Application Design Showcase: 2008

Get an inside look at the winning designs for best applications, ranging from desktop to web-based apps, including transmedia and mobile apps.  This is the only place to find this information.

This 286-page report gives readers the unique opportunity to see case studies of effective user interfaces, including specialized applications that are usually not available to the public. Discussions and 206 screenshots supplement the findings.

Topics

Find out what the winners are doing right

• Business-oriented interaction
• Freeform vs. linear task flow
• Modal dialog boxes
• Lightbox: Interaction design technique of the tear
• User assistance
• Emotional design
• Dashboards
• Wizards
• UI for real-time resources
• Software as a Service (SaaS)
• Usability process for application development

Common themes among the winners

• Designed to be quickly comprehensible
• Telling a simple story, and communicating well
• Using interface elements in the way that users expect
• Helping users

Best practices for applications design

• Progressive disclosure
• Dialog boxes
• Modal vs. non-modal dialogues
• Registration for web-based apps
• Error messages
• Ribbon design vs. traditional menus
• Context menus
• Pinnable menus
• Toolbars
• Icons
• Buttons
• Labels and command names
• Drag-and-drop
• Tooltips and click-tips
• Online help
• Presenting complex features
• Wizards
• Linear vs. freeform task flow
• Narrative flow
• Dashboards
• Data visualization
• Drill-down
• Filtering
• Alerts
• Mobile versions of PC apps
• Visual style
• Direct manipulation and drag-and-drop
• Innovative controls: when to break with accepted standards
• Standards for corporate cross-app UI look-and-feel
• Desktop metaphor
• Slider controls
• Zoom
• WYSIWYG