MildBunch HQ
108c Stokes Croft
Bristol
BS1 3RU
T: +44 (0)797 050 3574
Twitter: @robeam
Robeam
Hello, I'm Adam Robertson, with over 10 years experience working with online content, I provide the technical lead for Ostmodern and offer front end development solutions as Robeam.
Latest work
- Virgin Player for Ostmodern
- FilmFlex for Ostmodern
- Twitter stuff for Robeam
There's a contact button down there in the bottom left corner, or give me a call or even write me a letter.
MildBunch HQ
108c Stokes Croft
Bristol
BS1 3RU
T: +44 (0)797 050 3574
Twitter: @robeam
Posts
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August 13, 08:58 AM
FilmFlex Movies on Demand
The service is a modular ‘white label’ product, which means we’ll be able to develop a number of unique bespoke movie platforms for different brands, without redesigning everything from the ground up each time. This also means that each proposition will have their pick of FilmFlex’s huge and exclusive content offering too. The first partner to use the new platform is Virgin Media and, although the site is still in Beta at the moment, it’s all looking rather nice.
It’s been a busy 6 months pulling together the project, but it’s definitely been worth it. Have a look for yourself and drop us an email with your thoughts. -
August 13, 08:21 AM
Virgin Media VoD Player goes into Beta release
It has been a while since the Robeam blog last saw any action and its been for good reason. I have been incredibly busy for the past 6 months working on the new Virgin media Player for Ostmodern. Its been a long process and many lessons have been learnt. I took the job on initially as a front end only build which would then be passed onto the Virgin in-house team to build the backend and link to the Adrenalin API supplied by Seachange. Due to a variety of reasons Virgin asked us to take the build on complete.
For Ostmodern who primarily run as a design and user experience outfit this was a daunting task. We sat down and discussed the pro’s and con’s of taking on the project and primarily what the risks were for Ostmodern and myself. After a couple of ales we found the courage and decided to take the leap.Robeam took on the task of sourcing the people with the skills to help us out with the build. I have been blessed with finding some very good people. Big thanks go out especially to Eugene Getov (@refugene) for his PHP Zend skills, Mike Karthauser (@iammikek) for his Javascript and Zend templating prowess and last but not least Kester Limb (@retsek) for his CSS and markup knowledge.If you happen to be a Virgin Media XL customer you can use the service for free and see what you think for yourself. There is a blog post regarding the whole process of this job and I will write it as it could make for interesting reading. -
April 13, 04:24 PM
Why Flash Websites are pants
I am not against flash in any way, but its use for a complete site is painful and thats demonstrated below.
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November 13, 04:53 PM
Learning Programming, part 2 | The Woodwork
I’m saying if you are doing web work, you’ll get more out of learning YUI than Rails, more out of jQuery than Django, more out of script.aculo.us than J2EE, and more out of Dojo than Cake.
via terrychay.com - November 11, 07:24 AM
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November 06, 05:28 AM
The Incompetence of American Airlines & The Fate of Mr. X | Dustin Curtis
From Dustin Curtis
The incompetence of American Airlines & the fate of Mr. X.
A few months ago, I wrote an article expressing my displeasure with American Airlines‘ hideous online presence. I also spent some time mocking up a redesigned version of their website. To my surprise, a user experience designer at AA.com emailed me an amazing response describing some of the design problems faced in large corporations. You should read my original article here and the response from Mr. X here.
Read the full post here
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October 26, 08:16 AM
A List Apart: Articles: The Myth of Usability Testing
In 1998, usability expert Rolf Molich (co-inventor with Jakob Nielsen of the heuristic evaluation method) gave nine teams three weeks to evaluate the webmail application www.hotmail.com. The experiment was part of his series of Comparative Usability Evaluations (CUEs), through which he began to identify a set of standards and best practices for usability tests. In each segment of the series, Molich asked several usability teams to evaluate a single design using the method of their choice.
From the documented results of the second test, called CUE-2, a surprising trend appeared. Contrary to claims that usability professionals operate scientifically to identify problems in an interface, usability evaluations are at best less than scientific.
via alistapart.com -
October 24, 05:25 AM
Scientists study possible health benefits of LSD and ecstacy
Growing number of people taking psychedelic drugs to help them cope with conditions such as chronic anxiety attacks
A growing number of people are taking LSD and other psychedelic drugs such as cannabis and ecstasy to help them cope with a variety of conditions including anorexia nervosa, cluster headaches and chronic anxiety attacks.
The emergence of a community that passes the drugs between users on the basis of friendship, support and need – with money rarely involved – comes amid a resurgence of research into the possible therapeutic benefits of psychedelics. This is leading to a growing optimism among those using the drugs that soon they may be able to obtain medicines based on psychedelics from their doctor, rather than risk jail for taking illicit drugs.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/oct/23/lsd-ecstacy-health-benefits
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October 20, 01:34 PM
The myth of the page fold: evidence from user testing | cxpartners
via cxpartners.co.ukAdding evidence from user testing
When we user test here at cxpartners we use an eye tracker. The eye tracker lets us see what the user sees. We then take the combined eye tracking data from each study and produce a series of heatmaps. The heatmaps show us what as a whole the user group is looking at.
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October 15, 06:23 PM
// find all elements with a z-index and indicate what they are.
// find all elements with a z-index and indicate what they are.// uses css outline which is not supported in IE <8function contrast(color){ return '#' +(Number('0x'+color.substr(1)).toString(10) > 0xffffff/2 ? '000000' : 'ffffff');}jQuery('*').filter(function(){ return $(this).css('zIndex') !== 'auto'; }).each(function(){var color = '#'+Math.floor(Math.random()*16777215).toString(16); // <3 temp01if ($(this).css('position').match(/absolute|relative/)) $(this).css('position','relative');$(this).css('outline','1px solid '+color);$('<span>z-index: '+ $(this).css('zIndex') + '</span>').css({'background':color, color: contrast(color), position:'absolute', top:0,left:0,textIndent:0}).appendTo(this);})via gist.github.comThanks to Paul Irish. http://gist.github.com/211209#
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October 15, 05:16 PM
Browser degradation
I have been wanting to write this post for a while now, and as trending goes its being discussed (again) a bit lately, especially with this link doing the rounds.
Being a client side developer and focussing most of my energy on what people actually get to see, IE 6 is a big part of my life. I have recently undertaken some work for a client who's clients were all using IE6 in-house so the key decision makers were all going to be viewing the final product within the beast. This is all fine and these things happen, but what I can't understand is why my clients hadn't sat down with their clients and discussed the limitations and issues of designing and developing for a browser that's almost 10 years old. (might even be 10 now?)With modern browsers and the uprising of web standards, the industry leaders pride themselves on using modern techniques and adhering to these standards. But it amazes me that people still find themselves mid cycle of the development process trying to recreate the look, feel, user experience in a browser that holds scant regard for the processes that they use to sell themselves. Applying badly formed CSS hacks to force the page to render as it does in modern browsers, although with the uprising of javascript libraries such as jQuery the need for cross browser scripting has been reduced, there are still limitations that if not learnt can lead to long delays and much hair pulling.Web standards are born out of these frustrating times, out of the Netscape v Internet Explorer era. Where almost two different sites were needed for launch day. Standards have been developed to rid us of these draconian ways and move the web towards easier times.So why do we still find web development teams trying to recreate the exact experience for IE6?I believe its because nobody has taken the time to talk to their customers. If the project manager was to sit down with their client and explain to them that since IE6 was released to market the world has changed and things are done differently now, and that even Microsoft and Internet Explorer are getting on board with the release of IE8, most clients would agree that to use so much development time in recreating the exact experience for an outdated aged browser would be money badly spent.This of course doesn't account for the companies who are using ancient software to run their internal systems and IE6 is their only option. But unless you are building a product specifically for a local network thats only going to be viewed by these lazy browsers then design for your audience. Any team with a decent UX process will gather requirements, develop personas and generally figure out who your users are and what equipment they will be viewing the finished site with. Design for them! not the ancient IT department running Windows NT. Take a laptop in to the client and show them the site running in all browsers, this way they will see the degradation and due to your initial dialogue at the start of the project will understand why the site acts differently on their local network. Design is a process built around satisfying the end users needs, not the customers.As for me I have just finished a 10 week build only for the client to ask for IE6 support, we did discuss browsers at the start of the project. It seems that my persuasion wore off over time, never mind we have agreed to offer a stripped down version of the full site, working and looking good but no thrills. -
October 15, 11:21 AM
Scroll Magazine
- October 15, 05:07 AM
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October 13, 05:54 PM
Do websites need to be experienced exactly the same in every browser?
Check out this website I found at dowebsitesneedtobeexperiencedexactlythesameineverybrowser.com
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October 13, 04:32 PM
Alaska Airlines saves millions by rethinking check-in flow
Alaska airlines has made the most of UCD by researching how passengers used their existing airport structure and managing to redesign their existing site saving an estimated $8million.
The airline studied theme parks, hospitals, and retailers to see how they handled similar situations. Then, the team built mock-ups in a warehouse using cardboard boxes for podiums, kiosks, and belts in order to find ways to increase efficiency.
The resulting makeover at the Seattle airport is likely to save almost $8 million a year (and means they won’t have to spend $500 million building a new terminal).
This really is a great example of how user centered design processes can help companies rethink their strategies and find solutions to problems that just weren’t possible without.
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October 13, 04:31 PM
280 Slides
This is is an amazing piece of work ! make share and store all of your presentations online. Never have that fear of powerpoint failure again. This has been designed in the style of Apple’s Keynote application and is a fully featured online presentation application. Rightly so too, as it was built by two former Apple R&D staff members.
This surely will be the way forward for most applications and maybe one day desktop based operating systems will be a thing of the past. We will literally log on and have all the features, applications we need online. On that note i can’t help but think that this route would only lead to more disruption in the browser wars and the Mac vs PC debate that still rages on. Software will only support certain suites etc etc.
I also cant help but think if using an application via the broswer calls for different interface design and user experience design. it would be interesting to do some user testing on both models and see if users had some different expectations by using an application via the internet.
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October 13, 04:29 PM
DIY user testing, QTUT & Guerilla
I am seeing a lot of posts appearing commenting on the merits of completing your own user testing. In principle the idea is a very good one, but if its that easy how do these usability firms make any money? So I decided to have a go myself and these are the results. But first some background into how I was persuaded to perform the tests myself.
I attended The Future of Web Design convention earlier this year, which wasn’t great (another post!), but during this I did attend the Guerilla User testing workshop presented by Andy Budd of Clear Left. The workshop was a great success. We performed some simple examples of what user testing was and why it was important to perform the tests. Following this we spent a lot of time discussing how we could as individuals perform user testing on a very tight budget and what we would need to get the job done properly.
Boxes and Arrows are currently running a post on a process they call Quick Turnaround User Testing QTUT. The idea is similar but it has better details in regards to actually running a project and includes other members of the team. The process begins at the kickoff meeting and implores that people start to think about testing from the off. This way other members of the team can take the results of the very first meeting and start creating documentation they will need to perform the tests and have very clear idea of the timeline and when the testing will need to be performed.
When performing user testing on a product you will generally follow a simple web process which goes a little like this.
- 1: Meet the client and gather as much information regarding the project as possible. Gather information on users, expectations on results, timeline.
- 2: Come up with some ideas
- 3: Share ideas
- 4: Show a set of ideas to client
- 5: Revise ideas
- 6: repeat until everyone is happy
- 7: Create product spec
- 8a: Create wireframes
- 8b: Start visual designs
- 9: Create prototype
- 10: Test prototype
- 11a: Fix problems found in testing
- 11b: Start development
- 12: Implement visual designs
- 13: Fix bugs
- 14: Deliver
Wouldn’t it be sweet if your projects ran this way!? Well although we know they don’t, we can pretend and use this pattern along with the QTUT & Guerilla User Testing processes to implement our own form of user testing. So at step one of the project process we can take as much detail from the client as possible. We can then use this data to determine timelines and figure out when it will be best to actually perform the tests. The second piece of vital information is the users, this information will allow us to recruit our testers.
This is where the main difference between the two processes lies, QTUT suggest that we use an agency and write a screener for the recruitment of testers. Guerilla recommends that we simply recruit people any way we can. Put signs up around your building, post an advert on Gum-tree etc. Both methods have their advantages, QTUT will definitely result in a better user to perform your tests on, but with that comes the additional costs of hiring the recruitment agency. Guerilla method will get us users that have never done user testing before and therefore hold absolutely no expectations. Either way I think that we could build up a good base of users that we can use on a regular basis.
I personally wrote a screener which I sent to the client, as we were doing the testing at the clients offices in Switzerland it was easier to ask them to recruit. In hindsight I wouldn’t do it this way again and just insist that we do the testing here in the UK and recruit our own people. The client didn’t take the process very seriously and the results were evident and a shame.
Coming in at step 7 you will be able to start writing the user stories and generate the tasks that you would like your testers to perform. You will also be able to write your script for the sessions, explaining to each user exactly what they will be doing during the session and what they can expect from the session. The documents that I used are as follows and all of these can be written at step 7 and then adapted during the projects cycle up until the day of testing.
- 1: User Testing Script
- 2: User Testing Plan
- 3: User Testing Survey
- 4: User Testing Schedule
- 5: User Testing Task List
- 6: Post Test Survey
So I have completed my documents and we are ready to do the testing, well I say ready the prototype is almost ready. The next task was to test the testing environment. I had already decided that I was going to use Silverback for the tests. Its a cracking little application that allows me via the Macbook with a camera to video the testers along with there mouse movements and clicks. The product has been designed and built by the chaps at Clear Left and it seems that they are pushing for the Guerilla movement as the product title suggests. Another product on the market is ScreenFlow. This product is a heavier duty option which offers the ability to edit the videos after recording.
So off to the tests, Silverback offers a great application, I have my script and my surveys. What can go wrong ? Well nothing actually went wrong and the tests definitely performed as expected. We flagged all of the features that we had reservations on plus some other issues which were easy to fix and one feature which needed removing altogether. What I will say is that its not that easy, I can truly understand the difference between good user tests and bad tests. I think that to get the best results you really do need to act in a very specific fashion with your testers. Explain in very detail what is going to happen and how long you expect it to take.
Although I had my script I found it far too difficult to not get drawn into conversation with the users and answer questions that I knew would be detrimental to the actual tests. My behavior got better during the tests and I am sure that with practice it would become second nature. Plus the results from the tests were very positive and we definitely benefited from performing the tests, whilst saving a few bob in the process!
Conclusion
I would say that if the budget is there employ the professionals, especially at the recruitment stage. I would entertain this process again and I enjoyed the process but I think that maybe I would get somebody else involved to actually perform the test and read the script. I am far too involved in the overall project not to get drawn in to the testers questions and thoughts.
I would take a lot more time and effort in the recruitment process, I think and maybe its just my project but we need really specific users to do this type of testing as the process won’t be repeated as in an Agile environment.
Recruit the right people, employ the right person to actually take the test and these solutions are definitely well worth the effort. Of course also realise that you have some of your man power out doing the work before hand and then writing up the results into a good User testing document at the end of the whole process. For me it was definitely a weeks worth of work.
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October 13, 01:03 PM
Edenbee UX Workshop
Sam from Pixel Thread and I went out to Dublin to do a User Experience workshop with the guys from Edenbee with the main aims to be how we could move the idea forward in to the social web.
We spent a lot of time working on writing up some personas which then led us into doing the user flows. We managed to cover a lot of ground and although the day was very full on we definitely picked up on some issues which would have otherwise gone unnoticed if we hadn’t spent the time we did.
The other good thing to come out of the workshop were some ideas in how to engage users in the ideas of Edenbee and how we could explain to a general user what the site is aiming to achieve. All in all a very constructive day and we look forward to getting started on the real nuts and bolts work.
If you haven’t already you really should sign up to Edenbee and start making the difference.
Profile
Summary
I am a front end web developer based in Bristol UK. With over 10 years experience working with online material, I provide the technical lead for Ostmodern and offer development solutions as Robeam.
I am also a member of the Grow Co-operative based in bristol, Grow can offer complete technical solutions along with full design to build solutions.
I have passion for good design and understand the importance of User Centred Design principles and User Experience solutions. I beleive that a web site should be designed and built for its users, not its stakeholders.
I am also a member of the Grow Co-operative based in bristol, Grow can offer complete technical solutions along with full design to build solutions.
I have passion for good design and understand the importance of User Centred Design principles and User Experience solutions. I beleive that a web site should be designed and built for its users, not its stakeholders.
Specialties: * Consultancy
* Direction
* Development
Experience
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2009 - Present
Development lead / Ostmodern
Adam has been developing web sites since 1999. He has a deep understanding of client side technologies and understands the importance of good design. Adam has a solid knowledge of server side technologies and is our vital link between interface and production. -
Jan 2000 - Present
Owner / Robeam Ltd
Robeam is a client-side web developer based in Bristol, UK. Specialising in building the visual layer of a web site using XHTML/HTML, CSS & Javascript, jQuery. -
Mar 2007 - Jul 2009
Lead Interface Developer / ISM Games
Creating good semantic markup and valid CSS to control some of the leading Fantasy Football games in the market. Using the jQuery javascript library to enhance and create better user experiences. -
May 2006 - Mar 2007
Producer / Conscious Solutions
Client side design and development for a legal companies. Offering a bespoke news led service conscious would offer bespoke design and build based around their product and CMS.
My role was to design and then build the site into this content management system. A great product and great people, sometimes I wonder why I left, and then I remember working with solicitors all day every day! -
Apr 2001 - Feb 2002
Art Director / Framfab
Art directing and designing for the likes of Nike Football, Land Rover and Last Minute. Unfortunately Framfab UK suffered in the .com crash and I took a voluntary redundancy. -
Apr 2000 - May 2001
Interactive Designer / Nykris Digital Design
Interactive designer working on the BIMA awarded web site for the Richard Rogers Partnership.
Education
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1996 - 1999
Cornish College of the Arts
BA Hons in Graphic Communication -
1994 - 1996
Ridge Street School of Art & Design
GNVQ Adv in Design -
1991 - 1992
Watford College of Arts
BTEC National in Photography
Additional information
Websites:
