The Website of UX Designer Matthew Stephens

This is the first in a new series of blog posts where I review software related to the average UX professional.

For Mac users, there are countless options for coding environments. From full-featured WYSISYG editors such as Dreamweaver and RapidWeaver to the most basic text editors, the Mac platform can accomodate any coding style. My app of choice is TextMate. I was originally introduced to the program by a co-worker who had recently switched to Mac and found it to be his favorite. Another co-worker highly encouraged me to try BBEdit as well, since it supposedly had a much better community of developers working on plugins. As a long-term Dreamweaver user and even author of “Foundations of Dreamweaver”, I was highly critical and expected only the best. I spent a few days in each program and eventually narrowed it down to a few of my favorites. The final 3 were TextMate, BBEdit, and Jedit.

I chose TextMate in the end, due to it’s simplicity, usability, customizable interface, and bundle support. It made my life much easier in every way. I found that it had all the plugins that I needed and could customize things to improve upon Dreamweaver’s features, such as code completion, auto-formatting, etc. All the little hangups that I had become accustomed to with Dreamweaver were gone and all that was left was a pure, exciting coding experience.

My final rating of TextMate: 9.3 out of 10.

My final rating of BBEdit: 8.6 out of 10

My final rating of Jedit: 8.3 out of 10

Ratings were based on the following criteria: Usability, performance, flexibility, features, support, and community.

One of the most common interview questions for UX Designers is to name some interfaces that they like and then name some that they hate. I always mention Gmail as an interface that is both simple and easy-to-use, while Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail are struggling to keep up. I think this article finally provides the proof I needed to support my arguments.

Email UI Faceoff – GMail vs Hotmail vs Yahoo – The results.

Guidelines, Tools and Resources For Web Wireframing | W3Avenue.

Wireframing allows you to visually illustrate layout of fundamental elements in the user interface. It also acts as a way to communicate with clients and other stakeholders (content creators, designers, developers, etc). Furthermore, wireframing enables you to consider changes, user paths, and new requirements.

Wireframing is not one of those ritual that you can perform without thinking. You have to exactly identify your objectives and stay focused during the process. You can use wireframing to assist you in any or all of the following processes:

• Planning & Analysis
• Communication With Client and/or Team
• Documentation