Designing Web Interfaces
Principles and Patterns for Rich Interactions
By Bill Scott, Theresa Neil
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Final Release Date: January 2009
Pages: 334
Designing Web Interfaces was published nearly six years ago and I thought it would be interesting to revisit this well-received book at the dawn of the smart watch, when web and app experiences need once again to evolve.
Focus
There's clearly a strong focus on AJAX, in place editing, and drag and drop interface rearrangement in the book. This is because the text was born at a time when all these things were novel. Since then web design has taught itself not to get entirely carried away with too much drag and drop. Partly because the mobile web isn't so great for this type of thing. But also because rearranging an interface can be tiresome and a well-designed interface shouldn't really need the user to enter into doing all that work. We expect things to work without fuss and effort, to be intuitive and respond to our needs.Despite the change of user expectation over the years, the underlying message remains as true today as when the book was first published: think about the user's experience and the continuity of that experience. Understand how being taken away from a page can break continuity but at times be a useful part of the experience.
Opinions about iOS
The authors complain at the lack of discoverability to the iPhone's method of app rearrangement and removal. The way one gesture starts apps jiggling and another cancels the jiggling. But accept that overall an editing mode is a good piece of user experience (UX).Mainly the issue with iOS surrounds a lack of hinting at the available functionality. The opinion of the authors being that designs should either follow traditional expectations, as with online document editing and webmail, or be clear in their drop zones and provide hints that dragging is available by providing "invitations to drag".
Mouse input
Given the book's age there is a good deal of discussion about things like using mouse hovering as a way to reveal functionality. But there's also discussion of "toggle-reveal" which is more useful in a world where so much web browsing occurs on touch devices.
Overlays
Discussion of information and input overlays is still relevant but some of the specific elements under discussion are tricky to use on mobile browsers. In particular date pickers of the kind discussed. One must therefore keep in mind that much of the style of content is from the previous generation of the web and filter this from the discussion or accept that some might only have a place for desktop versions of a website.
Overall
The book is in parts a trip down memory lane, for example it reminds us of the obsession with the concertina interface, but in other parts the book reminds us of considerations that don't change: for example, those surrounding large amounts of data. Further, it inspires us to make the user experience and the action of changing something or buying something as straightforward as possible.
Unfortunately time means that the specifics of the suggested solutions and the prized examples are quite often outdated and unsuitable for the mobile web. As such this book would benefit from a refresh. For while the six principles – make it direct, keep it lightweight, stay on the page, provide an invitation, use transitions and be reactive – remain in the most part sound, their implementation is in desperate need of updating.
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