator than coercion, most managers adopt the style of a coach rather than a dictator. Problem While managing a team project, it’s sometimes difficult to maintain structure without alienating staff or stifling creativity.
Author: Elisa Warner Utilizing a variety of project management strategies will help ensure success. Problem Some projects have clear objectives and goals while others’ end results are uncertain. Each type of project has its own set of management challenges. Solution Implement different project development methodologies based on project conditions and team size. Discussion Organizations should
Author: Elisa Warner Nonprofit organizations face special challenges in project development and management. Project management in the non-profit world carries unique challenges. While comparisons can be made to corporate teams, the unique structure of a non-profit creates special conditions for project leaders and supervisors. The non-profit leadership structure may create a divorce between project development
Enabling visitors to email a web page supports the user experience. Problem Visitors can’t easily share your site with others or archive its contents. Solution Add an “email this page” link to every page on the site, and allow visitors to add a brief note to the email. Discussion If you want to track how
Knobs
December 1st, 2005 by IDEA
Mimicking real-life knobs and switches enhances usability. Problem You need to make knobs on your site immediately obvious. Solution Use a consistent style of knobs. Discussion There are many styles of knobs, but the best designs are reminiscent of real-life knobs and switches, are convenient to use, and are similar to other widgets used on
Buttons
December 1st, 2005 by IDEA
A consistent button style aids navigation. Problem You need to make buttons on your site immediately obvious. Solution Use a consistent style for all buttons, which are objects on the screen that the visitor can click. Discussion Thousands of button designs appear around the Internet. Two common styles are to depict a slightly embossed shape
Icons
December 1st, 2005 by IDEA
Enhancing navigation by marrying icons and text. Problem You need to make the icons on your site immediately obvious. Solution Except for a few concepts where icons are part of our common visual vocabulary (such as the travel icons at right), use text labels rather than icons. The icon or thumbnail can augment the text,
User interface
December 1st, 2005 by IDEA
Developing user-centered interfaces for increased accessibility. Problem You need a web interface that is accessible to all types of users. Solution Use universal techniques for ease of navigation. Discussion Much has been written about human-computer interaction and the importance of the user interface. The overall key is to be “user-centered.” When designing your web site,