Whats all fuss about UI

By Ketan Khairnar • December 1, 2006

(Rate this article)

Loading ...

Email It!

Well, UI (User Interface) was needed to represent real world analogy to application; may be to extend human communication and new advances has lead it to new level- a level of human interaction. Again not only human to human (peer to peer)interaction but also business to business interaction and individual to community interaction. If you look for the most famous startups in recent years (MySpace,YouTube,FlickR and loads of social networking sites orkut,hi5); all of them are directly/indirectly addressing these needs. Why? of course for business It’s surely working for founders and people who are using them.
What are the factors which will push this ahead?
1.Computers and internet had entered into lives of people of different cultures,languages ,age as well as physical abilities
Immediate technical issues:
i18n (internationalization) of application;this needs changes from UI to database;So make right choice when you build up new application.In short; it must be locale aware. Also some languages like arabic, hebrew are written Right_To_Left and not Left-To-Right. Product dashboards/UI must be aware of such issues to compete in diverse markets.

2.Consumers are becoming more comfortable with and more sophisticated in how they use technology, increasing the frequency with which they expect computer interaction.
Immediate Technical Implications:
Eliminate submit and wait model. Your application should not force user to make some error and then correct it. Dynamic applications today need immediate feedback for correct/incorrect entry.

Why UI is so important?
The person who coined the term AJAX(Garrett, Jesse James) has written good book on this topic.
(The Element of User Experience User-Centered Design for the Web).

Some points:
1) Website is a "Self-Service" product.
2) UI as competitive advantage
Maintain “first-mover” with customer loyalty
Good experience == customer loyalty
User with bad experience will not come back
Faster customer acquisition
Add features with consistent user experience
<Competitors cannot beat you with just features>
3)Return on Investment (ROI)
Conversion rate a measure of effectiveness
Convert casual browser into active buyers
Convert from free to paying customers
The “Feel Stupid” test, people will not pay to feel stupid
Improve efficiency
Work faster and fewer mistake
References:
1) Kevin Leong presentation
2) Gartner Report : Evolving User Interface