UX Mythya

1. Reading on web : When you read newspapers or surf through internet, do you read every word? Well..I don’t really think so! We generally skim or scan pages to find what interests us and keep our religious reading to that piece in particular.

EYE TRACKING is always the famous F pattern as shown in the figure. To make it simple, the most important things of a site, like a call to action, or attention seeking content have to be placed around the highlighted area. When any human looks through a site, these are the focus areas and whatever has been put there are likely to decide if the user stays at the page or get away.

2. The 3 click rule : Gone are those days when a piece of information could be found in 3 clicks. These days, we have so much content on a website, that this law ought to go obsolete and they can no more be parameters to judge user satisfaction and success rates. What really counts here is ease of navigation. I would not mind a series of clicks, which DON’T MAKE ME THINK!!

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE AND SITE NAVIGATION should be so well done, that helps people to predict where they could find what they have been looking for.

3. Above the fold : Following the tradition of newspapers, we also started believing that every headline or in this case every important content to keep user on the page has to be on the first fold. This has to be a wise decision. A scroll is good if I am on a page that really interests ME, but something like a scrolling menu shall make ME feel frustrated.

4. "Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works." - Steve Jobs

TYPOGRAPHY, VISUAL DESIGNS, EMOTIONAL APPEAL are a way to keep the users engaged. They are a part of DESIGN, while REQUIREMENT, FEATURES, USABILITY makes the heart of DESIGN. The goal of a good design is to efficiently solve problems, understand how people perceive. The toolset for a designer doesn’t confine to fonts and colours, it is also about research, prototyping and usability testing.

5. A better product has more features : Its good to think BIG, but it all begins from a SMALL step. There is nothing wrong in having a product idea which can do it all, but, make sure it suffice the utility of the user with no compromise or disappointment. Instead, its wise to begin with one feature at a time and ensure it caters everything expected.

6. The Content : You have designed a beautiful site, visually appealing and every feature is thought through. Don’t you think a little spelling mistake, a chunk of irrelevant content shall hamper the experience too.

CONTENT WRITING : The content of the website is the core. That is what the user comes in for, to read on a subject, to know how things work, terms and conditions, information and details, etc. things should be really crisp for them to understand. When we say content writing, doesn’t mean only the body of the website, it also includes the texts on button, links, images, labels, menu items. Every word on the website is a part of content writing.

7. Usability : Do you think people use your product, exactly the way you had imagined it to be used by them? There might be lots of things which you may feel shall suffice the need of getting attention, but may be not.It is better to do a thorough usability testing, with people in different fields, age groups, levels. Believe ME it is not expensive!!You just have to look around!!

While USABILITY TESTING, a noble suggestion would be, avoid targeting people who already know about your work, they are likely to predict things, they are not your audience. As you cannot judge your own product for usability, they are also a part.

8. White Spaces : I have heard people saying that a lot of real estate is being wasted on the website and they can use advertisements to fill spaces. Well, I do not think that way and also believe that the one who designed Google also feels the same. Why do you think they have only a search bar on the web page?

9. Requirements : It is a wrong perception, the person who owns the idea can list all the features which has to go in the product.

RESEARCH : During the phase of requirement gathering, it is likely that you get your list of features from the client or the idea owner, but not necessarily, they shall be able to provide everything as input. Do an extensive research on the product, features, concept, stakeholders, know everything possible before deciding on the features. Or if you are flexible with the features, keep it agile and keep researching. Your research need not be confined to internet or books, you can also explore by meeting people and observing them while working.Your clients only propose ideas they are ready to spend for, rest all is your call.

10. Customer is the King : If you are likely to know this, let ME specify that for us, customers are not who pay us for the work, infact, its the ones who are going to use our product.

There are USER LEVELS which are categorised as NOVICE, INTERMEDIATES AND EXPERTS. The figure on the left beautifully explains how different users have been judged based on their age and ability to use social networking sites. Similarly, we should be able to judge the features and users of our systems too. If a novice user is given an advanced feature, he shall get frustrated too soon, likewise if an expert user is asked to use what he has been doing for quite long shall get bored. Figure on the right is a pictorial representation which explains that we have to have a flow comfortable to all, ensuring the experts have new to explore and novice can learn.

On your journey, you may get to learn a huge list of laws quoted by expert designers. Do not take them blindly, those are only made to standardize things on internet. They are taken up on what generally happens, if something else works for you well, DO NOT STOP! Its all about what is easy to use and easy to understand. There is only one key mantra to designing DESIGN WHAT SERVES THE PURPOSE OF USERS!!