Advice on creating first-rate Web sites
In his book "Site-seeing: A Visual Approach to Web Usability" (John Wiley & Sons), Luke Wroblewski presents an easy-to-follow primer on Web design and visual communications principles and practices that can benefit Web designers and developers regardless of their professional experience.
Wroblewskis approach derives from his academic and professional experience at the UI, where he combined the study of arts and technology and now works as an interface designer at the universitys National Center for Supercomputing Applications. Contributing to the content and design of the book were Illinois art and design professors Nan Goggin and Jennifer Gunji.
"My main motivation in writing this book," Wroblewski said, "is to emphasize the importance of the visual aspects a different approach than whats out there."
In the book, Wroblewski maps out three areas he deems essential to good Web design: presentation, which includes fonts, image and colors; organization, from the sites structure to writing and content decisions; and interaction, which considers the behavior between users and systems.
For more information: www.lukew.com/folio/writings/site_seeing.html
Astronomys greatest hits? From Acrux to ZZ Ceti, "The Hundred Greatest Stars," by astronomy professor James Kaler, tells the stories of a selection of the most fascinating stars the sky has to offer. Each is given a quick summary that is accompanied by a one-page description and a full-page illustration. A short introduction to stars is followed by the 100 without the use of chapters. The 100 star stories are in turn followed by listings by standard and alternative names, by order of evolution, and by position in the sky.
For more information: www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler
Connecting human innovation and genetics
UI general engineering professor David E. Goldberg has written a new book that promises to shake up current thinking about human innovation and creativity. The book, "The Design of Innovation," explores so-called genetic algorithms (GAs) computer programs based on the mechanics of natural selection and natural genetics and human innovation. The books conclusion is that human innovation has much in common with the genetic and evolutionary processes that created our human species.
Goldberg and his students are working on computer programs that implement the ideas of this book, and they have recently filed for a patent on one program called the hierarchical Bayesian optimization algorithm (hBOA). hBOA solves or optimizes problems requiring thousands of decisions in minutes and future versions will be able to evolve computer programs without specifying individual lines of code or computer instructions.
For more information: www-doi.ge.uiuc.ed
