According to the 9th Chapter of the Getting Real Book, Interface design is important for web developers. It is important because it is where the end-users will interact with the web application that the web developers created.
It is mentioned that when creating web applications, web developers should create interface first before tackling the programming part. User Interface should come first because it will give the developers the guide that they need to successfully program the web application. The programming part is the heaviest because it is the most difficult to do and to change. That is why making an interface first before programming is recommended.
Another tip given out is that when designing a web application, web developers should start at the Epicenter of the design and work their way through it. The most essential part of the page should be created first before adding extra features.
Then the Three State Solution should then be implemented to build an effective web application. The three state solutions are Regular State, Blank State, and the Error State. These states are important in a web application interface because it distinguishes and separates the parts of the web application that end-users interact with. Investing time in these states will do wonders for a web developer.
It is then said that the Blank State should be important too compared to the other states. Many web developers disregard this state because they feel it is unimportant. They should know that they should invest time in developing the blank state because a lot of customers will encounter the blank state every time they are starting out the web application. Customers should have an idea what to expect from the program and at the same time, developers should also see their program on a blank state for them to have an idea on what are the things they can improve on.
Web developers should then get defensive when making or creating their web apps. This means that developers should be on the look out for problems or errors that might pop out. They should be ready to take action and repair or improve on the things that might crash during use.
It is then said that web developers should keep in mind that context over consistency is important. This simply means that developers should give the end-users what really matters and what really are the things that will users will use.
Then it is said that copywriting is interface design. Web developers should be on the shoes of those who will use their application. They should know for themselves the things that they have placed into their program and see for themselves if that particular feature really is important. Placing technical and unfamiliar jargos are disregarded because for the end-user, it means nothing.
Finally, it is said that there should only be one interface for the whole web application. This means that the admin functions should also be incorporated to the design for the end-users. It is recommended because creating different designs for the admin and the end-users would just make things complicated and problematic.
