What does it take to build an online community like Flickr’s? And how can we tell if interface design conventions we take for granted actually help or hurt users? In Issue No. 258 of A List Apart, for people who make websites, George Oates, a key member of the core team that shaped the Flickr community, tells what it will take to build the next Flickr (hint: the answer isn’t Ajax). And Jessica Enders drops some science on the widespread belief that zebra stripes aid the reader by guiding the eye along a table row.

Tags: alistapart, publishing, publications, happycog, zebrastripes, zebrastriping, usability, design, community, flickr, georgeoates, jessicaenders

Filed under: A List Apart, Design, Happy Cog™, Layout, Publications, Publishing, Usability

8 Responses to “ALA 258: art of community, science of design”

1. Design-Feed Latest said on 6 May 2008 at 1:57 pm:

   [...] ALA 258: art of community, science of design Jeffrey Zeldman Presents The Daily Report | 3 hours ago [...]

2. Tuesday, 6. may 2008 | WDNews.net | WDNews.net said on 11 May 2008 at 5:18 pm:

   [...] ALA 258: art of community, science of design [...]

3. 
   Jeff Barbose said on 11 May 2008 at 9:13 pm:

   In general terms, social web sites should ideally feel like they’re here and not out there at some website. In other words, they should integrate as much as possible with the platform you’re on.

   For example, Mac OS X AddressBook should be able to cross Flickr/Facebook/Twitter/iChat seamlessly, and if you’re interested in saved chats/tweets, It should be simple from there to have enough collected data about that contact to build timelines or another other connections apropos to that contact.

   The stand-alone browser is starting to feel like the computer terminal for the 2000s

4. 
   Ken Colwell said on 13 May 2008 at 8:40 am:

   http://www.alistapart.com seems to be missing in action or taken over by network solutions.

   good luck.

   kc

5. 
   Glyn Mooney said on 13 May 2008 at 10:38 am:

   OK what happened to A list apart. It’s gone?

6. Jeffrey Zeldman Presents The Daily Report | FeedEachOther | http://feedeachother.com said on 15 May 2008 at 6:34 pm:

   [...] ALA 258: art of community, science of design ALA 258: art of community, science of design PERMALINK (Jeffrey Zeldman…) Discussion (0) What does it take to build an online community like Flickr’s? And how can we tell if interface design conventions we take for granted actually help or hurt users? In Issue No. 258 of A List Apart, for people who make websites, George Oates, a key member of the core team that shaped the Flickr [...] [...]