Information Architecture deliverables for the RIA, Web 2.0, AJAX, etc

From what I can figure out just showing the states of an AJAX page is not enough and it will leave too much room for error. For example if I only document each physical state of an AJAX page/component on a static Visio page that would then be covered in notes and dotted outlines in different colours to try show what would be going on at any one given moment I really don't think a client and a dev team can look at them and understand how I intend/require a page/component to function. How will they get the feel of the "interactivity" and as far as I’m concerned more importantly get a feel for the most important issue of understanding the "timing".

I believe working in this way will create a very nasty grey area for the client and the
dev team. The clients will have formed their own expectations of how a page will behave and if they sign off on that expectation and then we deliver something "Different" or as they might see it "wrong" it could be a nightmare. The same issue can be said for the dev team. If they don't understand how we want it to work and they spend time developing an incorrect solution that could be even further from the already unknown client expectations! So as I see it we really will have a problem!

Now I could have over dramatised the issue but as far as I’m concerned I’m not prepared to work with that level of risk.

To be continued…

Jim

Categories: information-architecture, user-experience, web2.0, UX, theuxsuspects, wireframes, IA, RIA, AJAX