Comments on: So You Wanna Build a Library, Eh?

By: presentes criativos|presente criativo

presentes criativos|presente criativo — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 15:04:32 +0000

A good and thoughtful article that’s leading to some interesting conversation in my org. The PDF is a huge plus as well. presentes criativos|presente criativo

By: ngift

ngift — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The tabloid-size poster looks great. In the first sentence about ‘Who leads the effort?’ it says, “A dedicated librarian is serves as a…” The word ‘is’ should be removed. Cheers!

By: nathancurtis

nathancurtis — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nancy,

Thanks for catching that typo. I’ve updated and replaced the PDF with the corrected version.

Nathan

By: norikdavtian

norikdavtian — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Nathan, I enjoyed reading this article, although skipped some parts. LOL

the concept sounds easy, but it is an engineering art for itself.

Here is a brand book by Skype that utilizes this idea, full of design patterns and modular components and how to use them with their brand logo, check it out.
http://issuu.com/bondo/docs/skype_brand_book_-_look

By: holger_maassen

holger_maassen — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Nathan,
interesting article – I can’t count the number of libraries and module principles I have developed. Maybe the reason therefore is that I have studied architecture and town-planing. Throughout various projects I saw pros and cons – sometimes again and again the same and from time to time new one. I am a firm believer in the force of modular approaches, especially in the area I find my daily work (enterprise portal sites and intranets) – but it might be also a good option for maybe about 50% of internet projects, it’s always the question of how deep and broad the individual library should have influences (power vs. restrictions) – Yes it’s not the holy grail for every project – To a certain degree I can understand that designers are frightened but again and again i am surprised to meet opposition and resistance by developers.
I hope the rest of your book as interesting as this chapter – I think I should take it on my book list.

By: jdporter

jdporter — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Another typo in the header for the first section: “Why Do You Want *TO* Create a Library?”

A good and thoughtful article that’s leading to some interesting conversation in my org. The PDF is a huge plus as well.

By: tsheiner

tsheiner — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nathan;

Excellent article! My colleagues and I at Jaspersoft are just wrapping up a project to develop our own UI Framework. While your chapter is written from the perspective of planning such an endeavor, looked at in retrospect I can attest that it accurately describes exactly the players, steps and decisions we went through.

We found that this project took considerably longer than we expected. You might be interested to read my conclusions regarding why we could not estimate the work accurately:

http://timsheiner.com/blog/?p=185

Tim

By: idealcredit

idealcredit — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I understand the advantages of having libraries, especially in big organisations, but the rules that come with them can sometimes be a pain; in some organisations you’re not allowed to change the objects at all, it can be hard having to design around something instead of making it fit into your work!

By: mrmambo

mrmambo — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Don’t underestimate the amount of time needed to standardize and reach consensus on document standards—it can take months and lots of back and forth, esp. if you’re working in a large, established web development organization (over 50 people).

I don’t see any mention of GUI Specs: when I worked in the web organization of a large airline, we used these docs as a means of communication between the interface/experience design and development teams. They typically consisted of annotated wireframes, screen-by-screen, with all graphic elements, states, on-screen copy, exit/entry points, etc. marked.

We spent months coming up with a standard form for these, which was a challenge with internal design resources, external (agency) designers, and developers all having requirements. Plus, as with many design artifacts, it becomes a challenge to maintain docs during a project. We always sought to have complete documentation for archival purposes, as we often had to go back into these modules a year or two down the line, either for overhaul or for connections to other projects.

We came up with standards for flows, wireframes, GUI specs, and other docs, but it’s a real challenge to get people to use the templates, maintain the templates, and ensure that all documentation gets updated during projects.

By: eric_craus

eric_craus — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This post forced me to think, are we really ready to do this?
The project is already done, but somehow i see that some guys of our group aren’t ready for it.
Thanks for the Post!

Eric