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 research plan


Research takes time and resources. It underpins the whole project, as design decisions are made based on the outcomes of research. Therefore, it makes sense to plan it carefully so you create a solid foundation for your website. Just like projects need project management to ensure that they meet their goals successfully and timeously, research benefits from creating and following a structured research plan.

Research plans should be documented and shared with the team and stakeholders. They help you to ensure that everyone is aware of the research and involved in it. It is always a good idea to have as many team members involved in the research as possible. If everyone involved in the web project is aware of the reasons for and results from the research, there are less likely to be conflicts over user needs and design decisions in the future.

Although UX research does not aspire to the rigor of scientific enquiry, the components of a research plan are based on the...