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Need help in validating an idea.....

Discussion in 'HTML & Website Design' started by anrawool, Dec 29, 2013.

  1. #1
    Hi All,
    I am trying to validate my idea on writing an ebook on designing the user interface of an entire web application. Thought about this because all design books I read just cover the design principles and not how to design a particular application from scratch to finish.

    The idea is to cover how to go about designing an entire web application from scratch to finish by doing a case study, say on designing a Project Management application. Nothing relating to coding will be covered in the ebook. Just the design flow and UI design.

    Will anyone be interested in reading such an ebook on designing? Please let me know in the comments or you can email me at and I can send you more details about the idea.
     
    anrawool, Dec 29, 2013 IP
  2. wiicker95

    wiicker95 Well-Known Member

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    #2
    You're better off not writing anything at all. The markup should dictate the design, and NEVER the other way around.
     
    wiicker95, Dec 29, 2013 IP
  3. anrawool

    anrawool Active Member

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    #3
    Sorry, I did not understand what you mean. How can the markup dictate the design? By design I mean a basic wireframe and/or low/high fidelity prototype. Writing markup should ideally follow these 2.
     
    anrawool, Dec 29, 2013 IP
  4. Joe@AdPatron

    Joe@AdPatron Member

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    #4
    Very true, markup has no place until the frame is completed. I'd be interesting it seeing it, I just finished the framework for my new site, http://adpatron.com
     
    Joe@AdPatron, Jan 3, 2014 IP
  5. deathshadow

    deathshadow Acclaimed Member

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    #5
    Generally speaking what wiicker95 said applies to building a website -- if you're dicking around with a single layout concept or design "prototyping" before you have semantic markup, you've put the cart before the horse and simply don't understand what a website is or how to build one.

    That said, sounds more like you're building a web crapplet, which operates under slightly different rules, though in most ways it shouldn't. Fact is crapplets start with a scripting concept -- while websites should be built on the concept that if you can't make it work without javascript first, you have no damned business adding javascript to it!

    It's why developers like myself and wiicker95 knee-jerk into "good god what stupidity" every time someone even mentions dicking around with design before you have content of value (or a reasonable facsimile) marked up sematically followed by a layout built in CSS; in particular the idiotic dicking around in Photoshop and having the giant brass monkey balls to call oneself a "designer" can really raise our ire.

    Personally, I hate all this "web application" crap because it's been abused and misused to the point it's taken perfectly good systems like webmail and crapped all over them -- just four or five years ago I'd have thought mail clients would go the way of the dodo, but thanks to the script-tard ajax-tard web crapplet BS, I've been sent running and screaming back to clients like M2 or thunderbird.

    It's experiences like that which result in posts like Wiicker95's... or this one.

    Though I hear what you are saying about books being filled with theory and no application -- my question would be what are you REALLY writing about building since "web application" is really vague and could mean almost anything!
     
    deathshadow, Jan 3, 2014 IP
  6. deathshadow

    deathshadow Acclaimed Member

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    #6
    I want to dismiss this post as spam to up one's post count or promote the site -- but I get the feeling it's legit, more the shame since that page exhibits all of the telltales of everything WRONG with starting out using some 'framework' garbage instead of starting out with semantic markup.

    Inaccessible PX metric fonts? Check. Inaccessible fixed width layout? Check... Tables for layout, inlined presentation, redundant presentation ignoring the entire point of even using CSS, and little if anything remotely resembling semantics much less accessibility? CHECK. Hell, the 1997 style code with no doctype alone says all one should need to know about what a disaster that site is.

    Laundry list of how not to build a website -- as evidenced by the ridiculous 24k of HTML for not even 3k of actual plaintext content; That's easily as much as three times as what should have been used to build such a simple page! Makes one wonder why it even bothers having an external stylesheet.
     
    deathshadow, Jan 3, 2014 IP
  7. Joe@AdPatron

    Joe@AdPatron Member

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    #7
    You sure did waste a lot of time typing that out for someone who doesn't care about your opinion.


     
    Joe@AdPatron, Jan 3, 2014 IP
  8. deathshadow

    deathshadow Acclaimed Member

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    #8
    Even sadder, apparently some people consider less than 1k in 167 words "A lot of time typing" :/
     
    deathshadow, Jan 3, 2014 IP
  9. Joe@AdPatron

    Joe@AdPatron Member

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    #9
    Yep, and you wasted it.

     
    Joe@AdPatron, Jan 3, 2014 IP
  10. anrawool

    anrawool Active Member

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    #10
    I was thinking of designing a Project Management app something on the lines of Basecamp by 37Signals. My idea was to show the process of designing a fully functional app as this one by defining the various features of the app. For example, how can one define user roles, create a project, task, tracking a project etc. Then go on to wireframe each page of the app. Maybe do some styling as well. But nothing related to how to code the app.

    I haven't finalized on the Project Management app as such. Still thinking about it.

    But I wasn't really sure if anyone would be interested in reading such a book. So thought of checking on the design forums first.
     
    anrawool, Jan 4, 2014 IP