Interface Usability Adding Schweppervescence

Adam CoganChief Architect at SSWMicrosoft Regional Director@AdamCogan

Future Thinking. Immediate Results.

Agenda General Usability Practices Windows Apps Popups and Message Boxes Controls and Forms (Windows and

Web) Reports Web UI Mobile interfaces Controversy!

Future Thinking. Immediate Results.

Technology is intimidating. People are afraid to break the system or lose the data.

Encourage experimentation, increase comfort Have reversible actions (Undo) Previewed actionsAvoid dialogs unless there’s a system error (not user error) Track user preferences and defaults, *remember recent*

Comfort of Learning

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What is good UI?

Chief Architect at SSW Developing custom solutions

for businesses across a range of industries such as Government, banking, insurance

Microsoft Gold Partner

Microsoft Regional Director

VSTS MVP

@AdamCogan

About Adam

Future Thinking. Immediate Results.

A good UI just works the way you expect There are no surprises There is no need to use

help RTFM

Future Thinking. Immediate Results.

Intuitive Feels fast

Eg. No white screens, threading code Consistent No clutter – not busy…

A good UI is...

Minimal “modal” popups Good error handling Easy to customize + apps (aka a platform) Gamification eg. Badges

A good UI is...

MSDN

Stack Overflow

http://channel9.msdn.com/achievements/visualstudio

Visual Studio Achievements

Good UI:

Future Thinking. Immediate Results.

1. General Usability Practices

Future Thinking. Immediate Results.

Do you intuitively know how to use something?

A thermostat

VS

Less is more The importance of Defaults - Aim for 'Next', 'Next',

'Next‘ Hide advanced options, but make them easy to find!

Do you realize that when it comes to interface design 'less is more'?

Future Thinking. Immediate Results.

You’re late for a flight and you need to check in …

Do you realise people scan, not read?

Google: SSW storyboarding

Do you know to use storyboards?

Is your data easy to search?

TOUCH

What is more important than search?

Eg. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2011/jun11/06-01corporatenews.aspx

Windows 8 live tiles - metro

Do you consider optical alignment?

Bad

Good

…

And now…

iSlate

iSlate

iSlate…. IsLate?

Do you make matrix columns as simple as possible?

Do you make matrix columns as simple as possible?

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What about Columns or Text?

Columns are easier to scan Use when comparing data, or need ordering

Text is aesthetically pleasing

What about Columns or Text?

Make it more than just navigation Put useful current information on the homepage

E.g. Top billing customers for the month and a button under it for adding an invoice

E.g. See the number of bugs counted by the most common

Do you make the homepage a portal?

Future Thinking. Immediate Results.

Do you think this rule is limited to web UI?

Can see what functions are being used more often (e.g. reports, menu items)

To work out what fields to show on search pages (standard and advanced tabs)

Know which parameters are being used

Do you log usage?

Put all options in even if some aren’t selectable

Let’s look at two examples: Checkbox Image…

Include extra information if it gives you context

A good app should… Encourage experimentation to increase comfort:

Undo Remember your last state Live preview

Live previews

Auto save records Prompt to save the record when the user leaves a page

that has been modified When the user logs back on prompt them that they have

drafts

E.g. mail.google.com

Do you use the concept of drafts?

I have a dream

Help - Do you have a wiki for each page or form?

Help - Do you help users when they get errors by directing them to a wiki or KB?

http://www.ssw.com.au/ssw/Standards/Rules/RulestoBetterInterfaces.aspx

Lots more:

2. Windows Applications

Training Videos Online User Guide Knowledge Base Make a Suggestion Report a Bug Check for Updates Run Unit Tests... About [Product Name]...

Menu - Do you know the 8 items every "Help" menu needs?

Menu - Do you have a "Help | Training Videos" item?

Easier to keep up-to-date and maintain Stats on usage Allows community commenting

Menu - Do you have your "Help | User Guide" online?

Menu - Do you include a "Tools | Validate Data"?

Don’t give descriptive information about the page Give the user instructions on how to use the page

Bad example - This page allows you to define a search

Good example – To start a search choose an option to

the left

Give Instructional Help

http://www.ssw.com.au/ssw/Standards/Rules/RulestoBetterInterfaces-Windows-Application.aspx

Lots more:

3. Popups and Message Boxes

When good sites go bad…

Not even Apple could make the popup less annoying

Do you avoid message boxes?

Only use them in the following scenarios: Confirming the deletion of a record Kicking off a long running process

Do you avoid message boxes?

Is it ok to cancel?

Do you use messages that are concise and informative?

Microsoft uses this one

Do you use messages that are concise and informative?

Some people like popup forms. Some do not.

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Vote – What about popup forms?

You can’t read or edit content behindLong loading times – ask CRM4 users!

 Popup modal forms are no good

Obvious you have an action to takeSimplify a formDoesn’t get lost behind another windowCan dim the background for focus

 Popup modal forms are good

Should this be a popup?

Who likes popup forms?

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Re-vote....

http://www.ssw.com.au/ssw/Standards/Rules/RulesToBetterInterfaces-Popups-and-Messages.aspx

Lots more:

4. Controls and Forms (Windows and Web)

Less is more! Select all should be “-All-” Note: if you want to select nothing then add an entry

to the dropdown for (null)

Do you know how to label dropdown lists?

Rule #9http://www.ssw.com.au/ssw/Standards/Rules/

RulesToBetterBusinessIntelligence.aspx#AllDimensionsTag

When you use a combo box, it's very helpful to be able to see at a glance how many results can be expected

Do you include the number of results in drop down list?

What if user wants to sort by either alphabetical or numerical?

What’s a better way to do this???

Radio buttons…

users know it is data, not a label of the application users can copy and paste from the field

Do you use Text Boxes for displaying data?

Which is better?

A: Neither, use a checkbox!

Good

What’s wrong with this?

Better Example

Also applicable for the rule “Less is More - Do you always try to reduce complexity?”

Checkboxes 1 option – eg. yes/no, on/off Multiple simultaneous options – e.g. Eggs and Bacon and Tomato

Radio buttons 2-3 exclusive options – e.g. Coke or Pepsi

Drop down list 3+ exclusive optionse.g. Favourite SSW employee

Guidelines – when to use what?

Do you disable buttons that are unavailable?

What’s wrong with this?

A plain textbox limits the detail of the user's notes For multi-line textboxes (e.g. Descriptions, Memos,

Notes) Allows you to use:

Links formatting (bold, underline, etc.) bullet points and numbering

Do you know when to use rich textboxes?

http://demos.telerik.com/silverlight/#RichTextBox/MSWord (Telerik)

Telerik rich textbox

Helps the user enter more data related to that field Should call a popup form

Do you use ellipses buttons?

Do you use ellipses buttons?

http://www.ssw.com.au/ssw/Standards/Rules/RulestoBetterInterfaces-Controls.aspx

Lots more:

6. Reports

A display containing more than four perceptual units of information cannot be understood at a glance

Do you make graphs easy to digest?

Do you make graphs easy to digest?

http://www.ssw.com.au/ssw/Standards/Rules/RulestoBetterInterfaces-Reports.aspx

Lots more:

7. Web UI

Do you follow the “Banana Rule”?

How do you get a monkey pay attention to something?

A:/ You could lure him by tempting him with a banana.

The principle is.... Once we have the monkeys attention focused on the banana, he will try to get his hands on it!

Treat your users like monkeys!

Bad banana!

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How do I know where I am?

Do you know to use Breadcrumbs?

Note the links.... What is the exception? ....

But don’t link to yourself!

If you’re on the homepage, there’s no point having a link to the homepage

If you have a breadcrumb, don’t link to the current page

SharePoint

Underlines are only used for links!This does NOT mean all links should be underlined

Always have a *rollover* effect You should indicate *visited* links.

Do you know the correct way to display a hyperlink?

Via CSS ...

Do you know the correct way to display a hyperlink?

Rollover effect

Visited links

Normal links

Must be in this order!

If a link is to an external site, a visual indication should be provided to the user like this:

This should be done via CSS or jQuery

...

Hyperlinks - external

Via CSS:

Custom for SSW Filters image links and other parameters ...

Via jQuery

‘CSS is manual’ ‘JQuery is automatic’

Content heavy websites with large archives – are you really going to go back and add a class to each link??

Via jQuery

Warning: Corneliu the god of performance warns against this recommendation because CSS is fast jQuery is slow

TODO: The next step is to verify this via a VS 2012 Ultimate Coded UI test!

Via jQuery

Warning: Not mainstream HTML 5 does not have the TARGET On the purchase page add “terms and conditions

(opens in a new window)” http

://www.ssw.com.au/SSW/Standards/Rules/RulesToBetterWebsitesNavigation.aspx#ManageExternalLinks

Should external links open in a New Window?

http://www.ssw.com.au/ssw/Events/Scrum-Training-Course.aspx

Do you save clicking through?

http://www.ssw.com.au/ssw/Events/Scrum-Training-Course.aspx

Do you save clicking through?

Do you indicate which fields are required?

Prevents a wasted trip to the server

Should get the required fields right the first time around

http://www.ssw.com.au/ssw/standards/rules/RulestoBetterInterfaces-Controls.aspx#CorrectValidationFocus

Do you use icons in web pages to indicate status directly?

Do you use icons in web pages to indicate status directly?

For Validation Errors, don’t assume they have to read a messageboxAutomatically focus on the control

Note: Balloons also direct the eye…

Do you use SetFocusOnError on controls that fail validation

What’s important ?

Do you have a consistent search results screen?

A statement that explains the criteria Pages navigation Number of results found Filters at the top ...

Do you have a consistent search results screen?

Do you always give more information under “Did not match anything”? Websites are continually saying

‘404 – page not found’ or ‘your search did not match anything

This should be avoided …

? Use SSW Link Auditor

www.ssw.com.au/ssw/LinkAuditor

Broken Links are inexcusable!

Master pages CSS

Do you know the two things to create a consistent look and feel?

Do you give the 6 options to share?

Do you make the logged in state obvious?

www.ssw.com.au/SSW/Standards/Rules/RulesToBetterWebsitesNavigation.aspx

Lots more:

6. Mobile Interfaces

First impressions: You only get one shot

First impressions

Better to have a Porsche UI and a VW engine

than a VW UI and a Porsche engine.

Of course you want a Porsche UI and a Porsche engine, but...

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When do you build a iPhone app vs iPhone web app?

Depending on budget usage of native API

• Camera, Contacts, Photos e.t.c. existing web app and just add CSS

Offline: An iphone (or WP8 ) web app without a network connection, will not load the web page you were on previously. Well, it can… http://damianbrady.com.au/dyrnaa/game/

 

iPhone app vs iPhone Web app

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When do you build a WP8 app vs an iPhone app?

A: If your app is build on Silverlight today. Time to market Lower $ Reuse MVVM Reuse Silverlight controls Reuse the Business and Data layer

WP8 app vs iPhone app

The biggest thing going for Windows Phone 8 is: .NET dev shops environment more productive than xcode

“VS2012 kicks the sh*t out of any other IDE”- Damian Brady

WP8 app vs iPhone app

Note: WP7 is built on Silverlight 3 Note: WP7.5 is built on Silverlight 4 Note: WP7.5 was built by a "web team" not "Rich client

app team", so some issues exist: Avoid using System.Windows.Browser.dll in your

Silverlight App (as it works only OOB on desktop)and you will have to use a different control on Windows Phone 8

WP8 app vs iPhone app

WP8 has resolved those problems and is perfect in every way

<3

WP8 app vs iPhone app

Others reasons are: You can deploy your app without going through the

appstore/market place.  E.g. my SSW business appAppstore: NoMarket place: Yes (hidden)

WP8 app vs iPhone app

Turn around through the appstore is quicker:Appstore:         1-3 weeks (unmanaged code)Market place: 2 days (managed code)Quicker since it is managed code. Unmanaged code is easy to spot

  App store is more aggressive in blocking apps

WP8 app vs iPhone app

Do you know what guidelines to follow for WP8?

User Experience Design Guidelines for Windows Phonehttp

://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/design/hh202915(v=vs.92).aspx

WP8 app vs iPhone app

Tip: if you’re writing your own user controls, you’re probably doing it wrong

Silverlight.CodePlex.com (WP7.5) Phone.CodePlex.com (WP8)

WP8 app vs iPhone app

www.ssw.com.au/ssw/Standards/Rules/RulestoBetterInterfaces-Mobile.aspx

Lots more:

7. Controversy!

?

Well, we had a few in the presentation...

Technology is intimidating. People are afraid to break the system or lose the data.

Encourage experimentation, increase comfort Have reversible actions (Undo) Previewed actionsAvoid dialogs unless there’s a system error (not user error) Track user preferences and defaults, *remember recent*

Comfort of Learning

Rules to Better Interfaceshttp://www.ssw.com.au/ssw/Standards/Rules/RulestoBetterInterfaces.aspx

Rules to Better Website Layoutshttp://www.ssw.com.au/ssw/Standards/Rules/RulesToBetterWebsitesLayout.aspx

Resources

Resources

Summary General Usability Practices Windows Apps Popups and Message Boxes Controls and Forms (Windows and

Web) Reports Web UI Mobile interfaces Controversy!

Future Thinking. Immediate Results.

Thank You!

Sydney | Melbourne | Brisbane | Adelaide

info@ssw.com.auwww.ssw.com.au

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