1. Design Patterns: What they are, what they’re not, and why you should care Jenifer Tidwell Boston IxDA Thursday, September 20, 2007

2. Tonight’s topics 1.What patterns are about 2.A tour through some patterns 3.What they’re not

3. What’s a pattern?

4. A structural or behavioral feature that solves a common design problem.

5. What’s a pattern? A structural or behavioral feature that solves a common design problem. Not as concrete as a style guide Not as abstract as a design principle Relationships among design elements

6. What are patterns about?

7. REUSE

8. What are patterns about? “It is not the idea of copying which is at fault; only the conception of ‘what is copied.’ ” - Christopher Alexander REUSE

9. What are patterns about? Reuse of ideas Best practices

10. What are patterns about? Reuse of ideas Best practices A pattern must improve the user experience.

11. What are patterns about? Reuse of ideas Best practices Creativity

12. What are patterns about? Reuse of ideas Best practices Creativity “…you can use this solution a million times over, without ever doing it the same way twice.” - Christopher Alexander

13. What are patterns about? Reuse of ideas Best practices Creativity Names

15. What are patterns about? Reuse of ideas Best practices Creativity Names Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names

16. A tour through some patterns Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names

17. A tour through some patterns “Designing Interfaces” Yahoo! Pattern Library Welie patterns Little Springs Mobile pattern library “A Pattern Language” (architecture) Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names

18. 1.What Users Do 2.Organizing the Content 3.Getting Around 4.Organizing the Page 5.Commands and Actions 6.Showing Complex Data 7.Getting Input from Users 8.Builders and Editors 9.Making It Look Good Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names

20. Designing Interfaces: Illustrative Example What Use When Why How Examples Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names

21. Designing Interfaces: Illustrative Example What Use When Why How Examples Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names Yahoo! Library: Problem Summary Illustrative Example Use When Solution Rationale Accessibility

22. Designing Interfaces: Illustrative Example What Use When Why How Examples Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names Yahoo! Library: Problem Summary Illustrative Example Use When Solution Rationale Accessibility

23. Design of Sites: Illustrative Example Background Problem Solution Consider these other patterns Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names A Pattern Language: Illustrative Example Intro / Context Problem summary Problem discussion Solution Diagram Downstream patterns

24. What patterns are not Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names

25. What patterns are not Patterns are not principles. Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names

26. What patterns are not Patterns are not principles. Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names “Make your interfaces easy to learn.” “Prevent errors.”

27. What patterns are not Patterns are not principles. Patterns are not templates. Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names

28. What patterns are not Patterns are not principles. Patterns are not templates. Patterns are not components. Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names

29. What patterns are not Patterns are not principles. Patterns are not templates. Patterns are not components. Patterns are not style guides or standards. Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names

30. What patterns are not Patterns are not principles. Patterns are not templates. Patterns are not components. Patterns are not style guides or standards. Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names “If an item is too long to fit in the list box, insert an ellipsis in the middle and preserve the beginning and end of the item.”

31. What patterns are not Patterns are not principles. Patterns are not templates. Patterns are not components. Patterns are not style guides or standards. Patterns are not heuristics. Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names

32. What patterns are not Patterns are not principles. Patterns are not templates. Patterns are not components. Patterns are not style guides or standards. Patterns are not heuristics. Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names “Performance, cost, schedule: pick two.” “Expand the scope to simplify the problem.”

33. What’s a pattern? A structural or behavioral feature that solves a common design problem. Not as concrete as a style guide Not as abstract as a design principle Relationships among design elements

34. What patterns are not Patterns are not principles. Patterns are not templates. Patterns are not components. Patterns are not style guides or standards. Patterns are not heuristics. Patterns are not recipes. Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names

35. What patterns are not Patterns are not principles. Patterns are not templates. Patterns are not components. Patterns are not style guides or standards. Patterns are not heuristics. Patterns are not recipes. Patterns are not checklists. Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names

36. What patterns are not Patterns are not principles. Patterns are not templates. Patterns are not components. Patterns are not style guides or standards. Patterns are not heuristics. Patterns are not recipes. Patterns are not checklists. Patterns are not novel ideas or fads. Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names

38. http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html

39. What’s a pattern? A structural or behavioral feature that solves a common design problem. Not as concrete as a style guide Not as abstract as a design principle Relationships among design elements

40. What are patterns about? Reuse of ideas Best practices Creativity Names Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names

41. Resources http://designinginterfaces.com http://developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns/index.php http://welie.com/patterns/index.php http://patterns.littlespringsdesign.com http://designofsites.com http://www.enumerable.com/dev/apl/apl3/apl3.h tm http://www.uie.com/articles/design_patterns/ Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names

42. Questions? Reuse  Best practices  Creativity  Names