Nathaniel Talbott had a great presentation this evening at the Agile RTP meeting. His Lightning Talk (4 - 5 minutes), Jim Cramer style, was about spending more energy on your application's user interface. One line from his slides really hit home for me:
The user interface IS THE APPLICATION
I couldn't agree with this more. I have seen so many applications that are unusable and look horrible, but the test coverage is over 90! The architecture is scalable! When someone wants to buy your product, they check out your "screenshots"... not your "codeshots". Having a good architecture is important, but throwing the user interface to the side is foolish.
Jayme
Karthik
on 3.05.2008 at 8:37 AM
I think performance and scalability come a lot easier now than they did 5-6 years ago. The tools and platforms have gotten much stronger in both regards. Now developers can start to put more focus on providing a great UX (User experience) as well.
Stacy
on 3.05.2008 at 5:46 PM
It makes me so happy to see this be embraced and prioritized by technical folks.
A good user interface UNDERSTANDS the user, it knows what he/she needs in order to get his/her tasks done. It takes work to figure that out...just like it takes a lot of work to build a scalable architecture. I am working on a project now where we're doing user interviews, 1 hour each, 5-8 users. We have to remember that *WE*, the builders of the application are *NOT* the user :).
But it's well worth it, I can't tell you how many times a poor UI has left me frustrated *cough*QuickArrow*cough* and I'm work with in software development, so I have some understanding. But with an app that has a well developed UX, the user doesn't notice the UI, it just "works".
BTW, check out User Interface Engineering, there's loads of good stuff here (I love the podcasts): http://www.uie.com/
Ben Carey
on 3.06.2008 at 12:01 AM
I loved that quote too. So true.
kevin upchurch
on 3.11.2008 at 11:40 AM
That is why I love console apps :) or just have a designer do it :)
rusli zainal sang visioner
on 8.25.2009 at 1:30 AM
I am working on a project now where we're doing user interviews, 1 hour each, 5-8 users
Leonn
on 8.25.2009 at 8:08 PM
Nice quote. User interface design is important for many reasons. One of them is, the more intuitive the user interface the easier it is to use, and the easier it is to use and the less expensive to use it.
stop dreaming start action
on 9.03.2009 at 10:28 AM
I agree with you
mengembalikan jati diri bangsa
on 9.23.2009 at 9:06 PM
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kenali dan kunjungi objek wisata di pandeglang
on 9.23.2009 at 9:07 PM
i like this post
mengembalikan jati diri bangsa
on 9.23.2009 at 9:07 PM
great share dude
Kenali dan Kunjungi Objek Wisata di Pandeglang
on 10.02.2009 at 9:03 AM
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moratmarit
on 10.02.2009 at 9:04 AM
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cah bagoes
on 10.02.2009 at 9:05 AM
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oes tsetnoc
on 10.02.2009 at 9:10 AM
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kenali dan kunjungi objek wisata di pandeglang
on 10.07.2009 at 8:59 PM
Looking by here and learn and see so many beautiful things.
Bob
on 2.04.2010 at 10:17 AM
I agree. With reservations.