IT111_Mod1C (1).pdf

Course : Introduction to Computing Module No. : 1 (Appreciation of the history of computing) Title : C. Development of User Interaction Objectives : “User Interface Development” is the development of websites, web applications, mobile applications and software deve...

Course : Introduction to Computing Module No. : 1 (Appreciation of the history of computing) Title : C. Development of User Interaction Objectives : “User Interface Development” is the development of websites, web applications, mobile applications and software development. “User Interface” plays a key role in the software development life cycle [SDLC]. Most people assume user interface development solutions are creating the websites and writing HTML, CSS and JavaScript, but User Interface goes far beyond these technical terms. The goal of the user interface is to make the user’s interaction as simple and efficient as possible, in terms of accomplishing user goals. User experiences only front end interactions, the look and feel of the website/ application and they don’t think about the back end or what is written and why. Users need to feel engaged and at ease when they visit our website. That’s where the user interface development process comes into the picture – to fulfill this task. User Interface Development Providing a successful user experience requires a balanced approach throughout the development life cycle. To ensure this balance, you must not only focus on implementing the functionality required to complete a task but also on how the task is exposed through the user interface. Remember, the user interface must not only be functional, it must also be usable. The following outlines the typical phases of the user interface dvelopment process: 1  Designing Functional requirements – Determine the initial requirements and goals for the application. User analysis – Identify the user scenarios and understand the needs and expectations of users for each scenario. Conceptual design – Model the underlying business that the application must support. Logical design – Design the process and information flow of the application. Physical design – Decide how the logical design will be implemented on specific physical platforms. Implementing Prototype – Develop paper or interactive screen mockups that focus on the interface and don't include distracting visual design elements. Construct – Build the application and prepare for design change requests. Testing Usability testing – Test the application with various users and scenarios. Accessibility testing – Test the application with accessible technologies and automated test tools. 2 “User Interface Services” can be divided into two phases in website/application/software development: 1. Research + Design 2. Development Research and Design: Research and Analysis are all about interviewing users, project stakeholders, and gathering their input to create a requirements document that includes personas, user scenarios, and user experience evaluation metrics. Research is usually done by business analysts and a user experience team. Both teams collect all information and inputs from users and project stakeholders in order to discuss technical terms with developers and project managers, and finally, they prepare final documentation. With the help of documentation, UX team start design process. They first create the wireframes to bring a rough idea to the project stakeholders and users. Wireframes are presented as a comprehensive set of screen layout consisting of black and white sketches of every screen in the application. At this point, the visual and graphic design processes have not yet begun. 3 Wireframe Example Figure 1. Wireframe Example The next step in the process is to create prototypes that will simulate the real application. A prototype can contain one or more features, but it actually does nothing. It merely simulates the behavior of a real application, and users can see color combinations and minimal functionality. Wireframes/Sketches and Prototypes are done by UX designers. 4 ITERATIVE, EVALUATION-CENTERED LIFE CYCLE FOR USER INTERACTION DEVELOPMENT A star life cycle [Hartson & Hix, 1989] for user interaction development Figure 2. Star Life Cycle 5 USER INTERFACE DEVELOPMENT TEAM Roles on user interface development team User interaction designer (or usability engineer or usability specialist) Evaluator User (and/or user representative) Software engineer (or developer or analyst) Technical writer Graphic designer UI Developer and Role and Responsibilities: Responsible for building Web Applications using Single Page Application (SPA) paradigm. Develop software solutions using industry best practices and in the area of security and performance in a web and SOA architecture environment. Effectively develop in a clean, well structured, easily maintainable format. Participate in the full SDLC with Requirements, Solution Design, Development, QA Implementation, and product support using Scrum and other agile methodologies. World-class HTML5/CSS3 and especially JavaScript/jQuery skills and good knowledge on other major JavaScript libraries and frameworks. Skilled in using a CSS preprocessor to speed up development (LESS, SCSS). Detailed knowledge of cross-browser UI issues and hacks. Social technology API experience (Primarily Facebook, and also Twitter) Experience creating, as well as consuming, JSON-based APIs. Understand executing accessibility and progressive enhancement presentation. Ensure design consistency with client’s development standards and guidelines. 6