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Web UI Design

Web UI Design. (for EECS 495 NUVW) ben@slivka.com www.slivka.com/2011-02-15.ppt. Overview. Ben’s UI experience Dominant Design Copy Wildly A quick tour of the Top 20 web sites Ben’s Web UI Principles Slivka.com UI evolution Q&A. Ben’s UI Experience. HP 25C “lunar lander” (’76)

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Web UI Design

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  1. Web UI Design (for EECS 495 NUVW) ben@slivka.com www.slivka.com/2011-02-15.ppt

  2. Overview • Ben’s UI experience • Dominant Design • Copy Wildly • A quick tour of the Top 20 web sites • Ben’s Web UI Principles • Slivka.com UI evolution • Q&A

  3. Ben’s UI Experience • HP 25C “lunar lander” (’76) • Litton 1880: biorhythm, “racing” game (’77) • Punched cards, green-bar paper, 110b, mainframes (’76-’85) • IBM 3270: DCR tracking tool (’83) • OS/2: process status, printer installer (’85-’90) • MS-DOS 6: DoubleSpace, ScanDisk (’92-’93) • CAB files (’93-’94) • Internet Explorer 1, 2, 3 (’94-’95) • “RedShark” UI prototype (’97-’98) • AMZN: “Arizona” customer service web app (’00) • Slivka.com, NU1982.org, Banderooge.com, … (’97-now) • Vizrea (’05-’07) • TeachFirst (’03-’08) • DreamBox Learning (’06-’10)

  4. Dominant Design • “Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation”, 1994, Jim Utterback (BSIE ’63, MSIE ’65) • Examples • Manual typewriter (keyboard layout) • Automobile (pedals, steering wheel, …) • Character-mode apps in MS-DOS® • Inside Macintosh (1985) • Windows/IBM “Common User Access” (1987)  CLAIM: DD has arisen for web UI, so…

  5. …Copy Wildly • Leverage the billions of dollars and hours Yahoo, Amazon, Google, Facebook, etc. and their users have invested • Leverage the muscle memory and neural programming people already have • Don’t have to know “why” DD is what it is • Just find a popular site and copy

  6. Copy Wildly KISS Principle Fast Minimal Reliable Simple URLs On-Demand UI Black on White Site Search Top of Page has: Branding Menu (short) User ID Search Ben’s Web UI Principles

  7. 1) google.com 2) facebook.com 3) yahoo.com 4) youtube.com 5) amazon.com 6) wikipedia.org 7) ebay.com 8) blogger.com 9) twitter.com 10) craigslist.org 11) live.com 12) msn.com 13) linkedin.com 14) go.com 15) bing.com 16) aol.com 17) cnn.com 18) paypal.com 19) espn.com 20) netflix.com Tour of the Top 20 Websites

  8. Copy Wildly KISS Principle Fast Minimal Reliable Simple URLs On-Demand UI Black on White Site Search Top of Page has: Branding Menu (short) User ID Search Ben’s Web UI Principles

  9. KISS Principle • Kelly Johnson, Lockheed Skunk Works • “Keep it simple stupid” (design jet aircraft to be repaired with simple tools in the field) • Albert Einstein • “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” • Leonardo da Vinci • “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”  Metaphor, analogy, muscle memory

  10. KISS: Fast • Supports UI discovery (trial and error) • Fast means • Fast page load (<1 second goal) • Modest use of images (branding, photos) • No text as graphics (copy, web search) • Clever use of JavaScript (AJAX) • Fast, obvious response to user action • Big vs. Small screen (mobile) UI designs • Automatic (minimize user effort)  Facebook used to report page load time on every page; now it can often be very sluggish

  11. KISS: Minimal • Minimize concepts/metaphors, words, visuals • Form Follows Function (no graphic designers) • Careful: left side menus for complex sites (shopping, news are worst offenders) • Careful: hierarchy, breadcrumb navigation (ibm.com > about > leadership > board) • “Elements of Style”, Strunk & White • “The Magical Number Seven” • Keep lists short, multiple lists in rare cases • Alphabetize (avoid Schwab.com, etc.)

  12. KISS: Reliable • Be consistent: • Concepts, words, visual elements • Focus Areas (system structure/function) • Navigation elements • Defaults (easy to change) • Never lose data (continuous save, page navigation, remember state, errors) • Undo (everywhere, provide history) • Avoid modality (FB “peephole” pop-ups) • Fast/easy bug/feedback mechanism (Google)

  13. KISS: Simple URLs • People email, dictate, type in URLs, so… • Short • www.slivka.com/about, www.slivka.com/contact, www.youtube.com/benslivka • Human-readable • http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-Fourth-William-Strunk/dp/020530902X • http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ferrari-430-Berlinetta-05-F430-F1-Ceramics-Daytonas-etc-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem27b8222c5aQQitemZ170592971866QQptZUSQ5fCarsQ5fTrucks#ht_6485wt_1002 • http://www.bsd405.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1521 • Stable • Never change • Hide implementation • No .php, .asp, .html, etc. suffixes

  14. KISS: On-Demand UI • Contextual Menus: provide more commands • Facebook, LinkedIn, Bing, Ongo, etc. have menus/commands that appear when you hover near content on the page • Pop-Ups: provide more info • “Slide out” information (Google, Facebook) • DHTML pop-up (modal, Facebook abuses these) • Browser window pop-up (older) • Tradeoff: discoverability vs. too-busy page

  15. Black on White • Black text on white background • Use reasonable font size • Don’t use color alone (color blindness) • Highest contrast • Copy/paste works best • More legible on PC, smartphone, tablet • Best for people with visual impairment (including those using screen readers)

  16. Site Search • People surfing the web are impatient • Google, et. al., have conditioned us to search • Hunting through a hierarchy is barely OK for browsing, frustrating if you know what you are looking for and cannot find it • Facebook search: name, email, page, …  Every website should have great (and smart) site search

  17. Top of Page • Branding: logo, color/image band • Menu: short, consistent page to page • User ID: email address or username • Search: prominent search box • Date/Time: mostly for news sites

  18. slivka.com: 1997-2011 • www.archive.org “Wayback Machine” has archives of web pages as far back as 1996 • (Archive has become much less complete since 2006) • 1997 initial design • 2001 “frames” design • 2001 side-by-side design • 2004 thumbnail design

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