Living in the Tech Avalanche Generation

Without discussing the merits of the argument as to whether or not HTML5 and its (potential) level of inclusion in Windows 8 is to the exclusion of Silverlight, I feel compelled to note the level of mean spiritedness of some members of the “community” (if one dare lay claim they are entitled membership to it).

Twitter is (again) abuzz with prognostication dressed in maven style authority; tweeters are delighting in the demise of Silverlight (largely) and to some extent WPF on the back of some Windows 8 announcements. Some of the tweets I have seen even include the suggestion by their authors that they would take delight in using the news to inform XAML Developers that their livelihoods are in imminent jeopardy. I wont even bother to address that assertion other than remark that I find it says a lot about the individuals who have nothing better to do than tweet their joy at the expense of someone else’s potential misfortune.

So is 2010 the year when WPF finally starts to make the big-time? Having spent some time now working with the new desktop framework, I find it unlikely that I will find a compelling enough reason to choose Windows Forms for a desktop UI technology choice again.

So what’s holding it (WPF) back? I have read and listened to a lot of stuff online suggesting it’s so complex that it’s turning people off the idea. So what about the issue of so called complexity? Of all the ‘W’ technology stacks to come out from Microsoft, I count WCF as the most complex and there certainly hasn’t been any overwhelming discussion about how that complexity has raised the barrier of entry, to the point where it’s slowed adoption. There seems to be an consistent message coming from the scribes, with constant reference to a new division of labour, shared by the trusty old developer and the so called ‘turtle necks’ (designers), a term that seems to be sticking and one I’m sure designers find amusing a pejorative one. And lets not forget the newest addition to the vernacular, the ‘Devigner’! There seems to be a lot of opinion and chatter that holds the opinion that UI design is no longer within our grasp as developers, unless we have enough right brain activity going on that we might be precluded from committing outrageous sins of the desktop.

So here’s my take – I have written a few UI’s now in XAML based technology (SL and WPF) and I do not count myself as a designer or devigner. Perhaps I have some artistic flair (yeah I’m an arty type) in a general sense, but when it comes to graphics, I am pure stick figures all the way. I have been known to classify myself in the past as the patron saint of the graphically challenged! And yet I have now developed a couple of XAML User Interfaces where the User’s and my peers considered them to be ‘attractive’, self describing, efficient, simple to use, etc. Oh, and I still managed to do this all with my trusty old supervising controller in tow.

So why didn’t I cower in corner somewhere at the prospect of building a XAML UI? Well it’s not in my nature for starters, but secondly I wasn’t prepared to believe the hype. Sure I did quite a bit of prototyping and experimentation but in the wash up, learning is doing and each time I do it I get better at it – sound familiar? By the way, I don’t think I was doing anything graphically amazing per`se, but some nice simple animations will go a long way even from the king of the stick men.

Here is what I advise: don’t be afraid of the technology. If you ever developed desktop applications in the past and considered yourself capable in designing a good user experience, then don’t buy into the scare mongering and be prepared to jump off the cliff.

I don’t doubt that there will be some small percentage of software teams that will bring on a dedicated designer(s) but I would hate to think that the small development teams out there will be put off venturing out into the brave new world. Yes there is a lot of complexity (particularly in WPF) and the learning curve is certainly not shallow by any means, but nothing good in life is easy.

Recently our team has been engaged in developing a highly scalable batch processing system, which to be fair didn’t require much beyond a fairly simple User Interface with few screens. Given our choice of WPF as the technology to build the presentation layer, we decided to extend our curiosity in SketchFlow and put it to the test in a real live project.

So, off we set and created our prototype and when completed, sent it on to the stakeholders to cast their critical eye upon it and provide feedback using the SketchFlow players tools for capturing feedback. I must admit that I wasn’t convinced that our users / stakeholders where going to be particularly enamoured by the experience but I am happy to say that I was wrong- so incredibly wrong. Whilst developing the prototype I found myself continually applying my own biases toward the tool and they were such that I was developing an opinion that SketchFlow’s feedback mechanism was a little too simple and perhaps even ‘clunky’ to provide them with an experience that they would consider productive or enjoyable. However, the feedback came through very swiftly and along with it an enormous endorsement of the process, tool and the whole experience.

These user / stakeholders are used to defining and or changing a proposed UI layout in well known visual design applications (unnamed) and feeding those design documents accompanied with text documents (for annotation) to the software team for consideration. These documents would bounce between parties until a finalised design had been settled upon.

This time, upon having been supplied feedback via SketchFlow, they are reporting a significant amount of saving in time dedicated to the process and they are attributing that time saving entirely to the ease of use and functionality of SketchFlow. Now it’s early days yet and I don’t want to get carried away until we get a few more iterations into the process, however I am feeling pretty excited when our users come back with such positive feedback in their experience of the whole development life cycle.

And there I was, ready to put the kybosh on the idea. I cant argue a case when the business stakeholders show you nothing but thumbs pointing in an upward direction.