My 1st Anniversary Gifts with full of Surprises

On our 1st Wedding Anniversary ie. 6th Feb, I received wonderful surprises from my better half.... Jinal. Everything was well planned by her and all the preparation were happening 2 weeks before final day ... i was completely clueless about what was happening.

Above shown immaterial gifts are priceless for me. The kind of efforts put in to prepare all those were unexpectable. I was completely speechless when I received these gifts.

Though I am not mentioning everything in detail about it... if anyone of you wants to know more about it, don't hasitate to contact me.

Last 2 months...... no single post

Last 2 months...... no single post.

It's been really bad of not posting a single post since 2 months. I think somehow I lost interest about writing blogs. May be, I was one of those people who started writing blogs just to get popularity within co-workers, just to be in line with competitive world. I never gave proper attention to it. I kept copying content from other blogs and posted it on my blog. Fewtimes I did posted few fresh content but then it never lasted long.

But now, I strongly feel that I should start blogging it all over again, that too regularly. It always make sense to share knowledge with world.

I will stick to this and you will see atleast 4 entries every week.

Zeest is coming back!!!

ZEEST Band is coming back with a Bang. I think, almost everyone know these underdogs for their famous track "BC Sutta". I had emails conversation with them and came to know that they are launching their 1st album in the market. For more information you can visit their site on http://www.zeestmania.com/

About Zeest
Zeest is based in Karachi Pakistan, formed, owned and lead by SKIP (Saqib Abdullah), Who is the composer, guitarist, lyricist, and vocalist.

Basically ‘Zeest’ is a Persian word, which means ‘Life’, but can be used as a hope, a light, a faith etc. Skip chose this word as a title of the band just because he thought this name could reflect his work, the area where he mainly focus, i.e. highlighting on social youth issues and to create a ray of hope for them. He thinks singing for a social cause is far better than singing just for a romance. After launching other songs everyone will clearly understand the motive of the band’s ideology.

Future is of mobility : Intel's Vision

An amazing technology to come. It will definately make the life easier.

MOST IMP - This is a Spam email

Recently, I got an email from my friend and I thought its better to double check before forwarding it. I found that it was one another fake email which is running around.

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/p/progesterex.htm
http://www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca/faq/drugs_progesterex.html

The content of it was as follows:

Important for girls....don't hesitate to FORWARD..

Forward this to all your frnds and save them from a possiblesituation.

A woman at a Gas nightclub (Mumbai) on Saturday nightwas taken by 5 men,Who according to hospital andpolice reports, gang raped her before Dumping her at Bandstand Mumbai. Unable to rememberthe events of the evening, tests later confirmed therepeat rapes along with traces of rohypnol in herblood.Rohypnol, date rape drug is an essentially a small sterilization pill.The drug is now being used by rapists at parties torape AND sterilize their victims. All they have to dois drop it into the girl's drink.

The girl can'tremember a thing the next morning, of all that had Taken place the night before. Rohypnol, whichdissolves in drinks just as easily, is such that thevictim doesn't conceive from the rape and the rapistneedn't worry about having a paternity testidentifying him months later. The Drug's affects ARE NOT TEMPORARY - they arePERMANENT. Any female that takes it WILL NEVER BEABLE TO CONCEIVE. The weasels can get this drug fromanyone who is in the vet school or any university. it's that easy, and Rohypnol is about to break out bigon campuses everywhere.Believe it or not, there are even sites on theInternet telling people how to use it. Please forwardthis to everyone you know, especially girls. Girls, becareful when you're out and don't leave yourdrink unattended.

(added - Buy your own drinks, ensure bottles or cansreceived are Unopened or sealed; don't even tastesomeone else's drink) There was already been a report in Singapore of girlsdrink been Spiked by Rohypnol.Please make the effort to forward this to everyone youknow.

For guys - Pls inform all your female friends and relatives.

"Your life is God's gift to you. What you do forothers is your gift to God" I had been forwarded thismail you SHOULD do the same !!!!!

Friends, please make sure that before forwarding these kind of emails you 1st search over the net for the fact.

What is spam emails:
http://prashantpoladia.blogspot.com/2006/11/what-is-spam-emails.html

Saawariya (2007)

Official Site. http://www.saawariyafilm.com/
Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
Star Cast: Salman Khan, Rani Mukherji, Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor
Release Date: 9th November 2007

According to some sources the movie is an adaptation of russian short story called "White Nights" and it is a sad love story. Will Sanjay be able to make magic again like Black? Just wait and watch!!!

Designing more effective forms

Form designing is one of the most important element of web applications and websites. Every ecommerce site has an important information to fill-in. If forms are not user friendly to users they won't further browse the site.

In nutshell, form should be short and simple. Error Messages should be friendly enough and to the point on same page. This in return will make user's life easier and save their time.

“Input elements should be organized in logical groups so that your brain can process the form layout in chunks of related fields.” –HTML: the Definitive Guide.

Few very important design elements are discussed on User Interface Engineering site regarding designing an appropriate usable forms.

Cognitive walkthrough

It is a usability Testing strategy in which a developer group systematically evaluates each element on every screen in the context of the various tasks (e.g. How likely would a user click this button for Task A? What would happen if they did? etc.).

[Source - HFI]

The Cognitive Walkthrough method is a usability inspection method used to identify usability issues in a piece of software or web site, focusing on how easy it is for new users to accomplish tasks with the system. The method is rooted in the notion that users typically prefer to learn a system by using it to accomplish tasks, rather than, for example, studying a manual. The method is prized for its ability to generate results quickly with low cost, especially when compared to usability testing, as well as the ability to apply the method early in the design phases, before coding has even begun.

A cognitive walkthrough starts with a task analysis that specifies the sequence of steps or actions required by a user to accomplish a task, and the system responses to those actions. The designers and developers of the software then walkthrough the steps as a group, asking themselves a set of questions at each step. Data is gathered during the walkthrough, and afterwards a report of potential issues is compiled. Finally the software is redesigned to address the issues identified.

[Source - Wikipedia.org]

CUA Exam Experience

Here are the list of few things that I have experienced during CUA Exam:

• be calm and relax

• Carry all the BIG books with proper "post it" attached to each section and few important chapters too, so you can quickly go through the pages.

• You can avoide carrying Study Guide, Glossary & Exercise books.

• Quick Reference pages will be helpful too.

• Give attention to "FALSE", "TRUE" and "EXCEPT" word in the question.

• If you have any doubt while answering, choose the best option and then FLAG it, so it will considered as your answer even incase you submit it in a hurry.

• Even if you have little bit of doubt, flag it and refer to your notes.

• Spare 10-12 mins in the end for PRP section, its high scoring section and easy one.

• UT section was a bit tough, it was more on factical questions where you need to apply your judgement, it takes more time.

http://www.prashantpoladia.com/

CUA Exam Cleared

Hurayyyyyyyy !!!

Just cleared CUA™ (Certified Usability Analyst) Exam of HFI.

Sincere thanks to all of you, special thanks to Chirutha Dalal and Bhooshan Pandya for sharing their exam experience with me.

I am very much excited now, but yes, it do not stops here. I need to start implementing it in real world which would be much more difficult than giving exam.

Please do share your experience with me regarding Usability Implementation in your organization.

Power of GUI on iPhone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrVt2ZcrWUY

See how Powerful UI of product/application can make a difference and make it usable to 1 year old baby.

http://www.prashantpoladia.com/

HFI's Usability Course » June 2007 Batch

Recently, I have attended HFI's Usability Course from 18th June '07 to 28th June '07 (10 Days). It has changed my vision of designing web pages and application interfaces.

It has improved my thought process before designing anything and now it became the habit of asking myself :
• "WHY"... why I am designing this way and not the other way?
• Will this be useful for the actual user and serve their purpose?
• Will this be user friendly and easy to understand?
• Will they be able to complete their task successfully?
• Will this satisfy users?
and many more...

My experience througout the course was excellent and my take home from this course were:
• User's Conceptual Model (their needs and behaviour)
­• Industry Standards related to Designs
• Design Principles
• User Centric Analysis Process
• Importance of Usability Testing throughout product development
• How to put Research into Practice
• How to design effective websites & web applications
and many more ...

Topics of HFI's Usability Courses are:
• User Centric Analysis and Conceptual Model (3 Days)
• The Science and Art of Effective Web & Application Design (3 Days)
• Practical Usability Testing (2 Days)
• Putting Research into Practice (2 Days)

I strongly recommend this course for designers to attend it.

Certified Usability Analyst exam's paper pattern and guidelines

Recently, I had a talk with Chirutha Dalal about CUA (Certified Usability Analyst) exam. As I got few useful information about it, here I am noting down few DO's and DONT's for the exam and paper pattern as per what she explained me:

• Exam will be devided in 4 sections
• Each section will be having few set of questions (UCD-26, Design-38, UT-26, PRP-10)
• No Negative Marking
• 70 % passing score
• Suggestive time to spent on each section will be mentioned

• prepare separate notes or stick yellow notes on given material for easy reference
• Objectives type of Questions (Choose answer from 1-4)
• Can't Jump from one section to another (Sequential Navigation :) )
• Can Jump from one question to another within that section (Persistent Menu :))
• Questions will be more of scenario based and need to apply your experience
• Can flag a question to get back to it again
• Got to attend sections in form of (1 >> 2 >> 3 >> 4)

• Once a particular section submited can't go back to previous one (very important)
• Research Section (4th) is the easiest one so, spare 10-12 mins for it and you can score high
• go through given Study Guide thoroughly

I hope this would be useful.

Orkut Blog - Arrived!!!

Orkut Blog - Arrived!!!

On Monday, June 25, 2007 Orkut has launched it's on blog for users. Have a look at the site to check what's there inside.

User Centric Design at Glance

[Source - businessinnovationinsider]

Following is the process to accomplish User Centric Design approach.

1. Design Strategy
   • To understand Stake Holder's Goals and Expectations
   • To gather background information
   
   
2. Profiles and Personas
   Collect various profiles of:
   • User Profiles
   • Environmetal Profiles
   • Task Profiles



3. Data Gathering
   To collect data by way of:
   • Interviews
   • Contextual Inquiry
   • Focus Groups
   • Surveys & Questionnaires



4. Scenarios and Task Analysis
   • Scenarios to use across design life cycle
   • Define Task Steps



5. Primary Nouns
   • "Things" user take action on or manipulate
   • It needs to be obvious on pages



6. Information Architecture
   • Labelling Systems
   • Categorical Schemes
   • Hybrid Schemes
   • Hierarchical Organisation
   

Course II - The Art and Science of Effective Web and Application Design, HFI

One another course completed with HFI (Course II - The Art and Science of Effective Web and Application Design). It was good course to attend as it gives clear understanding on how one should design the website and application by keep in mind the user's mental model.

Shortly, i will write more about it!!! Do share your comments.

Pictures of All Courses .

User Centered Analysis and Conceptual Design - HFI Course

Just completed 3 days (18th Jun - 20th June) course on User Centered Analysis and Conceptual Design of Human Factors International conducted by Abhijit Thosar at Residential Hotel. It was really wonderful experience to know about "users", their behaviour, their mental models.

I will write more about it shortly.

Blackle.com - Saving energy one search at a time

Blackle is the new product of Google, which is created on theory of saving energy. Isn't it sound funny? but, that's true, very true thing.

Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. "Image displayed is primarily a function of the user's color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen." Roberson et al, 2002

There are a lot of great web sites about saving energy and being more environmentally friendly. They are full of great tips covering the little things that we can all do to make a difference today. Try Blackling "energy saving tips" or visit treehugger.com a great blog dedicated to environmental awareness.

HFI’s 10-days 4 part Usability Training Program (Myself attending Jun ‘07 Batch)

Luckily at the last moment I got a chance to attend June Batch of HFI’s 10-days 4 part Usability Training Program (18th June -to- 28th June).

These courses are designed to gear up participants to become certified Usability analyst.

1) User-Centered Analysis and Conceptual Design (UCA) – 3 Days
2) The Science and Art of Effective Web Design (Design) – 3 Days
3) Practical Usability Testing (UT) – 2 Days
4) Putting Research into Practice (PRP) – 2 Days

Once I will be through with these courses, I will post my experience over here.

For enquiry of above courses for next batch contact Archana.

Archana Saraf
Senior Marketing Support Executive
Human Factors International
Ph: 91 – 22 - 40107400
Cell : 9324233477

email : archana@humanfactors.com

Thanks,

Prash

Microsoft Surface - The next generation of computer

The software giant announced at the D5 conference that it’s built a new touchscreen computer—a coffee table that will change the world. Go inside its top-secret development with PopularMechanics.com, then forget the keyboard and mouse: The next generation of computer interfaces will be hands-on.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid932579976/bclid932553050/bctid933742930

Have a look at the above video, it is an amazing technology.