What the hell is a UX Designer, anyway?

here is a brilliant defenition by Connie Seidel
One who is a user advocate but understands the user's happiness isn't the ultimate goal in and of itself. One who is passionate about good design, but knows when enough is enough and too much is too much. One who can code if necessary to prove a point or concept, but is great at getting brilliant developers to do it for him/her based on a well communicated concept. One who cares enough to go back over the screens yet again... just making sure. One who understands QA and what a truly good, testable requirement is and can write one or teach another how to. One who is just as passionate about business... the needs, the budget, the limitations, the goals, as they are about the user. Like Scott Meier's slide show reference (brilliant Scott, thanks), we're about the sweet spot between the businesses needs and strategy, and the user's needs and goals. I love that spot. I live for that spot. I want to teach everyone that works with me the value of that spot. But I have to be a generalist to do that. And the better generalist and more passionate spokesperson for the user AND the business I become, the closer I feel I come to the grail... the establishment of all of the disciplines, talent, arts, and skills you've all mentioned here, as a true, end to end project life cycle and business and IT culture!

A Beutiful Video Textual-Visual presentation from DR Wech, about, well, couple of things - text in the digital age, web 2.0 (as in the decoupling of form and content, and about the new age of man-machine relationaships. YouTube - The Machine is Us/ing Us (Final Version)

If you have an extra hour:
A very interesting anthropological study of Youtube, online community, human nature and motivations .
Kinda long, (55 minutes), and a little slow at points, but worth the investment.

oh, yes, and maybe the best of them all, the ever classic Information R/evolution

Enjoy

gridr buildrrr

Dead simple grid tool. Awsome.gridr buildrrr

How to Convert a PSD to XHTML - NETTUTS

From PSD to a working web site in less than an hour. (A good demonstration of separating the markup from the styling, and a demonstrating usage of FF's developer toolbar to create the CSS on the fly.How to Convert a PSD to XHTML - NETTUTS: "How to Convert a PSD to XHTML"

CSS-Only, Table-less Forms :: Code Samples :: Jeff Howden :: JeffHowden.com

Beutifull tabel-less form

CSS-Only, Table-less Forms :: Code Samples :: Jeff Howden :: JeffHowden.com

The CogTool Project

The CogTool Project: "CogTool is an application to assist in the creation of design mockups and the calculation of predictions of skilled performance time for tasks on those designs"

Drag and Drop Parent - Yahoo! Design Pattern Library

I like the way Yahoo's Design Pattern Library use "Interesting Moments"Drag and Drop Parent - Yahoo! Design Pattern Library: "The following interesting moments can be important during a drag and drop interaction. A good solution will consider each of these moments below (a specific drag and drop pattern may choose to ignore some of them.)"

Example Style Guide

Example Style Guide: "The following document is a style guide for producing content for the [client] Web site. This document outlines basic principles for adding content to the site, defines the basic style sheet classes available to content managers and how they should be used, and defines principles, guidelines, and best practices for content."

A Confirmation E-mail Is a Terrible Thing to Waste - ClickZ

A Confirmation E-mail Is a Terrible Thing to Waste - ClickZ: "A Confirmation E-mail Is a Terrible Thing to Waste"

RobotReplay - The Next Generation of Web Analytics

RobotReplay - The Next Generation of Web Analytics: "Where Are Your Visitors Going?
RobotReplay lets you record and watch your website visitors in action. View recorded sessions of every mouse movement, click and keystroke"

Endeca Search, Information Access, and Guided Navigation Solutions

Faceted Navigation (Filter MAtrix) Endeca Search, Information Access, and Guided Navigation Solutions

Well-formed data | Elastic lists | Nobel prize winners demo

Elastic Lists principle for browsing multi-faceted data structures.
Well-formed data | Elastic lists demo

Understanding Search Usability

Understanding Search Usability: "The term 'search usability' is widely misunderstood throughout a variety of industries: Web design/development, search engine marketing (SEM), online advertising, information sciences, human-computer interface (HCI), and usability industries. Even the term 'usability' is misunderstood by search professionals. "

Songza - The music search engine & internet jukebox. Listen. Now.

Interesting comaprison:
Songza - The music search engine & internet jukebox. Listen. Now.: "Songza lets you listen to any song or band"

VS

Seeqpod playable search

Building your very own web2.0 layout | mentalized

Funny :)
Building your very own web2.0 layout mentalized: "Building your very own web2.0 layout"

Data Tables and Cascading Style Sheets Gallery

Data Tables and Cascading Style Sheets Gallery: "CSS Table Gallery"
Was looking for some Table design, came across this. very nice. Like CSS Zen Garden, but for tables.

BrowserCam : Screen capture and Remote Access service for cross platform compatibility testing and HTML design quality assurance.

BrowserCam : Screen capture and Remote Access service for cross platform compatibility testing and HTML design quality assurance.: "Instantly See Your Pages in Any Browser on Any Operating System "

10 colour contrast checking tools to improve the accessibility of your design | 456 Berea Street

10 colour contrast checking tools to improve the accessibility of your design | 456 Berea Street: "10 colour contrast checking tools to improve the accessibility of your design"

HTML Playground, html, css reference by example

HTML Playground, html, css reference by example: "htmlPlayground XHTML+CSS REFERENCE BY EXAMPLE 0.4 BETA"

Increasing conversion rate: your tips

Increasing conversion rate: your tips: "Increasing conversion rate: your tips"

LukeW: Web Application Form Design

LukeW: Web Application Form Design: "Web Application Form Design"

YAML Builder | A tool for visual layout development of YAML based CSS layouts

YAML Builder | A tool for visual layout development of YAML based CSS layouts:
Suave, what can I say, and might come in handy

Fade Out Bottom

Fade Out Bottom: "This is a cool effect where the bottom of the page seems to fade out."

Ajax Digest // Non-notorious CSS templates for websites

Ajax Digest // Non-notorious CSS templates for websites: "Non-notorious CSS templates for websites The only place you should visit for free website templates and layouts"

SEOmoz's Web 2.0 Awards

SEOmoz's Web 2.0 Awards: "Over 200 Web 2.0 Sites in 41 Categories Rated, Ranked and Awarded"

45 Best Freeware Design Programs

45 Best Freeware Design Programs

85+ Free Killer Resources Every Designer Should Know

85+ Free Killer Resources Every Designer Should Know

10 Must Have Online Office Apps

10 Must Have Online Office Apps: "10 Must Have Online Office Apps"

Apogee - Articles - Cognitive Walkthrough and Heuristic Evaluation in the Contemporary Design Process

Apogee - Articles - Cognitive Walkthrough and Heuristic Evaluation in the Contemporary Design Process: "The craft of User Experience Design involves many different expertise working together. Some of us work in small teams with generalist backgrounds, others with larger teams of specialists. Regardless of team structure, some age-old usability methods can still help enhance your contemporary Interaction Design work."

The Intranet Maturity Framework - Welcome to the Intranet Maturity Fram...

The Intranet Maturity Framework - Welcome to the Intranet Maturity Fram...: "The Intranet Maturity FrameworkTM

* Stage 1: Communication & Information-Sharing Intranets
* Stage 2: Self-Service Intranets
* Stage 3: Collaboration-Driven Intranets
* Stage 4: Enterprise Information Portals
* Stage 5: Digital Dashboards
* Stage 6: The Consolidated Workplace Interface"

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0: "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) covers a wide range of recommendations for making Web content more accessible."

XMLHttpRequest Usability Guidelines - Baekdal.com

XMLHttpRequest Usability Guidelines - Baekdal.com: "Writing 'usability' takes 1.8 seconds for the average person, but since live-search interrupted this it now takes 4-10 seconds"

Mental Workload for Paged and Scrolled Documents- Standards Schmandards

Mental Workload for Paged and Scrolled Documents- Standards Schmandards: "# onsumption of information is more efficient when information is presented on paper compared to presenting the information on a computer screen.
# Consumption of information generates less mental workload when the page layout is adapted to fit the screen."

Color + Design Blog / Color Inspiration from the Masters of Painting by COLOURlovers

Need a color pallet? Why not rely on the masters? Color pallets according to some famous art pieces
Color + Design Blog / Color Inspiration from the Masters of Painting by COLOURlovers

The Usability Methods Toolbox - Usability Methods Toolbox Contextual Design Heuristic Evaluation Inspection Inquiry usable engineering

The Usability Methods Toolbox - Usability Methods Toolbox Contextual Design Heuristic Evaluation Inspection Inquiry usable engineering

Usability Institute- Learnability Gallery

Usability Institute- Learnability Gallery: "A visual library of learnability techniques, patterns (to use the current parlance)"

Interaction Design Association (IxDA) Symposium: Interaction Design (IxD) for Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) » SlideShare

Interaction Design Association (IxDA) Symposium: Interaction Design (IxD) for Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) » SlideShare: "Interaction Design Association (IxDA) Symposium: Interaction Design (IxD) for Rich Internet Applications (RIAs)"

Ideacodes Strategic Web Design San Francisco

Ideacodes Strategic Web Design San Francisco: "Design is Strategy

Ideacodes is an award-winning strategic web design and consulting firm in San FranciscoDesign is Strategy

Ideacodes is an award-winning strategic web design and consulting firm in San Francisco"

35 Designers x 5 Questions | Smashing Magazine

35 Designers x 5 Questions | Smashing Magazine: "35 Designers x 5 Questions"