Beginning Software Engineering, 2nd Edition

9User Experience Design

A user interface is like a joke. If you have to explain it, it's not that good.

—Martin LeBlanc

Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

What You Will Learn in This Chapter:

• Finding a good design mindset
• Designing for users of different skill levels
• Using metaphors and idioms
• Providing Undo and Redo to allow safe exploration
• Avoiding dialogs and other features that interrupt the user's flow

A software application is a tool that helps users get things done, just as a hammer helps a carpenter drive nails or a set of lock picks helps a burglar. Unless you're writing some sort of entertainment program like a game or a newsfeed, users don't pull up your application just to pass the time. A data entry clerk uses your program to enter data, not to practice typing. A store manager uses an inventory control system to order more beans and socks, not to email cat videos. An insurance adjuster uses a claim system to deny claims, not to send text messages to friends.

When you spend months programming, elbows deep in the code, it's easy to forget that a software project is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

Ideally a user interface should be like a movie soundtrack: there to support the action but barely noticeable. Unfortunately, most software developers are programmers rather than user experience specialists, so the program often intrudes into the user's consciousness ...