The UIE Podcast

The UIE articles archive isn't the only place to get the latest and greatest UIE research. Our growing audio library includes a podcast containing interviews and presentations on topics such as tagging, home page design, and user behavior. You can listen to a show ala carte or subscribe to the full podcast feed to hear the great information that Jared Spool, Joshua Porter, and Christine Perfetti deliver.

Podcast Feed

New Release:

SpoolCast: Design Patterns and Anti-Patterns with Bill Scott  

SpoolCast: Design Patterns and Anti-Patterns with Bill Scott
Recorded: November 30th, 2007 from the studios at UIE.
Brian Christiansen, UIE Podcast Producer
Duration: 39m | File size: 20 MB
[ Subscribe to our podcast via iTunes. This link will launch the iTunes application.]
[ Subscribe with other podcast applications.]
[ Text transcript ]

In this week’s SpoolCast, I had a chance to speak with Bill Scott. Bill has been one of my heroes for years, having really pushed the envelope as an evangelist for the public Yahoo! Design Pattern Library. He then went on to work on the Yahoo! Teachers project, where he took his knowledge of Ajax and Web 2.0 techniques and applied it to a creative solution for educators. Most recently, Bill has become the Director of UI Engineering at Netflix, where he now is driving how technology can enhance the user experience at one of the companies that understands what it takes.

During our conversation, we talked about some of the innovative techniques he’s using at Netflix, what he learned from the Yahoo! Teachers project, and his most recent work on Anti-patterns — learning from what we shouldn’t be doing.

I think you’ll enjoy this podcast. We look forward to your questions and thoughts. Let us know in the comments!

[Note: We had prepared this podcast to be released earlier this year, but due to schedule conflicts, its release was delayed. As a result, the intro mentions the very successful 2008 Web App Summit as if it's still to come. But don't worry: we'll have another one next year, so stay tuned!]

Archived Podcast

SpoolCast: Reviewing Mental Models with Indi Young  

In February we held one of our most popular Virtual Seminars ever, Mental Models: Getting Into Your Customer’s Head, presented by Indi Young. We had a number of compelling questions left over from the seminar, and we wanted Indi to have a chance to answer them.

Archived Podcast

Usability Tools Podcast: Applying Fitts’ Law  

A button is a button right? Move the mouse over it. Click. Not much to it, eh?

Well, when it’s a well-designed button, all the work your brain is doing to click the button is invisible to you. However, when it’s poorly designed, things start to become harder. Maybe you overshoot the target area? Or maybe you have trouble clicking because the button is too small. Often its not difficult to recover, but it costs attention and attention is expensive.

In this week’s podcast, we discuss the implications of Fitts’ Law. In short, the law states, “The time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and size of the target.”

Archived Podcast

Usability Tools Podcast: Successful Web App Usability Techniques, Part 2  

In this week’s podcast, Brian Christiansen and I continue exploring usability techniques for web-based applications.
This week, we explore the usability technique toolbox, focusing on those methods that help us with web-based applications.

Archived Podcast

Usability Tools Podcast: Successful Web App Usability Techniques, Part 1  

In this week’s podcast, Brian Christiansen and I explore usability techniques for web-based applications. Web-based applications are different from content-based web sites because the users are involved in a transaction. When we’re researching the usability of a content-based site, we’re focused on how users will find and react to the information. However, with web-based applications, there are many other considerations that we need to account for.

Because this is a big topic, we’ve divided it into two podcasts. In Part 1, Brian and I lay down the framework for what our usability research needs to tell us about our web-based application. In Part 2, will look at the techniques for finding that information.

Archived Podcast

SpoolCast Crew Episode 7 - The Book of Face: Discussing Facebook’s Design Issues  

Almost every company has to struggle with the balance between customer needs and internal business objectives. In this episode the crew examines the recent situation at Facebook. While trying to please both users and build a business model, the fast moving organization has stepped on many toes.

View All Brain Sparks Audio Library Podcasts

Want to Know When New Recordings Are Available?

UIEtips, our free email newsletter, is your best way to hear about each new recording, as soon as it’s available. In addition, we’ll regularly send you articles, interviews, and the latest research coming from our labs. Plus, you’ll learn about local get-togethers and discounts to our highly-rated conferences and roadshows, giving you even more resources to increase your design expertise.

Signing up for UIEtips is free and easy. Just supply your name and email address below, then click on the link in the confirmation email we’ll immediately send you. Don’t worry, we won’t give your name or email address to anyone else. We know your interests change, so we’ll send you a link to easily unsubscribe in every message we send.





Discuss This Presentation

After you’ve had a chance to listen to the presentation, share your thoughts and ask your questions at the UIE Brain Sparks blog.