Open discussions on specific topics selected by the Software Working Group and selected from the list of SWG Topics For Discussion.
Tuesday, November 1, 2022 - UX for Software Engineers: Tips for a Better User Experience - Rebecca Eveland
It is just as important as the User Interface, and a good overall design incorporates both. As Software Engineers, we are sometimes tasked with creating an interface for clients and users. Style guides are great tools for handling the UI portion, but what if they’re missing how to craft a satisfactory user experience? Or what if we have no style guide at all? This discussion will offer User Experience tips and concepts that can improve how the user interacts with your software.
Recording: https://uofi.box.com/s/9090oqoi2x13fx1j9efk9os14vxbu0sk
Slides: https://uofi.box.com/s/4f2zucbgayj3bpvrbx2nisz0mun1d9vd
Attendees:
Sandeep Puthanveetil Satheesan
Discussion:
Differences in UI and UX. A UI is what the user sees (how it looks) A UX is the users experience, using clicking, navigation, etc.
ASk these questions: Who is the User - what is their knowledge level
What are the user's goals - how do you want to interact with the product,? What is a successful end state?
Borrow things from the internet. You don't need to reinvent the wheel.
Consistency is obvious, but very very important. Don't change formatting from page to page or change the order of the click buttons
Design for the User, not the Database
What is easiest for the user, is usually most difficult for the designer
How do you approach UX concepts in your projects?
What common design patterns do you enjoy/dislike?
Have you worked with a style guide that used UX
What was your experience like?
Discussion followed on creating or borrowing the style. We need to have a discussion PRIOR to design what the user actually wants. You can waste a lot of time designing something that the user doesn't want.
Sara notes there is a tool called gliffy that was working with mockups, very similar to balsamiq.
Sara agrees with Chen;
use some type of UI frameworks there, like Bootstrap or PrimeNG or Semantic UI.. plus it's fun to play around with the buttons and components on their test pages
Jong notes that there are many tools, including Figma. We will be getting seats on Figma next week. Please let Lisa Y know if you want a seat.
If you are interested in contributing to a Round Table, please see these links:
Round Table Google Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kbgO6sIb_4eLugfSVKQNCTXdaKp1R6m0RDczPTsUAoQ/edit#gid=0 Every one should have edit permission.