Have you ever wanted to create a new and different User Experience on top of a tried and true delivery platform?
That is just what a new book published by Apress and written by my EMC Colleague Erik Swenson teaches people how to do. I recently had the pleasure of previewing a copy and participating in editing those chapters that pertained to my area of expertise 'Information Architecture.' For years I have been meeting with Intranet design customers who often say the same thing about their User Story with regard to utilizing the web channel as a more Usable Internal Communications vehicle: "I want to use SharePoint for my Corporate Intranet because of it's familiar office-like functionality and easy to maintain User administration and configuration interfaces, 'but I don't want my website it to 'look like SharePoint does by default right 'Out of The Box'."
Erik's new Book "Practical SharePoint 2010 Branding and customization" helps web designers and their clients meet those needs in a unique and rewarding way that I've not seen other books do (or even attempt to do) in the past. It puts practical 'hand-on' advice in layman's terms and makes UI Design techniques more accessible to a broader audience. I can't remember how many times I have heard experienced UI Designers and Front-end developers (as well as other stakeholders who are relatively new to the game) say that "I wish this book I just read had more 'how to' instructions in it, I wish I could find another web design book that reads more like a 'Do It Yourself'' guide." or "All this design philosophy and UI process methodology direction is great, but how do I take action on it?"
If these concepts and those customer re-design requests resonates a chord within you, either as an aspiring web designer or as a project-dedicated Subject Matter Expert (or even as any other Software design team stakeholder), then this new book will definitely be an eye-opener for you that adds value to your journey through an otherwise challenging process.
In this book Erik provides an 'Intro to SharePoint 2010 Branding,' an 'Overview of the User Experience \ Branding process', an easy to understand guide on how to 'Gather Branding Requirements,' concrete examples on 'Creating the Visual Design,' and practical hands-on guidance on 'Development Environment Setup.' It goes on to offer deeper specifics on 'Building the Design,' Testing the Visual Build.' constructive 'Tips and Tricks.' as well as providing a couple of chapters on Tools, Resources, and CSS Reference material.
I highly recommend this book as a good read for anyone who finds themselves involved in a large-scale web design effort.
As an Instructional Design education manual for 2010 web design, It is truly a brilliant piece.
find it on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/Practical-SharePoint-2010-Branding-Customization/dp/1430240261/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325877291&sr=1-1
I am sure that you will find it to be an excellent companion throughout your journey towards 'User-Friendly and Intuitive User Interface Design'
thanks,
Robert Dornbush
Information Architect and Interaction Designer at EMC Consulting