Yahoo has recently axed the public chat room feature of their instant messaging tool because of youth protection issues. This made me think of how many legal issues can arise from building an application and how important it is for lawyers, designers, end users and other stakeholders to be involved in the design process of an application. I often use an online wireframing tool to plan out my project with stakeholders and work out possible issues that could arise before programming begins.
The company I am working at is specialized in creating IT products such as websites, software or applications for mobile device. We always work with an online wireframe tool to conceptualize the product before starting to code. Normally, I explain to new customers that using an online wireframe tool enables a good communication between different stakeholders – no matter where they are as you only need an internet connection to access my wireframes. Visualizing an idea often helps to explain what you have on mind. One other big advantage of using an online wireframe tool is the option to test prototypes with potential users.
Nowadays there are so many different things to consider when building a website or other application. There are always business goals and metrics to be measured and the website also has to be built with the end user in mind. Building any type of social network, it is vitally important that companies take measures in their UI designs to ensure that children are protected.
