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2009-07-24, 00:16
What are some examples of excellent UIs? I personally think Mint.com is one of the nicest looking, easiest to use WebApps around. What are some of your favorites?

Robo
2009-07-24, 01:29
I would say Twitter. It simply does one thing and does it very well - it doesn't really even have features, per se, and that's okay. Registering for an account is supersimple, and I like the fact that it has a quirky, not-just-vanilla-web-2.0 style. I also like that it's public - you can actually use Twitter quite a lot without ever registering for an account.

Sites like Google are engineered, but essentially undesigned - but Twitter was brave enough to develop its own visual aesthetic - flying whales, who knew? - and it's paid off: The little blue bird has become as recognizable and commonplace as the orange RSS icon, in a fraction of the time.

Miko
2009-07-24, 16:19
One of the more recent web UI experiences that I have enjoyed is the site wechoosethemoon.org. (http://www.wechoosethemoon.org/) Quite a bit of work went into the site's informative bits and visually to try to recreate the excitment of the Apollo 11 mission. This site was actually a real time recreation so the timer widget actually worked and the transmissions were actual NASA recordings from the mission. Very well done IMO.

Robo
2009-07-24, 16:26
Oh, and jkrowling.com, (www.jkrowling.com) even though it hasn't been updated in roughly forever. :(

But that obviously wouldn't be appropriate for, like, some corporate web app thing.

It's pretty scary that all of, say, Myst could be recreated using just web pages and cookies.

chucker
2009-07-24, 16:33
It's pretty scary that all of, say, Myst could be recreated using just web pages and cookies.

Given that Myst was written in HyperCard and HTML was inspired by HyperCard, this isn't as far-fetched as one might think. :)

Miko
2009-07-24, 16:35
Here are two of my very favorite design studios when it comes to web UI design especially flash based Kurt Noble (http://www.kurtnoble.com/) and Firstborn (http://www.firstbornmultimedia.com/) These cats are so cutting edge.

Robo
2009-07-24, 16:37
Given that Myst was written in HyperCard and HTML was inspired by HyperCard, this isn't as far-fetched as one might think. :)

OK, maybe I'm just a simpleton then. But it still wows me. :D

I think it's more that with today's high-speed connections, all the video could be embedded in a way that would be seamless, and you wouldn't have to wait for it to load.

But I suppose a few of the puzzles would require Flash or something.

billybobsky
2009-07-25, 18:00
But I suppose a few of the puzzles would require Flash or something.

Why? The original worked in hypercard which was a dead simple application of hyperlinks.

Flash is horrible.

Robo
2009-07-25, 20:08
Why? The original worked in hypercard which was a dead simple application of hyperlinks.

Flash is horrible.

What about, say

the puzzle in the fireplace in the library? I can't imagine how to make that work with just hyperlinks, unless you had, like, a separate page for every possible combination of squares...?

(I spoilered it, because it's still re-released every few years, but if you haven't played Myst by now...)

billybobsky
2009-07-25, 20:20
The game was made in hypercard, so it is presumably straightforward to do in a hypertext setting -- say having a unique image for a followed link...

It isn't impossible since it was already done in this context...

Perhaps you just don't know what hypercard was?

Robo
2009-07-25, 20:23
Oh, I get it. They probably just had each of the individual squares seperate. Duh. :o

Brad
2009-07-25, 20:25
The game was made in hypercard, so it is presumably straightforward to do in a hypertext setting -- say having a unique image for a followed link...

It isn't impossible since it was already done in this context...

Perhaps you just don't know what hypercard was?

Yeah, HyperCard wasn't exactly like HTML and web pages. Yes, there were hyperlinks and the cards were like webpages, but there also was an important programming aspect of it (using HyperTalk or AppleScript) that you could say was analogous to JavaScript.

There were games, database applications, and other interactive apps that were far more than just static cards with links.

Iago
2009-07-26, 11:15
Mint has an amazing UI. I like gozoomoo.com as well. Very pretty and clean.