Design some type of web site, and you have a user interface. Create a course website — user interface. If you are utilizing a technology to get users to information, or to perform some action (register for class, buy a t-shirt, read a blog post) you have a user interface. And many social media site do a pretty good job of making this interface easy, intuitive and attractive to users. Smashing Magazine suggests these important features: Simplicity, Search, Bold action buttons, Logical separations of elements, text as design element, usable forms, real-time updates, personalization, user-centric design.
Steve Krug’s classic on usability Don’t Make Me Think tells you all you need to know just in the title. I still think one of the nicest websites/user interfaces is Zip car. It is quick to use on a computer and also works great on a cell phone browser. They keep out of your way, and make it easy to reserve your car. Maybe train travel would be more popular is their sites were easier to use — although the Amtrak one isn’t bad, but doesn’t pass the mobile phone test.
9 Crucial UI Features of Social Media and Networking Sites | How-To | Smashing Magazine
The main function of a good user interface is to provide users with an intuitive mapping between user’s intention and application’s function that manages to provide a solution to the given task.
A Practical Guide to implementing Web 2.0
Most groupware tools are so horrifically over-engineered and bloated with ‘features’ that they require full-time IT resources to manage, and to set up and ‘authorize’ new CoPs. Most of the ‘features’ that are added to the tool were added because they could be, not because they actually provided any useful functionality for more than 1% of users. The result is that you need to take training courses to learn how to navigate and use the groupware and CoP repositories and features.
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Randall Rode's online home for thoughts, notes, and experiments with a wide range of technology topics. Visit the about page for info on my recent projects and professional background. I welcome your comments!
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