User Interface Design

User Interface Design focuses on anticipating what users might need to do and ensuring that the interface has elements that are easy to access, understand and use to facilitate those actions.

The reaction or the experience of the user when ising software doesn’t only depend on the functionality and the aesthetically design, what more influences the user to feel comfortable or not is the user interface.

 

Gestalt Design Principles

Similarity: occurs when objects look similar to one another.

Continuation: occurs when the eye is compelled to move through one object and continue to another object.

Closure: occurs when an object is incomplete or a space is not completely enclosed.

Proximity: occurs when elements are placed close together.

Figure and Ground: The eye differentiates an object from its surrounding area. a form, silhouette or shape is naturally perceived as figure, while the surrounding area is perceived as ground.

15857500937_0d43dc49fc_z

flickr photo by Isaac Kohane https://www.flickr.com/photos/52786697@N00/15857500937 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-SA) license

Best practices for User Interface Design

  • Keep the interface simple
  • Create consistency and use common UI elements
  • Be puposeful in page layout
  • Strategically use color and texture
  • Use typography to create hierarchy and clarity
  • Make sure the system communucates what’s happening
  • Think about the defaults

Sources:

https://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/user-interface-design.html

http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/gestaltprinciples/gestaltprinc.htm


Software Maintenance

Software maintenance stands for all the modifications done after the delivery of a software product. A software maintenance is needed in order to mantain our software up to date.

Modifications in the software may be required because of changes in the market conditions, changes in the client requirements or even host modifications.

There are some types of maintenances based on their characteristics:

16382202136_375d300dbd_z

flickr photo by Pia https://www.flickr.com/photos/omgdolls/16382202136 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-SA) license

Corrective Maintenance:

This includes modifications and updates done in order to correct or fix problems, which are either discovered by user or concluded by user error reports.

Adaptative Maintenance:

This includes modifications applied to keep the software product up-to date and tuned to the ever changing world of technology and business environment.

Perfective Maintenance:

This includes updates done in order to keep the software usable over long period of time. It includes new features, new user requirements for refining the software and improve its reliability and performance.

Preventive Maintenance:

It aims to attend problems, which are not significant at this moment but may cause serious issues in future.

Sources:

http://swebokwiki.org/Chapter_5:_Software_Maintenance

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/software_engineering/software_maintenance_overview.htm


Software implementation

Implementation is carrying out, execution, or practice of a plan, a method, or any design, idea, model, specification, standard or policy for doing something. It also is the action that must follow any preliminary thinking in order for something to actually happen.

Software implementation encompasses all the post-sale process involved in something operation properly in its environment, including analyzing requirements, installation, configuration, customization, running, testing, systems integration, user training, delivery and making necessary changes. Sometimes “deployment” is used to mean the same thing as “implementation”.

Usually it starts with negotiating a contract with a vendor. After a contract is agreed to and a project timeline is established, key business units must meet to discuss the organization’s future roadmap.

Each department must agree on clear, quantifiable and well-defined goals for the project and what they each hope to gain out of using

8900391398_ff5e406e51_z

Flying Pig. Flick Foto by tsaiian. https://www.flickr.com/photos/tsaiian/8900391398/

the new technology.

Key players in the implementation process typically meet regularly to discuss the project’s progress, voice concerns and augment procedures as necessary.

After the process for any hardware or software implementation moves through the planning stage, companies should gradually test the new system until it is ready to fully go live.

A subsection of tech-savvy workers within a company is enlisted to try the new system because they would be most keen on picking out glitches or shortcomings of the system to further help the implementation process.

Software implementations should always be designed with the end user in mind and the implementation process usually benefits from the user involvement and support from managers and other top executives in the company.

 

Source:

http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/definition/implementation