Why User Experience (UX) is so important: “…Fidelity is not about graphic design; it’s about importance…It’s about all the things that make software successful and transformative. By reducing the fidelity of the Graphical User Interface (GUI), you bring a lens of high-fidelity to the only thing that truly matters: user experience.” – Ben Nadel As […]
At Mobility Labs, we encourage open-source development for many of our social impact projects and work with open-source tools for the best solutions. As part of this work, we regularly hear why partners are uncomfortable with the idea. We want to dispel some common open-source myths that we’ve heard. Let’s first outline what we mean […]
I’ve had to have a bit of a rethink of the word “polyglot” in my tenure so far at Mobility Labs. The word itself stems from the Greek words polu-, meaning “many”, and -glotta, meaning “tongue”. In linguistic terms, it refers to someone that is fluent in more than one spoken language. In my spare […]
Like most development firms, Mobility Labs often hires short-term or part-time developers and designers. Even many of our regular team members contract with us project by project, and do the same kind of work for other clients as well. This is the reality of our modern, fluid world. Many call this the 1099 economy. Interestingly, […]
In an earlier post, we talked about the concept of dark patterns. A dark pattern is a navigation or action path that leads a user to a choice that doesn’t really benefit him or her, but seems to benefit the site or app owner. Another recent example really illustrates this process. Recently EA released a […]
There are a lot of bad habits that creep upon me when I don’t pay attention. I start staying up late, eating crap food, and let clutter pile up around me. Professionally, I’ve noticed that we all often fall back on building for ourselves. I don’t know anyone in the field who hasn’t studied, talked […]
“ninety percent of everything is crap” –Sturgeon’s Revelation A recent thread on Reddit asked why so many new marketing managers start by redesigning the website. The person asking the question implied that it was mostly a big splash activity that disrupted perfectly functional activities and rarely led to a good result. Considering that the website […]
If you watch closely when you go to today’s Google Doodle (12/9/2013), you’ll notice a moth fly out of the huge computer. This is a reference to what some believe to be the first use of the term “bug” to describe a problem with computer code. The Google Doodle celebrates the 107th birthday of Grace […]
It’s not secret that some technology people are not treated very well. Clients often expect top quality work at rock-bottom prices, and many companies try to push their teams through crisis after crisis, destroying work/life and providing little reward. Small companies that call themselves “start-ups” often justify this behavior by claiming the workers are building […]
Back in September, we talked about Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Those who regularly work with federal agency web content know how Section 508 can spread fear through the management of any project. For those who aren’t as familiar, Section 508 requires the information on a website to be accessible to visitors […]
It seems that one of the key decisions most web developers, designers, and other web professionals face when moving from one position to the next is whether to freelance or become a fixture in an organization. Web professions seem to have a natural affinity to the “1099 economy.” For several reasons: Skill sets can be […]
The narrative surrounding the current Healthcare.gov website debacle has many familiar threads. For those who aren’t following closely, there are: Blaming contractors who didn’t meet expectations. Contractors who warned officials about major flaws. The lower level official who was assured that everything would be fine. Sudden changes of requirements, including the suspension of “anonymous shopping.” […]
Most clients are aware that they need to make a decision about a content management system as part of their website development or redesign process. Often they have strong opinions about which one they need. Most developers have a pretty good idea of the ins and outs of various CMS platforms. Many have a favorite. […]
Four words can kill a brilliantly innovative approach, scuttle a long-term project, and add unexpected time and cost to a marginal project: “Is it 508 compliant?” If you much work on web content, or electronic documents of any kind, in DC you will eventually hear section 508 invoked—and you will see the effect this invocation […]
WordPress, once a simple blogging tool, long ago stepped up to become the world’s most popular open source content management system. But within the development community, it does not have the same cachet as some of the popular modern development frameworks such as Ruby on Rails or Node.js. Most web developers, including Mobility Labs are […]
We are redesigning our website using modern web development tools and a focus on mobile. Read more about how and why.
Until recently, the process of searching for information on the web meant you entered some kind of search phrase into a search engine. The search engine pulled up a list of possible results, usually ten per page, and you browsed through to find the one that had the best answer. Given how much better this […]