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

Maximizing the value of user testing


Testing with users is not only about making their experience better; it is also about getting more people to use your product. People will not use a product that they do not find useful; and they will choose the product that is most enjoyable and usable if they have options. This is especially the case with the web. People leave websites if they can't find or do the things they want. Unlike with other products, they will not take time to work it out. Research by organizations such as the Nielsen Norman group generally shows that a website has between 5 and 10 seconds to show value to a visitor.

User testing is one of the main methods available to us to ensure that we make websites that are useful, enjoyable, and usable. However, to be effective it must be done properly. Jared Spool, a usability expert, identified seven typical mistakes that people make while testing with users, which lessen its value. The following list addresses how not to make those...