Shannon Braun's Weblog

I have finally given in... I can't find anything... I know I have it... but where is it.  I was looking for some tools to help me with my problems.  An acquaintance of mine (David Ing) runs Taglocity, which I have yet to install.  I am not sure tagging is what I want to do.  Google Desktop and Live aren't cutting the different ways I want to be able to look at my email.  I have read posts by Paul Graham for a number of years... and have enjoyed what he has said.  The reason I mention this... is that Paul is involved in Y-Combinator... a company that funds startups and this is how I happened upon xobni.  Which really caught my eye because they are looking at some different ways to deal with emails... and the UI actually looks clean and interesting. Check it out.  I am still on the waiting list to get the beta... but I will blog my experience once I have a chance to take a look at it.

Jeff Brand (Microsoft Developer Evangelist) and I sat down the other day and recorded a pod cast (download) that discusses building business applications using WPF.  If you want some insight into building business applications with WPF, check it out. We talked about decisions around why to use a WPF for a business application, challenges of getting up to speed on WPF, Workflow with designers and a little bit about building enterprise composite applications.

I registered for MIX 08, so I just thought I would show off my new bling.  This will be the first year I have attended MIX... I decided it would be a good opportunity to see how others are using WPF.  I have always been a huge UI advocate and had an interest in creating refined user interfaces.  The power of WPF has really made this substantially less complex then the hoops that you had to jump through before.

However, with this additional power it really helps to have a UI Designer involved to make the UI's look more professional... this also introduces other issues... from a workflow and collaboration perspective during the software development lifecycle.

If a UI Designer isn't involved developers can always use the default styles that are provided with the WPF controls, but then you just get an old fashioned Windows application look and feel.  Many developers struggled with usability and behavior not to mention color coordination, style and layout.  With this additional freedom how can we use it in a responsible fashion.  Most projects don't include UI Designers to help guide us.

There is a number of presentations that I am interested in hearing what they have to say about designers and their role in the development lifecycle.

How Design Impacts the Bottom Line
Audience(s): Business, Creative

Is design really worth the investment? Or should it be the first item to cut when time and money are tight? Hear from businesses about their experiences around the payoff for implementing design.

Applications = Designers + Developers
Audience(s): Creative, Technical

Behind the scenes, great applications feature not only clever code, but they also expose a great user experience and design. We illustrate the workflow possible using the Microsoft Expression tools and Microsoft Visual Studio to create great applications.