Learn about fundamental graphic user interface design principles that make all websites and applications easier to use for everyone, from your toddlers to seniors and everyone in between.
Episode #12-08 released on October 13, 2021
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For much of my audience, many of you may have never known or barely remember the time of DOS, Windows 3.1 and 90s websites. The graphic user interface has since changed, evolved, and improved with time, and so has the expectations of every end user, consciencely or not. The way we design applications and websites are heavily dependent on a set on known standards and conventions, and by the end of this, you will understand why it falls on developers to follow all the standards and conventions when providing a service to end users.
The order the content on the page is exceptionally important to the user experience. All end users with a glance want to be able to identify if they are on the right website or application, and in the right area. They are looking for contextual clues for content in form of headers and expecting them to come before the content itself.
Like it or not, there are some pretty strict visual standards, including the fact that Application names are traditionally left or center, menus to left of title, or below it. More information content comes first and that means titles come before content. And titles have bigger and clearer fonts than the content itself. If you have Titles and subtitles, each subtitle below the title has to be smaller in font size than the main title, but bigger than the content font size. Text has to absolutely be readable without any issues, regardless of the screen and screen size.
The location of all items, because of the strict visual standards provides the end user with a certain amount of ease of use. This ease of use allows the end user to use the product or website without issue, and this means they are more likely to stay on the website or use the application.
All developers have to manage user expectations, and this means that they have to create a product that requires almost no explanation to use. If the experience is too complicated or cumbersome, the odds that the product becomes successful are virtually nil. Simply put, not adhering to long standing graphic user interface traditions increases to the learning curve for the product or website and lowers the odd of success in the end.
Host : Steve Smith | Music : | Editor : Steve Smith | Producer : Zed Axis Dot Net