We all have certain rituals we go through each day: walking the dog, brushing our teeth, a bowl of our favorite cereal. One of mine is sitting down at my computer and browsing my Netvibes page. From my personalized start page, I check my gmail, update my facebook status and check the headlines on my favorite blogs, all within its sleek Ajax-based interface. Although it’s not unique, its broad functionality earns it the first spot on a list of sites that have transformed my digital routine. Perhaps they can change yours.

• Netvibes: This customizable site is just one example of the new trend in personalized start pages, competing with mainstream players iGoogle and MyYahoo! They each are based around user-defined modules, custom skins and RSS feed aggregators — very useful in consolidating your favorite content. 

• Evernote: This nifty site/app was designed with forgetful folks like me in mind. It allows you to capture content via your computer, websites, or even your iPhone to your “notebook” for easy reference. I’ve found it helpful for clipping relevant content from long articles. I even know some people who use it to keep track of wines they’ve enjoyed (maybe a little too much). 

• Like.com: What better way to utilize a visual search than for shopping? This site is designed for shoppers who know what they’re looking for and don’t want to search dozens of sites to find it. Do a visual search, find your match and be directed to a retailer’s site to buy. Like.com does it all for you. You can search by image, color, visual details or brands. The visual details option, while still a little rough around the edges, is one of the more impressive features. A photo upload option is in the works that will allow users to upload a photo of themselves for better search results. Amazon has recently released a similar feature with their iPhone app, however we at Springbox have had mixed results.

• Shopstyle: This is another heavy-hitting site for online shoppers. The site pulls heavily from community elements of sites like Kaboodle and ThisNext, and borrows the collaging fun of Polyvore, rolling it together with a powerful search tool. The result? A shopaholic’s dream.

• Adium & Trillian: These guys are two sides of the same chat client coin, and are incredibly useful for anyone who finds themselves juggling multiple instant messaging programs. Adium is currently Mac only, and Trillian is exclusive to PC; however, Cerulean studios is currently working on versions of Trillan for Mac OS X and the iPhone.

 

Performance management is the process of creating a work environment or setting in which people are enabled to perform to the best of their abilities. It is an indispensable device in an organization’s toolbox. With focused and disciplined communication driving performance management, the process feeds the momentum of an organization. Through individual goal achievement, a company’s growth and success objectives are achieved in parallel with employee goals.

Human Resources should definitely play a role in managing an organization’s performance management process, but the tone of the practice should be set from the top. Successful performance management ensures employees are familiar with the operating and strategic targets of an organization throughout the year.

Establishing  a performance management system that’s mutually beneficial to employees and the organization doesn’t have to be a stressful ordeal. It just takes commitment from everyone involved. The following foundation will help create an effective performance management process:

•    Generate a means for customary 1x1 discussions between employees and their supervisors. A 1x1 should cover status updates, coaching and feedback regarding not only the employee’s performance but the organization’s objectives. Build that strategic partnership!

•    Match individual employee work efforts with the organization’s mission and objectives. Ensure the employee understands their role within the organization, and how the responsibilities of the role link to the organizational and departmental goals.

•    Set clear expectations about results that must be achieved and methods or approaches needed to achieve them. Establish a clear path for success.

•    Utilize specific measures to help the employee focus their efforts. Having objectives and standards will help provide a solid rationale for eliminating inefficiencies.

•    Explain career development opportunities. Provide details regarding how the employee’s current position supports present growth potential, and detail additional opportunities he/she should explore.

With the proper procedures in place, the annual “formal” appraisal should simply be an opportunity to summarize the conversations you and your employee have had throughout the review cycle. An employee’s performance should be viewed as an ongoing process driven by regularly focused and disciplined communication throughout the year!

When deadlines sneak up, the team at the end of the line often feels the consequences. As a result, its members may face working into the wee hours, pushing through a rush job or getting left out altogether. When that team is Quality Assurance, the last two options simply aren’t options at all.

Let’s say you buy a car, only to discover that the AC won’t blow out of the passenger-side vent unless the car is rolling downhill. Or maybe the brakes don't work in cold weather. But the manufacturer delivered their car to you on schedule, so what’s the fuss?

The same logic applies to interactive media. Clients rightly expect a seamless user experience, no matter what the circumstances. It is QA's role to guarantee their satisfaction.

Not convinced? Try this. Here’s a list of the top 5 drivers for QAing a deliverable:

1. Effectiveness. You want it to meet your client’s objectives.
2. Functionality. You’d like it to work properly.
3. Consistency. You want it to be in line with the brand.
4. Intuitiveness. You want to make sure it’s easy to use.
5. Efficiency. You want to get it right the first time.

If just one of these considerations matters to you, then QA is a must-have. Whether it's a car or a website, a project isn’t viable if it's not top notch. The Quality Assurance team is here to help you get it there.

 

Wouldn’t it be great if every word on your website was a Google magnet? Or if search engines awarded higher rankings based on the quality of your writing?

Keep dreaming. There’s an infinite amount of content floating around online, and interactive copywriters have to make the best of both worlds by crafting good copy that speaks to the audience and produces hot search results.

Before you hit the keyboard, here are some SEO best practices to take into consideration:

•    Get keyed in. List the keywords and keyphrases your target audience uses (be sure to include obvious synonyms and other related words). Then, fully integrate your list into your copy. Need help? Just ask Google.

•    Think HTML. Keyphrase and keyword placement in title tags — as well as <H1>, <H2> and <H3> tags — also help ramp up your search engine visibility.

•    Be specific. Provide search engines with context. When you reference your firm, for example, don’t just cut it short at “agency”. Incorporate modifiers such as “interactive”, “marketing” and other relevant keywords from your list.

At the end of the day, good writing always comes first. While keywords indeed are helpful, don’t let their placement affect your copy. Searchable content and solid copywriting both lead to the ultimate goal: providing value to your target audience. Once you’ve done that, your readers will be bookmarking, tagging and linking to your content — and that’s the icing on the SEO cake.

 

Has the democratization of analytics jumped the shark? Ask MC Hammer.

In this video (courtesy of Juice Analytics), the rapper/pastor/lifestyle entrepreneur discusses how analytics helps him make informed business decisions. The point? With so many tools now available to monitor site traffic and demand gen campaigns, businesses have no excuse for failing to leverage key metrics to optimize user experience and goal conversion.

At Springbox, we share MC Hammer’s enthusiasm for all things data (in fact, I’ve considered wearing parachute pants to the office on Fridays as a show of solidarity). Just remember: All the metrics in the world can’t help you if you don’t know what to look for.  

Please, Hammer, don’t hurt me.

The war between usability and design is not a new one. These two elements have always been pitted against one another, turning great ideas into either successes or failures (depending on the balance of power).

This battle used to be waged between engineering and industrial design, where tactile implications could mean the difference between solvency and bankruptcy. The players back then were a select few, and access to the tools and knowledge needed to create these products were few and far between.

In recent years, this conflict has moved to a new arena: our computers. Thanks to the proliferation of PCs, laptops, video game consoles and mobile devices, the conflict between usability and design has never played out over as vast a battlefield.

What’s more, most of the old barriers have been removed. Whether through desktop publishing, video editing or website creation, more and more people have access to the tools needed for creation.

But do they have the knowledge? Usability and design are two edges of the same sword, and it’s important to know how to apply principles of both to achieve the desired goal. In other words, you need to be able to discern the right information before you can use it to design an effective user interface. I've found these tenets to be particularly useful:  

• Consider the audience. Who will be using it? What are their skill sets? Their expectations? Their wants, needs and limitations? An exploratory e-learning application targeting middle-schoolers can, and should, differ greatly from an informative microsite aimed at mature adults. Different audiences have different experience levels, learning curves and learned means of interaction.
• Design with consistency in mind. By making things that act alike look alike, designers can help users learn how to successfully interact with the media. The inverse of this is also true: things that look alike should act alike. Maintaining a consistent visual design scheme is crucial for the creation of an intuitive user experience.
• Don’t forget about discriminability. Just as things that act alike should look alike, things that act differently should look different. Coincidental similarities can cause confusion, so designers should make functional elements discernible based on their behavior. Consistency and discriminability work together to help create a pleasing visual design that intuitively communicates its functional purpose.
• Utilize use-case scenarios. Early on, when an interactive piece is still just a series of static comps, use-case scenarios come in handy. Whether launching a pop-up window or filling out an opt-in form for a mailing list, it’s important to think through each step — and how the user and application will respond. This can bring to light issues that aren’t addressed in static comps, reducing the need to backtrack later on.
• Engage in usability testing. This is an invaluable stage in the creation of interactive media. Usability testing involves direct observation of how real users use the interactive media. These tests measure how well subjects respond in four key areas: accuracy, efficiency, recall and emotional responses. Changes can then be made based upon these results and re-evaluated, using the initial testing results as a baseline.
  

These are just a few of the principles that can be employed to help ensure usability in the design of interactive media. Be it your BlackBerry, laptop or PlayStation 3, in the end everyone benefits from designs that are both visually pleasing and usable.

OK, so I’m just going to go ahead and say it. Among a growing list of JavaScript libraries, JQuery is the de facto leader.

If you've developed websites for any length of time, you’ve inevitably run into a problem that’s best solved on the browser side with JavaScript. Before 2006, your next thought was usually, "Ugh, scripting." You had to worry about — and code for — cross-browser compatibility, tweaking the same process in different ways so the site could be viewed in Internet Explorer, Safari, Mozilla, et al.

Then along came JQuery.

First released by John Resig in January 2006, JQuery focuses on the interaction between JavaScript and HTML. By making use of Document Object Model (DOM) element selectors, events, CSS manipulation, effects and animation, plugin support, chaining commands, cross-browser compatibility and other features that make it incredibly efficient and effective in today's web-based application world, JQuery has become the developer’s darling.

We've embraced JQuery at Springbox, using it for a variety of internal and external projects. Microsoft has even announced that it will be shipping JQuery with future versions of Visual Studio (including full IntelliSense).

Now that’s love.

What is it about a recession that triggers worst-case scenario nightmares? Marketers fear the “R” word. And in tough times, ad budgets are often the first thing slashed.

The good news is some marketers aren’t cramming their entire ad spend under their mattresses just yet — especially when it comes to social media. Spending in this category is alive and well, and is only going to grow in the future. By 2010, social media spending is anticipated to reach $757 million. And that’s not counting media buys for Facebook and MySpace display ads.

Forrester has released a report that says social media (and social applications in particular) is well poised to weather the turbulent economic climate. In fact, at least one Forrester VP believes social media is so effective in the consideration stage of decision-making — an area where traditional advertising isn’t — that marketers should consider ramping up their social media spend.

So with a potential flood of ad dollars pouring into this space, what does this mean for content? Do we propose a widget and call it a day? No way. It’s all about strategy. Here are some pointers:

• Let your marketing strategy dictate your social media vehicles, not the other way around.
• Insist social media apps have performance metrics built in, so you can demonstrate success to your clients.
• Make certain your project is interesting to your audience and encourages collaborative communication.
• Don’t reinvent the wheel — figure out relevant ways to use existing social media channels to your advantage.
  

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither was Nike or YouTube. Today’s tangible return on a social media project demonstrates your worth to your clients and can help you become a better brand steward over the long run. But whatever you do in social media, make sure your content adds value to your audience and your brand. It shouldn’t be this week’s fad.

Think about the dramatic proliferation of social networking tools for a minute. MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and a multitude of others have sprung to life in the past decade. The amount of personal information made available by these networks varies from the mundane to the intimate to (what some may consider) indecent. Given the incredible adoption rates of these social technologies, it’s not surprising our social behavior is changing at a fundamental level as a result.

At the core of this is the issue of privacy. Privacy is a deeply personal concern that is inextricably tied to who we are — and who we think we are. Some people aren’t comfortable with their real name or image being displayed publicly, while the online activities of others may best be described as exhibitionist.

A recent article by Daniel J. Solove in the September 2008 issue of Scientific American asserts that the idea of privacy itself is defined very differently across various age groups. For what Solove refers to as “Generation Google” (25 and under), privacy is more about accessibility than availability. To this generation, the trouble and time it takes to comb through 65 photos in order to find the one of them drunk at the Christmas party is an acceptable deterrence, and doesn’t merit further security measures.

Solove goes on to discuss the role that reputation plays in our society. How we’re perceived by others affect our careers, our personal relationships and even our financial situation. He makes no predictions as to what this newfound “honesty” will do to our society as a whole, but does discuss how the clash of these two different perceptions of privacy will create a certain social tension in the near future.

For many of us over 25, those perceptions have already shifted dramatically. Ten years ago, I would have gone out of my way to ensure that my phone number was unlisted. Now I have absolutely no problem handing it over to the 255 “friends” I have in my Facebook network.

In 1999, Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems said, “You already have zero privacy. Get over it.” Now almost 10 years later, the only way to maintain any sense of privacy may very well be to redefine it. 

Partnerships are a fundamental part of the business world. In the workplace, they rely on everyone — employers, managers and employees — working together for the benefit of the organization.

Because relationships in today’s workplace are constantly changing, partnerships can be difficult to build and sustain. But when they’re collaborative at the core, partnerships can help promote innovation and facilitate positive change.

When trying to build and sustain partnerships with team members, consider:

• Approachability. It’s a two-way street. When working to strengthen a partnership, find a common point of interest. It’s essential to every conversation and interaction. After all, approachability is a function of comfort.
• Dialogue. Meaningful dialogue is an exchange of ideas that helps you discover what’s on a person’s mind. Active, effective listening is the foundation of effective communication. When collaborating with others, practice active listening. 
• Focus. Whether in a group or one-on-one, focus intently on your companions in order to fully understand them. You should be able to reflect what they’ve said in your own words — not necessarily to show you agree, but that you care about what they’re saying.
• Connection. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. You develop credibility with people through connections. To forge solid partnerships with people, you need to show them you genuinely want to help.
• Style. When building partnerships, try to adapt to the other’s style. Ask questions. Focus on whether they’re goal-driven or relationship-driven. Are they seeking general or specific information? Are they outgoing or reserved? Follow their pace.
• Commitment. Inability to make and honor commitments destroys partnerships. All commitments are important, so keep your calendar current and don’t over-commit. Be on time, “in the moment” — and careful what you agree to. Most importantly, communicate delays ahead of time.
  

Everybody benefits from effective workplace partnerships. They help build a cohesive workplace culture, boost employee engagement, expand workplace processes and keep morale high. Through shared decision-making, innovation is stimulated, productivity grows, service improves and issues between parties become easier to resolve.