[Sigia-l] DHTML Menus and HTML Widgets

[Listera]

"Christopher Fahey [askrom]" wrote:

> Almost without fail on every project I've ever worked on or supervised,
> figuring out the answer to this and other DHTML questions ends up
> falling right into my lap as the IA. I am the creator of the f---ed up
> wireframes and I am the interaction designer.

I find this of critical importance in application design and role
interaction among team members.

Who decides on that DHTML menu? Programmers, because they are the ones who
are going to write the code to make sure that it works? Interface designers
who may find that navigation is best served by a drop-down DHTML menu? The
IA who wants/needs a menu there for the workflow, but may not care if it's
DHTML or not? Who does the speccing?

Obviously, there's a different answer depending on the circumstances in each
project. But what's certain is that if the IA specs the DHTML menu and when
(as more likely than not across browsers/platforms) it doesn't work, the IA
will get the blame. And rightly so.

Unless the IA is fully competent and comfortable with certain technologies,
they should refrain from making specific recommendations, during wireframing
or later. It may be tempting, but there's often a price attached. :-)

Best,

Ziya