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Asking for my stand whether to go or be favorable between insourcing and outsourcing, it simply depends on the usability, facility, resources and awareness of an organization. Making decision of choosing either of the two must be weigh thoroughly and definitely have the one which much significant and weigh as the useful and convenient of the organization. The organization must have consideration that must be taken and take account to such as financial, user-friendliness and accuracy.

Let’s first make the distinction between outsourcing and insourcing because they are often used interchangeably. Outsourcing refers to the subcontracting practice of taking company business functions and contracting them out to a third party. Outsourcing in the information technology field has two meanings. One is to commission the development of an application to another organization, usually a company that specializes in the development of this type of application. The other is to hire the services of another company to manage all or parts of the services that otherwise would be rendered by an IT unit of the organization.

Outsourcing involves the transfer of the management and/or day-to-day execution of an entire business function to an external service provider. The client organization and the supplier enter into a contractual agreement that defines the transferred services. Under the agreement the supplier acquires the means of production in the form of a transfer of people, assets and other resources from the client. The client agrees to procure the services from the supplier for the term of the contract. Business segments typically outsourced include information technology, human resources, facilities, real estate management, and accounting. Many companies also outsource customer support and call center functions like telemarketing, CAD drafting, customer service, market research, manufacturing, designing, web development, print-to-mail, content writing, ghostwriting and engineering. Offshoring is the type of outsourcing in which the buyer organization belongs to another country.

Outsourcing Vs Offshoring
Generally these questions strikes up when you have a project to outsource or offshore. We often mix both the terms though they have technical differences. Outsourcing is when a company hires some expert or professionals to complete a certain task. This can happen in many cases, including minimizing capital expenditure, high productivity, improved customer support and specialized skill. Outsourcing means corresponding with the provider or an expert within his area of expertise and getting the work done for the same. However, in offshoring a company can outsource its work or project outside the country or anywhere across the globe. The benefit of low cost, educated labor pool and pleasing time zones are diverting the attraction of many SMB’s to offshore their work around the globe. It indicates towards the assigning some particular function of a company to another country, which could be forever or for some given period of time.


Rising Globalization has led increasing number of outsourcing and offshoring projects around the world. Small medium organizations can outsource and offshore their business to compete with the large businesses across the global while cutting down on their expenses. This also brings good news for many freelancers and part-timers as they can get a chance to exhibit their expertise while earning a few bucks too.

But there is a lot of hidden cost involved in offshoring or outsourcing the project. Language barriers, cultural barriers and sometimes timezone challenges can be a hindrance in successfully executing the project. To overcome these barriers and to ensure successful outsourcing and offshoring there are many new online services which are coming to the online market. Elance, Guru, Rentacoder and LimeExchange are some of the interesting names which are coming into the business of outsourcing as well as offshoring. These services are affordable as they are not too heavy on pockets. They charge decent percentage of the amount paid to the provider after the completion of a project. Elance charges 8 to 10%, Rentacoder rates 15% but LimeExchange takes only 8% of the total amount, wherein it provides free registration and some impressive features to mitigate the risks related to outsourcing and offshoring.

Outsourcing enables companies to focus on their core competencies. Companies can have the following needs outsource to technology companies or outsourcing service companies:
1. Customer support or call centers.
2. Business process outsourcing such as accounting, billing and collections.
3. Telecommunications services and management.
4. Fulfillment, CRM and inventory management.
5. Technology hardware and software.
For example, USA companies are outsourcing software development needs to India and customer call center support to the Philippines. This is mainly done for economical reasons, as it is cheaper for these companies to have the service outsourced rather than done in-house.
Advantages of Outsourcing
The benefits of outsourcing are:
1. Less capital expenditure - For example, by outsourcing information technology requirements, a company does not have to buy expensive hardware and software.
2. Less management headache - For example, by outsourcing business process such as accounting, a company no longer has to hire and manage accounting personnel.
3. Focus on core competencies - Outsourcing non-core related processes will allow a business to focus more on it's core competencies and strengths, giving it a competitive advantage.

Reasons for outsourcing
Organizations that outsource are seeking to realize benefits or address the following issues:[12][13][14]
• Cost savings. The lowering of the overall cost of the service to the business. This will involve reducing the scope, defining quality levels, re-pricing, re-negotiation, cost re-structuring. Access to lower cost economies through offshoring called "labor arbitrage" generated by the wage gap between industrialized and developing nations.[15]
• Focus on Core Business. Resources (for example investment, people, infrastructure) are focused on developing the core business. For example often organizations outsource their IT support to specilaised IT services companies.
• Cost restructuring. Operating leverage is a measure that compares fixed costs to variable costs. Outsourcing changes the balance of this ratio by offering a move from fixed to variable cost and also by making variable costs more predictable.
• Improve quality. Achieve a step change in quality through contracting out the service with a new service level agreement.
• Knowledge. Access to intellectual property and wider experience and knowledge.[16]
• Contract. Services will be provided to a legally binding contract with financial penalties and legal redress. This is not the case with internal services.[17]
• Operational expertise. Access to operational best practice that would be too difficult or time consuming to develop in-house.
• Access to talent. Access to a larger talent pool and a sustainable source of skills, in particular in science and engineering.[4][18]
• Capacity management. An improved method of capacity management of services and technology where the risk in providing the excess capacity is borne by the supplier.
• Catalyst for change. An organization can use an outsourcing agreement as a catalyst for major step change that can not be achieved alone. The outsourcer becomes a Change agent in the process.
• Enhance capacity for innovation. Companies increasingly use external knowledge service providers to supplement limited in-house capacity for product innovation.[19][20]
• Reduce time to market. The acceleration of the development or production of a product through the additional capability brought by the supplier.
• Commodification. The trend of standardizing business processes, IT Services and application services enabling businesses to intelligently buy at the right price. Allows a wide range of businesses access to services previously only available to large corporations.
• Risk management. An approach to risk management for some types of risks is to partner with an outsourcer who is better able to provide the mitigation.[21]
• Venture Capital. Some countries match government funds venture capital with private venture capital for startups that start businesses in their country.[1]
• Tax Benefit. Countries offer tax incentives to move manufacturing operations to counter high corporate taxes within another country.
Disadvantages of Outsourcing
Before deciding on outsourcing your company's business process, keep in mind the disadvantages of outsourcing:
1. Less managerial control - It may be harder to manage the outsourcing service provider as compared to managing your own employees.
2. Outsourcing company goes out of business - If your outsourcing service provide goes bankrupt or out of business, your company will have to quickly transition to a new service provider or take the process back in-house.
3. May be more expensive - Sometimes it is cheaper to keep a process in-house as compared to outsourcing.
4. Security and confidentiality issues - If your company is outsourcing business processes such as payroll, confidential information such as salary will be known to the outsourcing service provider.
Criticisms of outsourcing
1. Quality Risks is the propensity for a product or service to be defective, due to operations-related issues. Quality risk in outsourcing is driven by a list of factors. One such factor is opportunism by suppliers due to misaligned incentives between buyer and supplier, information asymmetry, high asset specificity, or high supplier switching costs. Other factors contributing to quality risk in outsourcing are poor buyer-supplier communication, lack of supplier capabilities/resources/capacity, or buyer-supplier contract enforceability. Two main concepts must be considered when considering observability as it related to quality risks in outsourcing: the concepts of testability and criticality.
2. Quality of service
Quality of service is measured through a service level agreement (SLA) in the outsourcing contract. In poorly defined contracts there is no measure of quality or SLA defined. Even when an SLA exists it may not be to the same level as previously enjoyed. This may be due to the process of implementing proper objective measurement and reporting which is being done for the first time. It may also be lower quality through design to match the lower price.
Quality in terms of end-user-experience is best measured through customer satisfaction questionnaires which are professionally designed to capture an unbiased view of quality. Surveys can be one of research. This allows quality to be tracked over time and also for corrective action to be identified and taken.
3. Language skills
In the area of call centers end-user-experience is deemed to be of lower quality when a service is outsourced. This is exacerbated when outsourcing is combined with off-shoring to regions where the first language and culture are different. The questionable quality is particularly evident when call centers that service the public are outsourced and offshored.
4. Public opinion
There is a strong public opinion regarding outsourcing (especially when combined with offshoring) that outsourcing damages a local labor market. Outsourcing is the transfer of the delivery of services which affects both jobs and individuals. It is difficult to dispute that outsourcing has a detrimental effect on individuals who face job disruption and employment insecurity; however, its supporters believe that outsourcing should bring down prices, providing greater economic benefit to all.
5. Social responsibility
Outsourcing sends jobs to the lower-income areas where work is being outsourced to, which provides jobs in these areas and has a net equalizing effect on the overall distribution of wealth. Some argue that the outsourcing of jobs (particularly off-shore) exploits the lower paid workers. A contrary view is that more people are employed and benefit from paid work. Despite this argument, domestic workers displaced by such equalization are proportionately unable to outsource their own costs of housing, food and transportation.
On the issue of high-skilled labor, such as computer programming, some argue that it is unfair to both the local and off-shore programmers to outsource the work simply because the foreign pay rate is lower. On the other hand, one can argue that paying the higher-rate for local programmers is wasteful, or charity, or simply overpayment. If the end goal of buyers is to pay less for what they buy, and for sellers it is to get a higher price for what they sell, there is nothing automatically unethical about choosing the cheaper of two products, services, or employees.
Social responsibility is also reflected in the costs of benefits provided to workers. Companies outsourcing jobs effectively transfer the cost of retirement and medical benefits to the countries where the services are outsourced. This represents a significant reduction in total cost of labor for the outsourcing company. A side effect of this trend is the reduction in salaries and benefits at home in the occupations most directly impacted by outsourcing.
6. Staff turnover
The staff turnover of employee who originally transferred to the outsourcer is a concern for many companies. Turnover is higher under an outsourcer and key company skills may be lost with retention outside of the control of the company. In outsourcing offshore there is an issue of staff turnover in the outsourcer companies call centers. It is quite normal for such companies to replace its entire workforce each year in a call center. This inhibits the build-up of employee knowledge and keeps quality at a low level.
7. Company knowledge
Outsourcing could lead to communication problems with transferred employees. For example, before transfer staff have access to broadcast company e-mail informing them of new products, procedures etc. Once in the outsourcing organization the same access may not be available. Also to reduce costs, some outsource employees may not have access to e-mail, but any information which is new is delivered in team meetings.
8. Qualifications of outsourcers
The outsourcer may replace staff with less qualified people or with people with different non-equivalent qualifications.
9. Failure to deliver business transformation
Business transformation promised by outsourcing suppliers often fails to materialize. In a commoditized market where many service providers can offer savings of time and money, smart vendors have promised a second wave of benefits that will improve the client’s business outcomes.
10. Productivity
Offshore outsourcing for the purpose of saving cost can often have a negative influence on the real productivity of a company. Rather than investing in technology to improve productivity, companies gain non-real productivity by hiring fewer people locally and outsourcing work to less productive facilities offshore that appear to be more productive simply because the workers are paid less. Sometimes, this can lead to strange contradictions where workers in a developing country using hand tools can appear to be more productive than a U.S. worker using advanced computer controlled machine tools, simply because their salary appears to be less in terms of U.S. dollars.
In contrast, increases in real productivity are the result of more productive tools or methods of operating that make it possible for a worker to do more work. Non-real productivity gains are the result of shifting work to lower paid workers, often without regards to real productivity. The net result of choosing non-real over real productivity gain is that the company falls behind and obsoletes itself overtime rather than making investments in real productivity.
11. Standpoint of labor
From the standpoint of labor within countries on the negative end of outsourcing this may represent a new threat, contributing to rampant worker insecurity, and reflective of the general process of globalization. While the "outsourcing" process may provide benefits to less developed countries or global society as a whole, in some form and to some degree - include rising wages or increasing standards of living - these benefits are not secure. Further, the term outsourcing is also used to describe a process by which an internal department, equipment as well as personnel, is sold to a service provider, who may retain the workforce on worse conditions or discharge them in the short term. The affected workers thus often feel they are being "sold down the river."
12. Security
Before outsourcing an organization is responsible for the actions of all their staff and liable for their actions. When these same people are transferred to an outsourcer they may not change desk but their legal status has changed. They no-longer are directly employed or responsible to the organization. This causes legal, security and compliance issues that need to be addressed through the contract between the client and the suppliers. This is one of the most complex areas of outsourcing and requires a specialist third party adviser.
Fraud is a specific security issue that is criminal activity whether it is by employees or the supplier staff. However, it can be disputed that the fraud is more likely when outsourcers are involved, for example credit card theft when there is scope for fraud by credit card cloning. In April 2005, a high-profile case involving the theft of $350,000 from four Citibank customers occurred when call center workers acquired the passwords to customer accounts and transferred the money to their own accounts opened under fictitious names. Citibank did not find out about the problem until the American customers noticed discrepancies with their accounts and notified the bank.

Point of Views towards Outsourcing if it will be implemented in the university
When we talk of businesses outside world, outsourcing is very prominent. Almost every company adopts this system. The reason is simple, it is said to be the new concept in the business world that develops complex systems, elevates the economic growth, increases the competitiveness and enhances performance of the organization. Outsourcing is a great opportunity especially for the individuals who are lucky to have the job and it’s more advantageous for the company who is doing this kind of strategy. However, school is another story to talk about especially if we will talk about my very own school. Outsourcing could be of help in a way that the school can get programs outside that cannot be found or made inside the school. New ideas, strategies and implementations one cannot get we only rely on in-source. It would free the professors to teach students instead of trying to manage the systems inside the school. The professors would be given more time to spend with their students instead of trying to improve the Information System. The first priority of professors should be to teach and not to create or to manage the IS facilities. It would also lessen the worries involved. All the University has to do is to find a party that offers the services needed for the school including the maintenance/check-ups of the equipment to be used and to allot the appropriate budget for it. Troubleshooting and problems that arise would be the problem of the provider and not of the school. Of course the school will be affected if problems will arise but the solution for the problems should be given by the provider and not by the school.

Outsourcing will be better to our school but not in this time for the faculty and students are not yet ready for this kind of change

Insourcing is the opposite of outsourcing; that is insourcing (or contracting in) is often defined as the delegation of operations or jobs from production within a business to an internal (but 'stand-alone') entity that specializes in that operation. Insourcing is a business decision that is often made to maintain control of critical production or competencies. An alternate use of the term implies transferring jobs to within the country where the term is used, either by hiring local subcontractors or building a facility. Insourcing is widely used in an area such as production to reduce costs of taxes, labor (e.g., American labor is often cheaper than European labor), transportation, etc.
In regards to University issue about insourcing and point of view.
While, insourcing, is the opposite of outsourcing; it means “contracting in”. In insourcing, an entity or a company personnel who can be said to be an expert in the field to be tested is the one who will deliver/create and manage what the university needs (eg. Creating databases or websites). University security and integrity is much more ensured and there will be less irregularities and faster data compilation can be done because the person who is gathering it works in the company, thus he knows how the company functions and what is its exact needs than an person outside the company but I believe that outsourcing offers a lot more.
He’s familiar with the flow, he can figure out the best thing to do. Second, the school can lessen the cost if it will hire person inside, this is very important especially in the case of my school that the fund is very poor. Third, person inside can always do better, they can get ideas outside, and they can develop what they have. And lastly, the school can make sure that the information is safe and protected.
It is less hustle instead easy to access manpower. When the university wants to have outsourcing, they will look for the person/people to do the systems. It's a time consuming and more expensive routine. Rather than searching for an unknown well-being programmers, why not talked to the best programmers inside the university. Next, the system can be easily developed. Since the programmers is located inside, it is easily for that programmer to look for a new resource for the systems he/she made. He/she can observed what the university's needs. And other factors, he/she can suggest new things for the best of the systems he/she made.
Information’s confidentiality. Choosing personnel within a company can assure the company's operations and process kept secret because nowadays, its very hard to find trustworthy personnel. Second, with regard to expertise, we know that there are lots of skilled IT professionals who are working in this institutions, so why we need to get people not working within the company wherein we already have people who can make or perform that particular job.


But I rather choose the insourcing. Why? For the reason of patronizing our own resources. Resources in terms of making use your IT personnel, programmers and technical literate staffs to work hand on hand to make use their ability in making company own system which basically intended to they company alone. It will naturally address on the company needs and do make an accurate solution to solve the difficulty that the company is craving for.
In regards to the university I would suggest that it is better to buy an operated and functional system. Having the bought system and legally authorized to be owned by the university, what we going to do to be considered in inducing insource is when we will be able to develop it and technically improved by our skilled and brilliant staff. In doing so, we paid for the ready to use system but still we are the one who is responsible in developing it, it still cost-effective because we use the university staff instead of purchasing another system to address the future problem exist. It might be good in the part of the staff cause they will be able to practice their expertise at the same time involving into the actual scenario in which will be witnessed by the student and help them be inspired and motivated. It will challenge the staff as well as the student to do their best and yet be involved their selves and be the best.

Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius.
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle


It just merely my opinion, I hope your not offended and consider my opinion. Thank you readers! Have a nice day and blissful day to all!

Reference:
http://www.ictstandards.com/IT_Outsourcing.htm
www.wikipedia.com

The Information Environment (IE) is a term used to refer to JISC's work to develop and provide services which enable people to find and manage information efficiently and effectively in their learning, teaching or research. The information resources which people need are very varied - books, journals, research papers, teaching resources, videos, maps and more - and while they might be in any format they are increasingly digital.

Reference: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/themes/informationenvironment/overview.aspx


Combining the two definitions involve which are the Information and environment it entails that just to come up a definition that will suit for the related definition and meaning. Information is the result of processing, manipulating and organizing data in a way that adds to the knowledge of the person receiving it, while the environment is the workplace where the data is process, and a nature where the information is taken care and put in a certain container that exclusive for the certain data. The information does have an environment because as time goes by information change, it is either reduced or improved. In order to manage the information, it must have a system to taken care of it.
Today, the term information technology deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to convert, store protect, process, transmit, and securely retrieve information. It has ballooned to encompass many aspects of computing and technology, and the term has become very recognizable. IT professionals perform a variety of duties that range from installing applications to designing complex compute networks and information databases. A few of the duties that IT professionals perform may include data management, networking, engineering computer hardware, database and software design, as well as the management. With the use of technology the information is being manage, talking about management there the following information how information being management using a concept.

In regards to the assignment, the environment of information is defined broadly that is why I just can’t choose just one. Actually, I want to involve myself as many IT related works and activities. I really do like the course IT I just have difficulty in programming aspects, but still I don’t want to stay on that side, I know that there is something that really suits my ability and interest in Information Environment. I know that their place for me and I am looking forward to discover it.

This is the following reasons why I involve myself in IT. I thought that involving into information technology will be my gate pass for me to be competent in technical things in this generation. I really want to involve in animation. Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways. The most common method of presenting animation is as a motion picture or video program, although several other forms of presenting animation also exist Even before I am really fascinated about how the anime works and do an amazing animations and transitions. I love to learn how their visual effects are performed and how to make one. This is first encouraging me to get into here to live in information environment. I know that someday if I really involve myself in technology I know I will have this ability to be the best in it, it might not today, not in this place or not in this time but I know it will come and I am very near on it.

I like technical things. I love to know more about hardware and software. I love to know more about computer hardware and software which helps me to fix my pc on my own. I really want to be computer technician too. I want to enhance and optimizing my own pc. Computer hardware, upon which can be installed an operating system and a multitude of software to perform the operator's desired functions. While the Computer software is often regarded as anything but hardware, meaning that the "hard" are the parts that are tangible while the "soft" part is the intangible objects inside the computer. Software encompasses an extremely wide array of products and technologies developed using different techniques like programming languages, scripting languages, microcode, or an FPGA configuration. Software usually runs on underlying software operating systems such as the Linux or Microsoft Windows. Software also includes video games and the logic systems of modern consumer devices such as automobiles, televisions, and toasters. I really love dismantling and assembling gadgets and equipments just to find out want are inside of it.

I really want to learn about networking and be good on it. I want to understand all this terms below and be good on it. I want to be good at networking, method of network connection and network technologies. Computer networks classification according to the hardware and software technology that is used to interconnect the individual devices in the network, such as Optical fiber, Ethernet, Wireless LAN or Power line communication. Ethernet uses physical wiring to connect devices. Frequently deployed devices include hubs, switches, bridges and/or routers. Wireless LAN technology is designed to connect devices without wiring. These devices use radio waves or infrared signals as a transmission medium.

Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D Computer Animation

1. Squash and Stretch - defining the rigidity and mass of an object by distorting its shape during an action
2. Timing and Motion - spacing actions to define the weight and size of objects and the personality of characters
3. Anticipation - the preparation for an action
4. Staging - presenting an idea so that it is unmistakably clear
5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action - the termination of an action and establishing its relationship to the next action
6. Straight Ahead Action and Pose-to-Pose Action - The two contrasting approaches to the creation of movement
7. Slow In and Out - the spacing of the in-between frames to achieve subtlety of timing and movement
8. Arcs - the visual path of action for natural movement
9. Exaggeration - Accentuating the essence of an idea via the design and the action
10. Secondary Action - the action of an object resulting from another action
11. Appeal - creating a design or an action that the audience enjoys watching

Reference:
John Lasseter, "Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D Computer Animation", Computer Graphics, pp. 35-44, 21:4, July 1987 (SIGGRAPH 87).

George Maestri, "Digital Character Animation", New Riders Press, 1996.
Introduction

I know that incline with this principles will be key tools to make my own animation be successful and effective. All this guidelines will the things I must basically follow and apply some of the principles that still available that help me makes as one good animator.



10 Principles of Effective Web Design


In order to use the principles properly we first need to understand how users interact with web-sites, how they think and what the basic patterns of users’ behavior are.

1. How do users think?

Basically, users’ habits on the Web aren’t that different from customers’ habits in a store. Visitors glance at each new page, scan some of the text, and click on the first link that catches their interest or vaguely resembles the thing they’re looking for. In fact, there are large parts of the page they don’t even look at. Most users search for something interesting (or useful) and clickable; as soon as some promising candidates are found, users click. If the new page doesn’t meet users’ expectations, the Back button is clicked and the search process is continued.

• Users appreciate quality and credibility. If a page provides users with high-quality content, they are willing to compromise the content with advertisements and the design of the site. This is the reason why not-that-well-designed web-sites with high-quality content gain a lot of traffic over years. Content is more important than the design which supports it.

• Users don’t read they scan. Analyzing a web-page, users search for some fixed points or anchors which would guide them through the content of the page. Notice how “hot” areas abrupt in the middle of sentences. This is typical for the scanning process.

• Web users are impatient and insist on instant gratification. Very simple principle: If a web-site isn’t able to meet users’ expectations, then designer failed to get his job done properly and the company loses money. The higher is the cognitive load and the less intuitive is the navigation, the more willing are users to leave the web-site and search for alternatives.

• Users don’t make optimal choices. Users don’t search for the quickest way to find the information they’re looking for. Neither do they scan web-page in a linear fashion, going sequentially from one site section to another one. Instead users satisfice; they choose the first reasonable option. As soon as they find a link that seems like it might lead to the goal, there is a very good chance that it will be immediately clicked. Optimizing is hard, and it takes a long time. Satisficing is more efficient.

• Users follow their intuition. In most cases users muddle through instead of reading the information a designer has provided. According to Steve Krug, the basic reason for that is that users don’t care. “If we find something that works, we stick to it. It doesn’t matter to us if we understand how things work, as long as we can use them. If your audience is going to act like you’re designing billboard, then design great billboards.”

• Users want to have control. Users want to be able to control their browser and rely on the consistent data presentation throughout the site. E.g. they don’t want new windows popping up unexpectedly and they want to be able to get back with a “Back”-button to the site they’ve been before: therefore it’s a good practice to never open links in new browser windows.

1. Don’t make users think

According to Krug’s first law of usability, the web-page should be obvious and self-explanatory. When you’re creating a site, your job is to get rid of the question marks — the decisions users need to make consciously, considering pros, cons and alternatives. If the navigation and site architecture aren’t intuitive, the number of question marks grows and makes it harder for users to comprehend how the system works and how to get from point A to point B. A clear structure, moderate visual clues and easily recognizable links can help users to find their path to their aim. By reducing cognitive load you make it easier for visitors to grasp the idea behind the system. Once you’ve achieved this, you can communicate why the system is useful and how users can benefit from it. People won’t use your web site if they can’t find their way around it.

2. Don’t squander users’ patience

In every project when you are going to offer your visitors some service or tool, try to keep your user requirements minimal. The less action is required from users to test a service, the more likely a random visitor is to actually try it out. First-time visitors are willing to play with the service, not filling long web forms for an account they might never use in the future. Let users explore the site and discover your services without forcing them into sharing private data. It’s not reasonable to force users to enter an email address to test the feature. Ideally remove all barriers, don’t require subscriptions or registrations first. A user registration alone is enough of an impediment to user navigation to cut down on incoming traffic.
3. Manage to focus users’ attention

As web-sites provide both static and dynamic content, some aspects of the user interface attract attention more than others do. Obviously, images are more eye-catching than the text — just as the sentences marked as bold are more attractive than plain text. The human eye is a highly non-linear device, and web-users can instantly recognize edges, patterns and motions. This is why video-based advertisements are extremely annoying and distracting, but from the marketing perspective they perfectly do the job of capturing users’ attention. Focusing users’ attention to specific areas of the site with a moderate use of visual elements can help your visitors to get from point A to point B without thinking of how it actually is supposed to be done. The less question marks visitors have, the better sense of orientation they have and the more trust they can develop towards the company the site represents. In other words: the less thinking needs to happen behind the scenes, the better is the user experience which is the aim of usability in the first place.

4. Strive for feature exposure

Modern web designs are usually criticized due to their approach of guiding users with visually appealing 1-2-3-done-steps, large buttons with visual effects etc. But from the design perspective these elements actually aren’t a bad thing. On the contrary, such guidelines are extremely effective as they lead the visitors through the site content in a very simple and user-friendly way. Letting the user see clearly what functions are available is a fundamental principle of successful user interface design. It doesn’t really matter how this is achieved. What matters is that the content is well-understood and visitors feel comfortable with the way they interact with the system.

5. Make use of effective writing

As the Web is different from print, it’s necessary to adjust the writing style to users’ preferences and browsing habits. Promotional writing won’t be read. Long text blocks without images and keywords marked in bold or italics will be skipped. Exaggerated language will be ignored. Talk business. Avoid cute or clever names, marketing-induced names, company-specific names, and unfamiliar technical names. For instance, if you describe a service and want users to create an account, “sign up” is better than “start now!” which is again better than “explore our services”.

• use short and concise phrases (come to the point as quickly as possible),
• use checkable layout (categorize the content, use multiple heading levels, use visual elements and bulleted lists which break the flow of uniform text blocks),
• use plain and objective language (a promotion doesn’t need to sound like advertisement; give your users some reasonable and objective reason why they should use your service or stay on your web-site)

6. Strive for simplicity

The “keep it simple”-principle (KIS) should be the primary goal of site design. Users are rarely on a site to enjoy the design; furthermore, in most cases they are looking for the information despite the design. Strive for simplicity instead of complexity. From the visitors’ point of view, the best site design is a pure text, without any advertisements or further content blocks matching exactly the query visitors used or the content they’ve been looking for. This is one of the reasons why a user-friendly print-version of web pages is essential for good user experience.

7. Don’t be afraid of the white space

Actually it’s really hard to overestimate the importance of white space. Not only does it help to reduce the cognitive load for the visitors, but it makes it possible to perceive the information presented on the screen. When a new visitor approaches a design layout, the first thing he/she tries to do is to scan the page and divide the content area into digestible pieces of information.

8. Communicate effectively with a “visible language”

In his papers on effective visual communication, Aaron Marcus states three fundamental principles involved in the use of the so-called “visible language” — the content users see on a screen.

• Organize: provide the user with a clear and consistent conceptual structure. Consistency, screen layout, relationships and navigability are important concepts of organization. The same conventions and rules should be applied to all elements.
• Economize: do the most with the least amount of cues and visual elements. Four major points to be considered: simplicity, clarity, distinctiveness, and emphasis. Simplicity includes only the elements that are most important for communication. Clarity: all components should be designed so their meaning is not ambiguous. Distinctiveness: the important properties of the necessary elements should be distinguishable. Emphasis: the most important elements should be easily perceived.
• Communicate: match the presentation to the capabilities of the user. The user interface must keep in balance legibility, readability, typography, symbolism, multiple views, and color or texture in order to communicate successfully. Use max. 3 typefaces in a maximum of 3 point sizes — a maximum of 18 words or 50-80 characters per line of text.

9. Conventions are our friends

Conventional design of site elements doesn’t result in a boring web site. In fact, conventions are very useful as they reduce the learning curve, the need to figure out how things work. For instance, it would be a usability nightmare if all web-sites had different visual presentation of RSS-feeds. That’s not that different from our regular life where we tend to get used to basic principles of how we organize data (folders) or do shopping (placement of products). With conventions you can gain users’ confidence, trust, reliability and prove your credibility. Follow users’ expectations — understand what they’re expecting from a site navigation, text structure, search placement etc. (see Nielsen’s Usability Alertbox for more information)

10. Test early, test often

This so-called TETO-principle should be applied to every web design project as usability tests often provide crucial insights into significant problems and issues related to a given layout. “Test not too late, not too little and not for the wrong reasons”, that means that you can’t universally answer whether some layout is better than the other one as you need to analyze it from a very specific point of view (considering requirements, stakeholders, budget etc.).

This is all consideration and principles of how to satisfy user and customer ton the web design you offer to them. This might I use in the future if ever I will be good at making wed designing but as of now, I’m hoping and looking forward that it will be done. This principle is taken from the experience of others, which must be considered by most web designer.

Seven Principles of Software Development

The First Principle: The Reason It All Exists
A software system exists for one reason: to provide value to its users. All decisions should be made with this in mind. Before specifying a system requirement, before noting a piece of system functionality, before determining the hardware platforms or development processes, ask yourself questions such as: "Does this add real VALUE to the system?" If the answer is "no", don't do it

The Second Principle: KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!)
Software design is not a haphazard process. There are many factors to consider in any design effort. All design should be as simple as possible, but no simpler. This facilitates having a more easily understood, and easily maintained system. This is not to say that features, even internal features, should be discarded in the name of simplicity. Indeed, the more elegant designs are usually the more simple ones. Simple also does not mean "quick and dirty." In fact, it often takes a lot of thought and work over multiple iterations to simplify. The payoff is software that is more maintainable and less error-prone.

The Third Principle: Maintain the Vision
A clear vision is essential to the success of a software project. Without one, a project almost unfailingly ends up being "of two [or more] minds" about itself. Without conceptual integrity, a system threatens to become a patchwork of incompatible designs, held together by the wrong kind of screws. Compromising the architectural vision of a software system weakens and will eventually break even the most well designed systems.

The Fourth Principle: What You Produce, Others Will Consume
Seldom is an industrial-strength software system constructed and used in a vacuum. In some way or other, someone else will use, maintain, document, or otherwise depend on being able to understand your system. So, always specify, design, and implement knowing someone else will have to understand what you are doing. The audience for any product of software development is potentially large. Specify with an eye to the users. Someone may have to debug the code you write, and that makes them a user of your code. Making their job easier adds value to the system.

The Fifth Principle: Be Open to the Future
A system with a long lifetime has more value. In today's computing environments, where specifications change on a moment's notice and hardware platforms are obsolete when just a few months old, software lifetimes are typically measured in months instead of years. However, true "industrial-strength" software systems must endure far longer. To do this successfully, these systems must be ready to adapt to these and other changes. Systems that do this successfully are those that have been designed this way from the start. Never design yourself into a corner. Always ask "what if ", and prepare for all possible answers by creating systems that solve the general problem, not just the specific one. This could very possibly lead to the reuse of an entire system.
Abusing this principle is where I see many developers go wrong. One of the benefits of having both years of experience and many of them on a single project is that you learn the virtues of You Arent Gonna Need It. As developers, we often guess wrong on how a system is going to change unless we are also domain experts. Further, systems do change but often converge so the generalized solution becomes baggage. -- Sal Mangano

The Sixth Principle: Plan Ahead for Reuse

Reuse saves time and effort. Achieving a high level of reuse is arguably the hardest goal to accomplish in developing a software system. The reuse of code and designs has been proclaimed as a major benefit of using object-oriented technologies. However, the return on this investment is not automatic. To leverage the reuse possibilities that OO programming provides requires forethought and planning. There are many techniques to realize reuse at every level of the system development process. Those at the detailed design and code level are well known and documented. New literature is addressing the reuse of design in the form of software patterns. However, this is just part of the battle. Communicating opportunities for reuse to others in the organization is paramount. How can you reuse something that you don't know exists? Planning ahead for reuse reduces the cost and increases the value of both the reusable components and the systems into which they are incorporated.

The Seventh Principle: Think!

This last Principle is probably the most overlooked. Placing clear, complete thought before action almost always produces better results. When you think about something, you are more likely to do it right. You also gain knowledge about how to do it right again. If you do think about something and still do it wrong, it becomes valuable experience. A side effect of thinking is learning to recognize when you don t know something, at which point you can research the answer. When clear thought has gone into a system, value comes out. Applying the first six Principles requires intense thought, for which the potential rewards are enormous.

Reference:
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?SevenPrinciplesOfSoftwareDevelopment


For now, these are my ideas. I know this is subject to change as time comes. However, I am certain that I always dreamed of seeing myself in the future working in a big and top company here in the Philippines as a business intelligence analyst wherein my role would be to design and develop company data analysis and report solutions; review and analyze data from internal and external resources; communicate analysis results and make recommendations to senior management. I will provide a bridge between the business and IT, working with both sides to propose changes to processes and systems to meet the needs of the business. I will act as a liaison between functional areas such as HR, finance, marketing and technical areas, like development. I know I will encounter challenges, that is why, as of now, I'm slowly practicing myself so that I will become a competent applicant after I graduated. The world is all about competition and lucky are those who start to prepare early. Also, I have to apply the principles of information organization and representation so that I can perform my role effectively.