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Application Interface Designer

This article could be also be titled “Things I Wish I'd Known Before Designing My Latest Web-Based Application.” You see, I had experience designing Web sites. I’d mastered the art of creating catchy content. I worked with Web-savvy graphic artists who provided masterful images. I knew the latest HTML coding tricks and could design around the various browser quirks and incompatibilities. Armed with these skills and experiences, I volunteered to design the user interface for one of my company’s Web-based applications—and dove right in.

OK, diving didn’t work. I learned quickly that the design choices one makes for a Web-based application are often quite different from those of a content-based Web site. Why? Because they are used for different purposes. Duh! (Mental head slap.)

I needed to look at each design choice from a different angle—because I was now playing by different rules. As I made my way through the maze of design decisions, I took note of the things I did differently from my Web site projects. This article explores some of the lessons I learned along the way.

Designing qualified client interface exist not simply a subject of a fine striking performer with several good quality thoughts. Unluckily, communities create consumer interface very soon go for a product, with no yet life form sentient of the basics or the theoretical principles behind it. Tight schedules, misconception (something like "usability is a plus that we cannot afford now"), and insufficient professionalism are dependable for the poor products that surround us. This article may seem a bit too abstract at first, but its main purpose is to popularize some topics too often limited to academia and few professionals. Here we won't get into the details of some of the many approach to UI plan, because from my personal experience I discovered that people often get absorbed by the "things to do" for building effective user interface, rather than catching some easy concept to willpower motivate them in the very process of UI plan.