Enter the interaction architect
By Simon Bisson & Mary Branscombe in Editorial
Posted in Applications, Developer, Adobe, Internet on
Adobe’s MAX event here in Milan has seen the European unveiling of its upcoming Catalyst web application design tool. It’s here that it’s also begun to discuss how it sees web application development workflows changing to improve the often fractious relationship between designer and developer.
The launch of Flex (developed by ASP co-architect Mark Anders) changed the way the development world looked at Flash. A tool for producing animations and the butt of a million “Skip Intro” jokes had become a new way of producing complex state-based user interfaces. Flex made Flash as much a part of Web 2.0 as AJAX. Even so, there were still problems. It was easy to tell a Flex site, as the limited skinning capabilities made Flex controls look the same wherever you went on the web. You could design your own controls from scratch, but then they became as much part of the code as a site’s business logic - which was exactly the thing it was trying to prevent.
Designers and developers don’t think the same way. That’s not a bad thing - the creative tension between the two ways of working can deliver amazing applications with intuitive ways of working. However, it also means that they don’t work well while sitting in each other’s pockets, working on each little piece of a page. What’s best is that architectural utopia, the complete seperation of design and code. Developers can work on business logic without affecting the design, and designers can do the opposite…
That’s the idea behind Catalyst (perhaps still best known by its codename “Thermo”). Designers can start work in familiar Illustrator and Photoshop, and then import their layers into Catalyst. Here they can map out buttons and dynamic content, marking them up and adding state information to a design. The resulting prototype can be converted into a new FXG format, and imported straight into Flex. Developers can start work on the code straightaway, adding the logic behind the buttons and the dynamic content. Meanwhile the designer team can concentrate on fine tuning the interactions, producing a user interface that’s clean and easy to use. The two versions can eventually be merged, ready for testing and delivery. It’s a simple, clear workflow that brings designers and developers closer together, concentrating on their strengths and avoiding the pitfalls of their weaknesses.
Of course this means we’ll need a new kind of designer, one who’s focussed on the user experience and on how it should be delivered. We’ve already got application architects putting together the backend, and information architects managing metadata (as well as database architects handling storage). So why not call this role the interaction architect? It’s definitely a senior role that defines the direction of the UI component of an application -
Not yet rated
Loading ...Comment by - December 2, 2008 on 12:17 pm
So how does it differ from Microsoft’s Expression range? (Aside from the different target platform, that is 
Trackback by - February 9, 2012 on 7:21 am
sopapilla recipe…
[…]Swedish therapeutic massage was designed utilizing tactics used by the Swedish physiologist as […]…
Make a comment
Tag cloud
Archives
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
Most commented posts
- Java's SSVAGENT.EXE: training the monkey
103 comments
- When Windows 7 upgrades won’t hibernate (the solution)
- Do you need IPv6 for DirectAccess? Yes and No
- Chrome OS: what happens when "always connected", isn't?
- The ColdFusion Renaissance
- There’s a reason smartphones are locked down
- Is there a showstopper bug in Windows 7 CHKDSK?
- The LHC isn
- At sixes and Windows 7s
- Make Adobe Acrobat Pro deactivate
Highest Rated Blog Posts
- Songs of distant satellites (100%)
- Nobody knows what Web 2.0 really is (100%)
- Log in and lock in (100%)
- Top tips for speeding up Vista (100%)
- Mommy, why is there a home server in the office? (100%)
- Employees are our most valuable asset (snigger) (100%)
- Locking down IT or blocking creativity (100%)
- Consumer BlackBerrys are good for business (100%)
- HD Trek (100%)
- Join the (beta) community (100%)
