LiveBlogging: Presenting Data and Information (Edward Tufte) Part 2

[lunch over!]

Interface design:

-Language buttons should be in the native language and not English!
-The idea on the interface is to show off what you're going to provide right from the start.

Content-centered design = User-centered design

The user doesn't care about your hierarchy! (Karlyn's note: This is directly applicable to higher ed websites! You don't design architecture based on the hierarchy of the institution: Users do not care which program is located within which department on the organizational chart - they care about finding the information they are looking for.)

Content should be 90% of the screen on websites (Note: not sure I agree with this entirely....people won't read the content if it takes up 90%)

Wouldn't it be nice if we had no idea that something called an operating system existed? You shouldn't have to. Users only care about finding things with information. He's also talking about not needing a concept of applications, but that seems like a bit of a stretch - counter-intuitive to the 37 signals model of having an application that does one thing really well opposed to a lot of things mediocre.

Marketing experience steals space and time from content.

The man is obsessed with the iPhone....




For more: http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/iphone-video.adp

It's about the information - not about your interface.

Data graphics are no longer special - no separate page, no box around them.

Statistical graphics should have the resolution of typography - not of cartoons.

Human beings give too much weight to making a decision to the most recent piece of data that has come in. "Sparklines" show todays change, along with the last 1,000 changes. It's a much better calibration of the most recent change.

On sparklines: You'll see a lot more with your data if its not too flat and not too spiky. Slope should be about 45 degrees. There's a lot of open source stuff out there to create these graphics.

Wavefields:





Overall: Though I think Tufte drastically underestimates the importance of "readability" in presenting his data, I'll never look at information the same way again. If you can pick up his books or catch his road show, I wholeheartedly recommend it!