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

Introduction to UI


Before we look at the history of the user interface and where it derived from, let's first clarify what the term UI means and the different aspects of it.

A user interface (UI) is an interactive layer between the person (user) and technology (device).

This interactive layer can be manipulated with features and functionality that are driven by development and visual elements rooted in established design guidelines. By finding the perfect balance between these two pillars, the UI of a digital product will not just increase the usability and accessibility, but also enhance the overall UX of the product.

UI design is thus the practice of creating the GUI of a digital product. In this book, we will be looking at websites specifically, by using visual elements that combine an accessible color palette, style elements such as borders, backgrounds, and icons. All visual elements have a color, and the color of an element can greatly impact the interaction of the user has with the UI...