Archive for February 2006
Google on IE7 NOW!
It literally took ages for the good people at Microsoft to realize the importance of search, and they only came out with their search engine once Google's domination of the search market was complete; their time to respond to this reality being horribly slow.
I had (finally) started using MSN Search for the past few days, ever since I downloaded and installed Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2, as it provided the MSN Search textbox on the top-right side of the window without having to visit a particular webpage to enter the search query. Not any more. Today, as I typed www.google.com.pk in my IE7 web browser, the Google search page had a new addition on the top-right hand corner of the page, prompting me to make Google the search engine in IE. I clicked the "Make Google my search" button and the 13.6 KB download instantly added the Google search option to a web browser that is still in its Beta. Talk about quick response. What's in-store for Web 2.0, I wonder? The good people of Google are swift.
I had (finally) started using MSN Search for the past few days, ever since I downloaded and installed Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2, as it provided the MSN Search textbox on the top-right side of the window without having to visit a particular webpage to enter the search query. Not any more. Today, as I typed www.google.com.pk in my IE7 web browser, the Google search page had a new addition on the top-right hand corner of the page, prompting me to make Google the search engine in IE. I clicked the "Make Google my search" button and the 13.6 KB download instantly added the Google search option to a web browser that is still in its Beta. Talk about quick response. What's in-store for Web 2.0, I wonder? The good people of Google are swift.
Enter Sparkle
I just can't get enough of the UX enhancements. Cider, the Visual Designer for XAML is brilliant. However, with the release of Microsoft Interactive Designer (aka Sparkle) CTP for January 2006, designers can get excited too. Firstly, don't be fooled by the design environment that looks a lot like Macromedia Flash. Sparkle is totally different. Its not just draw, drag and drop. The ability to zoom not just the scene you are drawing, but also the design/development environment panels is truely remarkable.
Secondly, anyone using the Interactive Designer must take into account the object hierarcy that is formed when you create an object or UI element on the scene/window. This entails that you explicitly activate a drawn element by double clicking it in the timeline panel (NOT on the design surface), and then droping another element onto it, to make the latter the former's child in the hierarchy. This hierarchical element tree allows child elements to be bound to a field in a data context bound to the parent element, instead of having to create and bind individual data contexts for elements.
Lastly, designers and developers can work on the same project using different development environments, i.e. VS 2005 (with WinFX installed), and Sparkle interactive designer. Although, coding support is available in Sparkle, it was never built for development, just for designing.
After playing around with the Fabrikam Catalog Application tutorials, I was ready to create a small Contacts application on my own; not exactly rocket science, but a beauty indeed!
[Click on images to view a larger version]
Secondly, anyone using the Interactive Designer must take into account the object hierarcy that is formed when you create an object or UI element on the scene/window. This entails that you explicitly activate a drawn element by double clicking it in the timeline panel (NOT on the design surface), and then droping another element onto it, to make the latter the former's child in the hierarchy. This hierarchical element tree allows child elements to be bound to a field in a data context bound to the parent element, instead of having to create and bind individual data contexts for elements.
Lastly, designers and developers can work on the same project using different development environments, i.e. VS 2005 (with WinFX installed), and Sparkle interactive designer. Although, coding support is available in Sparkle, it was never built for development, just for designing.
After playing around with the Fabrikam Catalog Application tutorials, I was ready to create a small Contacts application on my own; not exactly rocket science, but a beauty indeed!
[Click on images to view a larger version]
LAUNCHED!
The SQL Server 2005/VS2005 Launch event at NED today was a smash hit! What makes user group events really exciting is the enthusiasm of the audience, and at the NED University of Engineering and Technology, excitement is not hard to muster, and my experience as speaker there is always one to blog about. Great work NEDians!
Whats Cookin', Good Lookin'?
User eXperience, it seems, is everywhere. Even before the release of Windows Vista, apps have already started to look and feel a lot like those Windows Vista. Firstly, MSN Messenger 8.0 Beta gives a feel of the Vista Search capabilities/experience by short-listing entries in a list as the use types in the search-box. Yahoo also seems to have jumped on the UX bandwagon. Yahoo widgets have a glass-style user experience similar to that of Vista. Here's a screenshot of both apps I just mentioned, captured off my desktop.
[Click on images below to view a larger version.]
[Click on images below to view a larger version.]
