Digital Thoughts @ Wesstyware

Now that I have my software setup, I have decided it is time for me to share my thoughts about how much I enjoy the UI changes they have made to Windows 7. At least that was my plan for the weekend until I discussed my weekend plans with my boss. He said “Windows 7? Nobody cares about that” jokingly as he wanted me to blog about my work project as they are forming a new corporate blog. Funny thing is he joke was right. I have build 7000 of Windows 7 and the Internet has already started to discuss a newer build. In conclusion, I am going to blog about something that I find challenging in my chosen field of interest: UI Standards.

To me, it feels strange being a software developer without a set of standards that you can refer too at any given moment. I mean, sure there are coding standards, but that isn’t the focus of my job. My focus involves creating user interfaces and experiences that suit the needs of the users for an application. Considering that each application is different just based on the functionality it is supposed to provide, and how each user group might be using the application for different reasons, it makes sense that nobody at Microsoft or IBM has written a “best practices” white paper explain how to lay out your application.

Plus, compare the UI/UX aspect of an application to the others like communication or data access. In communications, you are always moving data from one place to another. With data access, you are reading and writing data from some form of database. These things never change. With UI/UX, the variables make it so grey. Sure, you are always presenting data to someone, but that someone is never the same person (unless you are writing yourself an app you never intend anyone else to use, EVER).

So the question is, are there standards or best practices for UI? And if so, what are they and where can find them?

Well, as I’m sure everyone who has ever used a computer for some amount of time, there are applications that are easy to use and there are other that aren’t so easy to use, thus the answer to the first part of the question is “yes”. The variables that make them usable/unusable vary, but if we measure those variables and remember why they worked and for what, then we can compile a collection of standards for all these different situations and therefore have some documented standards for usability.

As for the “what are they" part of the question, that can have many different answers in my humble opinion. For starters, any good UI is something that is developed over time. To develop something, you need to monitor the current results you are getting from your users. On top of that, when you have something that works for something specific in your UI, it is good to note what you used whether it be a type of control, general layout, or colour scheme. Ultimately, I think UI resources should consist of the following:

• UI Collection Practices (how to watch your users react to your UI)
• UI Purpose and Design (why your application is laid out the way it is and for what purpose)
• Users and their UX (the experience that your user gets when they use your application)

Finally, I suppose the final part of the question is “where can find these resources”. As I was preparing to write my Windows 7 post, I was trying to find some sort of empirical evidence that supported why I thought certain things worked and didn’t work in Windows 7. The kicker is, I failed in finding these resources to help support my decisions. One philosophy that I tend to follow is that if you want the job done right, then do it yourself. Ultimately, you will find a “UI/UX Resources” widget on my blog here and it will be there that I will compile a bunch of links that I find exceptionally useful, starting with Quince from Infragistics. You will need Silverlight 2 installed, but it is quite the resource for getting some ideas on where to go with what you are trying to do in terms of UI.

If you have some resources you know of, please share it with the rest of the Internet (by means of a comment on this post) and I will start to compile our collective knowledge into a wellspring of usability resources.

I suppose that covers it for now. I’ll be sure to continue to update more frequently now that I actually have everything up and running again. Next time I install an OS, I hope it goes a bit more smoothly as it had been a while since I actually needed to think about what I would be formatting before I did it.

Take care friends. Catch you on the flip side.