On the screens of millions of iPad and other mobile devices, moons and stars, elements and molecules swirl beneath our fingertips. Developer Mike Howard says he wants to “make you feel like you are actually there in orbit.” Theodore Gray wants you to look at the periodic table and be transported to the world of [...]

Real life has a close competitor in the “Art Project,” released by Google last week. Their initial release is a clean, inviting site for browsing over one thousand artworks from 17 of the world’s most famous museums. At least one piece from each of the 17 museums is displayed in gigapixel resolution, so that online visitors [...]

IDEA presented and demonstrated “Concept Maps for Online Exhibits” at the 2010 Museums and the Web Conference, April 13-17 in Denver. Concept maps are a useful component of online exhibits, as they help meet the needs of multiple learning styles and provide an innovative way to visualize information. SpicyNodes’ radial mapping engine improves upon previous [...]

Not everyone sees the world as you do You can try the Color Vision tool yourself by selecting an image and choosing a color blindness or cataract simulation. In the process, you can gain an understanding of why it’s important to design web sites that are accessible to people with these vision problems. Why it [...]

In 2008, IDEA conducted a study about online experiences. The report (download PDF here) outlines key findings from surveys that explored factors that drive online experience as expressed by the three different subject groups – nonprofit organizations and cities, web designers and firms, and the general public.

Adding depth to online learning through hands-on experiments.

Using minimum complexity and maximum consistency in interactive UIs.

By manipulating models, visitors understand how components interact.

Incorporating intuitive graphs provides visitors with new insights.

Imparting greater understanding through object manipulation.