What Ralph Knows About Software Development

Web Design References: Navigation

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:13:51 -0400

This site provides a great resource for Web Design. It publishes links to content that is essential reference for people building sites.

SoYouKnow

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:25:00 -0400

SoYouKnow :

When it comes down to it, if you want to learn SharePoint development it is going to take work, you are going to get frustrated, it won’t make sense and you are going to break things. Accept it… embrace it… back up often. Welcome to the stress filled world of SharePoint development.

Enterprise Architecture, Software Architecture, Architects, and Architecting

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:48:55 -0500

Enterprise Architecture, Software Architecture, Architects, and Architecting

SEO and Social Media Marketing: Part IV - A B2B Marketing How-to

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:39:07 -0500

SEO and Social Media Marketing: Part IV - A B2B Marketing How-to:

These are very specific tips obviously, but they go to show the little things that you can do when writing your news releases, allowing your information to be indexed for a much longer time. Additionally you must also take into account much of the information we wrote about in Parts I, II & III around hyperlinking key phrases within your news release. This is important for two reasons. First for when you put the news release up on your corporate site it is already optimized, but also when you put it out over the wire it will provide you with a SEO boost…that is if you are using the right wire.

Introduction to Medium-Fidelity Prototypes |

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:06:13 -0500

Introduction to Medium-Fidelity Prototypes |:

Medium Fidelity Prototypes are used to develop an information architecture. It provides a platform to conduct meaningful user tests to evaluate complex functionality and to help determine user requirements.

Interface | matters: "Low-Fidelity" Prototyping With Electronic Tools

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:02:40 -0500

Interface | matters: "Low-Fidelity" Prototyping With Electronic Tools:

This article describes the importance of developing a low fidelity prototype of a process. This can be done collaboratively at a white board, or it can be done electronically.

Agile Project Management - PM Hut

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:01:37 -0500

Agile Project Management - PM Hut:

Great blog on project management! It looks at lean and agile approaches to software development.

Introducing the new Web Design from Scratch Blog for 2009

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 22:18:47 -0500

Introducing the new Web Design from Scratch Blog for 2009:

he grand goal of the blog is to help “Save the Pixel” to become a rallying cry for the movement for simplicity, not just a book title. I want the fundamental principles of “Save the Pixel” to become part of the accepted wisdom of this generation of designers.

My more immediate goal is to publish a stream of information that reflects and reports on current best practice in web design, in a way that’s accessible to the whole community - whether you’re an interested bystander, a budding designer, or a seasoned professional. I want the Web Design from Scratch blog to be just your cup of tea, something fresh and fun that you look forward to each week.

Movable Type Developer's Toolbox | Developer's Toolbox | Smashing Magazine

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:23:47 -0500

Movable Type Developer's Toolbox | Developer's Toolbox | Smashing Magazine:

I’ve linked to this website before. I am just astounded at how good their stuff is; lots of interesting, usable information that I can apply right away. And even though Movable Type gives me fits, I eat this stuff up!

HTML Reference

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 15:42:48 -0500

HTML Reference:

Confused about when to use HTML and when to use XHTML? Want to know what the syntax differences are between the two? Do doctypes and DTDs leave you all discombobulated? Or perhaps you’d simply like to understand the basic structure of a web page?

15 Useful Project Management Tools | Developer's Toolbox | Smashing Magazine

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:23:06 -0500

15 Useful Project Management Tools | Developer's Toolbox | Smashing Magazine:

There is a huge variety of project management applications out there. Most are general purpose apps, not aimed at any one industry. But there is a growing number of project management apps aimed specifically at one industry or another. Applications geared to creative types are becoming more readily available, and some of the offerings are really quite good.

Template: Information Architecture Plan (eGovernment Resource Centre)

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:16:14 -0500

Template: Information Architecture Plan (eGovernment Resource Centre):

Helpful decomposition of IA deliverables

Usability and Information Architecture

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:30:11 -0500

Usability and Information Architecture:

Design and Layout : Usability and Information Architecture. From Boxes and Arrows a list of Usability articles

Boxes and Arrows: Defining Information Architecture Deliverables [Usability and Information Architecture]

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:27:33 -0500

Boxes and Arrows: Defining Information Architecture Deliverables [Usability and Information Architecture]:

This article is a bit old now but it is still a really good description of the deliverables required when doing an information architecture.

Define ITIL for the IT layman | The IT Skeptic

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 23:02:00 -0400

Define ITIL for the IT layman | The IT Skeptic:

You don’t need ITIL to run a static environment where nothing goes wrong and nothing changes and nothing grows. ITIL has nothing to do with technology, nor can it be implemented with technology. ITIL is about how an organisation and the people within it respond to planned and unexpected variations in the environment, from outages to changes to growth. ITIL defines human behaviour.

Every organisation needs the processes ITIL describes. Every organisation already has them. ITIL is just one way of defining a standard approach to performing them. You may not need ITIL but every IT shop needs to be doing what ITIL describes, one way or another.

Wapedia - Wiki: Microsoft Operations Framework

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:25:00 -0400

Wapedia - Wiki: Microsoft Operations Framework:

Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) 4.0 is a series of guides aimed at helping information technology (IT) professionals establish and implement reliable, cost-effective services. It describes a set of service management frameworks for the entire software development life cycle.

Stack Overflow

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 15:52:00 -0400

Stack Overflow:

This is a website that provides lots of great questions and answers about software development.

Wire Frame Your Site [Design Practice]

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 23:48:45 -0400

Wire Frame Your Site [Design Practice]:

Implementing a few simple steps in carefully planning your site, before you create any graphics, can eliminate a lot of headaches. One method that I find very useful is the creation of a wire frame or “white site” model. I’ll outline the benefits and process of wire framing in this article.

Writing Software Requirements Specifications | A Technical Communication Community

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:16:20 -0400

Writing Software Requirements Specifications | A Technical Communication Community:

For technical writers who haven’t had the experience of designing software requirements specifications (SRSs, also known as software functional specifications or system specifications) templates or even writing SRSs, they might assume that being given the opportunity to do so is either a reward or punishment for something they did (or failed to do) on a previous project. Actually, SRSs are ideal projects for technical writers to be involved with because they lay out the foundation for the development of a new product and for the types of user documentation and media that will be required later in the project development life cycle. It also doesn’t hurt that you’d be playing a visible role in contributing to the success of the project.

This article will describe what an SRS is and why it’s important, discuss how and why technical writers should be involved with them, and discuss the critical elements for writing an SRS. Although this article does not attempt to address all aspects of developing SRSs, it aims to help you determine the scope for such a project, to provide some guidelines for writing SRSs, and to provide additional resources. Hopefully with this information, you’ll not be asking, “Why me?” but proclaiming “Why not me?”

ArsDigita Systems Journal: Requirements Gathering for Application Design

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:23:22 -0400

ArsDigita Systems Journal: Requirements Gathering for Application Design:

Motivation

A solution delivery team and a client agree to develop a software application. Together they agree on scope, specifications, timeline, and price. The delivery team begins coding against the specifications and at the initial milestone date meets with the client to review functionality. The client’s reaction upon seeing the functionality - “This is not what we were expecting!”
Even with a seemingly well-defined set of functional requirements, web service developers and customers often have different interpretations for how requirements translate into applications. But regardless of why or how these differences surface, the customer expects the development team to be accountable and to meet predefined project timelines and budgets. The outcome is solutions that are delivered late and result in significant incremental costs to the delivery team (e.g. additional development resources are needed, developers are overworked, morale suffers, other projects are neglected). Often the original project timeline is compromised and customers are generally unhappy.

With dot.com type clients, these risks are real but manageable. With larger, more established clients (e.g., Fortune 500), these risks can result in very public and damaging failures. As web service companies continue to grow and extend their customer bases, success will be largely predicated on how quickly and comprehensively they can get to know their customers and understand their needs.