Our Services
Usability-Oriented Software Development
User interface development is often overlooked and hotly-contested at the same time.
It's overlooked, in that it's easy, in large business applications, to focus on databases and servers, on automated batch processes that handle millions of insurance claims, securities trades, or regulatory compliance processes. All too often, however, the user interface is an afterthought.
It's also hotly contested, in that in the realm of the visual, many stakeholders have ideas and opinions. Here too, there's the danger that users' needs will be overlooked.
As a usability-oriented development company, we work to reconcile these needs, and turn potential conflicts or areas of neglect into successful solutions. We've studied and internalized the principles of usability (a profession in its own right) and brought them to the discipline of software coding. Our primary field of endeavor has been enterprise software applications -- development efforts for a company's internal customers. We've worked in fields as diverse as telecommunications, health insurance, and financial services.
Now that the Web is expanding, we're growing right along with it. There has been much talk lately of "Web 2.0", and buzzwords such as RIA, Flex, and Ajax abound. What all this means is that the Internet is starting to shed its familiar -- but limited -- usability paradigm of page-loads and choppy functionality. Soon the Web will behave like your desktop, and as usability-oriented developers, accustomed to working with rich user interfaces, we plan to be part of the change. See our Flash/Flex version of this site (Flash player required).
Technical Communication
Technical writing is, in a sense, another form of usability practice. The goal here is similar to our software mission: To make things that are difficult or non-intuitive seem easy and understandable. Our technical writing expertise runs the gamut from policy-and-procedure writing to user manuals and developer documentation.
We also have resources with some background in technology magazine writing and editing, working in startup publications at the dawn of the Internet age (when both the World Wide Web and the PC itself were in flux).
Analysis of Technology, Culture, and Society
No professional is truly complete without a broader understanding of the state of their profession and that of the wider world. As technologists, we take an interest not only in the evolution of our very exciting medium, but also in areas related (and unrelated) to what we do, such as:
- Evolutions in human-nature interactions
- Musings on the free market system
- Commentary on culture and society
We offer freelance writing services on these subjects, and host a blog on this site with some editorial-style entries (and coming soon, the ability for you to talk back).