Andrew Malek

Any of these happen to you?

* Tasked to develop a user interface with an incomplete design spec, so had to make guesses such as where to position on-screen elements?

* Worked on a small team without a full-time designer, and requested to “just put a screen together for a demo”?

* Been asked to consult with a user interface designer, but don’t know what types of questions to pose?

Nowadays, everyone wants attractive, easy-to-use interfaces, so if you’re more comfortable sifting through Java or C# code than OmniGraffle or Visio mockups, learn about topics that can assist in creating more usable desktop applications, mobile apps, and websites. This talk provides easy-to-implement hints that can improve even a bad or “so-so” user interface. Areas of focus include the need for consistency; “negative space”; location, location, location (it’s crucial in screen real-estate, too!); contrasting colors; and the importance of action verbs.

It takes extra work to deliver a truly responsive website. Since larger tablets and hybrids such as iPad Pros and Windows Surface devices can fit the full size of a standard laptop/desktop website, a tempting thought is to deliver to them the exact same experience. Why spend extra effort providing different navigation or content since their screen resolutions equal, or exceed, that of many monitors?

As developers, we deal with technologies, frameworks, and data, making it very easy to forget that what we create is meant for real people to use.

While designers and UI specialists should handle most decisions about how a product or service looks and feels, we should all be on the same page to make better solutions. Whether we are building an interface for a desktop website, mobile application, or chatbot, what are some basic design concepts that we as developers can pick up, allowing us to be on the same page with designers and product owners during product meetings and discussions?

Still having difficulty encouraging people to fill out web forms to sign up for newsletters, apply for jobs, or complete their online shopping orders? Find out even more tips to help keep people from abandoning early, such as making form field widths more convenient, easing credit card entry, grouping related fields into sections to promote scanning, and styling buttons and controls so your webpage does not look like it was written in 2000.

"Murphy was an optimist."

The design of a website or application often focuses on creating a delightful user experience when people, for example, subscribe to a newsletter, enter purchase information for a product or service, or search through records consisting of customer contact data or invoices or menu items at a restaurant.

However, what if things don’t follow the "happy path"? Despite the best of intentions, edge cases and error conditions occur due to user error, such as a mistyped credit card number or email address, system errors, such as incorrectly configured servers or program bugs, or connectivity issues to the Internet or third-party services. How our creations handle these issues - if they handle them at all - can make the difference between a slightly annoyed but understanding user, or one that might decide to seek out your competitors.