Book Image

UX for the Web

By : Marli Ritter, Cara Winterbottom
Book Image

UX for the Web

By: Marli Ritter, Cara Winterbottom

Overview of this book

If you want to create web apps that are not only beautiful to look at, but also easy to use and fully accessible to everyone, including people with special needs, this book will provide you with the basic building blocks to achieve just that. The book starts with the basics of UX, the relationship between Human-Centered Design (HCD), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and the User-Centered Design (UCD) Process; it gradually takes you through the best practices to create a web app that stands out from your competitors. You’ll also learn how to create an emotional connection with the user to increase user interaction and client retention by different means of communication channels. We’ll guide you through the steps in developing an effective UX strategy through user research and persona creation and how to bring that UX strategy to life with beautiful, yet functional designs that cater for complex features with micro interactions. Practical UX methodologies such as creating a solid Information Architecture (IA), wireframes, and prototypes will be discussed in detail. We’ll also show you how to test your designs with representative users, and ensure that they are usable on different devices, browsers and assistive technologies. Lastly, we’ll focus on making your web app fully accessible from a development and design perspective by taking you through the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Title Page
Credits
About the Authors
About the Authors
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface

Setting up a pattern library


We've discussed reuse of elements in your prototyping or wireframing software, with Masters in Axure and Symbols in Balsamiq. The next step is creating a pattern library. Creating and maintaining a pattern library is important, if not crucial, for any long-running website or business. Pattern libraries make reuse of elements easier and quicker, they ensure that your interfaces are consistent, and they make maintenance of your site easier by different stakeholders.

A pattern library is a collection of website design elements with details about their appearance, behavior, and implementation.

Examples of such elements are buttons, menus, forms, and so on. They can also include visual design elements, such as icon sets and stylings, color, and typography.

Pattern libraries are easy to set up:

  • Document and template: All you need is a document that contains the patterns and a template for how each pattern will be recorded.
  • Online: Because your whole team will be using the...