[Sigia-l] Web browser based diagramming

[Listera]

Stewart Dean: 

> Sounds how things used to be done prior to someone realising that like a
> building, you need a plan prior to building things.

So last century. The Berlin Wall is down and the waterfall process is dead.

Let's contrast your personal predilection with the prevailing trends in the
industry. First, finally the notion of page-based, navigation-driven web
*sites* is being relegated to legacy status. Data-driven, dynamic
*applications* is the future. With that comes a different way of designing
and developing.

Adobe Flex and Microsoft Expression, among others, are two cornerstones of
this new approach. As you can easily observe, neither puts a premium on
wireframes, flow charts, blueprints, etc. In fact they explicitly omit them
in favor of rapid design of the application itself. Why bother with its
abstraction and stand-in when you can rapidly create the fully functional
product itself? Design iteration, as opposed to abstracted pre-planning, is
central here.

The impending future is far more complicated than static, page-based,
navigation-driven web *sites.* We have small screens, gestures, 3D, haptic
interfaces, streaming audio/video, etc. A lot of this stuff is flow over
time where static wireframes and diagrams are inadequate to represent.
Furthermore, why "represent" by abstract proxy at all when you can show the
functional app itself?

> I stick to what I said - as an IA I deal with structure, flow, etc.

Yes, the new design/dev paradigm is not "deliverables culture" driven. You
don't get to segregate what you've traditionally done: there's one design,
one product, one goal and one central process to create it. It's an
integrated process from concept to functional prototype, iterated over time.

The absence of wireframes and diagrams is not an evidence of lack of
consideration at all. It's a recognition of their inadequacy given the
demands of new types of apps, platforms, media, interaction patterns, etc.
It's moving on...closer to reality.

----
Ziya

"Innovate as a last resort."