Windows Phone 7 Series Preview, Part 2

Windows Phone 7 utilizes a start screen built from tiles, all of which are dynamic and customizable. Tiles can be used as-is, as “glanceable” heads-up displays to the information you care about, or you can jump into specific topic areas, task-specific destinations, called hubs, by clicking on one. Some hubs include People, Music+Video, and Pictures. You can also promote (“pin”) apps and other things to your start screen. This means that a tile for that app will appear there, and you can of course move it around, positioning it wherever you like. The list of things you can promote is pretty vast. For example, Belfiore pointed out that you can even promote a playlist. And apps? They’re not really called apps. They’re called experiences.

via Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows: Windows Phone 7 Series Preview, Part 2.

Via Brian Cray: 3 eye tracking studies that influenced my latest redesign

From Brian Cray’s excellent recent post:

1. Web form design guidelines: an eyetracking study
   An in-depth comparison of three form designs—Google mail signup, Hotmail signup, and Yahoo! Mail signup. The selection of forms are ideal because each form is long as well as unique in terms of label positioning, field grouping, and identification of required fields. Here are my major takeaways from the study:
   • Make the form fields vertical, not horizontal
   • Left-aligned labels are clearer
   • People tend to fill out all form fields regardless
2. The Best of Eyetrack III: What We Saw When We Looked Through Their Eyes
   This study focused on the layout of regular content and whether users scan or read. Here were my major takeaways from the study:
   • Headlines draw eyes before pictures
   • People scan the left side of everything
   • The first few words of headlines are very important
   • Single column designs produce the most eye fixations
   • Scrolling is okay
   • Introductory paragraphs get read
3. F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content
   This is a classic eye-tracking study by a classic guru: Jakob Nielsen. If you don’t know who he is and you’re in web design, read his books or get out of the biz. Anyway, this particular eye tracking study reveals that users read content in a “F” pattern. Here are my major takeaways from the study:
   • People read the headline and the first paragraph before scanning the left side of the content
   • Headlines should start with keywords to pull the eyes from the left margin

via 3 eye tracking studies that influenced my latest redesign.

Notebook, by Evelien Lohbeck

This is far too cool for words, but I’ll try:

It’s a reality-bending fusion of sketch, art film, computer UI, and video by a Dutch artist, Evelien Lohbeck. Maximize the video and watch it fullscreen – you’ll enjoy.

Two things that come to mind:
One: this creative genius deserves a Mac, not XP.
Two: as I noticed while scanning Evelien’s website, she needs something better than a Hotmail account.

Credit: I saw this on Neatorama.

Mouth-watering UI tools for web designers

If you design anything web, you must must must read 30 essential controls by Theresa Neil.

Positively mouth-watering:

As I commented on her site, I want want want these in an OmniGraffle stencil.