[IxDA Discuss] Expression Blend a "review"

Thu Apr 5 15:38:15 PDT 2007

i agree this is a good topic!

i'm not working professionally with blend, but am planning on working with
it in the upcoming weeks in my hci masters program, under the guise of
prototyping and implementation. The onus is to be implenting with vb.net in
visual studio(!), much to the consternation of many hci grads in the class-
my thinking is that blend will allow a good way of working with the ui and
back end stuff in visual studio.

i havent dug around the app too much at this stage, but am i'm definitely
interested in people's experiences with blend, and will let you know when i
have anything more concrete to share.

just to let you know there are people exploring this stuff, hope you guys
keep it on list!

cheers,

Matt Theakston
DePaul University.

On 4/5/07, David Malouf <dave.ixd at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> It sounds like you landed where we landed in using the tool.
>
> i think we differ in that I don't like paper prototypes because they
> don't "behave" like a real application and as an interaction designer
> "behavior" is our bread and butter. So I'm really hungry to be able to
> make prototypes in blend that work. I realize there are some behaviors
> that you get to manipulate in Blend and those are REALLY awesome, but
> I want better access to click control, so i can create the flow.
>
> Håkan, I'm also curious as to your object model of your applications.
> Do you create a lot of user controls and do nested embedding of those
> controls or do you create flat "screens" and let the programmers
> create the object architecture?
>
> (personally I think this is a lot more interesting than "I want a
> Joost invite", but I can see where maybe we should take it offline.
> I'll wait for objections first.)
>
> Oh! if there is anyone else on this list using Blend for a project I'd
> be REALLY interested in talking to you on list or off list.
>
> -- dave
>
>
>
> On 4/5/07, Håkan Reis <hakan.reis at dotway.se> wrote:
> > I haven't experienced it myself, but I had a few colleagues that did
> distant
> > pair programming. The used the same code base shared via subversion and
> > shifted remote desktop so the user that did the development was the
> native
> > machine and the by-programmer remote. In addition the used webcam and
> mic to
> > chat. It was manageable but not good...
> >
> > I tend not to do much computer based prototyping. Mostly I use paper
> > prototypes, focusing on one task at the time. Working as agile as
> possible.
> > In blend I can then In blend I can then quickly layout the basic
> application
> > controls like tabs, buttons, lists etc. An interaction or flow of
> actions
> > for what we currently are working on and that's about what the developer
> > needs. I can continue to work on the finish, animation, etc while the
> > developer work on the logic and data handling.
> >
> > To be honest I have an advantage in this. I come from the development
> and
> > worked myself into the interaction and graphical design. I still have
> some
> > engineering skills but most of the time I try to leave as much of the
> > development and engineering stuff to those who know better.
> >
> > / Håkan
> >
> >
> >
> > On 4/5/07, David Malouf <dave.ixd at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > This was exactly our hope in picking Blend as our tool, Josh.
> > > We are actually still hopeful that it is helpful, but I was responding
> > > to the idea of doing "paired programming". Paired programming assumes
> > > co-location.
> > >
> > > -- dave
> > >
> > >
> > > On 4/5/07, Joshua Seiden <joshseiden at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > In theory, tools like these should make distance collaboration
> easier,
> > > > because you are not communicating about and interpreting specs and
> > drawings,
> > > > but instead creating shared work objects.
> > > >
> > > > This of course assumes that the tools supports the real work and
> > > > specializations of the people using them.
> > > >
> > > > JS
> > > >
> > > > > Håkan, the thought of paired programming crossed my mind as well.
> > > > > > Problem for me ... I'm in New York and my developer is in
> Colombo
> > > > > > (That's Sri Lanka). Kinda difficult.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > ________________________________________________________________
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> > >
> > > --
> > > David Malouf
> > > http://synapticburn.com/
> > > http://ixda.org/
> > > http://motorola.com/
> > >
> > ________________________________________________________________
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> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Håkan Reis
> > Dotway AB
> >
> > Voice: +46 (40) 602 32 10
> > Sms: +46 (768) 51 00 33
> >
> >  http://blog.reis.se
>
>
> --
> David Malouf
> http://synapticburn.com/
> http://ixda.org/
> http://motorola.com/
> ________________________________________________________________
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