michael kowalski

User interface designfor web applications

Michael KowalskiKitsite.com

What we’re going to cover

• What is the difference between designing a webapp and designing a website?

• Why is good user interface design important?

• What are the characteristics of a great user interface?

• What can we learn from interaction design?

• What are some specific techniques that I can use to improve my webapp UI?

• Where is web UI design heading?

How is designing a web application different from designing a website?

Information

Information Interaction

Web user interface

HTML form controls are the primitives of an application user interface

Hey, let’s build the webapp right here!

• Democratisation of user interface development

• Low cost, rapid development

• The web is an open distribution channel

• Anybody can build a web app!

Alan Cooper

“The limitations and challenges of web interactivity... set interaction design back several years”

Web constraints

Web constraintsannoyances

Living on the network

• Connectivity

• Network latency

• Connectivity

• Network latency

• Source code down the wire

Living in the browser

• Security sandbox

• Box-model rendering

• Limited widget setNo access to system menusNo rich text editing No drawing

• Typographically limited

Living in the browser

My pet hates

• <select multiple>!

• Backspace key for navigation!

• Form controls are modal!

• CSS...

But if web UI sucks so badly...

how come the web is winning?

Why web apps became viable

• Cross-platform consistency driven by standards

• Asynchrony

• Faster networks and computers

• “Worse is better”

Innovation from the web

Hyperlinks

navigationaddressabilitybookmarks

Findability

Embedding

portletswidgets

Folksonomy

Social apps

sharingcollaboration

Why is good user interface design important?

• The rise of utility computing (S3, etc) and the adoption of good web frameworks has reduced web development costs.

• It’s never been cheaper or easier to get an idea to market.

• In a more competitive market, emphasis will shift from executing first to executing best.

• The quality of user experience is becoming the significant differentiator.

• Also, scaling your app depends on not having to handle support requests (or at least, not linearly).

Let’s not reinvent wheels

We can take advantage of many years of research in interaction design.

Plus we can look at best practice on the web today.

What are the characteristics of a good user interface?

simple

simpleconsistent

polite

simpleconsistent

polite

responsive

simpleconsistent

polite

pragmaticresponsive

simpleconsistent

polite

aestheticallypleasing

responsivepragmatic

Interaction design concepts

Concept 1 The user

You are not the user!

Real world process or object

The implementation model

The user model

Mismatch between the user model and the implementation model is a source of usability problems

Users have different levels of expertise

Novice Intermediate Expert

The rule of 7

• Short term memory holds around 7 distinct things

• Fades in 10 - 20 seconds

Spolsky’s 3 laws of users

People can’t control the mouse

Spolsky’s 3 laws of users

People can’t read

People can’t remember

People can’t control the mouse

A polite interface assumes the user is busy and has more important things to do than think about how the app works.

• Talks the user’s language

• Designed around the user’s conceptual model

• Focused on achieving user goals

• Is tolerant and forgiving

Concept 2 Metaphor

Metaphor A shopping basket

• Add to the basket

• View the basket

• Go to the check out

Metaphor can be a useful way of gluing together the user model and the implementation model

• Metaphor gives developers a language to discuss the model

• Warning: metaphors can get you in trouble if you follow them too literally

False metaphor

Concept 3 Affordance

Affordance is...“the perceived and actual properties of the thing... that determine just how the thing could possibly be used”

Don Norman, The Design of Everyday Things

A tale of two buttons

Save Save

A tale of two buttons

SaveSave

The #1 affordance on the web

Home | Help | Your profile

The #1 affordance on the web

• This is a learned affordance

Home | Help | Your profile

New affordances evolve

Fitt’s Law

whereT is the average time taken to complete the movement.a and b are empirical constants, and can be determined by fitting a straight line to measured data.D is the distance from the starting point to the centre of the target.

T = a + b log2( +1)DW

Fitt’s Law

T = a + b log2( +1)DW

Fitt’s Law

T = a + b log2( +1)DW

Targets that are smaller and/or further away require more time to acquire.

Bigger targets are better

Browse Search

Affordance techniques

• Bevelled edges and gradients on buttons

• Texture, eg. grippy corners on draggables

• <label for>

• Tooltips (via title attribute on <a> tags)

• Cursor hinting

Concept 4 Excise

Excise is noise in the interface

• A “cognitive tax” on the user

• Effort that is not directed towards the users’ goals

• Frequently exposes the underlying implementation model

• Satisfies the needs of the technology rather than the user

• Visual clutter is excise

• Customisation is usually excise

Too much affordance is exciseTherefore:

• Trade off affordance against excise to prioritise more frequent tasks

• Provide extra affordance transiently, eg. on mouseover

• Reduce the affordance on less commonly used controls

Using links for commands

• In a form, hyperlinks have less affordance than buttons, so can be used to reduce excise.

• Use a different colour to distinguish command links from navigational links.

Cancel Save

Use progressive disclosure to reduce excise

Progressive disclosure

Use progressive disclosure to reduce excise

Show more Show less

Progressive disclosure

• Disclosure arrows

• Hyperlinks to popups or overlays

• Dropdowns

In a goal-oriented design, not every function has to be accessible from every screen.

Concept 5 Modes

The same gesture has different meanings depending on what mode the application is in

That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard!

I agree with every word of your brill...

Buy Vi@gra from us!!!

Approve Reject

Modal Choose the command mode first (eg. “Approve” and then select the item to action.

Approve Reject

Modal Choose the command mode first (eg. “Approve” and then select the item to action.Modeless Make a selection first, and then choose a command to apply to that selection.

• With a few exceptions, modes are bad

• The exceptions: graphics and other drawing apps

• Transient modes are less bad

• If you are using modes, then the current mode should be visible right where the user is looking (eg. by changing the cursor).

Concept 6 Posture

What is posture?

• Defined by Alan Cooper in About Face

• Identified 4 different postures for apps

• Posture relates to amount of attention that a user will give the application

Sovereign

Transient

Auxiliary

Daemonic

Immersive

Concept 7 Preattention

Preattention variables

• Hard-wired rules of human perception

• Things we see immediately, without conscious thought

Visual properties

Colour Intensity

Texture SymmetryMotion

Visual properties

Colour Intensity

Texture SymmetryMotion

Spot the odd one out

Grouping

Use grouping and visual properties to:

• Prioritise what’s important and most useful

• Associate related commands or information

• Distinguish between controls that behave differently

• Establish consistency

• Buttons are variably sized

• Poor alignment and inconsistent guttering

• Giftbox icon is excise

• Colours used inconsistently

Bad Amazon

Concept 8 Locus

I’m looking here

I’ll notice this

I probably won’t notice anything here

Concept 9 Feedback

Communication

FeedbackVisual cues Action

Communication

FeedbackVisual cues Action(“feedforward”)

After 0.25 seconds, the user will assume that it hasn’t worked and try again

Feedback rules

Feedback rules• If an action will take more than 0.1 sec to

complete, visually indicate that it has started.

• Use spinners or progress bars for actions that

will take more than 1 second.

• Document load events should not take more

than 10 seconds.

• Acknowledge completion modelessly

than 10 seconds.

• Acknowledge completion modelessly

• If completion will take longer than a few seconds, the new status should be displayed non-transiently

Now Current state

• What’s happening now?

• Am I logged in?

• Are my friends logged in?

• Is there new activity I should know about?

Next Visual cues

• What’s going to happen next?

• What will happen if I click this?

Concept 10 Icons

Icons can be useful because:

• Don’t take up much screen real state

• Take advantage of human spatial recall

• They have become a familiar idiom

• Can add colour and visual interest

The trouble with icons

• In a modeless interface, most command affordances will be verbs.

• Verbs are hard to draw.

• Most icons are therefore hard to interpret without a label.

• Icons work best in sovereign posture applications where space is at premium and users have the time to learn the icons.

Rules for using icons

• Use icons sparingly.

• Use icons that convention has made familiar (eg. document icons)

• Label your icons, using the app vocabulary. Avoid puns!

• Don’t forget your app’s colour scheme and lighting angle. You may need a larger palette of colours for hinting - but still keep it constrained.

• Get professionals to design them!

Concept 11 Learnability

Learnability is...

• what we usually mean when we say “intuitive.”

• Because most web apps have a transient posture, this is particularly important - your app has to be relearnable as well as learnable.

• Warning Too much guidance can be excise

Concept 12 Direct manipulation

Direct manipulation

• The user acts directly on a visual representation of an object, and immediately sees the result.

Direct manipulation

• Examples:

• Drag and drop

• Drag resize

• Drawing tools

Direct manipulation

• Examples:

• Drag and drop

• Drag resize

• Drawing tools

• Downside: generally poor affordance

Evaluating web app UI

Divide up into groups of about 4

Pick a web app

Evaluate affordance, excise and feedback

Look for good and bad points

Suggest at least one improvement

15 minutes

Techniques

Technique 1 UI first

Design the user experience first

• Before user research?

• Before data modelling?

• Before technology choices?

Yes! Avoid getting railroaded by the implementation model

User research

• Formal user research can be expensive, tricky and inconclusive

• Long-tail users might be hard to come by

• Informal research with a handful of users can give useful insights

• Beta launching can get early feedback from real users

• Apple vs Microsoft

Technique 2 Personas

Sarah Turner

“Sooner is better.”

Occupation: Head of PR

Wants to get prior approval on new corporate comms. Worries that her staff will not use the new app unless it’s really simple. Must have controlled costs. Sarah can be quite demanding.

Justin Finch

“I’m not much of a technology buff, to be honest”

Occupation: Bookseller

Wants to get info about new releases as painlessly as possible. Low expectations: thinks the app will be pointlessly complicated. Dislikes hard sell from publishers; wants to make up his own mind.

Sarah Turner

“Sooner is better.”

Occupation: Head of PR

Wants to get prior approval on new corporate comms. Worries that her staff will not use the new app unless it’s really simple. Must have controlled costs. Sarah can be quite demanding.

Justin Finch

“I’m not much of a technology buff, to be honest”

Occupation: Bookseller

Wants to get info about new releases as painlessly as possible. Low expectations: thinks the app will be pointlessly complicated. Dislikes hard sell from publishers; wants to make up his own mind.• Not a market segment

• A representative individual

Technique 3 Goal-directed design

Goal-directed design

May not be appropriate in social spaces

Goal-directed design

• Determine goals

• Break down into tasks

• Aim for 1 task = 1 screen

• Every digression is an obstacle to the user

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Done

“Just start”

• Occasional use or transient posture apps need to be optimised for novices over intermediates.

• The web is your marketing and distribution channel. “Try-before-buy” means barriers to entry need to be as low as possible.

• Zero configuration is the ideal.

Technique 4 Paper prototyping

Paper prototypingBasic materials

Paper prototypingIn practice

• Use role play

• Encourage “think-aloud”

• If user testing with real users, don’t cheat: the “Computer” must not speak. Set goals and leave user to it

Paper prototypingAdvantages

• It’s really cheap. Really, really cheap.

• You can iterate on the spot

• Can be used for brainstorming as well as proof of concept testing

• Very flexible, can be adapted to suit skill levels of participants

• Good for working out what is essential, and what can be descoped

Other prototyping techniques

• Presentation software

• Quick-and-dirty software mockups

Other prototyping techniques

• Presentation software

• Quick-and-dirty software mockups

Beware the implementation model!

Technique 5 Grid systems

Grid systems

• Enforce consistency, exploit spatial memory

• All grid measurements defined in terms of an atomic unit (eg. 10 pixels)

• Minimise number of different layouts based on the grid

• Yahoo! and Google both provide useful starting points

Atom10 pixels

10 20 10180540

120Header width

Gutter

Example grid

440Overlay width

Overlay height320

Squint tests

• Take a snapshot of your interface

• Greyscale it in Photoshop

• Blur until you can’t make out detailed structure

Squint tests

• Take a snapshot of your interface

• Greyscale it in Photoshop

• Blur until you can’t make out detailed structure

• Just sit back a bit and squint

Technique 6 Modular design

Modularity

• Aim for “deep consistency” by reusing design elements throughout your app

• Modules range from single control elements (a button) to complex composite widgets.

• Include abstract structural elements like a “sidebar box” as well as behaviours

• Develop an application lexicon

Colour swatches

• Add colour late in the design process.

• Use a small palette: 2 or 3 base colours.

• Use a small number of different tints of the base colours, eg. 100%, 80%, 40%

• Greyscale the coloured design to check contrast and intensity.

Consistent light source

Mac OS9to top left of screen

Mac OS Xdirectly above, slightly forward

Technique 7 Copywriting

Copywriting is interface design

• Stick to the metaphor (within reason)

• Use the user’s language

• Avoid technical jargon

• Use consistent terminology: write a thesaurus

• Polite messages

• Positive actions in checkbox labels

• Keep it brief

Technique 8 Triage

Is that really necessary?

• Prune visual clutter and gratuitous motion

• Avoid forcing user to toggle back and forth between mouse and keyboard

• Avoid user preferences: modal excise

• Monotony as a virtue: only one way to perform any particular action

If you remove an interface element, will the interface still function?

Technique 9 Ajax

Ajax & Performance

• Avoid full page reloads

• Deferral Fetch additional data after the screen has loaded

• Progressive loading Incrementally fetch data as it is requested

Ajax & Excise

• Use transient affordances at the locus of attention

• Use disclosure to reveal additional guidance or advanced options only on request

Ajax & Modes

• Provide modeless feedback and state information

• Use overlays for modal or auxiliary interactions

Using overlays

• Overlays have displaced modal dialogs in many webapps

Using overlays

• Overlays have displaced modal dialogs in many webapps

• Overlays became popular because:

• They avoid popup blockers

• They can be more attractively styled than the default Javascript alert windows, and can load new content

• New windows can be weirdly slow to render on some platforms

• They avoid accidental dismissal problems.

Modeless overlay

Modal overlay

Rules for modal overlays

• Don’t use for informational or confirmation messages: these should be modeless

• Don’t ask questions to which you already know the answer (eg, where “OK” is the only option)

• Use sparingly: don’t cry wolf

• Remember overlays are not bookmarkable

• Don’t try and emulate the OS

Ajax & AnimationMotion is a preattentive variable.

Ajax & Animation

• Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should!

Motion is a preattentive variable.

Ajax & Animation

• Animation introduces latency and is distracting

Ajax & Animation

• Use it when you want to distract the user, ie. shift the user’s locus of attention

Ajax & Animation

• Use it when you want to distract the user, ie. shift the user’s locus of attention

• Good use: changes to screen layout (eg. opening a drawer or palette)

Technique 10 Memory

Things to remember

• Configuration options

Things to remember

• Paginated lists: remember page number

Things to remember

• Hierarchical lists: remember open nodes

Things to remember

• MRU - Most Recently Used

Things to remember

• MFU - Most Frequently Used

Things to remember

• MFU - Most Frequently Used

Missed opportunity Remember state between sessions

Technique 11 Service design

Discovery

Adoption

Community

Support

Software as a service

• Web apps are services

• Great! An opportunity to break out of feature bloat cycle, as do not need to sell new features with each upgrade

• Think about service design

Service design

• Think about user interaction with app in a broader way than how a session works

• Touchpoints

• Service blueprint

User acquisition touchpoint

Technique 12 Design patterns

Using design patterns

• Consistent internally - but also consistent with usage elsewhere on the web

• Identify relevant patterns on other websites

• O’Reilly’s Designing Interfaces takes a pattern-based approach

• Yahoo! Design Patterns Library

The future

Trends

• Does fashion matter?

Trends

• Gradients, big fonts, drop shadows and rounded corners may stick around

Trends

• Overlays, autocomplete, libraries will be ever more popular

Trends

• Guided interfaces will become the norm

Trends

• Guided interfaces will become the norm

• The web will increasingly drive innovation on the desktop (tags? bookmarks?)

Future

Widgets

Future

WidgetsOffline

Future

WidgetsOffline

Charting / vector graphics

Future

WidgetsOffline

Mobile

Future

WidgetsOffline

Mobile

Game design?

Future

WidgetsOffline

Mobile

Game design?

Social space

• In the future, most user interface innovation will come from the web

michael kowalski

web apps

web development costs

user model mismatch

user goals

web ui sucks

great user interface

web constraints annoyances

web ui design heading

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