Sunday, June 29, 2014

Website Design : User Interface Design - Part 1

Interface and Interactive Design

I’m sure you’ve heard the terms “interactive design” and “interface design” in web conversations, and possibly assumed they referred to the same thing. There is a difference in meaning, and the key to creating a user-friendly web or mobile site is combining the best practices of the two.

Interaction design

In simplest terms, interaction design is about getting from point A to point B. It’s figuring out the best way for a user to move through and accomplish a task using various widgets such as buttons, menus, scrolls, and such. For example, to find a book online, has the designer provided an enhanced search feature
or a set of drop down menus and filters - both?

Interface design

Interface design is the presentation, layout and organization, and visual design of all the components on the screen, including interactive elements. Visual design plays a huge part in the usability of the interface. Do buttons look clickable? Are buttons and interactive widgets placed where users are likely to be looking for them? Are navigational elements visually differentiated and grouped apart from content elements?

In this post, we’ll explore techniques for designing your web pages so that people can easily make their way around the site. The process begins with page-level planning, and ends with good visual designs.

Next to Website Design : User Interface Design - Part 2

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