Sorry for not proof-reading before sending. The possessive ' in "its" alone is torturous. smiles. --dawn
On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 8:44 AM, Dawn Wolthuis <dw...@tincat-group.com>wrote: > I have done a lot of reading in this area too, finding some of the best > information by googling for HCI (human computer interface) and UX (user > experience) sites and blogs. > > In addition to reading about UI theory, it makes sense to zero in on the > particular run-time environment, such as a browser and both read up on best > practices and check out what others are doing before doing your own thing > any way, perhaps. After all, the good thing about standards is that everyone > can have their own ;-) > > If you haven not read "Don't Make Me Think" then I highly recommend doing > so. It illustrates by it's easy reader interface what it discusses. I've > read it twice. > > We started with an existing vendor framework for MV AJAX, which comes > pre-packaged with browser UI components. So, we have been evolving the UI by > reaping the low-hanging fruit, then seeing what standards we want to add or > change. That means that we have some things I would not have put in there > from the start (such as some validation alerts, instead of perhaps happier > approaches), that we have simply used out of the box and not yet tailored > for our needs. > > I tend toward Keep it Simple, but the "simple" I want is that it be simple > for the user and also, frankly, for maintainability over time. It is rarely > simplest for us to do what is simplest for the user. It definitely takes > work to make the user interface simple. > > For each decision there is now a ton of information, as you have found. > While tackling some of it up front, many decisions arise during specific > design tasks later in the development. It is counter-productive to do all > such research and decision-making up front (the BDUF approach). > > EXAMPLE > We started with field labels above the data entry field (to the left is the > other common option, with inside the field being another new fangled > approach), using short upper-cased words. I had researched enough to select > the positioning of our labels when starting out, not the wording. When I got > to the point of looking at how to write the labels, such as "Last Name" or > "Last name" or "What is your last name?" or "Your last name" [not to mention > choosing last name over family name or surname, another issue], I read that > there was an ISO standard of "sentence casing" for field labels. Who knew? > For what it's worth, we decided on sentence casing our labels, so in our > alpha delivery of our software, the label is written as "Last name" instead > of Last Name. > > --dawn > > > On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 7:33 AM, Susan Joslyn <sjos...@sjplus.com> wrote: > >> Good morning. >> >> >> >> In developing a new user interface - how have you folks established >> standards? >> >> >> >> When I google around I find an immense amount of information. >> Accessibility >> standards. Industry standards. And many games and applications have >> published their standards - how to make your software look like theirs so >> your users are already familiar. I don't see as many published standards >> regarding data entry screens. (But I am still plowing through thousands >> of >> search results!) Still many of these standards are personal choice. Or in >> some cases far to the opposite extreme - you can find psychological >> studies >> about what colors to use, for example. >> >> >> >> If you set standards on a previous interface and now move to another - how >> much do you want to stick to your standards for consistency and >> compatibility and how much do you want to break out and show-off that this >> is, after all, a new interface? >> >> >> >> Obviously there are technical limitations - with the new stuff, always. >> But >> what about design decisions you made based on previous limitations - and >> now >> those limitations are lifted!? How crazy do you go? What do users really >> want? (Now there is something to ponder!) >> >> >> >> Any thoughts, ideas, references and discussion on this topic from anyone? >> >> >> >> Susan >> >> _______________________________________________ >> U2-Users mailing list >> U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org >> http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users >> > > > > -- > Dawn M. Wolthuis > > Take and give some delight today > -- Dawn M. Wolthuis Take and give some delight today _______________________________________________ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
