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30 years experience of coding and development with degree in Sculpture. After 4 or 5 years as an artist...

* Hypercard/Director/Photoshop based Multimedia

* AppleScript/Filemaker

* Web Development Prograph CPX / SQL Web Development

* Python/Zope/SQL/PHP Web Development

* Processing(Java)/P5js/GDevelop Edu/Games Development

* Python/AppleScript/Sheets/AI/Python


I was once at a coding conference (Prograph CPX now you ask) and there was a coding competition. Who could create a usable To Do List App in one hour. About six people took part.

At the end of the hour, people demoed their creations. "This one is clunky and works like this...", "This one uses text to" etc.

The last person got up and showed some doodles and notes on sheets of paper. He said "Mine is the only one that actually works and is well designed, I just need to code it now".

I don't know if there's a lesson in there, but to me it was cool as.


Other non-linear music-making tool options include

* BespokeSynth - make music with flow diagrams * Orca - make music with shimmering conway worlds * Sonic Pi - make music with code

All free, all mind-blowing, all a possibility for composing and creating in a different metaphor to the left-to-right DAW like Garageband.


Audulus is also very fun to play around with, although it's focused more around sound/patch design.

https://audulus.com


Yeah... one might use Sonic to load a csv and generate sounds based on your data, that might then be used as static assets in their app.

I recently helped a tutor using BespokeSynth to create audio explainers, wiring together frequencies and interactive oscillators and waveform viewers to explain resonant frequencies (or something, I didn't completely get it)

https://static.everythingability.opalstacked.com/bespoke_syn...


I came here to say the same thing exactly. Tufte books are very visual (and expensive - see if you can find a copy of any of his books, changed my life). You can just dip in.

Norman is ace. Although his books turned me into a usability weirdo unable to switch off my usability sensors... be careful! :-)

As is Raskin - whose interface "notation" (click-drag-click etc) I think isn't talked about enough.

Can I also throw in these...

Don't Make Me Think: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/032... - I found this a REALLY useful book, and great to share with people too.

A Pattern Language https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pattern-Language-Buildings-Construc... - OK, this is a bit esoteric, but it's so valuable and lots of geeks/UX-ers kind of aim to create their own pattern language as opposed to a UX-dogma.

Information Architecture https://www.amazon.co.uk/Information-Architecture-Beyond-Lou...

Visual Language https://www.amazon.co.uk/Visual-Language-Global-Communicatio... - a kind of fundamental - hard to find.

--

There are dozens of methodologies to learn, and put into practice. I would put it that you don't really learn UX, you do it, and revise - in order to solve problems and make things better. Once you've digested some of the ideas you need to start trying the methodologies out. This is harder than it sounds. Even companies that claim to support UX, sort of bugger things up.... in that UX can't "fix" crap... it needs to be in at the beginning.

My favourite activities / methodologies, that produced REAL results were

* Ethnography - kinda just hanging out and observing what actually goes on. One client used to print off every page to proof read their changes cos the font sizes were designed by 21 year olds and they were 60+. The applause I got for raising the font size would never have been found any other way than sitting in the corner. * Card sorting - often collaboratively with armfuls of post its to decide on categories/navigation * Wireframing - I had less success with paper prototyping, but still ... * Personas + Use Cases

...and Eye Tracking - which tbh was SO VALUABLE, not because of the insights it provided, but for the EVIDENCE (video and heatmaps) that you could use to persuade the big wigs.

So find a way to start getting yourself into trying out various methodologies, to fix problems. Doing UX when things are "kind of OK" can be quite hard imo, especially at the beginning.

Your background will be so useful, again imo and experience, you will be able to use UX to provide guidance and ideas and then MAKE THE BLOODY THING which lots of UX-ers can't do. I liked the cross-over - I code a bit and sometimes found it easier to make what I wanted, rather than specifying it or creating "designs".

Good luck!

Tom


Gdevelop might be described as a low code platform as it's language is visual (like Scratch on acid). It already has "Generate a game with AI" built in. It's not very good.

What makes you think LLMs will get better? The more we've seen AI develop the more fine tuned everyone's senses have got hyper-sensitised to what's AI and it just reeks of the uncanny, rendering it ultimately useless.



Hi,

I've probably mentioned this a few times on here, but Prograph was a GREAT example of a visual language, that solved a LOT of issues (spaghetti code) etc. It's worth a look if you're interested in visual programming

* object oriented * scrunching of code - tha could be turned into functions (local-to-opers) * you could edit code and values whilst it was running * FAST!

Here's an ole video of some server software I made, that at the end shows me rustily doing some Prographing.

https://youtu.be/MtECJw59elc?si=svRbd5_IA4cAFhVa&t=1429

p.s A free version of Prograph (Marten) used to exist, but when the genius creator died, the project, sort of lost its way too.


This really isn't crowing but we created a dynamic site that used HyperCard as a CGI and we did that in 1984. Not kidding. Mosaic'd up to the hilt.

Still, it's a good idea.

You can further this idea (especially when the slug returns nothing) by having this page also list "Best Bets" or what people most often come to your site for (regardless of any search query, perhaps, with their referrer, or on this day of the week etc)

And additionally, put the slug (bar the dashes) into a search box so it might be ammended (but tell them that you didn't find anything and they need to try something else).


Must have been later than 1984 or I'm misunderstanding - HyperCard was released in the late 80s, and NCSA Mosaic wasn't released until 1993.


I was a HyperCarder too.

I would say the answer is none of the below/above...

GDevelop is an app for making games. Your son will love it. It has a very cute visual programming language, not too far from Scratch.

I watched a few 10 minute tutorial videos and "got it"... you two will too.

p.s No connection to the company.


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