[wp-ui] First steps

Nile Flores nile at blondish.net
Tue Jan 19 23:39:23 UTC 2010 

Hi everyone!

I am Nile Flores. I am a web and graphic designer, as well as social media 
consultant from Southern Illinois. I have been using WordPress for 6 years, 
and before that b2. I usually deal a lot with PSD to WP conversions, HTML to 
WP conversions, and designing based on the clientele's needs. I also have a 
site WPAddict.net and I answer support questions from time to time in the 
WordPress Support forums and on the social networks. In my community, I have 
taught local business owners how to use WordPress, and even people just 
needing a website. I occasionally hold free classes at the local library. I 
do this because I never had the opportunity to learn what I have. And it 
really is an experience teaching people a little more than twice my 
age...lol, and rewarding that they take a lot away from the classes. A lot 
of people today are where I was at years ago, and I think it is a way to 
give back.

Developing side, I have created a few PHP scripts - PHPurl (short URL 
re-direct script), and PHPads (simple ad management script.) I have done 
other types of small php development projects for clients. It is not much. I 
hope I might have something to offer for WordPress. I get this shocked 
reaction when people realize I am a woman who develops... Jane... have you 
gotten that reaction?

I have been a beta tester for several scripts, sites, and platforms. And 
Jane... I agree, GIMP is not an adequate substitute. I carry both Adobe and 
Corel products, along with GIMP... which sits collecting dust. Corel 
acquired Jasc a few years ago, which has Paint Shop Pro. They integrated 
Jasc's product into their own product and made it better...imo. The tools is 
great and I believe a nice alternate replacement. I learned Jasc PSP first 
before Adobe PS...lol. (You can even take files and save to psd on PSP and 
work in PS. However... it is limited on some areas. I still like the 
program.)

I hope I am able to contribute to WP as it has done a lot for me on the UI 
end. As I get more comfortable hearing people hear, I am sure I will be 
chiming in from time to time.

Kind Regards,
Nile Flores








----- Original Message ----- 
From: <wp-ui-request at lists.automattic.com>
To: <wp-ui at lists.automattic.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 4:26 PM
Subject: wp-ui Digest, Vol 1, Issue 7


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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Introduction (Neil Petrunia)
>   2. Re: First steps (Michael Kuhlmann)
>   3. Re: First steps (Mitch Canter | studionashvegas)
>   4. wp-ui introductions (Jeff Olson)
>   5. Intros (Emil Payne)
>   6. Re: First steps (Chris Garrett)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:01:30 -0700
> From: Neil Petrunia <neilpet at shaw.ca>
> Subject: [wp-ui] Introduction
> To: wp-ui at lists.automattic.com
> Message-ID: <AB76A124-10ED-4A88-A8B2-C57E89F24C26 at shaw.ca>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
>
> Greetings all!
>
> My name is Neil Petrunia. I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and run a
> small design/production house here. I have also been a sessional
> instructor in the Design program at the Alberta College of Art +
> Design (ACAD).
>
> I admit to being a relative newcomer to WordPress, but I am fast
> becoming evangelical about the potential this app has for bringing
> about a paradigm shift in web usability. Many of my students are
> interested in having their own websites, but are hugely intimidated by
> the prospect of building a site from scratch, then having to populate
> it with portfolio material. Additionally, they have a hard time
> understanding why it isn't enough to just 'throw it out there' and
> then wait for some undetermined response. Thinking of WP as not so
> much a blogging tool, but as a CMS/networking tool gives them a way to
> see the push-pull nature of the program.
>
> I see WP as the CMS tool they have been waiting for, as it gives those
> who are moderately versed in CSS and PHP a tool to set up a quickly
> interactive portfolio/catalog site. I'm probably going to be a lurker
> until I figure out what I can offer, but I will say that since I work
> on visual design projects for a living, I'll help with anything I can
> offer in the way of visual commentary.
>
> I also have experience writing technical documentation, so can offer
> those skills as an editor/writer if the need arises. I'm good at
> playing the 'monkey in front of the keyboard', and can do usability
> testing. If it can be broken, I can break it, then describe what I did
> to break it. (g)
>
> Cheers!
>
> Neil
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:18:47 -0800
> From: Michael Kuhlmann <sactown.mike at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [wp-ui] First steps
> To: wp-ui at lists.automattic.com
> Message-ID: <4B5621B7.1070609 at gmail.com>
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>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:23:38 -0600
> From: "Mitch Canter | studionashvegas" <mitch at studionashvegas.com>
> Subject: Re: [wp-ui] First steps
> To: "'Jane Wells'" <jane at automattic.com>, <wp-ui at lists.automattic.com>
> Message-ID: <001201ca994d$ac25f260$0471d720$@com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Wow, I leave for two meetings and my inbox EXPLODES with UI emails - 
> sweet!
>
> My name is Mitch Canter, and I am a wordpress designer / developer from
> Franklin, TN.  I work out of my house designing websites built on 
> WordPress
> for everyone from small to medium sized businesses to world famous 
> bloggers,
> so to speak.  I want to get involved with the UI design because, frankly,
> the actual developer stuff scares the heebie geebies outta me.  I'm a
> designer first, and I think that's more of an area I can actually 
> contribute
> intelligently to.
>
> As far as what I hope to actually do, I consider myself a pretty good 
> judge
> of usability and wireframes, and I try to keep the bells and whistles 
> subtle
> and focus on content as king when I actually do sites for people, so
> whatever you want me to do, let me know and I'll see what I can help with.
>
> ~Mitch
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: wp-ui-bounces at lists.automattic.com
> [mailto:wp-ui-bounces at lists.automattic.com] On Behalf Of Jane Wells
> Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 11:10 AM
> To: wp-ui at lists.automattic.com
> Subject: [wp-ui] First steps
>
> Hi everyone. Almost 300 people have signed up for this list, which was
> way more than I expected. I'm not sure how many of you are people who
> actually want to get involved and contribute to the UI/UX work that
> goes into making WordPress, vs. how many are developers or users who
> just want to keep up with what's going on or offer feedback on other
> people's design work, so I think the first thing this list should do
> is help everyone get to know who's here. Lurkers need not do this, but
> if you're planning to contribute to the UI work ahead, please email
> this list and tell us a little bit about you: Your work background/
> current job, specific design/usability/accessibility skills/talents
> that we should know about/make use of, what you hope to contribute to
> WP UI, your location/time zone, and maybe the one UI thing you would
> like to address in WP if given the chance. My main goal here is to
> find out how many people of all the subscribers are actually people
> who can wireframe, make comps, run usability testing, etc, vs. simply
> wanting to weigh in with opinions on the work of others (which can
> happen on Trac tickets). This list is meant to be a working group.
>
> After people have had a day or two to introduce themselves, we'll have
> a better idea of how many people are actually planning to participate
> in this list for now, and can plan accordingly. I've got a list as
> long as my arm of potential design projects we can divvy up into
> groups, so knowing people's backgrounds and interests will help
> determine which projects we hit first. We can also then decide on a
> day/time for a weekly UI chat in IRC.
>
> I'm in the process of setting up a site for this group to use a la
> wpdevel.wordpress.com, and will start adding people as authors once we
> have created teams and begun working on projects and there are things
> to report. I'll need to know your wordpress.org login name to add you
> to the site. Usability people are welcome and encouraged to speak up
> also, not just designers. Getting the plan up and running for
> distributed testing is on the goals list, too.
>
> I guess I'll start. I'm Jane, and am the main UX person for WordPress.
> I led the admin redesign of 2.7, and work closely with the core team
> on UI changes. We never have time to get to everything, so there's
> still a ton left to do. I work for Automattic, which donates a big
> chunk of my time to the open source project. Before this job, I'd
> worked at agencies, companies and research groups in almost every
> front-end web job there is over the last 10 years. Though mostly UX
> stuff, I've also done project management, content development, HTML,
> visual design, testing, etc. Right now I'm a bottleneck for UI changes
> in WordPress, and anyone who works in this industry knows that it
> takes a lot longer to create a wireframe deck than it does to sketch
> an idea, so I'm hoping to grow this group into a healthy contributor
> community so that I can step back into more of a advisory/curatorial
> role rather than slowing things down while I draft wireframes or
> conduct individual testing sessions. I'm on the east coast, and would
> love it if the weekly chat could be during the day sometime before
> 3pm, but if the majority needs to have an evening meeting instead, I
> can work with that. I traditionally do wireframes in Omnigraffle, but
> would like to find a good open source tool (the ones I've tried
> haven't been great) that we can all use for this if possible. I
> generally go for Photoshop for comps, and have not found GIMP to be an
> adequate substitute, though I'd love to move visual design to open
> source tools as well. Suggestions are welcome.
>
> I'll be happy to answer questions, point to resources etc for those
> who want to get involved. However, this is not the right place (yet,
> anyway) to come if you are just getting started and want to learn the
> design/UX trade as a new career move or something. I'd like to start
> off with more experienced UI/UX people just to get some processes
> nailed down. I hope that in the future the WP UI group will be an
> awesome place to come to learn new skills.
>
> Who's next?
> Jane
>
> _______________________________________________
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> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-ui
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>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:26:08 -0500
> From: Jeff Olson <inetwebguy at gmail.com>
> Subject: [wp-ui] wp-ui introductions
> To: wp-ui at lists.automattic.com
> Message-ID:
> <d49b573c1001191326v7fd47614qdbe2b7ca9d627aca at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Hello Jane, and my fellow WordPress fans!
>
> My Name is Jeff Olson, I am Sr Art Director for HSN.com. SME for our UI /
> Interaction design and a passion for UX. I am also the new Editor of Fuel
> Your Interface (fuelyourinterface.com) part of the Fuel Brand Network of
> sites. I have written on the subject of UX and UI as it pertains to
> eCommerce for Smashing Magazine -
> http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/23/designing-for-the-user-experience-in-ecommerce/and
> written design tutorials for
> PSD.TUTSPLUS.com <http://psd.tutsplus.com/>, Fuel Your Interface and Fuel
> Your Creativity.
>
> I too live on the East Coast and have been using WordPress for about 3 or 
> 4
> years. I'm more comfortable hand sketching wirefames, but am just as
> proficient using OmniGraffle and Photoshop.
>
> Currently working on Developing a much needed GUI Standards doc for 
> HSN.com
> and the creative mind behind a future look at video strategy, social, and
> "user-flow" areas of the site.
>
> I'd love to help out in anyway I can.
>
> Thanks!
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:06:30 -0600
> From: Emil Payne <EHSPayne at angelwoodpines.org>
> Subject: [wp-ui] Intros
> To: wp-ui at lists.automattic.com
> Message-ID: <4B562CE6.5080908 at angelwoodpines.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
>
> Hello;
>
> Well, I'm going to mostly be a lurker around here.  I do some html, css
> and php coding but not much.  More in the way of hacking and fixing and
> converting things to my likes than actual coding.
>
> However, I've been using WordPress on and off for several years now
> (around 10+).  I do have a Linux system at home I can test on, and
> plenty of free space on my paid hosting account to set up and run a few
> testing sites.
>
> I'll just chime in once in a while when things either bug me or really
> peak my interest. And I'm willing to be a tester and allow the test site
> to be open either to the list or the public.
>
> So, basically I will be the voice of the blog owner, writer and reader.
>
> One note about me: I'm disabled, retired and diabetic.  Sometimes that
> makes me a bit cranky.  Please take that in mind in any posts I make.
>
> Emil
> -- 
> =======================
> Fantasy Football Rules:
> Wands are Offensive.
> Wings are Defensive.
> =======================
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:26:31 +0000
> From: Chris Garrett <chris at abstraktion.co.uk>
> Subject: Re: [wp-ui] First steps
> To: Jane Wells <jane at automattic.com>
> Cc: wp-ui at lists.automattic.com
> Message-ID:
> <8c57e82a1001191426o4bfb665fj5c92987f23487834 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
>
> hi Jane,
>
> Thanks for the clarification, very good response :) I didn't realise there
> was so much scope still left to have an impact on the project, it sounds
> like we'll see some very strong ideas merging. As for an introduction, you
> can find my portfolio at http://abstraktion.co.uk. I run the company from
> Bristol, UK with my partner Rachel (we've just had our first baby girl at
> Christmas). We've designed and built a number of projects on top of
> Wordpress and have extensive experience in designing UI's for web and
> desktop applications, so naturally this project's grabbed my interest.
>
> Cheers!
>
> 2010/1/19 Jane Wells <jane at automattic.com>
>
>> Hi Chris. When I say the general layout and structure isn't up for being
>> redesigned right now, I mean the basic framing of the left nav, modular
>> elements, etc. Various sections will be "redesigned," such as Settings, 
>> Site
>> Admin from MU, and the media uploader. Also, some screens will be
>> redesigned, like Comments and Plugins. However, as long as they still 
>> live
>> within the general WP UI, I don't consider that a major redesign. Matt
>> declared last year that we would be sticking with the 2.7 design for at
>> least the next few years, having undergone several backend redesigns in a
>> short time period before. So *pieces* will be redesigned, but we're not
>> "redesigning the admin,"  a phrase that will freak people out because it
>> means changing everything, not just making what's there better.
>>
>> And yes, there is a reason to restrict this project at first to the
>> touchups... not only is this a new process for contributing to the design 
>> of
>> the UI, but we're in the middle of merging two codebases. There are
>> significant UI issues that need to be fixed as part of this process. 
>> Doing a
>> "drastic rethink" of the backend UI just isn't on the table at this time.
>> Just as the contributing developers work within a scope for each release, 
>> so
>> will contributing designers.
>> j
>>
>>
>>
>> On Jan 19, 2010, at 12:45 PM, Chris Garrett wrote:
>>
>>  In honesty Jane, that's a bit disappointing. There are quite a few areas
>>> of the WP UI that would benefit from a drastic rethink and I'd imagine 
>>> many
>>> people on the list would be more than happy to take up that challenge,
>>> myself included, is there any real reason why we're being restricted to
>>> simply "touching up" the areas which aren't yet properly finished?
>>>
>>> I'd imagine, given a little freedom, we'd probably see some enhancements
>>> to the general user-experience and aesthetic of Wordpress, that reflect
>>> everyones needs a lot more than it does at the moment.
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
> -- 
> Chris Garrett, Digital Creative
>
> Phone: 01179635700 - Mobile: 07846015009 - Email: chris at abstraktion.co.uk
>
> * Director - Abstraktion, http://abstraktion.co.uk
> * Co-Founder - Bex Media, http://www.bexmedia.net/
> * Blogger - http://chrsgrrtt.com
>
> ? HSBC Startup Star 2009
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