Heidi Hecht, Web Producer
Bio
Heidi works with our Interactive team, producing Web projects with an eagle eye trained on schedules and budgets. These skills have successful Web sites for clients including Integrian, the Raleigh Convention Center and the State Health Plan.Articles
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Speed up speed up…wooooow way too fast. The modern day Interactive tortoise and the hare. What projects are better?
Jan 14, 2008 :: Heidi Hecht :: 1 CommentsOur project timelines run the gambit. I haven't been able to nail down what is better, so fast you can't keep track or so slow that you can't remember when the project actually started. They both have pros and cons and in the end it is hard to tell what is just right.Recently a few projects have come in that moved so fast we couldn't apply our standard process (whole other post) and although it's not ideal there are some positives. You move so fast that no one has time to over think and overspend, but it does leave room for late nights and missing things. Missing things doesn't mean they get swept under the rug, it means really late nights with multiple people working on a project...and a then a blown budget. But they aren't all bad, if you get a good scope document and everyone involved from the get go, it can run really smoothly. Enough budget and resources can make anything run smooth, even if the schedule is start to finish 2 weeks.
On the other side of the spectrum I have had a few that run slower than molasses in January. They seem like a dream, and that's exactly what they are. Things move so slow in snippets of time it is hard to remember what happened from week to week. The possibility of knowledge transfer becoming fuzzy is high and team turnover can happen. The group that kicked the project off might not have the bandwidth in 4 months time when things come around to them and in some cases might not be around anymore. However, if you have your original team and manage not to procrastinate you can execute some well strategized thoughts without
Timelines are like organic chemistry and each property, structure and reaction changes the compound. I don't know what the perfect timeline is. But if I had to guess it is anywhere from 1 week to 1 year.
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Boilerplate isn’t a fancy name for a plate warmer.
Jan 9, 2008 :: Heidi Hecht :: 0 CommentsIf you didn’t take how to write a press release 101 in college or work in agency, the term boilerplate may be foreign in this context… "Do we have any boilerplate content on usability?"
The term originated from sheets of steel, originally used to build steam boilers, used as printing plates for widespread reproduced content, like advertisements of syndicated columns. Today boilerplate is text that can be reused in new ways and stays the same or changes slightly from the original. You see boilerplate information on the bottom of press releases or in legal documents.
Our interactive group uses boilerplate information in our strategy documents, Situation Analysis and Blueprint. Our standard definitions and terms have been evolving since our conception and with each new hire or project launch we learn something new and things change. A year ago we hardly mentioned the word SEO (search engine optimization) and with addition of a new developer that had a passion for the concept, we added an interior section to our strategy documents.
Some may think that having standard copy speeds up our process or leaves room for the dreaded cookie cutter experience. But with every new project we reexamine our meaning of usability, RSS, SEO, accessibility, global navigation, user experience best practices, etc, and bring a bit more knowledge to the table. Our team deals with these terms daily and sees them through different colored glasses, so why would we want to deprive our clients of this cumulative thinking.
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Why we don’t design for PDAs
Jan 8, 2008 :: Heidi Hecht :: 0 CommentsWhen we ask clients if design for PDAs is a concern, the common answer is no. Stateside most users don't even know you can access the internet via mobile phone and mostly use it to just call home.However, with each new iPhone and gadget that comes out the need is increasing and the limitations are endless. Imagine a phone that is your credit card, public transportation tickets, photo editing software and live TV? This isn't happening in other galaxies, but just a hop skip and a jump across either pond. Thinking outside the box when it comes to phone technology has been happening in Europe and Asia for the last 10 - 15 years.
Thanks to a head start on broadband mobile wireless, dependency on cell phone internet use and unified system networks, users demand their providers innovate...and their Web designs too. In the states providers are working with multiple networks, lots of laptops and poor network quality, the need isn't there.
However, in just a few years I could use my phone to: take me to work, watch a live TV show where I see an actor wearing a t-shirt that I can click on and go to the designers site, then find their local sellers, get directions from my final metro stop and then pay for it...without ever setting down the phone. Oh and find out what the restaurant across the shop is having for lunch just with a point of the phone and click. Who needs a laptop when you have a phone?
I am guessing that might change our clients and our answer on designing for PDAs. When your primary tool for accessing the internet has a screen smaller than a deck of cards it changes the playing field. Our designs will have to get smarter and development will have to evolve as well.
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Blogs for Blondes
Dec 27, 2007 :: Heidi Hecht :: 0 CommentsFirst off, blog isn't something you contract or a symptom of a cold.Remember when you were 10 and you would write in your sweet Lisa Frank diary every night about the boy you thought was cute in math class. Well imagine that diary, but on the Web so everyone could ready it. Okay maybe take out any embarrassing stuff, blogs can basically be about anything. Everyone from your five year old brother to your 80 year old granny is doing it. A Web platform that allows for posting content, images, links to other sites, videos, etc. oh my. The topics can range from politics to art and the style can range from serious to hmmm...out there.
Some blogs will never be read by anyone other than very nice family members, but some are becoming "it" resources for news on politics, wars, global economy and, most important to me, celebrities. They provide an unbiased sandbox to sculpt and reshape information as you see it. With this freedom comes a caution, you can't always believe what you read.
So as the lines blur, rules will be defined for blogs and something new will emerge in its place. But for this brief moment and in typical blonde fashion, happy belated birthday blogs!
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What do you say when a client asks, what is CSS?
Dec 27, 2007 :: Heidi Hecht :: 0 CommentsWe reference terms like CSS in documents and e-mails to our clients often, and I often hear this question, what is CSS? So over time I have evolved my client friendly version of the term, it may not be technical, but it gets the job done.Client: What is CSS?
Heidi: Good question. We have spent the last few (insert time here) finalizing the design for your new Web site. We created a homepage, interior page, etc. and these are called templates. They were created in a program like Photoshop (a reference 98% of clients understand) and there is a step between Photoshop files and a clickable Web site.
Client doing lots of right, hmmhmms.
Heidi: That is where CSS, aka Cascading Style Sheets comes in. Site development has lots of layers and CSS is the design layer. It is what tells a headline to be blue and a background to be white.
Client silence...
Heidi: It is a really smart way to build your site. Imagine in two years you decide you want to change all the headlines in your site to a different color. Don't worry it isn't going to cost you eight hours in maintenance fees, with CSS it is one simple switch and boom, the whole site is updated. Not to mention the benefits it has to accessibility.
(Side note to readers, accessibility is something that is really important to Capstrat and our clients. This is where Mike's article is way better than mine; I suggest you check it out if you want to learn more about CSS and accessibility.)The solution is simple, but if you spit out some geek speak to a client when they ask this question you might be heading down a rough road. It is easy to forget that sometimes the Web world can be an exclusive club, with exclusive language.
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Beta for Blondes
Oct 24, 2007 :: Heidi Hecht :: 0 CommentsBeta for Blondes
Disclaimer: Geeks stop reading now. This article will probably offend you with its simplistic terminology and lack of tech talk.
A few months ago I was cruising through iTunes looking for sweet new jams to listen to while I worked. As I scrolled down the page looking at staff favorites and top hits, something new caught my eye, “Just for You” beta. Clearly I was intrigued. I think any blondes would be.
So I began to explore this new frontier that was supposedly “just for me” and was pleasantly surprised when they gave me a plethora of musical options that I liked but hadn’t heard yet. It was like iTunes was my musical mentor. I bought some new music and the world was at peace. A few weeks later I came back to my musical haven made “just for me”, but I was frustrated, it had all changed. I already owned the music they suggested or to my horror some of the songs I didn’t even like,
As you could imagine I was in utter turmoil and began to dislike beta.
Then beta became my biggest foe, showing up at every turn. It was there on my hotmail account, my friends and family started sending me Web sites that were in beta. I just didn’t get it!
What was this beta that was making me so flustered? One minute beta knew me and the next it was like a stranger. Well I did what any blonde would do, went to the web and wikied it (Wiki: A collaborative website whose content can be edited by anyone who has access to it.) The minute I got to the bottom of what this beta was, I felt at ease.
You have to understand I may work within the world of the Web, but I am by no means techy. I had heard of beta before, but brushed it off as “geek speak.” But when beta made a new appearance in my mainstream life it was apparent I needed to get with it.
Beta is basically the step after alpha in software development…right? That’s what I thought. Let me translate, when software is developed they do a great deal of internal testing, but that can only take it so far. At some point they have to test with the public and get a feel for what we think. This also helps to catch any last minute bugs because it can only be tested in so many scenarios internally. Allow me to compare to something we all understand: TV. Networks always screen test their shows to see how audiences react. Many times our favorite television shows were very different at their “beta” versions. An annoying aunt was replaced, or a new hot stud was added as a neighbor before we ever see the final version.
Beta isn’t just for geeks anymore. It seems that as companies work within the world of Web that every consumer becomes a beta tester. I myself have become a beta tester and I finally gave iTunes some feedback about “Just for You.” Who knows maybe beta and I can become friends.
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