

#1 Mistake by Coders who Are Doing UI Design - prakash
http://www.tonywright.com/2008/1-mistake-by-coders-who-are-doing-ui-design/

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wallflower
I've learned a lot (as a coder who sometimes thinks if it is functional that
the UI is good enough) from going to CHI (Computer-Human-Interaction) type
lectures/events/meetings. It is nice to see what the other side thinks - a
valuable perspective. And you may learn a new method to think creatively.

You can find your local CHI chapter here: <http://sigchi.org/local-sigs/>

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mixmax
Personally I think that usability is the most important factor in a webapp. I
bet that most of the people here could code up the logic of a dating site,
wikipedia or del.icio.us in a week or two - many webapps are pretty simple to
code.

The difference between a good and a bad webapp lies in the interface. And
interestingly the simpler it looks the harder it probably was to make.

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tim2
So is the approach here suggesting to lay everything out at once and so the
user can feel what the interface 'affords' him before he clicks anything, or
should an interface be broken down into very simple steps that the user can
only see one at a time?

I almost always prefer the 'jet pilot' approach of having everything laid out
in front of me, for example, being able to see an entire form before I decide
whether to use it. BUT it seems that many usability experts suggest dragging
users through one step at a time?

How to decide? Will there be an equal number of people that hate my choice
either way?

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Hexstream
Well, why not offer both options? One way to do it would be to offer the
"step-by-step (beginner)" and "all at once (experimented)" ways right at the
start.

Another is to have the beginner way by default but having a way to access the
advanced mode.

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tim2
I am fooling around with the first option you mention, but I never see any
apps that do this(?), so it doesn't quite seem right.

The second idea is feeling like making a car without breaks for simplicity in
this case...

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marketer
Intuitive user interfaces are always a plus, but there are many great uses of
UI's with low "affordance" that aren't immediately obvious, like drag and
drop. This is the perfect scenario for tool tips and other features that can
explain usage.

