User Interface
Content
What is User Interface? The user interface is a web page of a site. It consists into different sections mainly like logo, header, top navigation, main image, left panel, introduction text, featured images, submission forms, bottom navigation, copyright, etc.. The users interact with these interfaces to get information from the website.They give command by clicking menu buttons or submitting forms.The user interfaces helps in explaining the flow of any website program or company business. The poorly designed interfaces adds very little value to any business program. The website also can’t generate leads if interfaces are not designed effectively. It should be user-friendly, easy to navigate, interactive, use color scheme as per the industry type and visually impressive. The homepage should be designed completely by placing all main information, navigational links, intro text, highlight latest happenings, main products as per the project type, so that users will not leave the site frequently. The call to action buttons should be there on homepage and inner pages so that users must know the next step to follow in any website. Each and every interface should have at least one primary call to action like “Call Now: Toll Free No.”, “Sign Up Now”, “Download Now”, etc.. The call to action button should be big and highlighted with different color. It should be placed where the user can find it easily. The language use in call to action should be short and to the point. The call to action really helps in improving conversion rate on the website. Design interfaces effectively by using web friendly fonts as specified by World Wide Web consortium. The example of fonts are “sans-serif” normal fonts - Arial, Arial Black, Arial Narrow, Helvetica, Trebuchet, Verdana; “serif” normal fonts - Times, Times New Roman, New Century, etc.. The font size commonly used is 11, 12 pixels as per the design layout and for users comfort. It would be great to use font sizes in %, in this case font size adjusted according to user’s screen resolution. Each and every interface should be well optimized for Search Engines. Search focused keywords to optimize the interfaces. It helps in increasing the ranking of website on search engines. The web-pages should be validated from W3C.org. It helps in improving the quality of complete website. The validated web pages load fast and quickly indexed by search engines. The user interface should include total user experience which includes the aesthetic design with good color scheme, impressive images, useful content, call to actions, simple navigation that easily explains the business logics, encourage first time visitors and convert them into leads.
User Interface - Basic Guidelines 1. The web site should load quickly and be easy to scan. These are the essential prerequisites of web designing. 2. Pay attention to your homepage. That is what the viewers will first see. The home page should be attractive and provide useful information. If it doesn’t satisfy the mentioned criteria then the readers will move on. 3. Logo should be linked with homepage both in front-end and in admin. 4. Alert messages should be in red color.
5. Help message should be in black or light gray color. 6. Within the site, minimum use of icons and maximum use of textual links. 7. Avoid Pop-Up in the coding, always open in new window or in new tab or use Ajax functionality. Most of user blocked Pop-up messages in the browser. like in Firefox, IE7. 8. All files naming convention should be relevant and consistent. Like as an eg. about-us.htm, product-details.htm 9. Call for action should present on every page. It reduces the frequency of exit from the site. 10.The site should be W3C certified (http://validator.w3.org/). Validating web pages is an important step, which helps in improving and ensuring the quality of website. The validated web pages are also load fast and quickly indexed by search engines. 11.Breadcrumb should be present in inner pages of both front-end and admin site. It is easy to navigate the inter-related interfaces. 12.Date format & phone number format should be according to the country. Example: Date Format USA: MM/DD/YYYY Date Format UK : YYYY/MM/DD Phone number USA: 111-111-1111 13.Tabs or links should be highlighted on visiting page. 14.Mouse over effect should be there on the buttons. It enhances the look of the site from design perspective. 15.Place “Top” icons or links in bottom of the long content pages to go on top of the page in one click. It saves time in scrolling the page. 16.Effectively use the page real estate. 17.Use Ajax for increasing the interactivity on the site. 18.Organize and divide the primary and secondary links and place in correct position, so that visitors will follow right and correct path. 19.Avoid broken links. Make sure that they do not occur on your website. Concentrate on the link architecture. 20.Don’t repeat your titles and page headings. Page headings are instrumental in focusing viewer’s attention. Using the same headings will make them think that the information being provided is the same. This will decrease viewer retention. 21.You should make sure that the content and the page headings are grammatically correct. Incorrect grammar and syntax will reflect badly on the web site. 22.User Interface works consistently. Put your buttons in consistent places on all your windows, use the same wording in labels and messages, and use a consistent color scheme throughout. Consistency in your user interface enables your users to build an accurate mental model of the way it works, and accurate mental models lead to lower training and support costs. 23.In Admin Area, near the site logo one link should be present i.e. “Preview Site”. Admin can check the updations by one click only. 24.For delete option use trash icon. To Activate, Deactivate, Delete huge number of items place checkboxes and select all option. 25.All the related interfaces should be inter-linked. RedAlkemi:Delivering Online Measurable Success
User Interface - Basic Guidelines 1. The web site should load quickly and be easy to scan. These are the essential prerequisites of web designing. 2. Pay attention to your homepage. That is what the viewers will first see. The home page should be attractive and provide useful information. If it doesn’t satisfy the mentioned criteria then the readers will move on. 3. Logo should be linked with homepage both in front-end and in admin. 4. Alert messages should be in red color.
5. Help message should be in black or light gray color. 6. Within the site, minimum use of icons and maximum use of textual links. 7. Avoid Pop-Up in the coding, always open in new window or in new tab or use Ajax functionality. Most of user blocked Pop-up messages in the browser. like in Firefox, IE7. 8. All files naming convention should be relevant and consistent. Like as an eg. about-us.htm, product-details.htm 9. Call for action should present on every page. It reduces the frequency of exit from the site. 10.The site should be W3C certified (http://validator.w3.org/). Validating web pages is an important step, which helps in improving and ensuring the quality of website. The validated web pages are also load fast and quickly indexed by search engines. 11.Breadcrumb should be present in inner pages of both front-end and admin site. It is easy to navigate the inter-related interfaces. 12.Date format & phone number format should be according to the country. Example: Date Format USA: MM/DD/YYYY Date Format UK : YYYY/MM/DD Phone number USA: 111-111-1111 13.Tabs or links should be highlighted on visiting page. 14.Mouse over effect should be there on the buttons. It enhances the look of the site from design perspective. 15.Place “Top” icons or links in bottom of the long content pages to go on top of the page in one click. It saves time in scrolling the page. 16.Effectively use the page real estate. 17.Use Ajax for increasing the interactivity on the site. 18.Organize and divide the primary and secondary links and place in correct position, so that visitors will follow right and correct path. 19.Avoid broken links. Make sure that they do not occur on your website. Concentrate on the link architecture. 20.Don’t repeat your titles and page headings. Page headings are instrumental in focusing viewer’s attention. Using the same headings will make them think that the information being provided is the same. This will decrease viewer retention. 21.You should make sure that the content and the page headings are grammatically correct. Incorrect grammar and syntax will reflect badly on the web site. 22.User Interface works consistently. Put your buttons in consistent places on all your windows, use the same wording in labels and messages, and use a consistent color scheme throughout. Consistency in your user interface enables your users to build an accurate mental model of the way it works, and accurate mental models lead to lower training and support costs. 23.In Admin Area, near the site logo one link should be present i.e. “Preview Site”. Admin can check the updations by one click only. 24.For delete option use trash icon. To Activate, Deactivate, Delete huge number of items place checkboxes and select all option. 25.All the related interfaces should be inter-linked. RedAlkemi:Delivering Online Measurable Success
