[Sigia-l] Context Recognition (was Re: Rollover Question (Web 2.0)

[Ziya Oz]

Andrew:

> OK, the secret is not to mindlessly apply what other people know,

"Know" is charitable. "Other" people have (hidden) agendas: books, seminars,
products, services to sell. You have to know how to decode that.

> The true evil of a best practice is not that it is a best practice per se,

Or that it's not labeled simply as *a* practice or even a *good* practice;
"best" has different connotations/consequences. It's normative.

> but that someone might read it like a recipe?

"Might" is also way too charitable. Best practices are aggressively promoted
for others to adopt. There are often mini-industries around best practices.
The end result is overt/covert pressure to adopt, so, yes, it turns into a
recipe.

> One of those AD&D "Intelligence" vs "Wisdom" things? Does it follow then that
> context recognition is the very heart of big D Design?

Context is (almost) everything in Design.
 
> And the supplementary: is the promulgation of "best practices" necessary
> for this context recognition to take place?

No.

> That is, that the Designer must know the options before being able to match
> them against the contexts that suit them?

Yes, the designer must be aware of the available options but that doesn't
necessarily translate into available best practices. Indeed truly innovative
solutions are organically grown from inside out, often against the orthodoxy
of best practices.

A good way to design is not to try to match a potential solution against
best practices, but to the given context.

----
Ziya

Usability >  Simplify the Solution
Design >  Simplify the Problem