[...] we applied two simple criteria to

* Play With It: 10 Explorers & Galleries truck scales * Learn From the Best: 10 Great Flex Apps * Learn From the Rest: 10 Great RIAs * Stock Your Toolbox: 40+ Custom Flex Controls * Review Usability Best Practices * Avoid Common Mistakes: 10 Anti-Patterns Review Usability Best Practices
Don’t forget the usability basics. Jakob Nielsen’s Ten Usability Heuristics are as relevant now as they were in 1999. I stress this because truck scales I looked at the Flex showcase recently, and it looks like many of the applications are not built with these best practices in mind. 1. Visibility of system status (Feedback)
The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time. 1.0 BaseCamp by 37signals The upload button is enabled, until clicked. Then it is replaced with a progress indicator until the file has finished uploading
The system should speak the users’ language, with words, truck scales phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order. 2.0 iTunes Organized as a library that contains your media library: music, movies, shows, audibooks. Beneath the Library is the Store where you can buy more media to put in your Library.
2.1 Mindomo The branches and hierarchy of a mind map can be easily reorganized visually in a non-linear manner. An outline would never work, but this matches the paradigm exactly. 3. User control and freedom (NAVIGATION)
Users often choose system functions truck scales by mistake and will need a clearly marked “emergency exit” to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Supports undo and redo and a clear way to navigate. 3.0 CollabFinder Search is easy to open, enter info, execute or cancel.
4.1 Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint all use the same style toolbar with the same primary truck scales menu options: Home, Insert, Page Layout… Consistency results in efficiency and perceived intuitiveness. 5. Error prevention (PREVENTION)
Minimize truck scales the user’s memory load. Make objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. truck scales Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily truck scales retrievable whenever appropriate.
Accelerators — unseen by the novice user — may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.
7.1 Numbers- Apple s Spreadsheet product Previews common function results on the left when a column is selected, more efficient that clicking on an action in the toolbar 8. Aesthetic and minimalist design (DESIGN)
Dialogues should not contain information, truck scales which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility. Visual layout should truck scales respect the principles of contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity.
8.0 Kontain Kontain search menu exemplifies the four principles of visual design: Contrast: bold text is used for the two labels in the search Repetition: the orange, blue, and green text match the media types Alignment : strong left alignment of text, right aligned drop down Proximity: a light rule is used to separate tags from the other options
8.1 Harvest Sufficient padding and spacing keep this timesheet from being a visual nightmare. Header and footer rows, as well as the summary column use subtly different colors to indicate they are distinct from the content 9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors (RECOVERY)
9.1 Humorous Page Not Found Error Uses a funny image and copy, but provides viable alternatives (article listings and blog link) and a course of action (report it) 10. Help and documentation (Help)
Even though it is better if the system truck scales can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user’s task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.
As far as help is concerned, I think Xero ( http://xero.com ) has done it best. I like the fact that they have contextual help with the usual “?” icon along with a “Show help for this page” link. Also, you can contact support at any pages with regards to the current page you are at. All that without leaving the page you are on. To top that off, their documentation is very comprehensive. Fulltext Said,
[...] 1: Does it adhere to the 10 basic usability principles? Number 2: Is it really rich? Developing a product with Ajax, Flex, or Silverlight doesn’t [...] Techwave » Blog Archive » 50 Most Usable RIAs Said,
[...] we applied two simple criteria to