Distributed workforces
During the next year, Richey thinks the set-up of many companies will be atypical. “A new generation of young designers and developers entered the workforce in a time of lingering adversity. With a variety of technologies at their fingertips, many creatives have learned to find jobs, network, and acquire new skills from their bedrooms, the corner café, or a destination around the world,” she explains. “As the economy improves, many designers and developers won’t be willing to trade in their work style and relative freedom for a cubicle space. With a growing number of high-profile tech companies embracing a mobile and distributed workforce, employers looking for top-notch talent may need to re-evaluate their workplace culture.”
Irene V. on 04 Aug 12"accessing a web page on my phone, I'm doing it for a different reason than if I was using my laptop. If I'm on the road (aka, not at home and not at work), and I access a website on my phone, usually it's for very specific information that I want to ingest quickly and without much fuss. For example, if I access the USTA (United States Tennis Association) website on my phone, these are my priorities: 1) What channel is the current match on? (15 seconds on site) 2) When's the next match? (15 seconds on site) 3) What does the bracket look like now? (1 minute on site) If I'm at my laptop, these are my priorities: 1) Stream the match live. (potentially 3 hours) 2) See real-time stats. (as long as the match lasts) 3) Watch instructional videos. (5 minutes to 2 hours) So really it's the type of content that changes based on the platform, and therefore the IA of the site should be different based on the platform to accommodate what people want the most based on which platform they are on. My issue with responsive design is that almost all of the examples I've seen have nearly-identical IA. This is ignoring differences in usage behavior which, I feel, is detrimental to the overall satisfaction of users."
