Speakerline

How to Make Your Website Not Ugly: Basic UX for Programmers, by Hilary Stohs-Krause
#design #ux #front-end

Abstract

Ever found yourself inadvertently (perhaps unwillingly) straddling the line between design and code? Even with zero design training or background, there are numerous small, simple and practical ways you can vastly improve the look and usability of a website. Let’s explore 10 of them together.

Description

If you’re a programmer who has ever found themselves inadvertently (perhaps unwillingly!) straddling the line between design and code, this is the talk for you.

Even with zero design training or background, there are numerous small, simple and practical ways you can vastly improve the look and usability of a website. In this talk, we’ll explore 10 of them together, using research and proven solutions to see how the impact as a whole for both clients and users is greater than the sum of its parts.

Notes

For this talk, I explore ten different facets of basic web design, using research to back up the featured guidelines, and I present them in a structured, easy-to-follow format.

I touch on three main categories:

Words
Images
Design as a whole

The talk is aimed at people with little-to-no design experience, so we talk about everything from padding for textboxes and appropriate uses for icons to a rundown of progressive disclosure and the F-shape reading pattern. I incorporate constant examples, and provide a list of resources at the end for attendees to further their exploration. I encourage questions throughout the presentation, and incorporate interaction throughout.

Pitch

My current job is as a senior software engineer, but I spent years working in creative fields (writing, designing) before deciding to do web development full-time; this is in contrast to most of my coworkers, who don’t have any design experience.

People who don’t consider themselves “creative” often assume they can’t learn to be, and tend to box themselves in. But there are basic aspects of design that can be broken down for even the most back-end-centric developer, to the overwhelming benefit of everyone.

Even clients who can’t afford or aren’t interested in full-scale design packages still expect (and deserve) solid usability (and websites that aren’t ugly), and just like with back-end functionality, it saves untold amounts of time to do the small stuff the right way from the beginning (rather than going back later and trying to fix what’s broken).

Developers want to do good work, including in areas they’re not experienced in: all they need are the right tools.

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