An art portfolio is a curated collection of an artist’s best work. It promotes the artist’s work and attracts potential employers, clients, galleries, or educational institutions. Most professional artists present their portfolio in form of an artist website and today we’re going to go through a couple of artist portfolios to help you build one.

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What is an art portfolio?

An art portfolio is a collection of an artist’s work that showcases their skills and style. It serves as a professional curation, often used for presenting their work to potential clients, applying for jobs or academic programs, and presenting at exhibitions or galleries.

An art portfolio can be physical or digital, but in the modern context, online art portfolios are more prevalent. Most artists have their own websites that they use to post their work, stay in touch with the art world or even run an online store where people can buy their work.

5 Art Portfolio Website Examples

Julia Plath

Julia Plath’s online art portfolio website effectively showcases her work with a minimalist design that emphasizes the artwork. The site excels in visual presentation and simplicity, making it easy for users to focus on the illustrations, admire the artist’s technical skills, and find contact information.

The website is visually appealing, using a minimalist and clean design. It focuses on the artwork with a white background that highlights the images without distraction. When it comes to typography, simple, sans-serif fonts are used, consistent with the minimalist approach. The text is legible and complements the visual elements without overshadowing the artwork.

A predominantly black-and-white color scheme ensures the artwork stands out. Colors used are minimal and primarily come from the art pieces themselves, drawing attention to them.

The website has intuitive navigation. The menu is clear and accessible at the top of the page, leading to sections like Home, Portfolio, About, and Contact.

While the design is visually appealing, the site could improve on accessibility aspects. For instance, adding more descriptive alt text for images and ensuring text contrast is high enough for readability.

The website has limited interactivity, focusing mainly on viewing the artwork. There is a subtle hover effect on images, enhancing the user interaction without overwhelming the design.

Bonnie White

Bonnie White’s portfolio site showcases a distinct approache to digital portfolio design and brings to mind traditional fine art websites. It’s well-made in terms of SEO, featuring a blog that adds dynamic content to the site, engaging visitors with updates and insights into the visual artist’s process and activities.

Her design portfolio embraces a warm, vibrant aesthetic with a soft color palette that complements her folk art, creating an inviting and personal atmosphere. Artwork is well-organized and displayed with ample spacing. Each piece is accompanied by titles and descriptions, offering context to viewers. The portfolio is accessible directly from the main menu, making it easy to browse.

Fonts are clean and readable, with a mix of serif and sans-serif. The titles use a decorative serif font that adds a personal touch, while body text is in a simple sans-serif, balancing readability with style.

The use of earthy and pastel colors aligns well with the folk art theme. The colors are not overwhelming and help create a cohesive look that reflects the artist’s personality.

The site is fairly accessible with reasonable text contrast and alt text for images. However, some improvements could be made, such as ensuring all text is large enough for readability and enhancing keyboard navigation.

Camille Walala

The art portfolio of Camille Walala has a dynamic and vibrant design that mirrors the artist distinctive graphic design-like style. It uses bold colors and geometric shapes throughout, effectively capturing the essence of her work.

The homepage features full-screen images of her most striking projects, giving a dramatic presentation that immerses the visitor in her world of art. This approach effectively showcases the scale and impact of her installations.

The top navigation menu is straightforward, with clear labels like Work, About, and Contact. This simplicity ensures that users can quickly find what they’re looking for without distraction.

The website design incorporates a vivid color palette, primarily consisting of bright blues, reds, yellows, and blacks. These colors are consistent with Walala’s artistic style and create a cohesive visual experience.

The typography is playful yet clean, featuring bold fonts for headings and simple, sans-serif fonts for body text. This balance maintains readability while adding to the site’s energetic feel.

High-quality images of Walala’s work are prominently displayed. The website effectively uses full-screen images and slideshows to showcase her projects in various settings, making her portfolio visually impactful.

While the site is well-optimized for performance and user experience, there are areas for potential improvement, particularly in accessibility and SEO, which could further enhance its effectiveness and reach.

Timothy Goodman

Timothy Goodman is another visual artists whose online art portfolio is a great example of good web design and a great presentation of visual arts. Based in New York City, Goodman is known for his distinctive graphic style and has created numerous public art installations, illustrations, and typographic works throughout New York and beyond.

Timothy Goodman’s own portfolio successfully captures the essence of his artistic style through its bold, vibrant, and playful design. The intuitive navigation, responsive layout, and engaging visual elements create a positive user experience. The site effectively showcases his diverse body of work while providing clear paths for exploration and interaction.

Hovering over project thumbnails in the Work section triggers visual feedback, such as color changes, zoom effects, or brief overlays with project titles. This interaction invites users to explore and signals that the images are clickable.

Navigation buttons and links change color or style upon hovering, providing a clear indication of their interactivity.

Each project thumbnail is clickable, leading to a dedicated page with detailed images, descriptions, and context for the project. This interaction makes it easy for users to delve deeper into specific works that interest them. Clicking on project links dynamically loads the new content without refreshing the entire page, ensuring a seamless user experience.

Lily Clementine Orset

Lily Clementine Orset uses a unique and unconventional approach to present her art. The web design of this online art portfolio reflects an experimental and DIY aesthetic, aligning with her artistic vision and providing a different experience compared to traditional portfolio websites.

The interface allows users to click and drag elements, enhancing the interactive and hands-on feel of the site.

The use of textured backgrounds and layered images gives the site a tactile, handmade quality that complements the DIY ethos of her work.

The website employs a mix of hand-drawn and digital fonts, contributing to its quirky and artistic vibe. The variety in font styles adds to the visual interest but might affect readability in some areas. Font sizes vary across the site, which adds to the eclectic feel but can create challenges in maintaining a clear visual hierarchy and readability.

The site is designed primarily for desktop use, with the interactive elements best experienced on larger screens. On mobile devices, the navigation and interactions may be less effective or more cumbersome. Elements might not scale well on different screen sizes, potentially affecting the browsing experience on tablets and smaller screens. Having said that, the interactive design invites exploration and encourages users to spend more time on the site, though it may also create some usability challenges.

10 UX and UI tips based on those art portfolios

Effective UX and UI design is crucial for art portfolio websites to showcase the artist’s work, engage visitors, and create a memorable browsing experience. Here are some tips to follow when creating your art portfolio website:

1. Align with Art Style: Ensure the website’s design reflects the artist’s style. Use colors, fonts, and layouts that complement the artwork.
2. Showcase Artwork Effectively: Use high-resolution images that capture the details and colors of the artwork. Include full-screen images, close-ups, and various views to give a comprehensive presentation.
3. Use Neutral Backgrounds: Opt for neutral backgrounds to make artwork stand out. A simple color scheme (e.g., white, black, or gray) ensures the focus remains on the art.
4. Apply Readable Fonts: Use clean and readable fonts. Ensure font sizes and colors provide good readability against the background.
5. Clear Menu Structure: Provide a simple and intuitive navigation menu with clear labels such as Home, Gallery, About, Blog, and Contact. Make sure the menu is accessible from all pages.
6. Breadcrumbs: Use breadcrumbs or a similar mechanism to help users understand their location within the site and easily navigate back to previous pages.
7. Responsive Design: Ensure the website is fully responsive. Design layouts that adjust smoothly across different devices and screen sizes, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
8. Interactive Elements: Incorporate subtle hover effects and clickable images to enhance interactivity. Ensure that interactions are intuitive and provide visual feedback, such as highlighting clickable elements or changing colors on hover.
9. Categorize Work: Organize artwork into categories or series. This helps visitors find specific types of work quickly and provides a structured browsing experience.
10. Optimize Performance: Optimize images and code to reduce loading times. Fast performance is crucial for keeping visitors engaged and reducing bounce rates.

Design your own website today

We’ve seen five totally different art portfolios today and what would you say about creating your own with UXPin? Drag and drop interactive UI elements that have code behind them, arrange the perfect layout of your website and then, copy the code to build your own site. Try UXPin Merge for free.

The post 5 Art Portfolio Examples that Will Leave you Awestruck appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Crafting websites that are visually appealing and user-friendly is essential for business’ success.This guide will cover essential web design best practices, focusing on accessibility, grid design, consistency, and design systems. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting in the field, these tips will help you leverage UXPin to create outstanding website prototypes.

With UXPin, a powerful prototyping tool, you can efficiently implement these best practices from the earliest stages of design, ensuring that your final product is both effective and inclusive. Try UXPin for free.

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Accessibility Tips

Accessibility in web design ensures that your website is usable by everyone, including people with disabilities. This is not just a moral and legal obligation but also a practical one—an accessible website reaches a broader audience and can improve SEO rankings. Familiarize yourself with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to understand the standards you should aim for.

Incorporating Accessibility into Prototypes

Using UXPin, you can integrate accessibility features directly into your prototypes. Here’s how:

• Text Readability: Ensure that text on your website meets WCAG guidelines for contrast ratios. UXPin allows you to experiment with different font sizes, colors, and typographic choices to find the perfect balance.
• Keyboard Navigation: Test your prototype for keyboard accessibility by simulating how users navigate through your site without a mouse. Ensure that all interactive elements are easily accessible.
• ARIA Roles and Labels: Add ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) roles and labels in UXPin to make sure assistive technologies can interpret your site’s elements correctly.

Testing for Accessibility Early

Testing for accessibility should not be an afterthought. Use UXPin’s built-in features to simulate screen readers and test your design with different assistive technologies. Conduct usability testing with diverse user groups to gather feedback and make necessary adjustments early in the design process.

Grid Design Tips

Grids are the backbone of any well-structured website, providing a framework that guides the placement of elements in a consistent and aesthetically pleasing way. Understanding the types of grids—fixed, fluid, and responsive—will help you decide which is best for your project.

Implementing Grids in UXPin

Setting up a grid system in UXPin is straightforward:

• Responsive Grids: Create and save grid layouts to adjust your design to different screen sizes.
• Visual Harmony: Maintain visual balance by aligning text, images, and other elements to your grid, ensuring a clean and organized layout.

Best Practices for Grid Usage

Consistency is key when applying grids. Ensure that your grid system is uniformly applied across all pages. This not only helps in maintaining a cohesive design but also makes the site more intuitive for users.

Consistency Tips

Consistency in design builds trust and reduces cognitive load for users. When elements behave predictably, users can navigate your site with ease, leading to a better overall experience.

Ensuring Visual and Functional Consistency

UXPin’s components and design libraries are invaluable for maintaining consistency:

• Color Schemes and Typography: Develop a consistent color scheme and typographic hierarchy that is applied across all pages.
• Code-Backed Components: Try React or other code-backed UI components like buttons, forms, and navigation bars to ensure a uniform look and feel.

Maintaining Consistency Across Teams

Collaboration is easier when everyone is on the same page. UXPin allows teams to share libraries and components, ensuring that everyone follows the same design guidelines. Version control features in UXPin help keep track of changes and ensure consistency throughout the design process.

Content Design Tips

Content design is the practice of planning, creating, and organizing content to ensure it effectively communicates with users and supports their needs. It involves crafting clear, concise, and accessible text, visuals, and multimedia elements that guide users toward completing specific tasks or finding necessary information.

Incorporating Content Design in UXPin’s Prototypes

UXPin allows you to seamlessly integrate content design into your prototypes, ensuring that your content is user-focused from the early stages of development. Here’s how to incorporate content design in UXPin:

• Content Structure: Use UXPin to prototype various content layouts, experimenting with different text structures, such as short paragraphs, bullet points, and subheadings. This helps you find the most readable and user-friendly format.
• Visual Hierarchy: Implement visual hierarchy by adjusting font sizes, weights, and colors to emphasize important content. UXPin’s design tools let you create prototypes that prioritize content based on user needs.
• Interactive Elements: Incorporate interactive content elements like buttons, forms, and links directly into your prototypes. UXPin allows you to test how these elements interact with content, ensuring a cohesive user experience.
• Content Accessibility: Use UXPin to prototype accessible content by ensuring proper color contrast, adding alt text for images, and designing layouts that work well with screen readers. This ensures that your content is accessible to all users.

Best Practices for Content Design

To create effective content that resonates with users, follow these best practices:

• Clarity and Conciseness: Keep content clear and to the point. Avoid jargon and complex language. Users should be able to understand the message quickly and easily.
• User-Centered Content: Always design content with the user in mind. Consider what information users need at each stage of their journey and how they prefer to consume it.
• Consistency: Maintain a consistent tone, style, and format across all content. This not only builds trust but also ensures that users can easily navigate and understand your site.
• Engaging Visuals: Complement text with relevant visuals that enhance understanding. Use images, infographics, and videos that are directly related to the content to maintain user engagement.
• Responsive Design: Ensure content is optimized for all devices, especially mobile. Test your content on various screen sizes in UXPin to ensure it is readable and visually appealing across platforms.
• Continuous Testing and Iteration: Regularly test your content with real users and iterate based on feedback. UXPin’s prototyping features make it easy to update content and test different versions to find what works best.

By integrating these practices into your design process, you can create content that is not only informative but also engaging and accessible, providing a superior user experience across all platforms.

Performance Tips

Taking care of website’s performance is one of the most important website best practices these days. A slow-loading website can lead to high bounce rates and poor user experience, which ultimately affects your site’s success. As a designer using UXPin, you can take several steps to ensure your website prototypes are optimized for speed from the ground up.

Optimizing Image Sizes and Formats

Images are often the largest files on a webpage, making them a primary target for optimization:

• Choose the Right Format: Use the appropriate image format based on the content. For instance, use JPEGs for photographs, PNGs for images with transparency, and SVGs for icons and logos. WebP is also an excellent option for smaller file sizes with good quality.
• Compress Images: Before uploading images to UXPin, use tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim to reduce file sizes without sacrificing quality.
• Responsive Images: Use UXPin to design responsive images that adjust based on the user’s screen size. Implementing srcset attributes ensures that the browser loads the correct image size for each device, reducing unnecessary data load.

Reducing File Sizes with Efficient Use of Assets

Every asset on a page—whether it’s CSS, JavaScript, or images—contributes to the load time:

• Minimize and Combine Files: Use tools that combine and minify CSS and JavaScript files to reduce the number of HTTP requests and overall file sizes.
• Reuse Components: Design reusable components in UXPin to avoid creating multiple versions of the same element, which can bloat file sizes. A single well-designed component can be reused across different pages, keeping your design lean.
• Lazy Loading: Implement lazy loading for images and videos, where media is only loaded when it comes into view. This technique helps reduce initial load time and saves bandwidth for users who may not scroll through the entire page.

Optimizing Typography and Fonts

Fonts can significantly impact website performance if not handled properly:

• Choose System Fonts: Whenever possible, use system fonts that don’t require additional downloads. This ensures faster rendering and better performance.
• Limit Web Fonts: If you’re using custom web fonts, limit the number of font families and weights to reduce the amount of data that needs to be downloaded. Use font-display: swap; to improve perceived performance by showing fallback fonts until the custom fonts are fully loaded.
• Font File Compression: Ensure that font files are compressed (e.g., using WOFF2 format) to reduce their size.

Design System Tips

Another website best practices is designing a website based on a design system. A design system is a collection of reusable components and guidelines that standardize your design process. It helps scale your design efforts across different projects, ensuring consistency and efficiency.

Building a Design System in UXPin

UXPin is an excellent tool for creating and managing design systems:

• Component Libraries: Create and maintain a library of reusable components that can be easily updated and shared across projects.
• Integration with Git or Storybook: UXPin’s integration with Git or Storybook allows for seamless updates and management of your design system.

Scaling and Evolving Your Design System

As your design needs evolve, so should your design system. Regularly review and update your design system to incorporate new trends, technologies, and feedback from users. This ensures that your design system remains relevant and effective.

Implement Website Best Practices Now

By following these best practices for accessibility, grid design, consistency, performance, and design systems, you can create websites that are not only visually appealing but also user-friendly and inclusive. UXPin provides all the tools you need to implement these practices efficiently, from the earliest stages of prototyping to the final product.

Remember, the key to a successful website is not just in how it looks but in how it works for all users. Start applying these best practices in your next UXPin project and take your web design to the next level. Try UXPin for free.

The post Website Best Practices – Basic Tips for Better Web appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

User flows are integral to the UX design process. These valuable UX artifacts help product teams visualize flows and processes from users’ perspectives to reduce errors and enhance the user experience.

This article takes a deep dive into user flows, their importance, the principles that guide them, the visual representations, and the various types of flows.

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What is User Flow in UX?

A user flow is a graphic visualization representing the sequence of steps, decisions, and actions users perform while navigating a digital product, app, or website.

Product teams typically focus on one task or goal at a time, such as an onboarding sequence or eCommerce checkout. Designers build prototypes of these user flows to test the user experience with usability participants and stakeholders, iterating on feedback until they have a product ready for development.

Importance of User Flows in UX Design

User flows help product teams visualize the paths users take through an application or website to complete a specific task or achieve a goal. This visualization enables teams to identify friction points and opportunities within user flows and design solutions to fix them. 

Additionally, designers can look at optimizing flows to create more efficient and satisfying user experiences.

Benefits of a well-designed UX flows

A well-designed user flow offers many important benefits for users and the organization:

• Improves usability: optimized user flows feel intuitive, simplifying decision-making while reducing cognitive load, resulting in a user-friendly experience where users don’t get lost or frustrated. 
• Better retention: when a digital product meets user needs, allowing them to complete tasks and achieve goals, they’re more likely to keep using it and share their positive experience.
• Higher conversions: streamlining user flows removes roadblocks and obstacles for tasks that generate revenue for the business, like signups, purchases, subscriptions, etc.
• Reduce costs: optimized user flows remove redundant screens and features, resulting in many cost-savings, including design, development, maintenance, server requests, API usage, etc.
• Improved accessibility: design teams can visualize and optimize user flows to meet accessibility requirements, making user interfaces more inclusive while increasing the product’s user base.
• Data-driven design decisions: analyzing user flows provides valuable insights into user behavior and preferences, allowing designers to make informed decisions based on actual data rather than assumptions. Data-driven design decisions deliver products and experiences that meet user needs, making them more intuitive, enjoyable, and user-friendly.

UX Principles of Effective User Flows

Successful user flows incorporate UX principles that guide design concepts and decision-making. Here are some fundamental UX principles to consider when designing user flows:

Clarity and simplicity

Your user flows must be easy to understand and navigate. Avoid complex designs or features that people must learn before using them. Navigation and interaction elements must be consistent, predictable, and straightforward. When you force people to overthink a process or interaction, they’ll abandon it for an easier option, even at a higher cost.

Consistency

Maintain a consistent design language, layout, patterns, and interaction design throughout your product and user flows. Design consistency increases familiarity resulting in a more intuitive, user-friendly experience.

Flexibility

Design flows that cater to different needs, preferences, and abilities by offering multiple ways to complete tasks–for example, providing alternate paths, shortcuts, or input methods.

Feedback and communication

UI feedback guides users and manages expectations as they navigate user flows–for example, progress indicators, visual cues, status information, messages (success, error, etc.), and alerts. This communication informs users of the system status, whether their action was successful, and what to do next.

Anticipate user needs

Designers can utilize user research to predict and address user needs to prevent obstacles and roadblocks. Adding helpful tips and error prevention features enables users to solve problems faster for more efficient and streamlined flows.

Minimize steps

Designers can streamline user flows by eliminating unnecessary steps, actions, and decision points. Minimizing these points of friction increases efficiency while reducing errors and drop-offs.

Focus on user goals

Would you rather use a product that helps you achieve your objectives efficiently or one inundating you with business value proposals and other irrelevant content? Design user flows that prioritize the user’s goals and desired outcomes with features that enhance efficiency and success.

Accessibility and inclusivity

Ensure that users with diverse abilities, preferences, and devices can use your products, navigate flows, and complete tasks. Designers must consider how factors like font size, color contrasts, keyboard navigation, language, and screen-reader compatibility impact user experiences. Read more about accessibility here: Web Design Accessibility Checklist.

Types of User Flow Visualizations

Before we explore the user flow types, it’s important to explain the visualizations design teams use to map these journeys. 

Flowcharts

User flowcharts (user flow diagrams) are a diagramming technique used across many industries to represent the information flow, decision points, and user actions. These visualizations use symbols, arrows, and other shapes to depict elements, processes, decisions, and data input/output.

Wireflows

Wireflows combine wireframes and flowcharts to provide a detailed view of a user’s journey through an interface. These visualizations describe each screen’s layout as well as how users and information flow between them. 

Wireflows help visualize user interactions with specific elements and understand the context of these interactions. Designers and engineers can use these wireflows to visualize information architecture and navigation in greater detail.

Screen-flows

Screen-flows are annotated screenshots or mockups illustrating a user’s path through a product. These high-fidelity versions of wire-flows allow designers and stakeholders to visualize user flows in greater detail with screens that accurately represent the final product.

Storyboarding

Designers use storyboarding similarly to the film industry, using a series of illustrations, images, or screens to show a user’s journey. Storyboarding is helpful as it allows design teams to zoom out from the user flow and visualize a user’s environment and circumstances.

For example, if you’re designing an app for food delivery drivers, you’ll need to visualize the user flow from multiple perspectives:

• Walking
• Cycling
• Scooter/motorbike
• Car
• Van

Storyboard combined with user flows helps design teams empathize with users better to deliver more relevant solutions.

Types of User Flows

Here are seven common user flow categories. Design teams can use the techniques and mediums above to visualize these user flows.

Task flows

Task flows represent the steps users must follow to complete a specific task. These flows focus on sequential user actions and decision points, often visualized using a flowchart. Task flows are particularly helpful for identifying pain points and optimizing user journeys.

Onboarding flows

Onboarding flows allow product teams to visualize and design the product’s initial setup and introduction. These flows incorporate account creation, tutorials, feature highlights, and personalization options to familiarize users and get them started quickly.

Conversion flows

Conversion flows are crucial for generating revenue and growth. These flows represent the steps toward a desired action or outcome–for example, newsletter signups, purchases, plan upgrades, etc. Designers typically aim to minimize friction and distractions for these flows to maximize conversion rates, upsells, and other revenue-generating activities.

Navigation flows

Navigation flows outline the structure and architecture of a digital product. These visualizations help design teams understand how users move between screens, sections, and features. They can use these insights to prioritize features and content so users can find things faster and complete tasks more efficiently.

Account management flows

Users often need to update account information like addresses, passwords, billing details, app preferences, subscriptions, etc. Account management flows allow designers to simplify these administrative experiences so users can return to more important tasks.

Error flows

Error flows allow design teams to simulate issues and design solutions to fix them. They can use these insights to improve the user flow and eliminate errors from occurring or create appropriate feedback for users to correct problems.

Offboarding flows

Offboarding flows guide users through discontinuing a product or service, like canceling a subscription or deleting their account. These flows must be as efficient as onboarding to minimize frustration, increasing the chances of winning back customers.

How to Create a User Flow in 8 Steps

Here is a step-by-step framework for creating user flows.

Define the goal and entry points

Identify the task or goal you want to analyze–this could be one of the above user flows or something specific to your product. This goal will help determine the scope and focus of your user flow and which visualization is most appropriate.

If you are designing a website user experience, another good practice before creating your flows is to determine and map out where your users are coming from. Based on Morgan Brown’s advice in Stop Designing Pages and Start Designing Flows, we’d recommend you consider the following sources for your web or mobile prototype:

• Direct traffic
• Organic search
• Paid advertising
• Social media
• Referral sites
• Email

Identify personas

Your product may have many user personas. Determine which of these is most relevant to the user flow. You may assess the user flow for multiple personas to ensure it meets everyone’s needs and expectations.

For templates and helpful tips on creating personas, check out the chapter “Analyzing Users Before Diving Into Design” in the free ebook The Guide to UX Design Process & Documentation.

List user actions and decision points

Break down the user journey into a list of individual actions and decision points. Consider each step a user must take to achieve goals and their choices. For example, a signup screen might have several options, including email signup and multiple social logins. Each option will have a different path to completing the signup process.

Map the flow

Start by sketching your flows on paper or in a digital tool to iterate on many ideas fast. This should be a collaborative effort where team members share ideas and suggestions.

Once you have a basic outline, you can create your user flow in a design tool. UXPin offers five built-in design libraries, one of which is aptly named User Flows. UXPin’s User Flows library includes everything teams need to create and share user journeys, including:

• Flow lines for every conceivable direction
• Action blocks
• Icon blocks
• Labels
• Devices (mobile, tablet, desktop)
• Gestures

Here are a couple techniques for outlining your flow.

Writing-first Approach to Outlining a Flow

You can use the writing-first approach, which Jessica Downey writes about in her article Jumpstarting Your App Conception Without Sketching UI. This outlining method helps flesh out ideas and build a “common understanding” of each page of your app or site.

Let’s create one for, say, a banking app. The scenario: someone wants to turn on auto deposit. Note in the outline below, content in [brackets] represents action buttons/links.

Step 1: Would you like to set up auto deposit?

[Set auto-deposit]

Step 2: Select Deposit Frequency

[Once per month][Twice per month]

[Every other week][Every week]

Step 3: Deposit Once per Month

[Select calendar day]

Step 4: Set Amount

Display amount field

[Set auto-deposit]

Shorthand Approach to Outlining a Flow

You can also try  a shorthand approach used by Ryan Singer at Basecamp. Ryan’s approach treats flows as ongoing conversations.

For our banking app example above, we can create a shorthand for Steps 2 and 3 that looks something like this:

To see how Singer demonstrates shorthand for Basecamp and how he can illustrates complex flows with this outlining process, check out A Shorthand for Designing UI Flows.

Add screens

If you’re designing a wireflow or screen-flow, you can add relevant wireframes, mockups, and screenshots depending on the level of fidelity you need for your user flow.

Include system feedback

Add system feedback and responses such as error messages, success notifications, or loading indicators. This detail will help designers and engineers create the appropriate UI components and content to guide users.

Review and iterate

Analyze the user flow for potential improvements, pain points, or friction. Share the visualizations with team members and stakeholders for feedback and iterate until you have a flow ready for prototyping.

Prototype and test

Create a prototype of your user flow in a design tool. UXPin’s built-in design libraries (iOS, Material Design, Bootstrap, and Foundation) provide designers with UI components and patterns for web and native applications. Drag and drop UI elements from the Design Libraries panel to create high-fidelity mockups you can test in the browser or use UXPin Mirror for mobile app testing.

Create fully interactive prototypes using advanced UXPin features to achieve results that accurately replicate the final product:

• States: allow designers to create multiple states for a single UI element and design complex interactive components like accordions, carousels, steppers, and more.
• Variables: capture data from user inputs and create personalized, dynamic user experiences–like a welcome message using data from the name field in a signup form.
• Expressions: Javascript-like functions to create complex components and advanced functionality–no code required!
• Conditional Interactions: create if-then and if-else conditions based on user interactions to create dynamic prototypes with multiple outcomes to accurately replicate the final product experience.

Enhance your user flows with high-quality prototyping and testing from UXPin. Start designing the user experiences your customers deserve with the world’s most advanced design tool. Sign up for a free trial.

The post User Flows – How to Create Perfect User Flows for Smooth UX appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

ReactJS is the most popular front-end library in the world. The library’s component-based methodology allows the development team to build and reuse components throughout a project, resulting in less programming from scratch and faster development.

We’ve put together 15 ReactJS websites and web apps to demonstrate what’s possible with this versatile framework. We also showcase tools product developers use to achieve specific outcomes or optimize ReactJS website performance.

Use ReactJS throughout the product development process–from early-stage prototyping to final front-end development. UXPin Merge is a revolutionary design technology that allows you to bring React-based components to a design tool. Learn more about Merge.

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What Can You Build With ReactJS?

React developers use the framework for everything from simple landing pages and websites to complex games, social networking platforms, and enterprise applications. React’s flexibility and versatility make it the preferred choice for many projects, including responsive websites and cross-platform apps.

The component-based web development approach makes it easy for developers to build user interfaces and move elements around to make changes and iterate faster than using a standard HTML, CSS, and Javascript workflow.

React is written in Javascript, the most widely used programming language, so it’s relatively easy to learn and boasts one of the biggest developer communities in the world.

When you should and shouldn’t use React

React works best for single-page applications and complex web-based projects–for example, social media platforms, news publications, and SaaS products. Those sites handle a lot of data and interactions.

Don’t use React for native apps and small websites that don’t handle much data. Native applications and small websites are instances where you might want to choose a different front-end technology. For example, React Native and Flutter are better for native iOS and Android apps. 

15 Examples of ReactJS Websites

We’ve included a mix of enterprises, startups, SaaS companies, small businesses, and others that use React in their tech stack. This list demonstrates React’s versatility for websites and web applications built using the powerful Javascript library.

Facebook

Facebook is the most famous React website example because parent company Meta developed the front-end library in 2012 and still maintains it as an open-source project.

Meta initially used React for the Facebook newsfeed but now uses the library across its product ecosystem. React was a game changer for Facebook because when someone liked a post, only the component changed rather than a full page reload, resulting in significantly better performance and fewer resources.

Meta uses React Native–the mobile version of React–for Facebook, Facebook Ads Manager, and Oculus’ iOS and Android apps.

Repeat

SaaS platform Repeat uses NextJS for its website and web application. NextJS allows you to create fullstack web applications, extending what’s possible with “vanilla React.”

Repeat’s homepage is full of motion and immersive animations made possible by NextJS’s powerful features, like rending, routing, and asset optimization.

PayPal

PayPal uses a React version of Microsoft’s Fluent Design for its 60+ internal products. These products include a lot of dashboards and data visualizations necessary for daily operations.

PayPal also uses UXPin Merge, allowing the company’s design teams to prototype and test using React components. This code-to-design workflow bridges the gap between design and development, so designers and software engineers work with the same component library.

Netflix

Netflix uses React and React Redux for state management. According to the official Netflix Technology Blog, “React enabled us to build JavaScript UI code that can be executed in both server (e.g., Node.js) and client contexts.”

Performance is crucial for Netflix as users expect HD videos to load fast. Developers use the virtual DOM to reduce latency from live DOM manipulation. 

Netflix also uses React’s Component and Mixin APIs to “create reusable views, share common functionality, and patterns to facilitate feature extension.” This functionality enables Netflix to A/B test components to determine the best solutions during user testing.

Product Hunt

Product Hunt is another React/NextJS user. Like Facebook, Product Hunt must handle microinteractions for each post, including upvotes and comments.

Puma Campaigns

Gatsby is a front-end technology built on React which makes it possible to develop high-performing websites and landing pages. Puma uses Gatsby for its campaign landing pages, including this one for the Velocity running shoes.

Gatsby allows devs to build React websites and applications using popular CMS platforms like WordPress, Netlify, Drupal, and Contentful, to name a few, for content management. This framework gives developers the versatility of React with the convenience of their content team’s preferred CMS.

SEO is a big problem for single-page application frameworks like React and Angular. Gatsby helps to solve this problem with its SEO Component, which enables search engines to index the website’s content and individual pages.

Puma also uses React Native for its iOS and Android applications.

TeamPassword

Password-management startup TeamPassword uses a customized version of the MUI design system–an open-source React component library developed using Material Design used by many B2B enterprise and SaaS providers.

TeamPassword’s developers chose React as it was easier to maintain than their old framework. The 2-person engineering team also uses UXPin Merge, which allows them to import their React library from its private repository into UXPin’s design editor for prototyping and testing.

BBC

The British Broadcasting Association (BBC) was an early adopter of React and even hosted a workshop in 2015 introducing people to the front-end library and its capabilities.

In 2022, with the help of Vercel, the BBC rebuilt its website using NextJS and Vercel. The rebuild resulted in significant performance benefits, with HMR (Hot Module Replacement) reduced from 1.3s to 131ms–a staggering achievement for a website as large and complex as the BBC.

Airbnb

Airbnb uses React for some of its product ecosystems, including Airbnb.io, its open-source project famous for developing Lottie–an open-source animation tool for Android, iOS, and React Native mobile applications.

Airbnb.io is a website developed using Gatsby featuring the company’s blog posts and details about its open-source projects with links to the GitHub repos.

Cloudflare

Cloudflare migrated from Backbone and Marionette to React and Redux in 2015 to develop its cf-ui design system. The multi-brand design system serves Cloudflare’s internal and external websites and products.

Since Cloudflare had to rebuild its component library, the team focused on accessibility, creating three open-source projects in the process: 

• react-modal2,
• a11y-focus-store,
• a11y-focus-scope.

UberEATS

Uber uses React Native for its UberEATS web-based restaurant dashboard. The team needed to develop a web application restaurants could access via a tablet and decided to use React Native. The single-page web application communicates with three parties in the UberEATS marketplace and connects to restaurant receipt printers.

Uber also developed Base Web, an open-source design system for building ReactJS websites and web apps. The highly customizable design system boasts an extensive UI component library with theming capabilities.

Related content: Learn about design operations at Uber.

Shopify

Shopify uses React for its website and web application and React Native for its mobile applications. Developers can build React apps for Shopify using its famous Polaris Design System.

Skyscanner

Skyscanner is one of the most widely used travel websites, with over 40 million monthly visits. The website connects to hundreds of airlines and thousands of hotels to show users trip data in seconds.

Skyscanner uses React and React Native for its website and product ecosystem. The company’s Backpack design system features an extensive UI library with web and native components.

Pinterest

Pinterest is another social media platform using React. The company’s Gestalt design system features components for its React web app and React Native mobile applications (iOS and Android).

Pinterest is another example where React provides massive performance benefits for single-page applications. The website’s famous infinite scroll uses lazy loading to display six columns of images and video with impressive speed.

Cuckoo

Cuckoo is a UK-based broadband supplier that uses React and NextJS for its website. The website has a fair amount of animations, including a large revolving sequence in the hero. These animations do not impact the website’s performance, a product of using NextJS.

Create React Website UI Fast

Build UI design 8.6x faster with UXPin Merge – a drag-and-drop UI builder that makes you use coded React components to create beautiful and fully interactive layouts fast. Then, copy the code off your design directly to Stackblitz or export it to any other dev environment. Start your free trial to test AI Component Assistant, pre-built layouts, and open-source libraries. Discover UXPin Merge.

The post 15 Examples of Reactjs Websites appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Tables are essential components for many enterprise UX projects. UX designers must find the best UX table design solution to visualize and sort data according to user needs.

This article explores table UX design best practices with examples to solve common content and usability issues. We also provide links to resources to help research specific topics further.

Key takeaways:

• Data table UX design involves organizing and presenting data in a way that allows users to easily find, understand, and interact with information.
• Effective data table design involves layout selection, data organization, legibility, and user task functionality.
• Data table designers should prioritize readability, create visual hierarchy, ensure responsiveness, order columns sensibly, and focus on accessibility for a better user experience.

Data table UX design and prototyping are challenging for designers using image-based design tools. These tools lack features to create basic table functionality like sorting, search, scrolling, actions, etc. 

With UXPin Merge, designers can sync a fully functioning data table or use a component library like MUI to design, prototype, and create their own table using live components. Try UXPin Merge for free.

Design UI with code-backed components.

Use the same components in design as in development. Keep UI consistency at scale.

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Data Table UI Design

First, let’s break down the data table anatomy and how these elements fit together so users can visualize information.

• Table Header: The labels for each column in the data table
• Rows: Each entry from the database
• Toolbar: Tools to work with the data (search, edit, delete, settings, etc.)
• Pagination: A UI pattern for displaying multiple pages of data
• Row checkbox: Used to select one or more rows to complete tasks, i.e., delete, copy, process, etc.
• Sorting: Allows users to sort a specific column, i.e., ascending or descending
• Horizontal rule: A horizontal line (the <hr> HTML element) separating each row

What Makes a Good Data Table?

There are four primary ingredients to designing good data tables:

1. Use the correct data table UI for the content you want to display.
2. Prioritize table layout and content correctly.
3. Make content legible.
4. The data table provides users with the functionality to complete tasks.

First and foremost, your table must be sufficient to display all the data users need. UX designers must also prioritize data correctly, with the most crucial information starting from the left.

A good data table has a clear header and description, so users know what they’re viewing. Designers must also use legible typography and adequate spacing between columns and rows to make it easy for users to read and absorb content.

Lastly (and most importantly), your data table must be user-friendly. It must solve users’ needs and be intuitive to use. There should be little or no learning curve, so users can focus on analyzing data rather than learning how to use the data table. 

How to Design User-Friendly Data Tables?

Here are some best practices for designing user-friendly data tables. 

Data Table Readability

Readability is crucial for data table UX. Designers must assess several elements to make data tables readable, including:

• Reduce visual noise: Only display content and UI elements necessary for users to read and manipulate data.
• Use legible fonts: The data table’s typeface, sizing, white space, and letter spacing must be adequate for users to read content–even if this means using a different font from the rest of your application.
• Create separation: Padding, spacing, alignment, and lines can help create separation so users can differentiate and absorb data easily.
• Consistency: Using fonts, spacing, sizing, etc., creates consistency and familiarity so users can scan tables faster to find what they need.
• Fixed headers: Keeps headers visible even when users scroll so they always have context.

Create Visual Hierarchy

Linked to readability is creating a visual hierarchy–where designers use typography, sizing, spacing, and other elements to differentiate data and make tables scannable.

• Use bold and slightly larger font sizes for column and row headers.
• Use shading to differentiate between headers and table content.
• “Zebra stripes” help create divisions between rows, making them easier to read.
• Use a contrasting color for links, so users know what content is clickable.

Data Tables Must be Responsive

UX designers must understand how users use these tables while completing day-to-day tasks to create a consistent and cohesive user experience across the platforms and products.

Data tables must be responsive so users can analyze data anywhere in the business. The sales team might want to access the data from their mobile device on the go, while warehouse employees primarily use tablets.

Order Columns According to Data Relevance

An article from the NN Group recommends, “The default order of the columns should reflect the importance of the data to the user and related columns should be adjacent.”

UX designers must arrange and group columns according to their relevance. For example, location details like address, city, country, and zip code must be together. Placing these apart would create more work for users as they scroll or scan the table to compare columns.

Data Table Accessibility

WebAIM offers several tips for Creating Accessible Tables, including:

• Table Captions: An HTML element <caption> placed after the opening table element provides context for screen readers. While HTML falls on engineers, UX designers must provide the appropriate caption description based on user research and testing.
• Identify Row and Column Headers: UX designers must use appropriate row and column headers so screen readers can identify content correctly.
• Associate the Data Cells with the Appropriate Headers: The scope attribute tells screen readers whether a header belongs to a row or column. For example, <th scope=”col”>Name</th> and <th scope=”row”>Jackie</th>. The scope attribute makes it easy for screen readers to jump around the table like a user would scanning it visually.
• Use Proportional Sizing, Rather than Absolute Sizing: Using percentages rather than fixed pixel cell sizing allows tables to automatically adjust to a screen’s dimensions, making it easier to read for visually impaired users.

More resources for data table accessibility:

• Creating Accessible Tables by WebAIM
• Accessible Tables by the University of Minnesota
• Tables Tutorial by Web Accessibility Initiative

Atomic Design for Complex Data Tables

Smashing Magazine outlines an atomic design approach to designing complex data tables. Atomic design is a technique for designing from the smallest UI element and progressively building to create more complex components, patterns, and entire user interfaces.

Smashing Magazine breaks down data tables UX using this methodology as follows:

• Atoms: Fonts, colors, icons
• Molecules: Cells, headers, and accessories
• Organisms: Rows, columns, pagination, toolbar
• Templates: The entire table

6 Great Tables UX Best Practices in Examples

Here are six examples of tables UX best practices and why they work for users.

Horizontal Scrolling for Large Datasets

Large datasets require horizontal scrolling to accommodate many columns. UX designers must decide which content is most important to users to prioritize what is always visible and what users must scroll to view.

This preference may change across an organization, so allowing users to personalize what’s visible by rearranging the columns is crucial for creating a good user experience.

It’s advisable to place identifiers in the first column and fix it so users always have a reference as they scroll. Allowing users to fix multiple columns can help when comparing different data.

Expandable Rows and Columns

Expandable or resizable columns serve two purposes for users:

1. Allow users to view cells with exessive content
2. Allow users to minimize cell widths for the content they deem less important

UX designers might also consider making rows and columns “hideable” to reduce visual noise and make it easier to read the content that matters most for the task at hand.

Expandable rows allow UX designers to include detailed information only visible when users need it. This example from CodePen shows a series of job cards with a brief description and status. Users can open the accordion to display additional notes and job costs.

Row Focus Data Table

This hover effect allows users to focus on a single row at a time. If you have multiple columns and data points, this effect enables users to highlight a row, making it easier to read. 

Here’s a real-world example of this hover effect. We built a pricing table with React-Bootstrap components. To compare features between the plans, the user can hover over the feature and quickly see what feature they are comparing. Open the preview of this UXPin’s example: Bootstrap Pricing Example.

The same effect is used in our Ant Design table. The hover effect makes the user focus on the employee they want to check. See this effect live at: Ant Design Dashboard Example.

UX designers could also blur the other rows, making picking out a single row easier. 

In a similar example, this data table highlights a specific cell with a raised hover effect.

Infinite Scroll Data Table

Infinite scroll is helpful for tables with lots of data. It’s an excellent alternative to pagination, where instead of having to click, users only have to scroll to see more content.

Column Sorting

Column sorting is essential for users to reorder data according to their preferences. For example, a warehouse manager can sort orders from the earliest first to monitor progress and address issues early. They can also sort by shipping preference and ensure that same-day orders are on track to leave before the deadline.

Inline Filters

Data table filters help users narrow their preferences to only display relevant entries. This data table example allows users to apply multiple filters to find exactly what they need. These inline filters are especially helpful for large datasets where users can eliminate irrelevant content.

How to design a table in UXPin

UXPin is an advanced prototyping tool for building interactive, high-fidelity prototypes. Instead of creating multiple static artboards to simulate one interaction, UXPin enables designers to utilize States, Variables, and Conditions to design functional components using just one artboard (‘Page’).

To insert a table in UXPin, click on the “Search All Assets” search icon (command + F / Ctrl + F), type “table” into the input field, and then click on “Table” under the “Components” heading.

Importing data into a table component

To populate the Table Component with real data, connect it to an external data source such as a JSON file, CSV file, or Google Sheet. It’s best to do this before styling the table to get a better idea of the content that you’ll be designing for.

First, you’ll need to ensure that the Layer names match that of the JSON/CSV/Google Sheet table headers. See the image below to understand how this would work with a Google Sheet.

To sync the data, select the Layers that you’d like to populate, click on the “Fill with Data” icon in the horizontal toolbar, navigate to “JSON / CSV / Sheets”, and then either click on “Browse File…” (to import data from a local JSON or CSV file) or paste a URL to an external JSON, CSV, or published-as-CSV Google Sheets file into the “Import from URL” input field.

After that, the data will appear in the Table Component (if the structure matches up correctly).

Adding sorting functionality to a table component

It’s also possible to make the data sortable using States and Interactions.

First, select all of the Layers that would be different in the new State (which in this case would be all of the Text Layers from a specific column). After that, click on the “Add state” (command + shift + S / ctrl + shift + S) icon in the horizontal toolbar and then give the new State a name using the “Set state” input field.

Next, reorder the table cells (e.g. numerically, alphabetically, or however you want). The best way to do this is by creating an alternative external data source (Google Sheets would be best in this case) and then repeating the previous steps to pull in the new data.

After that, switch back to the original State (which should be called “Base” by default).

Finally, select the relevant table header, click on the “New Interaction” icon (“+”) in the “Properties” panel, choose “Set State”, choose the relevant element under “Element”, and then choose the State that you created under “Set state” (plus any additional settings that you’d like to specify).

Styling the table component

Next, you’ll want to style the Component. It’s already structured and styled in a way that commits to the UX design best practices outlined in this article, however, you can still use the Properties panel to adapt it to your design’s visual aesthetic.

If you’re using Design Systems in UXPin, you can speed up this step by reusing your Design System’s Color Styles and Text Styles. To do this, select the Layer that you’d like to style, navigate to your UXPin Design System Library by clicking on the “Design System Libraries” icon (⌥ + 2/ alt + 2), and then selecting the Style you’d like to apply.

Don’t design from scratch. Use open-source components.

A better way is: import an open-source React components to UXPin or use one of built-in libraries. In UXPin Merge, you can find MUI, Ant design, and Bootstrap data table components. Just take them out of the library and drop them on the canvas.

Then, just import your data, adjust component properties to match your needs, and you’re ready to show your design to stakeholders. It’s done! Since the table is backed with code, you can copy it directly to your development environment like StackBlitz.

Traditionally, UX designers would need programming skills or have to rely on engineers using HTML, CSS, and Javascript to build functioning data tables. Merge puts UX designers in control, and they don’t need to write a single line of code to use components. They can also make changes and iterate without input from engineering teams. Try UXPin Merge for free.

The post Table UX Best Practices – What Makes a Good Data Table? appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Mobile-first design is an approach to designing UIs that prioritizes small-screen experience. Given that different devices need different layouts based on their screen size and orientation, it makes sense to design multiple arrangements for your users. This article will show you how to create a mobile-first prototype of a product and transform it into tablet and desktop screens.

Make your own responsive or adaptive variations right in UXPin. Create a mobile-first design and scale it up for tablet and desktop views in UXPin – an advanced prototyping tool. Go ahead and create a free trial and follow along below.

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What is Mobile-First Approach?

The mobile-first approach is designing for the smallest screen and working your way up. It is one of the best strategies to create either a responsive or adaptive design.

• The mobile-first approach is a tenet of progressive enhancement. It is the ideology that mobile design, as the hardest, should be done first. Once the mobile design questions are answered, designing for other devices will be easier. What it boils down to is that, the smallest of the designs will have only the essential features, so right away you have designed the heart of your UX.
• The opposite approach is graceful degradation. This incorporates all of the complexities right from the start, then strips them away later for smaller devices. The problem with graceful degradation is that when you build the all-inclusive design right from the start, the core and supplementary elements merge and become harder to distinguish and separate. The entire philosophy runs the risk of treating mobile design as more of an afterthought since you’re “cutting down” the experience.

We, along with others, strongly recommend progressive enhancement with a mobile-first approach. In this post, we’ll explain tips & techniques, then finish off with a hands-on lesson in which we build a hypothetical website with the mobile-first workflow.

Mobile-first design is also a response to the realities of modern user behavior and technological advancements, such as increasing mobile usage, future-proofing the design, and more. By prioritizing mobile, designers can ensure a more effective and efficient design process that meets the needs of the majority of users.

Who uses Mobile-First Design?

Mobile-first design has been adopted by numerous organizations across various industries. Here are some notable examples and case studies of companies that successfully implemented mobile-first design.

1. Google

• Context: As a leading technology company, Google recognized the shift toward mobile usage early on.
• Implementation: Google began encouraging a mobile-first approach through initiatives like AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) and mobile-first indexing.
• Outcome: Websites adopting Google’s mobile-first guidelines generally experienced improved mobile performance and search rankings. Google’s emphasis on mobile-friendly designs helped shape industry standards and practices .

2. Dropbox

• Context: Dropbox transitioned from a desktop-centric service to a mobile-friendly platform to meet user demands for accessibility on-the-go.
• Implementation: They adopted a mobile-first approach in redesigning their app, focusing on a simplified, intuitive interface for mobile users first and then scaling up for desktop users.
• Outcome: The redesign led to a more consistent user experience across devices and contributed to increased mobile engagement and user satisfaction .

3. BBC

• Context: The BBC needed to reach a global audience on various devices, particularly mobile phones, given the increasing consumption of news on the go.
• Implementation: They adopted a mobile-first strategy for their website and apps, ensuring content was accessible and optimized for mobile devices.
• Outcome: The BBC saw a significant improvement in mobile traffic and user engagement. Their responsive design approach also made it easier to manage content across multiple platforms .

4. Flipkart

• Context: Flipkart, a major e-commerce company in India, recognized the growing trend of mobile commerce in the region.
• Implementation: They adopted a mobile-first approach to design their app and website, focusing on fast load times, simplified navigation, and a user-friendly interface.
• Outcome: This approach contributed to a surge in mobile transactions, with Flipkart reporting that a large majority of their sales came from mobile devices .

5. Airbnb

• Context: Airbnb aimed to create a seamless experience for travelers and hosts who increasingly relied on mobile devices.
• Implementation: They redesigned their platform with a mobile-first mindset, prioritizing mobile usability and a responsive design that adapted to various screen sizes.
• Outcome: The mobile-first design contributed to higher user satisfaction, increased mobile bookings, and a more consistent user experience across devices .

6. Spotify

• Context: Spotify needed a mobile-friendly design to cater to users who accessed music primarily through mobile devices.
• Implementation: Spotify embraced mobile-first design principles to ensure a seamless, intuitive user interface on mobile devices before adapting it for desktop users.
• Outcome: This approach enhanced user engagement and satisfaction, with the majority of Spotify’s user base accessing the service via mobile devices .

Mobile-First means Content-First

If your site is good on a mobile device, it translates better to the rest of devices, be it tablet, desktop computer or laptop. More important, though, is that a mobile-first approach is also a content-first approach. Mobile has the most limitations, screen size, and bandwidth to name a few, and so designing within these parameters forces you to prioritize content ruthlessly.

The mobile-first approach organically leads to a design that’s more content-focused, and therefore user-focused. The heart of the site is content — that’s what the users are there for.

One caveat, though, is that mobile users sometimes require different content than desktop users. Device-specific content can be gauged by considering context — what, in a given situation and a given environment, will your user appreciate more. The best way to plan ahead for these is by creating user scenarios.

Another advantage to the mobile-first approach is that the small-screen breakpoints can better fit around the content. Again, the alternative is worse: having to squeeze an already plump design into a tiny framework. But with the mobile-first approach, the breakpoints develop naturally around content, so you don’t need any awkward edits.

What is mobile-first design framework?

We’ll describe a process that helps our designers at UXPin.

As usual, wireframing is a recommended early step to most efficiently structure your layout. When wireframing or prototyping, we use the responsive breakpoint menu to streamline the process of moving to different screen sizes, starting with the smallest.

These presets layout the proper screen size for you, so you can wireframe keeping only the content in mind.

Our procedure follows these steps:
1. Content Inventory — This is a spreadsheet or equivalent document containing all the elements you want to include. Learn more about doing an inventory of content.

Source: Maadmob

2. Visual Hierarchy — Prioritize the elements in the content inventory and determine how to display the most important elements prominently. Learn more about visual hierarchy.

3. Design with the smallest breakpoints and then scale up — Build the mobile wireframe first, then use that as the model for larger breakpoints. Expand the screen until there’s too much negative space.

4. Enlarge touch targets — Fingers are much wider than pixel-precise mouse cursors, and so need larger elements on which to tap. At the time of this writing, Apple recommends 44 pixels square for touch targets (read about mobile design for iOS and Android). Give hyperlinks plenty of space, and slightly enlarge buttons, and make sure that there’s enough space around all the interactive elements.

5. Don’t count on hovers — It almost goes without saying, but designers often rely on hover and mouseover effects in their interactive work. If you’re thinking mobile-friendly, don’t do that.

6. Think “app” — Mobile users are accustomed to the motion and a modicum of control in their experience. Think about off-canvas navigation, expandible widgets, AJAX calls, or other elements on the screen with which users can interact without refreshing the page.

7. Avoid large graphics — Landscape photos and complex graphics don’t display well when your screen is only a few inches across. Cater to mobile users with images that are readable on handheld screens.

8. Test it in a real device — Nothing beats discovering for yourself how usable a website is (or isn’t). Step away from your desktop or laptop computer and load up your product on a real phone or tablet. Tap through pages. Is the site easy to navigate? Does it load in a timely fashion? Are the text and graphics easy to read?

This is just a basic outline. For the complete guide to our process, download the free Content Wireframing for Responsive Design.

How to Create Mobile-First Design

We prepared for you a tutorial that will explain how to create a mobile-first design. Our mobile-first design tutorial has four steps.

• Step 1: Set your content priorities.
• Step 2: Design smartphone view.
• Step 3: Work on tablet view.
• Step 4: Create desktop view.

Step 1: Set your content priorities

A “mobile-first approach” differs from “desktop-first” in that we add information to each progressively larger layout rather than cut away as we design smaller. Thinking mobile doesn’t mean eliminating information. It means sorting information into primary, secondary, and tertiary content.

In this example, we know that the home page should have certain elements, like the company’s name and links to products. A blog post wouldn’t hurt either. But like we said, not everything will fit into a smartphone view, so we set priorities based on what will achieve the site’s goal: selling bikes.

1. The newest model bike

2. The best-selling bike

3. “Find your perfect ride” CTA

4. Company name and hero image

5. Navigation

6. Search

7. The second-best-selling bike

8. Gift certificates

9. A testimonial

10. The latest blog post

Based on that ordered list, we can create with the confidence that our work will solve a design problem of getting sales.

Step 2: Design smartphone view

How much do users need?

Thinking mobile-first forces us to think about what’s really important. In this smartphone view, the top-selling bike and newest model will lead directly to sales, so can we leave other items — such as gift certificates, a less-popular model, the latest news — for inside pages. The final call to action is especially prominent and easy to hit with a single tap of the finger.

Step 3: Work on tablet view

As we design for a tablet-sized view, we’re better able to add secondary information like additional products (e.g. “The Capacitor”). We can also expand the navigation at the top of the page and add content that encourages sales without actually leading to them — namely, the testimonial.

Because more options are available, this can be surprisingly more difficult than deciding what to include in a smartphone UI. The difference between secondary and tertiary elements is a blurry line, and temptation is strong to include everything.

Resist the urge. Use the ordered content list. Like smartphones, space is still limited.

Step 4: Create desktop view

Finally, the desktop view can support as much information as you decide is important. This is where the home page can accommodate all of the information you see fit, whether or not it fits. Notice some of the additional content we’ve included:

• Gift certificates
• Customer testimonials
• Blog post exploring the newest Lightning Bolt bike

Design device-appropriate layouts yourself

If you’re using UXPin, it’s fairly easy to create different layouts for these views.

1. Open a UXPin prototype.
2. Tap “Add new adaptive version” at the bottom right of the UXPin editor
3. Choose a preset size or enter your own dimensions.
   
4. You don’t have to recreate everything from scratch. Choose a size from which to copy your design’s elements.
   

And that’s it. Switch between breakpoints by tapping the different sizes above your canvas, and adjust each to suit your needs. If you’d like to try prototyping mobile-first yourself, go ahead. Start a free trial in UXPin.

The post A Hands-On Guide to Mobile-First Responsive Design appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

According to a study on health sites, 94% of first impressions are design-related. If you don’t have a defined website structure, you may lose users to the websites with well-thought-out UI.

The look and feel of a website significantly impact a user’s perception of credibility and trustworthiness. A website structure helps users to navigate sites and find the information that they are looking for. This article will explain why site structure is important for designers and how designers can create effective site structures.

Key takeaways:

• A website structure is the way a website’s content and pages are organized and interconnected.
• It involves the hierarchical arrangement of web pages and their relationships to one another.
• Website structure helps visitors and search engines navigate and understand the website’s content.
• There are four types of website architectures: hierarchical, sequential, matrix, database.

Designing a new site? Use UXPin and build website architecture and turn it into a workable prototype. It’s an end-to-end solution that simplifies UI and UX design process up to design handoff, so your developers can extract ready HTML and CSS code to kick start website development. Try UXPin right now.

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What is website structure?

Website structure is the organization and layout of the various elements and pages within a website. It is how the different pages of the site are linked with each other through internal links and their hierarchy. It is about how the information on a site is organized and presented, so that the users know how to move through the site whilst the web crawlers can read the context well.

Good website structure facilitates easy navigation for both users and crawlers. Apart from influencing user experience, it also affects the SEO ranking of a website in search engines.

Why is website structure important for designers? 

The role of a UX designer is to create a website that has a great UX that takes care of accessibility and is easy to use. A great website structure improves the usability or user-friendliness of your website by making it easy for users to find what they are looking for.

4 Types of Website Structure

There are different types of web structure that you may use in UX design. They are hierarchical, sequential, matrix, and database model. What are they about?

Hierarchical website structure

Hierarchical structure is the most common website structure is a hierarchical structure that is based on one parent page (main page) and child pages (categories and sub-categories) that flow from the main page. Think of UXPin’s page (image above).

An example of this structure is UXPin’s website. You can see a screenshot of a homepage that takes you to different child pages in its navigation bar and website footer. The user can click through pages, but they can quickly go back to homepage if needed. The website is designed to guide users through a series of steps to create an account and explore the platform’s features.

Sequential website structure

A sequential website structure is a design approach that guides users through a series of steps or a specific sequence of content to achieve a desired outcome or experience. This structure is particularly effective when you want to tell a story, present a process, or lead users through a journey with a logical progression. It ensures a focused and linear flow of information, making it easier for users to comprehend and engage with the content.

An exemplary illustration of a sequential structure can be found in Growth Design‘s UX case study pages, as featured in their newsletter. In this context, the UX case study pages are meticulously organized to present information in a step-by-step manner, allowing users to follow the evolution of a project or design process. Each step in the sequence builds upon the previous one, providing a cohesive narrative and facilitating a deeper understanding of the showcased work.

Key features of a sequential website structure, as demonstrated by Growth Design’s UX case study pages, may include:

• Clear Progression – each step or section logically follows the preceding one, creating a smooth and clear progression.
• Engaging Storytelling – the structure facilitates storytelling, enabling the presentation of a narrative that captivates users and maintains their interest.
• Visual Hierarchy – visual elements such as images, diagrams, and multimedia are strategically used to enhance the hierarchy and emphasize key points in the sequence.
• Focused User Journey – users are guided along a predefined path, reducing cognitive overload and helping them absorb information in a structured manner.
• Call-to-Action Integration – integration of relevant calls-to-action at appropriate points in the sequence to encourage user interaction or prompt specific actions.

Matrix web structure

A matrix structure in organizational terms refers to a management approach where employees report to both functional managers and project managers simultaneously. This dual reporting system allows for more flexibility and a balance between functional expertise and project-oriented goals.

n the context of a website structure, particularly common for online newspapers like the New York Times, the matrix structure can be used as a metaphor to describe a complex and multi-dimensional site architecture.

In a matrix-like website structure for online newspapers:

1. Content Categories – the structure can be represented by various content categories, such as News, Opinion, Business, Technology, and more. Each category acts as a functional area with its own set of expertise and content creators.
2. Dynamic Homepage – the homepage serves as a dynamic dashboard, showcasing a mix of the latest news across various categories. It may feature a blend of top stories, trending topics, and multimedia content, breaking away from a strictly hierarchical presentation.
3. Search Functionality – the website integrates robust search functionality. Users can enter keywords, topics, or author names, and the search results dynamically pull content from different categories and sections, reflecting the matrix-like interconnectedness.
4. Multidimensional Navigation – users navigate through the website based on their interests, and the navigation isn’t strictly hierarchical. Instead, it’s multidimensional, allowing users to explore various dimensions simultaneously. They can choose to follow a specific category or delve into cross-cutting topics seamlessly.
5. User Personalization – the matrix structure allows for user personalization, where readers can customize their news feeds based on preferences. This customization could involve selecting favorite categories, following specific authors, or receiving tailored recommendations.

While the hierarchical model provides a clear and structured path, the matrix structure in online newspapers introduces a more dynamic and interconnected approach. It accommodates the diverse interests of readers, encourages exploration across multiple dimensions, and mirrors the complexity of the news landscape in a digital era.

Database website structure

Database model, also called dynamic website structure, is the model prevalent for sites that have a lot user-generated content. It is characterized by its reliance on a database to store, manage, and retrieve content dynamically, providing flexibility, scalability, and real-time interactivity.

Unlike static websites with fixed content, the database model offers flexibility in managing and displaying content. Content can be easily added, edited, or removed through interactions with the database, allowing the website to evolve based on user contributions.

Think of sites like Pinterest. This site relies on user-generated content, such as posts, likes, comments, pins, and other contributions. The database serves as a central repository for storing and retrieving this dynamic user-generated data.

Users can interact with the site in real-time, submit content, and engage with dynamic features. Personalization features, such as customized user profiles and tailored content recommendations, are often implemented based on database-driven insights.

Given the nature of user-generated content, websites using the database model incorporate robust content moderation tools to ensure quality and adherence to community guidelines. Security measures are also implemented to protect against potential threats associated with dynamic content contributions.

How to Choose the Best Website Structure?

To create a website structure, you need to map out how you will organize the content on your site (homepage, categories, individual page, blog posts). This is why website structuring should be the first step in any web design project.

The underlying principle in great website structure is Information Architecture (IA). IA ensures that content is organized, structured, and labeled effectively and consistently.

Consider the following factors to design an information architecture of your site:

1. User journey: Since websites are created to serve users, it is important to consider how they might experience or interact with your site and their expectations of how your website should work. You can determine the journey of your users through interviewing them or doing a card sorting exercise. 
2. Content: The structure of your website will also be largely determined by the type and volume of content on your site. The structure of an e-commerce site will be different from the structure of an academic site. Read more about UX content: Content Strategy for UX.
3. Context: The context of a website is determined by its business goals, the cultural context that it exists in, and the resources available. It is important to consider this fact as you structure your website.

Key Elements of Website Structure

Let’s focus on hierarchical structure of a website. This is a structure which most content websites, such as company website, eCommerce store, common blogs, etc. are based on.

Let’s look at each of these elements and how you can optimize them during your design process.

Homepage web structure

Your homepage is the top page in your website hierarchy and the central place where users navigate your website from. Ensure that all the important pages on your website are linked from this page. The relationship between your homepage and the main category pages is represented by your website’s menu or main navigation.

Here’s how to design a useful navigation/menu for your website.

Navigation or menu web structure

Your site visitors will use the navigation to understand how information is structured on a website and to find what they are looking for. Ensure that all your main category pages are represented on your menu or main navigation. Additionally, use the following rules when creating your navigation:

• Use short phrases or even one word for each element.
• Use simple language that your users can understand. 
• Don’t clutter your navigation with sitelinks.

Apple’s main navigation follows these rules to create a simple but super-useful menu.

If your site has some subcategories that are useful for users such as their account information. You can create a secondary vertical menu like Asos has.

Other useful categories such as utility pages (privacy policies, disclaimers and legal information) can be placed on the footer of the website. 

Categories and subcategories web structure best practices

Use categories to group website pages that have similar content which makes it easy for users to access the content. Blog posts can be grouped into categories such as ‘marketing’ and then be further subdivided into subcategories such as ‘landing pages’ and ‘email marketing.’

If you are designing an e-commerce website, you can group your products into categories such as ‘men’ and ‘women.’ If your categories are too many you can further subdivide them into subcategories. Continuing with our example of an e-commerce store example, the women category can have subcategories such as ‘clothes’, ‘shoes’, and ‘handbags’. 

A great example of this is the Asos Marketplace website where their clothing category has a subcategory that shows the types of clothing available in the marketplace such as swimwear, sweatshirts, tracksuits, and hoodies. 

Web structure tips for individual pages

It is important to structure your individual website pages or blog posts in a way that makes it easy for users to find what they are looking for, find similar content and understand where they are on your website. Breadcrumb trails, tags, and contextual sitelinks are used to structure information architecture on individual pages.

Take care of the headers that you put on individual pages. Make sure that they follow the right order, for example, the title of the blog post is H1 and that they all have metadata. Metadata are important part of UX, too. You don’t want to confuse users what your site is about.

Use breadcrumb trails

You can add navigation on your pages or posts in the form of a breadcrumb trail. A breadcrumb trail is made up of clickable sitelinks that show users exactly where they are on your site plus your site structure. Breadcrumb trails like the one used by Mailchimp improve usability and user experience. 

Add tags and categories

Tags are another useful way of grouping similar content on a specific page. Tagging enhances content discoverability and user navigation. This enables users to explore related content more effectively, thereby increasing engagement.

The difference between tags and categories is that categories have a hierarchy and can be further subdivided into subcategories but tags have no hierarchy. They simply group similar content. 

For example, Grammarly’s blog uses categories and tags, such as ‘how to,’ ‘product’ and ‘inspiration’ to group blog content.

The usefulness of these tags is displayed when a user clicks on one of the posts tagged ‘how to’ and they are shown other posts that are also tagged ‘how to’ at the end of the blog post. This is a great example of how website structure makes it easy for users to find information. 

Tags can also be used in e-commerce websites to group products according to brand and direct users to similar products. 

Here are 3 best practices for creating tags:

• Don’t create too many tags or a new tag for every post.
• Place tags in a place where site visitors can easily see them such as your sidebar or at the end of your blog posts/product pages.
• Make sure that the tags are clickable and users can view similar content if they need to.

Contextual links 

These are links on webpages or blog posts that point to other relevant content on other webpages. Contextual links are useful in showing users related content. In the context of a blog post, contextual links can be used to point users to other blog posts that have similar content. Grammarly does this in their blog post as shown below. 

Contextual links can also be used in e-commerce pages to link to pages that have related items, what other people have bought, or which products are often bought together. 

Easily Incorporate Website Structure In Your Designs 

Web structure is how information is organized and interconnected on a website. An effective site structure improves usability and user experience which makes web structuring an important step in the web design process. The UXPin design tool makes it easy for you to design, prototype and structure a website, as you collaborate with other team members and designers. Try UXPin now.

The post Website Structure 101 with Examples appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Turning a website into an application involves adapting and extending the functionalities and design of the website to fit the framework and user expectations of a mobile, desktop or web app. Let’s see how to make website an app, when is the right time to do so, and which websites became apps.

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What does it mean to create an app out of a website?

An app created on top of an existing, popular website is a software application designed for desktop, web or mobile devices (such as smartphones and iPads) that extends and enhances the functionalities, user experience, and accessibility of the original website.

This type of app leverages the established user base and features of the website, offering a more optimized, intuitive, and interactive interface.

It typically includes capabilities like offline access, push notifications, and seamless integration with device-specific features (e.g., GPS, camera, biometrics), providing users with a more engaging and convenient way to access the same services and content available on the website.

7 examples of turning a website into an app

• Online Newspaper: A native app can offer push notifications for breaking news, offline reading capabilities, and a more personalized user experience.
• E-Commerce Site: An app can provide a more streamlined shopping experience, with features like notifications for deals, easier access to purchase history, and better integration with mobile payment systems.
• Recipe website: An app can provide instant access to recipes. The app can offer personalized recommendations, AI support, and a vibrant community where app users can share their culinary creations and exchange tips.
• Event Management and Ticketing: An app can enhance user experience by offering easy access to event schedules, ticket purchases, and real-time updates. Users can receive notifications about upcoming events, access their tickets offline, and get personalized recommendations for future events.
• Social Network: Transforming a social networking site into an app can enhance user engagement through push notifications, real-time messaging, and better integration with device features like the camera and contacts.
• Educational Platform: An app can facilitate better learning experiences with offline access to content, interactive quizzes, and real-time collaboration tools. Features like push notifications can remind users about upcoming classes or assignments.
• Travel and Hospitality: A travel app can offer real-time updates on bookings, flight statuses, and itineraries. It can also provide offline access to essential travel information, personalized recommendations, and integration with maps for navigation.

Why should you convert a website into an app?

The decision to transform a website into an app should be based on several key factors and the specific goals of your business and users.

High Mobile Traffic

If your website attracts a significant portion of its traffic from mobile devices, it might be the right time to develop an app. Mobile apps can offer a superior user experience compared to mobile websites by providing improved performance, more intuitive navigation, and better accessibility.

As users increasingly rely on their smartphones for online activities, having an iOS or Android app ensures that your content and services are optimized for mobile usage, leading to higher user satisfaction and retention.

User Engagement and Retention Needs

Increasing user engagement and retention rates is crucial for the success of any online app. Apps can significantly boost these metrics by offering personalized experiences and direct communication through push notifications.

Additionally, apps can provide offline access to content, ensuring that users can engage with your services even without an internet connection. This consistent and personalized interaction helps build a loyal app user base.

Enhanced User Experience Requirements

Some features and functionalities are more seamlessly integrated into mobile platforms than web environments. If your website relies on device-specific capabilities such as GPS, camera access, or offline functionality, transitioning to a mobile app can be beneficial.

Apps can utilize these features more effectively, resulting in a more intuitive and seamless user experience that leverages the full potential of mobile devices.

Frequent User Interaction

For websites where users frequently interact for updates, transactions, or communications, an app can provide a more streamlined and efficient experience.

Whether it’s a social media platform, e-commerce site, or news outlet, apps offer faster access and real-time updates through push notifications. This immediate and smooth interaction can significantly enhance user satisfaction and convenience.

Improved Performance and Speed

If your website suffers from performance issues or slow load times on mobile devices, developing an app can be a viable solution. Desktop or mobile apps generally offer better performance due to local storage, caching, and optimized code, which leads to quicker load times and a smoother user experience. This performance boost can be crucial in retaining users who might otherwise be frustrated by slow website interactions.

Competitive Advantage

In a competitive market, having a mobile app can give you an edge over competitors who do not offer one. If your competitors have apps and it provides them with a competitive advantage, developing your own app becomes essential to stay relevant. An app can help attract more users, meet market expectations, and offer a modern, convenient way for users to engage with your brand.

Advanced Features

Websites that offer or plan to offer advanced features such as augmented reality, complex animations, or real-time functionalities can benefit from being transformed into mobile or website apps.

Apps are better suited to handle these advanced features and can deliver a more engaging and interactive user experience. This capability can be particularly important for businesses looking to innovate and provide cutting-edge services.

User Feedback

Listening to user feedback is vital for any business. If users are requesting a web, desktop or mobile app or expressing dissatisfaction with the current web experience, it’s a clear indicator that developing an app should be a priority.

Addressing user feedback by offering a new app can significantly improve user satisfaction and loyalty, demonstrating that you value and respond to their needs.

Brand Loyalty and Marketing

Mobile apps can strengthen brand loyalty and provide a direct marketing channel to your users. Through push notifications, apps allow you to communicate directly with users, informing them about updates, offers, and important events. This direct line of communication that a webpage can’t compete with helps keep your brand top-of-mind and enhances customer loyalty by providing timely and relevant information.

Monetization Opportunities

If there are potential monetization opportunities through in-app purchases, subscriptions, or ads, developing an app can be a strategic move. Apps can offer more effective and varied monetization strategies compared to websites, allowing you to tap into new revenue streams. This can be particularly beneficial for businesses looking to diversify their income sources and maximize profitability.

How can you make a website into an app?

Initial Analysis and Planning

To begin transforming your website into an app, start by defining clear objectives. Determine the primary goals, such as improving user engagement, offering offline access, or enhancing the overall user experience. Next, analyze your existing website to evaluate its core functionalities, user interface, and user experience.

Don’t forget to devote some time to understanding app users. Conduct user research through surveys, interviews, and analytics to gather insights into what users expect from the app and identify any pain points in the current web experience.

Remember that apps require additional design, such as creating an app icon, home screen or a nav bar placed on the bottom or the top of the app.

Choosing the Type of App

Decide on the type of app that best suits your needs. If you opt for a native app, you’ll be developing specifically for iOS (using Swift or Objective-C) or Android (using Java or Kotlin), which offers the best performance and access to all device features but requires separate codebases and higher development costs.

Alternatively, a cross-platform app, developed with frameworks like React Native, Flutter, or Xamarin, allows for a single codebase for both platforms, reducing development costs. Although cross-platform apps may have slightly less performance compared to native apps, they are a cost-effective solution.

Another option is a Progressive Web App (PWA), which enhances your website to provide app-like experiences without the need for app store distribution and can work offline, though with limited access to device features.

Design Phase

In the design phase, create prototypes to visualize the app’s user interface and user experience. The best tool to do that is UXPin Merge which allows you to build UI fast using pre-made React or Tailwind UI components. With this, you can create an app’s interface super fast and without having to waste time on translating design to code — your design is code by default. Just check out our responsive dashboard tutorial to see how UXPin Merge speeds up design.

Validate your design decisions by conducting usability testing, gather feedback, and then, iterate on the design to ensure that you’re providing a good user experience.

App Development Phase

Set up your development environment by installing the necessary development tools and frameworks based on your chosen app type. Ensure version control with tools like Git. Begin frontend development by implementing the UI using appropriate frameworks, such as React Native or Flutter, ensuring the app is responsive and works well on various screen sizes.

For backend development, connect the app to your existing website’s backend API or create new API endpoints if needed. Implement core features by translating essential website functionalities to the app and adding mobile-specific functionalities like push notifications, offline access, and device integration (e.g., camera, GPS).

Testing Phase

Conduct thorough testing to ensure the app functions correctly and provides a seamless user experience. Perform functional testing to check that all features work as intended, using tools like Appium, XCTest, or Espresso.

Conduct usability testing to ensure the app is intuitive and user-friendly. Optimize for speed and responsiveness through performance testing on multiple devices and operating systems. Ensure data security and privacy by conducting security testing, including penetration testing and vulnerability assessments.

Deployment Phase

Prepare for the app launch by setting up app store accounts on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Create app store listings with compelling descriptions, screenshots, and promotional materials.

Conduct beta testing by releasing the app to a group of beta testers for final feedback, using platforms like TestFlight for iOS and Google Play Console for Android. Once ready, submit the app to the iOS App store for iPhones or Google Store for Android devices and plan a marketing campaign to promote the app.

Post-Launch Phase

After launching, monitor the app’s performance using analytics tools to track user behavior and app metrics. Keep an eye on app store reviews and ratings to gather user feedback. Regularly update the app to fix bugs, improve performance, and add new features.

Transform your website into an app fast

Design is crucial in transforming a website into an app because it directly impacts user experience and engagement. A well-designed app reduce user frustration and increase overall satisfaction and makes the transition from website to an app seamless and risk-free.

Create app designs with UXPin Merge. Drag and drop coded components to build stunning UI without compromising on quality. Bring your coded design system elements or use pre-built ones and design experiences that make your design shine. Try UXPin Merge for free.

The post How to Create an App out of a Website appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Google has always recommended responsive web design (RWD), especially after rolling out a big update on 4/21/15 which ranked mobile-friendly sites higher.

It doesn’t specify in the update that you must use responsive design though, just that a site be accessible on mobile, with good UX and performance.

With that in mind, let’s examine the pros and cons of adaptive and responsive design with regards to performance and UX design.

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What’s the difference between adaptive and responsive design?

So first up, what are the key differences between responsive and adaptive design?

Responsive vs Adaptive Website Design

Responsive web design is fluid and adapts to the size of the screen no matter what the target device. It uses CSS media queries to change styles based on the target device such as display type, width, height, etc., and only one of these is necessary for the responsive website to adapt to different screen sizes.

Adaptive web design, on the other hand, uses static layouts based on breakpoints that don’t respond once they’re initially loaded.

Adaptive works to detect the screen size and load the appropriate layout for it – generally you would design an adaptive site for six common screen widths:

• 320
• 480
• 760
• 960
• 1200
• 1600.

On the surface, it appears that adaptive requires more work as you have to design layouts for a minimum of six widths. However, responsiveness can be more complex as improper use of media queries (or indeed not using them at all) can make for display and performance issues.

The latter in particular has created a lot of discussion over the past few years as it’s been the case that many sites deliver the full desktop model which, even if it’s not loading on the mobile device, slows sites down considerably. To get around this, you can use media queries–but there will be a few tradeoffs since a responsive site is never going to be as quick as a dedicated mobile site.

How do you tell if a website is responsive or adaptive?

Responsive design offers a more fluid and flexible approach that dynamically adjusts to different screen sizes, while adaptive design provides predefined layouts tailored to specific devices or screen sizes through server-side detection.

To recognize an adaptive website, you might notice that the layout changes abruptly when accessing the site from different devices or screen sizes, as it’s loading predefined layouts rather than fluidly adjusting to the screen size.

Responsive websites use fluid grids, so to identify a responsive website, you can simply resize your browser window or view the site on different devices and observe how the layout and content rearrange themselves to fit the screen size.

Why use adaptive web design?

Adaptive is useful for retrofitting an existing site in order to make it more suitable for mobile phones. This allows you to take control of the design and web development for specific, multiple viewports.

The number of viewports that you choose to design for is entirely up to you, your company, and your overall budget. It does, however, afford you a certain amount of control (for example over content and layout) that you won’t necessarily have using responsive design.

Generally, you would begin by designing for a low-resolution viewport and work your way up to ensure that the UI design doesn’t become constrained by the content, and that usability isn’t lost.

As mentioned previously, it’s standard to design for six resolutions. However, you can make a more informed decision by looking at your web analytics for the most commonly used devices and then designing for those viewports.

If you want to design an adaptive website from scratch, that’s OK too. Start again by designing for the lowest resolution and work your way up. You can then use media queries to expand the layout for higher resolution viewports. However, if you do UI design for different screen sizes, you may find that this causes the layout to ‘jump’ when resizing a window to a smaller or bigger device screen.

It can be extra work designing and developing a site with adaptive for multiple viewports so it’s usually used for retrofitting.

3 examples of adaptive web design

When looking for examples of sites using adaptive web design, you’ll likely find them on the websites of large companies and corporations. Since many of these organizations have been around since before the advent of mobile, it is far easier (and cheaper) for them to retrofit their enormous websites with adaptive web designs rather than more complex responsive re-design options. 

Here, we look at how some of the world’s biggest companies have employed adaptive web design solutions in giving their websites the contemporary design elements they need to meet Google’s mobile-friendly rankings factors.

Amazon

The eCommerce titan Amazon quickly found that its website needed an adaptive design overhaul. This would help them ensure that its global customer base would enjoy faster page load speeds (a critical Google rankings factor) and a consistent UX, no matter which device they were accessing the site from. 

Amazon’s adaptive web design approach aligns the full-site experience with its branded apps, allowing users to switch between the two and enjoy the same functionality and workflow arrangement, irrespective of the aesthetic web and app design differences. Powered by adaptive design templates that ensure this consistency across all devices, users get to browse, shop, and checkout without having to learn how to navigate differently. 

This approach allows Amazon to ensure that page load speeds are optimized and that users are just as likely to access the eCommerce platform from a desktop website as a mobile. With elements like the all-important search bar remaining the focal point of the design layout across all formats, despite various other features optimized for mobile, Amazon’s adaptive design approach is a successful example of how to keep things efficient and consistent.

USA Today

When America’s favorite daily newspaper chose to revamp its website to ensure that its online news source remained prominent, USA Today took a tech-savvy adaptive web design approach – one that responsive web design simply couldn’t replicate. 

The newspaper adopted a technology that allows its website and applications to identify the device, operating system, and screen size being used, and adapts the content accordingly. This innovative approach allowed developers to create an experience that isn’t limited to the six common screen widths, ensuring that users received a unique experience.

IHG

When considering adaptive web design approaches, hospitality companies wouldn’t usually be top of mind.

But once IHG realized that its customers were looking for a faster web and app booking experience that allowed them to make reservations faster, irrespective of whether they were doing it on mobile or their PCs, the hotel chain responded accordingly.

IHG employed an adaptive web design approach that took advantage of accessible GPS data and location services – features you find on nearly all mobile devices. This allowed the group to develop an adaptive website interface that encourages on-the-go booking with local hotels, allowing users to review reservations and access available offers quickly and with ease.

Why use responsive web design?

The majority of new sites now use responsive, which has been made easier for less experienced designers and developers, thanks to the availability of themes accessible through CMS systems such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.

Responsive design doesn’t offer as much control as adaptive, but takes much less work to both build and maintain. Responsive layouts are also fluid, and whilst adaptive can and do use percentages to give a more fluid feel when scaling, these can again cause a jump when a window is resized. For example, in the image below, which shows a fluid layout, the designer is using percentage widths so that the view will be adjusted for each user.

Photo credit: Smashing Magazine

With responsive, you will be designing with all layouts in mind and this, of course, can confuse the process and make it quite complex. This means that you should focus on creating a viewport for mid-resolution and you can then use media queries to adjust for low and high resolutions later on.

So in essence, it’s usually better to use responsive for new projects, and adaptive for retrofits.

Check out how to make your design responsive: 8 Steps to Responsive Design.

3 examples of responsive web design

Responsive web design is the go-to for newer sites that demand a more fluid experience among users or for Google to pay more attention to. It is also the design approach of choice for many of the leading technology and design firms around the world, owing to the ease with which developers and designers can create and maintain responsive sites. 

Next, we look at some of the best examples of responsive web design-based sites and how they affect their sites’ performance and UX. All while delivering on the demands of big brands operating within the eCommerce and messaging space.

Slack

One of the biggest reasons for Slack’s surging popularity among businesses is the ease with which users can adopt and use the messaging app. Boasting a straightforward interface coupled with a raft of integration and optimization features, Slack’s simplicity and ‘human’ feel are reflected in its impressive responsive web design.

The app’s famous adaptability between desktop and mobile is highlighted by how seamlessly the display transitions and rearranges its layout. By using a Flexbox and CSS Grid Layout, Slack’s responsive interface is a step above. 

All this means that Slack’s website needs to match the app, allowing users to experience the same simplicity and ease of use on their mobile devices as they do on their work laptops and PCs.

Shopify

Shopify has taken a different route to its responsive web design. It took the website and app in different directions and chose device-choice optimization over a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.

Designers at Shopify felt that no matter the screen size, their design elements should match the screen the user was using. So, in order to ensure that all users enjoy a consistent UX (even if that meant changing things up), Shopify designed their site to respond according to the device’s screen size. It also delivered different CTAs and illustrations in different sizes and at different locations on the page. 

While PCs and tablets display Shopify CTAs and images to the right of the form, on mobile, you’ll find those elements below it and in the center. This responsive design approach allows users to enjoy a more divergent UX while still being able to experience optimized interaction capabilities, no matter the size of their screen.

Dribbble

Anyone who uses creative design hub Dribbble will likely agree that the self-promotion and social networking platform has aced its responsive web design. The platform’s website represents an excellent example of a flexible space that enhances the browsing experience by actively responding to the device on which it is being viewed. 

Dribbble’s website employs a flexible grid layout that works in concert with the screen dimensions. It actively responds to the user’s interactions by adapting the layout into grid columns that shift according to the device. This means that designers can adjust the items displayed on the grid to optimize for visibility and item count. As a result, users can enjoy a balanced experience that doesn’t appear cluttered or disorganized. 

Users accessing the site on a 13” laptop or PC screen will see a 4×3 grid configuration, while those using a smaller screen will be able to see the same portfolio presented in a single-column format.

Adaptive vs. Responsive? Consider Site Speed, Content, and UX

As discussed earlier, responsive sites can suffer when it comes to site speed (if they aren’t properly implemented).

Responsive also requires more in the way of coding in order to ensure that the site fits each and every screen that accesses it. However, the extra work is debatable (compared to adaptive design) since adaptive design requires that you develop and maintain separate HTML and CSS code for each layout. Modifying adaptive sites is also more complex since it’s likely you’ll have to ensure that everything is still working sitewide (such as SEO, content, and links) when it’s time for implementation.

You should, of course, also consider the user experience. Because responsive essentially shuffles the content around in order to fluidly fit the device window, you will need to pay particular attention to the visual hierarchy of the design as it shifts around.

According to Nielsen Norman Group, “Responsive design often turns into solving a puzzle — how to reorganize elements on larger pages to fit skinnier, longer pages or vice versa. However, ensuring that elements fit within a page is not enough. For a responsive design to be successful, the design must also be usable at all screen resolutions and sizes.”

So there are no shortcuts to whichever technique you decide to use – both require the work that comes with creating a site that’s essentially one-size-fits-all. Responsive has a slight edge, as you won’t, going forward, need to spend an awful lot of time in site maintenance.

Which is Better: Responsive or Adaptive Design?

When it comes down to it, the key is to consider your audience first and foremost no matter what design technique you adopt. Once you know exactly who they are and what types of devices they tend to access the site on, then it’s easier to design with them in mind when it comes to different layouts, content, and so on.

When it comes down to it, the key is to consider your audience first and foremost no matter what design technique you adopt. Once you know exactly who they are and what types of devices they tend to access the site on, then it’s easier to design with them in mind when it comes to different layouts, content, and so on.

It will also depend largely on whether you have an existing site to work with or you’re starting from scratch. Responsive design has become the go-to design technique and it’s thought that around 1/8 websites now use responsive (while there’s little to no data on how many use adaptive). Adoption rates for responsive are growing quickly too and have almost reached the same level as standalone mobile sites.

With all of that in mind, it’s safe to say that responsive is usually the preferred technique if only because of the ongoing work that adaptive design demands.

However, if a client or company has the budget, then adaptive might be a better choice, according to a test carried out by Catchpoint. They built two web pages in WordPress, one using the standard WP TwentyFourteen responsive theme and the other using a plugin called Wiziapp.

The plugin serves a mobile theme to users depending on the device they’re accessing the web pages from and also offers advanced configuration options so that you can further streamline the process.

The results in load time speak for themselves:

It should be pointed out that no optimization was carried out at all, but this does show that the responsive site is downloading everything that is required for the desktop computer. So right out of the box, the theme doesn’t offer a very good performance at all.

Again, this can be overcome using media queries, but the above serves as a good example of why responsive UX design – whilst being a popular choice – is not always the best for smartphones. Until something better comes along though, it’s difficult to know what we can do about it other than learn how to properly code and implement a great responsive site.

So the conclusion?

Responsive design will remain popular, but that might be because we have not yet found a decent solution to the heavy maintenance that adaptive demands. Adaptive web design hasn’t died out though, despite the web’s apparent love of responsive, so it’s possible – in theory at least – that we’ll see some improvements emerge yet that will blow responsive web design out of the water.

Responsive vs Adaptive Website Design – Common Mistakes 

Design is an iterative process, requiring some degree of trial and error before figuring out what works – and what doesn’t. But that doesn’t mean that mastering the responsive vs adaptive web design field requires designers to endure painful failures before nailing it. 

We can still count on avoiding some of the most common mistakes that tend to slow the process.

Too much focus on desktop versions

Mobile design is fast hauling in its desktop-based counterpart, delivering an optimized UX on smaller devices that oftentimes beats out design choices seen on PCs and laptops. But most things online began as desktop-based sites, with mobile versions only coming along later. This has left many platforms, tools, and sites leaning towards desktop origins, and mobile seen as a supplementary need.

Designers need to start adapting to a mobile-first work approach, moving away from their desktop-focused mentality and focusing on the potential that design has to work for mobile and how much more of an impact this can have on the evolution of design thinking. 

This means transitioning towards an approach rooted in designing for multiple screen sizes, uncoupled from the conventional six that have been touted as the most likely to require a dedicated design, and targeting percentages rather than fixed ratios. This doesn’t mean discounting desktop design altogether, but rather balancing it with mobile.

Not considering gestures 

With most of today’s mobile devices boasting touch functionality, it is only a matter of time before users can navigate a website without making contact with any hardware or surfaces. Gestures are an often overlooked responsive web design element with massive potential. 

From using gestures to zoom, swipe, scroll, and return to delivering instructions and executing complex commands, responsive design is fertile ground for taking these movements to the next level. Yet designers continue to bypass this potentially revolutionary aspect of design. Primarily, due to the complexity of developing a gesture architecture that allows for consistent navigation across all devices. 

One possible solution would be to ensure that a website follows a uniform structure that replicates on other devices and provides ease of use and accuracy.

Buttons are too small 

Anybody who has ever dealt with an app that has buttons too small to hit accurately will agree that this is one of the most frustrating design issues on mobile. While desktop versions enjoy the benefit of accurate mouse cursors, thumbs and fingers have a habit of missing their mark on smaller screens and mobile devices. 

Sometimes responsive design looking to optimize layouts and available space will tend to bunch clickable elements together or shrink them down as they scale with smaller screens. This can cause frustration among users and even cause a site’s accuracy, navigability, and UX to degrade.  

Developers must pay attention to how buttons will be affected by their responsive design approach, considering that not all thumbs, fingers and eyes were created equal.

Putting design over functionality 

While a website that looks good on both desktop and mobile is important, a website should, first and foremost, work. Users who access an attractive site will naturally assume that an equivalent amount of effort has been invested in its utility. So, one can imagine the anger at a website that doesn’t work as well as it looks. Anger that can lead to significant drops in traffic and reputation.

The same goes for the level of functionality between desktop and mobile. A desktop site that sets a benchmark for good design and operability only to fail miserably on the mobile front would be better off not even bothering with mobile at all. 

Go beyond developer perceptions by testing with different niches and using effective prototyping to ensure that the design matches its functionality.

Having a separate URL for mobile 

Making use of separate URLs between desktop and mobile website versions is a design killer, wasting precious time and damaging your search rankings. Aside from frustrating users by ferrying them back and forth between each version, using multiple URLs goes against SEO best practices and are often unnecessary.

In some cases, however, using multiple URLs can allow developers to create lightweight mobile versions of websites that perform better on mobile devices, though only in instances where the desktop version is very anti-mobile.

Not accounting for future maintenance and development costs

Development costs money, and oftentimes, design decisions are taken based on short-term financial considerations without thinking about what the future holds.

While adaptive web design requires higher upfront investment owing to the labor-intensive nature of its development, AWD maintenance costs generally remain stable down the line. 

Responsive web design, on the other hand, can lead to unexpected cost implications. However, the rewards stemming from an improved UX may offset those financial risks.

Design UI in UXPin

If you’d like to start mocking up your own adaptive user interface design, you can do so with UXPin. The collaborative platform comes with pre-set and custom breakpoints. Once you’re done, activate Spec Mode to automate your design handoff to developers.

Use UXPin to build prototypes for mobiles, desktops, and everything in between. Try various interactive prototyping features and make your design easy to understand for stakeholders and engineers. Start a free trial.

The post Responsive Design vs. Adaptive Design: What’s the Best Choice for Designers? appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Figma is a great tool for creating beautiful mockups and collaborating in real-time with other designers. It is one of the best for building a portfolio and showing off your skills. When working in an enterprise-level company, Figma might not be enough, as it’s difficult to translate its design into code.

This is where UXPin comes in. It helps designers and developers communicate and use a shared library of UI components which can be copied from design to development workflow. No translation needed. That’s why we decided to build a Figma plugin and help you bring Figma design to UXPin for more robust prototyping. Sign up for a free trial to build your first UXPin prototype today!

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Design in Figma. Prototype in UXPin.

We get it. You love designing in Figma! But, you also prefer the higher fidelity and functionality you get from prototyping in UXPin. If this is you, UXPin’s Figma plugin gives you the best of both worlds–design your mockups in Figma, and copy your screens to UXPin for prototyping.

While this workflow offers the best of both worlds–and we encourage teams to implement solutions that work best for your product and circumstances–designers must use two tools when they can use UXPin for everything. UXPin is effective as a design and prototyping tool and comes packed with features to scale UX beyond what’s possible in any image-based tool.

Why does it make sense to prototype in UXPin vs. Figma?

Figma, Adobe XD, Sketch, and others render static vector graphics, meaning designers can’t replicate code, and when they do, it takes a lot of effort, workarounds, and additional tools.

UXPin is a code-based design tool. This doesn’t mean designers work with code; UXPin renders HTML, CSS, and Javascript behind the scenes to give designers the same fidelity and functionality as code.

These four features powered by code allow designers to create more advanced prototypes in UXPin.

States

UXPin States allows designers to create multiple states for a single component. For example, a button can have several states, which include different properties triggered by user interactions.

States also allow designers to create complex components like functioning dropdown menus, steppers, carousels, accordions, and more.

Interactions

Designers can create complex UXPin Interactions constrained by code rather than a design tool’s limitations. UXPin also offers many Triggers, Actions, and Animations to design immersive prototype experiences.

Conditional Interactions with “if-then” and “if-else” conditions allow design teams to create dynamic prototypes that respond to user inputs and triggers. This Javascript-like interactivity lets designers see how design decisions impact the user experience and pinpoint areas for improvement.

With these realistic interactions, stakeholders and engineers need little explanation making the feedback process and design handoffs more productive.

Variables

It’s impossible to test forms in most design tools, including Figma. Why? Because the fields are images rather than inputs. In UXPin, form fields function as if they were developed by an engineer. UXPin gives designers text inputs, checkboxes, radios, selects/dropdowns, multi-selects, and buttons ready to use out of the box.

With Variables, designers can capture user inputs from prototypes and use that data elsewhere in the application. For example, capturing a user’s information during signup and using the name field to create a personalized welcome message.

Expressions

UXPin’s Expressions enable designers to take prototyping far beyond the possibilities of any other design tool. Validate passwords and other form fields, design a functioning shopping cart that updates based on user interactions, create dynamic error messages, and more.

When combined with other UXPin features like States, Interactions, and Variables, Expressions enable designers to build prototypes, and user flows indistinguishable from code.

Learn more about these and other advanced UXPin features in this YouTube tutorial from UX design influencer Jesse Showalter.

5 Reasons to Turn Your Figma Mockups into Interactive UXPin Prototypes

1. High-Fidelity Prototyping

Figma: Beautiful-looking vector mockups that unfortunately don’t replicate real-like functionality or fidelity, making prototypes challenging to interpret for devs and stakeholders.

UXPin: Code-like fidelity and functionality allow designers to create immersive, dynamic prototype experiences indistinguishable from the final product–less documentation, smoother design handoffs, and faster time-to-market.

There is a big difference between a high-fidelity mockup (what Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, etc. produce) vs. a high-fidelity prototype that looks and feels like the final product. UXPin offers genuine high-fidelity results where prototypes need little or no explanation because they respond to user interactions like code.

2. Bridging the Gap Between UI Design and REAL Prototypes

Figma: Design and develop UI design ideas in Figma

UXPin: Push past Figma’s limitations to create advanced prototypes in UXPin

While Figma offers the features to create beautiful designs and mockups, designers hit a brick wall at the prototyping stage. UXPin’s Figma plugin allows design teams to leverage the best qualities of both tools to create high-fidelity prototypes in UXPin.

Make changes and iterate on UI designs in UXPin, or only use it as a prototyping tool using Figma for designing and editing–the choice is yours!

3. Enhanced User Testing

Figma: Testing limited to basic click/tap interactions, user flows, and navigation

UXPin: Immersive prototypes that accurately replicate the final product

Figma’s vector-based constraints and limitations prevent accurate testing. Designers must use multiple frames to achieve basic interactivity, and many components are impossible to reproduce.

As a code-based design tool, UXPin enables designers to build prototypes limited only by  the feasibility of what devs can build–without writing a single line of code! These complex, dynamic prototypes give design teams valuable insights to improve the user experience and identify business opportunities.

Designers also pinpoint critical usability and accessibility issues when testing with UXPin prototypes, resulting in less UX debt and higher quality design project outcomes.

4. Faster Iterations

Figma: Multiple frames and components to mimic end-product’s behavior–changes and redesigns are time-consuming

UXPin: Uses layers and states on a single screen allowing changes in a few clicks

One of the challenges with prototyping in Figma is that designers must create multiple frames and components to mimic code’s interactivity. These interactions feel awkward and non-intuitive. They’re time-consuming to design and make changes.

In UXPin, designers work with pages and layers. Instead of switching between multiple frames and pages, designers work on a single canvas, making changes via the Properties Panel. This workflow is more intuitive and facilitates faster iterations so that designers can solve issues much quicker.

5. Smoother Design Handoffs

Figma: Lots of documentation, back and forth comms with devs, videos/GIFs to mimic interactions, and links to other tools

UXPin: Prototypes replicate the end-product experience and interactivity, reducing the need for lengthy documentation and additional tools

Designers often use tools like After Effects and others to replicate motion and interactions. Why? Because design tools lack fidelity and functionality. Designers also create transitions and interactions that engineers can’t reproduce due to technical constraints. Switching between multiple tools and files is also confusing, time-consuming, and increases errors.

With UXPin, designers don’t have to use additional tools because they can design components and interactions that accurately mimic code. No need for videos/GIFs, back-and-forth communication, and long-winded PDFs to explain what the prototype is supposed to do.

Designers can create documentation in UXPin with annotations on prototypes, so engineers and stakeholders don’t have to switch between multiple files–everything is in one place! Devs and stakeholders can use UXPin’s Comments on Preview to ask questions, tag team members, and even assign comments for edits.

With realistic prototypes, supporting documentation, and collaboration in one place, design handoffs are smoother with less friction in UXPin.

UXPin–An End-to-End Design Solution

While you can design in Figma and prototype in UXPin, it means using two tools when you only need one! UXPin offers a comparable design experience to Figma, including collaboration, wireframing, information architecture design, mockups, and designing components from scratch!

With UXPin’s end-to-end design solution, designers don’t need to switch between tools because they can do everything inside UXPin, including building, managing, and sharing a design system.

Reducing tools not only streamlines UX workflows but also reduces costs, allowing design leaders to reallocate valuable resources elsewhere.

Stakeholders have little time or patience to decipher image-based prototypes and the accompanying documentation. UXPin prototypes need less explanation, allowing stakeholders to enjoy a final product experience. This immersive experience elicits meaningful stakeholder feedback while increasing buy-in for design solutions.

Say goodbye to the limitations of image-based design, and hello to enhanced prototyping, collaboration, and design outcomes with UXPin. Discover how UXPin can revolutionize your product design workflows and deliver exceptional user experiences to your customers. Sign up for a free trial.

The post Turn Figma Designs into Interactive Prototypes appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Buttons are essential components in any digital product. While there are many ways to design a button, designers must follow principles and best practices to create familiar and intuitive user experiences.

Button design is more than choosing a shape and color. Designers must consider a button’s states, placement, size, responsiveness, consistency, icon usage, suitable text/labels, and more.

Design beautiful UI elements that look and function like code components using UXPin. Sign up for a free trial to explore the world’s most advanced design, prototyping, and testing tool.

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What is a Button?

A button in UI and UX design is a graphical element typically appearing as a clickable area on a digital interface. Its primary purpose is to convey a specific call to action (CTA), thereby directing user interaction within the system.

Buttons serve as interactive cues informing users that an action will occur upon activation. Through various visual cues such as color, text, and states, including disabled states when applicable, buttons effectively communicate with users, guiding them through the interface and facilitating desired interactions.

Despite its seemingly straightforward nature, the strategic implementation of buttons is crucial for ensuring intuitive and efficient user experiences across digital platforms.

Buttons vs links

Many digital products and websites use buttons and links incorrectly. There is a simple rule to follow when deciding between a button or link: Links are for navigation, and buttons are for performing actions.

Types of button UI

There are four types of buttons, and each button conveys a different message to users:

• Contained Button: Often used as the primary button for CTAs and important actions. Contained buttons use a background color with contrasting text.
• Outlined Button: Also referred to as a secondary or ghost button, and often placed next to a primary button as an alternative action, like “Cancel” instead of “Submit.” Outlined buttons use a transparent background with a contrasting border and text.
• Text Button: Also called a flat button and often used for low important actions, like date pickers. Text buttons have no background or border, with only the label colored and visible.
• Toggle Button: Designers use toggle buttons for two or more related actions–like switching dark/light mode on an app or bold, italic, and underline in word processors. Designers use states to indicate which option is active.

Modern mobile apps also use a floating action button (FAB) for important actions. Designers often place FABs at the bottom of the screen so that it’s a thumb’s reach from the user.

The basics of button UI design

Designers and engineers can modify several button properties:

• Background – The background of a button refers to the color or image that fills the area behind the button’s content. It’s essential for providing visual contrast and emphasis, helping the button stand out against the surrounding interface elements.
• Label – The label of a button is the text or symbol displayed on its surface, conveying the action or function associated with the button. A clear and concise label ensures users understand the purpose of the button and encourages interaction.
• Icon – An icon is a graphical symbol or representation often used alongside or instead of text in a button. Icons can enhance visual communication, particularly for actions with universally recognized symbols, and contribute to a clean and minimalist design.
• Padding – Padding refers to the space between the content of a button (such as text or icon) and its edges. Adequate padding ensures that the button’s content is visually separated from its border, improving readability and touchability on both desktop and mobile devices.
• Margin – Margin is the space around the outside of a button, separating it from neighboring elements. Proper margin helps maintain visual balance and prevents overcrowding, allowing users to interact with buttons without accidental touches or clicks.
• Border – The border of a button is the visible line or stroke that outlines its shape. Borders can be solid or dashed, and they contribute to the button’s visual appearance and hierarchy within the interface.
• Border radius – Border radius refers to the curvature of the button’s corners. Applying a border radius creates rounded corners, softening the button’s appearance and adding a touch of visual elegance to the design.
• Drop shadow – A drop shadow is a visual effect that creates the illusion of depth by adding a shadow beneath the button. This effect helps lift the button from the background, making it appear more prominent and tactile. Drop shadows can enhance the overall aesthetics and usability of a button in UI design.

What are typical button UI states?

Designers use states to provide context and communicate with users. There are six types of button states. We explain them briefly here, but if you want to read about them at length, we have a dedicated article about button states.

1. Default: How a button looks without any state. A default button could be contained, outlined, or flat, depending on your UI design and design system
2. Active: Tells the user they have pressed the button
3. Hover: Activated when a mouse cursor hovers over a button. Hover tells the user this is a clickable element
4. Focus: Used to indicate selection when using the keyboard or assistive technologies
5. Disabled: Indicates the user can’t click the button until completing another task
6. Loading: Communicates the system is processing the user’s action

What are the best practices for designing button UI?

Designers must follow certain principles for designing buttons and user interfaces. Use these button design best practices to guide your next project.

Button Hierarchy and Placement

Designers must consider button hierarchy and placement to provide users with clarity and highlight the most important action. Google’s Material Design recommends designers must create emphasis through color:

• High emphasis (Primary): Use a bright color, preferably a contained button, to show this button is most important. Avoid using more than one high-emphasis button on a single screen.
• Medium emphasis (Secondary): Use a lighter shade of your high-emphasis color to signify this button is less important. 
• Low emphasis (Tertiary): Use a text button or outlined button with a transparent background to show users its low importance.

By applying button hierarchy principles, users can complete important actions without much thought. If you use a single button for every action, users will have to examine each to determine which one they must press.

Correct button placement is also essential to guide users through a digital product. If you place two buttons side-by-side, always use a contained button as the primary action and outlined or text button for the secondary action. 

For example, if you have “Save” and “Cancel” at the bottom of a form, “Save” would be the primary action with the higher emphasis.

Button Consistency

Designers must use buttons consistently throughout a digital product. If you use a contained button for a primary action on one screen, repeat this choice throughout.

Designers must also be consistent with button sizes, fonts, icons, colors, border radius, whitespace, and other properties to create a familiar user experience that’s easy to navigate.

Button Sizing & Spacing

Size matters when it comes to buttons, especially on mobile applications where users use their fingers. Designers must use appropriate button size and spacing to ensure users don’t accidentally hit another element. 

Designer Taras Bakusevych recommends making UI elements a minimum of 48×48 pixels to avoid touch target errors. 

Button Labels

Labels should be as short and meaningful as possible. Designers must also keep labels on a single line for legibility. 

Button text language is also critical for conveying the correct message and action to users. For example, if you’re removing a song from a playlist, the correct phrasing would be “Remove” instead of “Delete.” Delete might confuse the user into thinking they’re deleting the song from their device or application.

Capitalization is also a critical factor designers must consider. Google Material Design recommends using uppercase for languages that allow it, while UX Movement says to use sentence-style capitalization.

The argument for sentence-style capitalization is better for users with reading disabilities like dyslexia. Google reasons that uppercase “is to distinguish the text label from surrounding text.”

The best option is to test your product with users. Color, contrast, size, UI layout, and many factors impact legibility, so there is no one-size-fits-all for capitalization.

Button Accessibility

Accessibility is a critical factor in modern UX design and product development. Designers must test UIs using tools and diverse usability participants to ensure buttons and other UI elements meet accessibility standards.

The color contrast between the label and background is one of the biggest considerations for button accessibility. With UXPin’s built-in accessibility features, designers can test color blindness and contrast on the fly–keeping them focused in UXPin rather than turning to external tools.

Label size, spacing, and padding can also impact accessibility. These properties are harder to test using tools, so designers must use usability testing to get meaningful results.

Devices & Screen Sizes

Recognizing how buttons look across different devices and screen sizes is crucial for designers. For example, dialog boxes look completely different on Apple devices compared to Android. The floating action button also looks different on iOS vs. Android.

Designers also need to consider how buttons will appear across multiple screen widths. For example, a button with a long label might not look the same on mobile vs. desktop.

Designing Buttons in UXPin

Designing buttons using an image-based design tool can be challenging. The static nature of image-based tools means buttons lack interactivity, functionality, and fidelity.

With UXPin’s code-based design tool, designers can create authentic user experiences with components that look and function like code. Here are some of UXPin’s advanced features to enhance your button design.

Components

Designers can build buttons from scratch and save them as Components to reuse throughout the design. Designers can also share these components through a shared design system to maintain consistency throughout the team.

States

UXPin States allow designers to create multiple states for a single UI component, like a button. For example, you can design the six-button states mentioned above, each with different properties that change according to user and system actions.

Designers can also use UXPin’s States for other components like carousels, dropdown navigation, accordions, and more.

Interactions

Create code-like interactivity using UXPin’s Interactions. Designers can choose from an extensive list of triggers and actions for desktop and mobile interactions. 

UXPin takes interactivity one step further with Conditional Interactions, allowing you to create dynamic, unique experiences based on user and system actions.

Variables & Expressions

With Variables and Expressions, designers can build high-fidelity prototypes with interactivity mirroring code.

For example, using UXPin Variables, designers can create a dynamic pay button that displays a variable total from a shopping cart, “Pay $25.”

You can also use Variables to create a personalized user experience during testing, like a welcome message with the name from user input or populating a profile page.

With Expressions, designers can validate form fields, like emails and passwords, and even disable a button until the user completes a form’s required fields.

With UXPin’s advanced prototyping features, the possibilities are endless. Designers can design prototypes that look and function like code, saving countless hours developing an identical prototype simply for testing purposes.

Sign up for a free trial and start building your first UXPin prototype immediately. Install one of UXPin’s free example apps to see how to create working buttons and other UI components.

The post Button Design – Get Site Visitors to Actually Click Your Buttons appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

There are many software and web development roles and responsibilities–from initial concept to design and delivery, QA, and lifecycle management. UI design and UI development are two crucial roles that impact how users engage and interact with a user interface.

This article compares the practice of UI design vs. UI development, the people behind these roles, and how they work together to deliver digital products.

Key takeaways:

• UI design is the process of designing user interface of a product while UI development is the process of programming this design.
• UI design and UI development appear on opposite ends of the software development process.
• UI designers and UI developers work together to create products that are feasible, desirable, and viable.

Build designs of user interfaces that can be quickly developed. Use React, Storybook or npm components in UXPin’s design editor and create production-ready prototypes on the fly. Discover UXPin Merge.

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Design with interactive components coming from your team’s design system.

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What is UI Design?

UI design (User Interface Design) is the process of designing user interface elements, layouts, and interactions–everything users see and interact with. These elements include images, animations, sliders, text fields, buttons, etc. Like user experience design, UI design decisions are based on user needs and testing.

What does a UI designer do?

A UI designer is responsible for designing the visual elements of a digital product or application that users interact with. Their primary focus is on creating a user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing interface that not only enhances the overall user experience, but also communicates what actions are possible within a given user interface (clicking a button, navigating to the homepage, typing in text.)

What are UI designer skills and responsibilities?

UI designers are responsible for the UI design process. Their role includes:

• Product aesthetics: branding, visual design
• Research: understanding context of use and users
• Testing: making sure that design is easy to follow for the user
• Design: creating prototypes, mockups, interaction design, animations, viewport layouts (responsive design)

What are UI designer’s qualities and skill set?

• Visually creative
• Web design
• Graphic design
• Design principles and design thinking
• Interested in visual design
• User journeys and personas
• User research
• Typography
• Balances form with function
• Looks at user interaction and behavior
• Task orientated

What is UI Design Process?

UI designers follow the same design thinking process as other UX professionals but complete different activities within the framework:

• Empathize: focuses on the user’s environment, movements, and actions
• Define: focuses on each step users need to take to achieve their goals
• Ideate: looks at the elements and components users will need to navigate a product
• Prototype: designs mockups and interactivity for high-fidelity prototypes
• Test: tests how users interact with the product and ask practical questions

Further reading: UX vs. UI Design – The Differences You Need to Know.

What Software does a UI Designer Use?

UI designers generally use the same design tools and software as other UX designers. These tools allow them to design, prototype, and test user interfaces.

The goal for any UI designer is to create high-fidelity prototypes that look and function like the final product. Code-based design tools like UXPin have revolutionized how UI designers prototype and test digital products.

Some of UXPin’s advanced prototyping features include:

• States: Create multiple states for a single component with separate properties for interactions and system changes.
• Conditional Interactions: Create dynamic user experiences with Javascript-like “if-then” and “if-else” rules that respond to user and system actions.
• Variables: Store user inputs and take actions based on that data–like displaying a customized welcome message from the user’s name input.
• Expressions: Write Javascript-like functions that perform complex tasks, like form validation, computational formatting, and more.

Discover these and more advanced UXPin features with a free 14-day trial–no payment details necessary!

What is UI Development?

UI development is the process of programming client-facing interfaces. Like UI design, the UI development process includes writing code for images, animations, sliders, text fields, buttons, etc.

What is a UI developer?

A UI developer is responsible for implementing the visual design of a website or application. While UI designers focus on creating the overall look and feel of the interface, UI developers bring those designs to life by writing the code that enables the interface to function on the web or within an application.

What are UI developer skills and responsibilities?

Depending on the product and organization structure, the UI development role might fall on a front-end developer, UX engineer, or full-stack engineer. Their responsibilities include (these will vary depending on the engineering team’s structure):

• UI component development
• UI maintenance
• Styling architecture
• Implementation
• Technical feasibility
• Backlog management
• Performance
• Query architecture
• Search engine optimization

What is the difference between Front-End Development vs. Back-End Development?

Engineers divide programming into two separate disciplines, front-end, and back-end development.

• Front-end development: Focuses on developing “client-facing” interfaces using HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
• Back-end development: Write server-side code to connect front-end interfaces to databases, APIs, authentication, etc. Some programming languages include Java, Ruby, Python, and Javascript, to name a few.

Further reading: Front-End vs. Back-End: What’s the Difference?

What Software does a UI Developer Use?

Like any engineer, UI developers use an integrated development environment (IDE) to examine and write code. Modern IDEs feature various extensions to interface with engineering tools like Git, package managers, repositories, APIs, etc.

Further reading: The 7 Essential Tools for Frontend Web Development.

UI Design vs. UI Development

With UI design and UI development defined, it’s clear to see these disciplines appear on opposite ends of the software development process. UI design happens during the design process, while UI development occurs during the engineering process. 

While these are separate disciplines, UI designers and UI engineers must work together to deliver a successful final product.

It’s important to note that not every organization has a UI designer and UI engineer role. Here are some positions that might fulfill these UI roles and responsibilities:

• UI design: UX engineer, visual designer, graphic designer
• UI development: Front-end developer, UX engineer/UX developer, full-stack engineer

How UI Designers and UI Developers Work Together

Here is a typical workflow demonstrating how a UI designer and UI developer would collaborate on a project:

1. UI designers start a design project with various forms of UX research to understand users, competition, the market, product, etc. They use user-centered design processes to understand the problem from a user’s point of view.
2. UI designers will meet with UI developers early in the design process to discuss technical limitations, design handoff procedures, and documentation requirements.
3. UI designers work with other UX designers to design, prototype, and test user interfaces, layouts, and components. In some instances, the UI developer might collaborate with the design team to build basic code prototypes to test complex UI components.
4. Once the design process is complete, UI designers prepare prototypes and documentation for the design handoff.
5. UI designers and UI developers might meet to discuss designs and ensure engineers understand everything correctly during the design handoff process. 
6. UI developers work with the rest of the engineering team to convert designs into functioning code.
7. UI designers work with the design and product teams to complete the QA (quality assurance) process to ensure the final release meets design specifications.

The Importance of UI designer and UI developer collaboration

Modern software development relies on exceptional UI design and development. 

Designers ensure the product meets users’ needs and thoroughly test user interfaces and UI components to ensure they meet usability and accessibility standards. Without this prototyping and testing phase, usability issues impact the product, resulting in a poor user experience resulting in avoidable costs on multiple fronts–customer service, rework, losing customers, etc.

UI developers also play a crucial role in delivering successful software releases. They must ensure the final UI meets design specs and test code for bugs and performance. They’re also responsible for managing code, including updates to packages, APIs, security, etc., to ensure the product maintains its integrity and consistency over time.

To achieve this, designers and engineers must collaborate throughout the software development process–which can be challenging in large organizations where silos and poor communication are common.

UI designers and UI developers often work with DesignOps and DevOps to help bridge the gap between these disciplines to improve operational processes and collaboration.

Better Designer-Developer Collaboration With UXPin Merge

The Drift Challenge

One of the challenges designers and engineers face is that they speak different languages. 

• Designers = image-based static mockups and prototypes
• Engineers = code, browsers, operating systems, databases, etc.

Without in-depth knowledge and experience of one another’s disciplines, it’s hard for designers and programmers to understand the other’s limitations, constraints, and other challenges. Bridging that gap is crucial for organizations to deliver products successfully, on time, and on budget.

The Code-Based Solution

UXPin Merge has revolutionized the traditional UX workflow with a code-based design solution allowing orgs to sync a component library from a repository to UXPin’s editor, so designers build prototypes using fully functioning UI elements and components.

Merge components retain exactly the same properties as those in the repository, including interactivity, so designers can simply drag and drop to build UIs. Engineers can also set various props (for React or Args for Storybook) to allow designers to customize components in JSX or via UXPin’s Properties Panel. Any changes to these props render JSX, which engineers can copy/paste to begin development.

This Merge-powered workflow enhances collaboration and understanding between UI designers and UI developers because they’re speaking the same language with the same constraints–a truly single source of truth for your org’s component library.

UXPin has also recently announced the upcoming release of Merge Component Manager–a tool that reduces developer involvement in importing and managing coded UI components. Less reliance on engineers means designers can get up and running with Merge much faster.

“It used to take us two to three months just to do the design. Now, with UXPin Merge, teams can design, test, and deliver products in the same timeframe. Faster time to market is one of the most significant changes we’ve experienced using Merge.” Erica Rider, UX Lead EPX @ PayPal

Discover how UXPin’s Merge technology can revolutionize your design processes. Get access to UXPin Merge.

The post UI Design vs. UI Development – What’s the Difference? appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Many people underestimate the importance of a signup page and use a generic template to onboard new users. Signup pages are your organization’s first point of contact with a new customer, so designers should focus on the user experience just as carefully as they do with any other user interface.

We’re going to explore some of the internet’s best signup forms and why they matter. We’ll also show you how to build and test your signup forms using our code-based design tool.

Can your image-based design tool capture user inputs and validate that data? The problem with image-based design tools is they lack fidelity and functionality. With UXPin’s code-based prototypes, designers can capture user inputs, validate emails and passwords, create conditional formatting, and more! Sign up for a 14-day free trial and discover the endless possibilities with code-based design from UXPin.

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What is a Sign Up Page?

Sign up page is a page designed to collect information from users who wish to create an account or register for a service, website, or application. It is a crucial component of online platforms that require user authentication and personalized access.

Why Your Signup Page Matters?

Signup pages are a way for organizations to attract new leads or sales. It’s usually the first time a potential customer will interact with your brand, so it’s critical that you impress and delight new signups.

Signup forms are probably the least complicated UI element to design but the most challenging to entice people to take action. Designers must understand their target audience and UX psychology to overcome hesitancy and increase conversions.

There are no rules to creating the perfect landing page. A/B testing is crucial for registration form optimization.

Top 10 Signup Page Examples

Here are 10 excellent signup form examples to inspire your next landing page.

1. GetResponse

GetResponse is an industry-leading email marketing and lead generation software with landing pages, forms, and other tools. You would expect such a company to have an excellent registration page, and they do! 

GetResponse ticks all the boxes when it comes to UX design principles; it is consistent, accessible, easy to digest, uses simple language, and provides feedback, to name a few. The page only has three form fields:

• Full Name
• Email
• Password

Think of each form field as another reason why someone won’t sign up for your product or service. By reducing form fields, you increase conversion rates.

GetResponse also highlights its benefits on the signup page, reminding customers why they need this product and the problems it’ll solve. 

One feature you won’t often find on a signup page is an accessibility button to change the form’s background color marketing it more accessible for visually impaired users to read. GetResponse must know that their brand’s blue didn’t contrast well for people with visual impairments, so they added an accessibility button to fix it.

2. Flux

Flux uses a full-screen signup form to onboard new customers. This strategy allows the user to focus on completing a single task without distractions. Even though Flux only requires users to complete three form fields, they break these up into steps, with a separate page for name, email, and password.

Flux also includes a list of requirements below the password field, so users know what length and characters they must use. As they complete each condition, it turns from red to green with a checkmark, so the user knows they have fulfilled it correctly.

3. Leadinfo

The quickest way to get signups is to make it easy, which is precisely what Leadinfo does on its home page signup form. All Leadinfo require to onboard a new customer is an email address. While there is a risk that they might not complete the signup process right away, you have an email address to nurture the lead into a customer.

Leadinfo’s UI design uses typography and color to highlight a problem and how the product can solve it. The clever use of color draws a visitor’s attention to the effortless signup form or the live chat to engage with a sales representative–giving users options and making them feel in control.

4. Cleo

Cleo is an app-based product, so users can only signup via the iOS or Android apps. If a potential customer finds Cleo’s website using a desktop, they need to funnel that customer to download the app.

Cleo makes this easy with a dropdown animation revealing a QR code redirecting users to their preferred app store. They also provide links to Apple’s App Store or Google Play.

While Cleo’s example isn’t a signup page, it’s a great example of creating an immersive, on-brand experience for users to find your product and sign up.

5. Designmodo

Managing users’ expectations and providing context are crucial for good UX design. Designmodo does this well with a three-step signup sequence that displays a progress bar above the form.

Users know what each step requires and approximately how long it will take them to complete the process. Another intelligent strategy about Designmodo’s signup page is to first ask for the user’s email. If the user abandons the signup sequence, they can try to win them back through an email sequence.

6. Salesforce

Salesforce is the world’s leading CRM platform with an extensive suite of tools and products. The company requires a lot of information during signup, including company name, email, phone number, to name a few. Still, they offer a 30-day trial in return–with no credit card or obligation.

Salesforce uses compelling copy to highlight the product’s primary benefits and remind customers that they’re getting 30 days free. The CTA button even says START MY FREE TRIAL, so users know there is a reward for completing Salesforce’s lengthy form.

If you’re asking customers for a lot of information during signup, use value to incentivize the process. Most free trials last 7 to 14 days, so by offering 30 days, Salesforce creates a lot of value. They’re also an established brand with a lot of prestige, so customers are more willing to spend time completing Salesforce’s signup form.

7. Typeform

It’s impossible to have an article about signup pages without mentioning the master of the form, Typeform. Typeform’s immersive and intuitive forms make completing signups, or any form, an enjoyable experience.

Typeform only requires two fields to complete its signup sequence; email and password. The company also offers two social media options, Google and Microsoft. As Typeform is a business product, offering corporate-type social signup options makes more sense than Facebook or Twitter.

Typeform also offers users the opportunity to customize their data privacy with three options to opt in or out of specific communications below the newsletter signup. As this would create a busy signup interface, Typeform uses a dropdown menu to hide these until the user clicks “See options.”

8. Transmetrics

Providing social proof and testimonials on your sign up page is a fantastic way to tell people how the product or service benefits customers. Transmetrics uses a quote from a prominent European customer explaining the company’s excellent customer service and understanding of the logistics industry.

Transmetrics also uses simple language and bullet points to highlight the product’s key benefits. Lastly, the call to action button says “REQUEST A DEMO,” telling the customer exactly why they are filling out this form.

9. Glide

Glide’s email signup form is minimal and effortless. Users can signup using their Google account or email address. The product integrates with Google Sheets, so it makes sense to only offer one social network signup option.

The simple UI design uses a bright blue signup button, immediately drawing users’ attention to the center of the screen. Glide’s signup form can onboard a new customer smoothly and efficiently with two clicks.

10. PayPal

As a financial service, PayPal must collect a lot of personal information during signup. If PayPal had to create a single signup form for its onboarding, it might overwhelm customers, resulting in high dropoffs.

To overcome this problem, PayPal uses a step-by-step process of capturing personal data. The company asks for users’ mobile and email first to follow up if the person drops off.

If you have to collect a lot of information, consider doing it in a step-by-step process and use a progress bar to show customers how many steps they must complete. You should also consider offering the option to save their progress to return later.

Prototyping Signup Pages With UXPin

Prototyping forms in traditional vector-based design tools is impossible. These tools don’t offer the functionality to create working inputs users can interact with.

UXPin is a code-based design tool, which means designers can build prototypes that capture and process data like a website or digital product. Designers can create actual signup forms with inputs that check for conditions and provide error messages.

For example, UXPin lets you create email and password validation. If the user forgets the @ or .com in an email input, designers can program an error message for the user to fix the problem. You can also include password conditions, like character count, letters, numbers, and symbols.

Once a user completes signup, you can welcome them with their name on the next page and include their personal information on a profile page. No image-based design tool offers the fidelity or functionality to prototype signup forms like UXPin!

Ready to give signup form prototyping a try? Here’s how in three easy steps:

1. Sign up for a free UXPin trial.
2. Download our working example of a signup form prototype.
3. Drag and drop the .uxp file into your free UXPin account, and you’re ready to go.

Here is a preview of the signup form prototype you can edit and customize in UXPin.

The post Top 10 Signup Page Examples That Will Make You Want to Redesign Your Own appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

An app landing page is a dedicated web page designed to showcase and promote a specific application. Its primary purpose is to provide information about the app, highlight its key features and benefits, and encourage target audience to download and install the app.

App landing pages are an essential part of the marketing strategy for apps, serving as a central point for potential users to learn more about the app and decide to download it.

Are you an app developer? Create a beautiful and interactive app landing page design with UXPin Merge’s drag-and-drop features. Use React components that you can then copy to build a React-based app landing page. Try UXPin Merge for free.

Design UI with code-backed components.

Use the same components in design as in development. Keep UI consistency at scale.

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What is an app landing page?

An app landing page is a special web page made to show off and promote a specific app. It’s like a virtual brochure that tells you all about the app – what it does, its cool features, and why you should get it. The main goal is to help people decide to download and install the app.

These pages are crucial for marketing mobile apps. They act as a central spot where potential customers can get all the details they need before deciding if they want to download the app to their mobile devices or computers. Essentially, it’s like a one-stop-shop to learn how the app works and make an informed choice.

In simpler terms, an app landing page is like a friendly guide that introduces you to an app, explains what it can do, and invites you to give it a try by downloading it.

Key elements of an app landing page

Most app landing page examples use similar elements. These elements matter because they contribute to a positive user experience and makes the target audience understand what the landing page is for.

Standard UI elements are commonly used across various websites and apps. When users encounter familiar elements, they feel more comfortable and can quickly grasp how to interact with the content.

Certain UI elements have become industry standards. For example, having a prominent and clear CTA button aligns with users’ expectations. Meeting these expectations helps target audience find what they’re looking for without unnecessary confusion.

What are they? Let’s explore key elements of app landing pages in layman’s terms.

• App logo: Placing the logo in the top left corner of the landing page is a common and effective practice. This aligns with the standard layout of many websites.
• Hero image or video in the header: Eye-catching visuals at the top of the page help to introduce the app and draw the users in to scroll down for more information.
• App description text: A concise and compelling overview of the app, including its value proposition, main functionalities, and high-converting benefits.
• Feature highlights: Sections showcasing the key app features and functionalities of the app, often presented with screenshots of the app or icons to enhance scannability of text and boost messaging.
• Call-to-Action (CTA) buttons: Prominent buttons encouraging users to download the app with a download link or take specific actions.
• User testimonials: User reviews or any other form of social proof that describe typical use cases and opionions. Believe it or not, testimonials truly boost your conversion goals. Sometimes a great social proof is just showing the number of app downloads.
• Social media integration: Links or feeds to the app’s social media profiles to encourage visitors to follow for updates and engage with the app community.
• Compatibility information: Information about the platforms and devices supported by the app, such as iOS, Android, smartphones, tablets, etc.
• Contact or support information: Providing ways for users to get in touch with the app’s developers or support team for inquiries or assistance.

By incorporating these elements, app landing pages create a user-friendly environment that aligns with user expectations, enhances usability, and encourages visitors to engage with the content and ultimately get the app.

Best app landing page examples

We prepared a list of high-converting landing pages for mobile apps that you can find at Google Play Store, Apple App Store, or web apps sold by popular SaaS companies. Let’s analyze what makes those landing pages effective.

Headspace

Headspace is a meditation app and a great mobile app landing page example. It has a logo in the top-left corner, colorful app screenshots, and a value proposition as a H1. Its CTA button and pricing tiers are above the fold which definitely impacts conversion rates. What is above the fold? It is any content that is immediately visible on a webpage without requiring the user to scroll down.

What’s in it for you?

• Don’t fear bold colors — Minimalist design is still on trend, but it doesn’t mean that your website should be black and white. Experiment with colors to make your site a delightful user experience.
• Test if pricing is something that converts —SaaS websites usually highlight pricing on a dedicated landing page, but why not to try it above the fold. Run an a/b test to see if it works for your target audience.
• Give users a sample of what they can expect — A couple of scrolls down and you can actually hear the recording of one of the meditations. It’s a great hook that draws people in.

MonopolyGo

MonopolyGo is one of the best selling mobile apps. It’s landing page is simple and to the point. Even though it’s downloaded by millions of people, the landing page creators decided to feature only three testimonials. It seems that it’s not a lot, but each review has a candid photo of a smiling person and a high energy description. Way to go, isn’t it?

What’s in it for you?

• Boost excitement with an energetic animation — No header? It’s not necessary! Most people know what Monopoly is, but they don’t know how fun it is to play it. Encourage more interest with a high-energy animation of your product.
• Put links to social media — If social media marketing is important to you and your potential customers, feature the links to it in a visible spot. Notice that for MonopolyGo, it’s not the footer, it’s a left-hand side of their site.
• Chat option in the right corner —Give your target audience a possibility to reach out to your customer service. This way you’ll know what issues they have and what they expected to get from your site. Feedback matters!

WhatsApp

WhatsApp is a great example of website design that sells. It pairs great copy with heart-warming visuals to make you click the “Download” CTA. This is why aside from great UI design, you need to work with a copywriter who knows how to compose a high-converting copy.

What’s in it for you?

• Focus on your value proposition —WhatsApp differentiates itself from other communicators by telling their potential customers that they’re a secure app. What is your value proposition and why should it be important to your users?
• Use negative space to make copy sink in — WhatsApp makes a great use of whitespace and we think it’s because they want to make the text and visuals stand out. Let your copy breathe, so it can create the impact that you want.
• Doodles —Headspace used bold colors, MonopolyGo video, and WhatsApp uses doodles to make their landing page more unique.

Vinted

Vinted is a platform for selling and buying clothes from people. It took ecommerce space by storm. It works on a premise that when you’re using the platform you are giving clothes a new life, and it plays well with a sustainability trend so popular in 2024.

What’s in it for you?

• Candid photos — it uses photos from the platform on its landing page. Be careful with this one, because you need user consent to do it.
• Navigation with categories —Vinted is in ecommerce category and it features navigation to communicate what you can expect from the platform.
• Search bar — what happens when you type in what you’re looking for and click search? You get search results, and from this point you are one step away from buying an item and becoming a user. Since items are indexed, it boosts Vinted’s SEO rankings.

Create an app landing page design with UXPin Merge

You are one step away from creating a high-converting app landing page? Use our tips and log in to UXPin in order to use your knowledge in practice. Design a beautiful layout of your app landing page. Soon you’ll find optimized landing page templates in our app.

And if you are new to our site, we’re creating UXPin Merge, a drag-and-drop UI builder that helps non-designers assemble landing pages, apps, websites, and more 10x faster. Try UXPin Merge.

The post Best App Landing Page Examples and Why They Work appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Web-based application development is the process of creating software applications that are accessed and run through a web browser. These applications can be designed to work on various devices and operating systems. Web-based app development process typically involves using technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, along with frameworks and libraries, to build interactive and dynamic experiences.

Build interactive web application prototypes and wireframes with a drag-and-drop UI builder. Use fully coded React components and move them around to create beautiful and interactive layout of your app. You don’t need a designer to design anymore. Try UXPin Merge.

Design UI with code-backed components.

Use the same components in design as in development. Keep UI consistency at scale.

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What is web-based application development?

Web-based app development is the software development process of creating applications that users can access and interact with through a web browser. Unlike traditional desktop or mobile applications, which are installed on a user’s device, web-based apps are hosted on servers and need the Internet connection to run.

When working on web-based app development, programmers primarily use a combination of web technologies. HTML defines the structure of your content, CSS handles the presentation and layout, and JavaScript brings interactivity to the application. These technologies form the backbone of what’s commonly known as the frontend.

For the backend development, programmers likely use server-side programming languages such as Node.js, Python, Ruby on rails, or PHP, coupled with databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, or other SQL database. The backend is responsible for processing requests from the frontend, managing data, and performing any necessary business logic.

Types of web applications

There are several types of web applications. We explored them in our previous article about making a web app from scratch. What you need to know is that you can encounter:

• Single-page applications: Web-based applications that load a single HTML page and dynamically update the content as the user interacts with the app.
• Multi-page applications: Web applications that consist of multiple HTML pages, with each page representing a distinct view or functionality, requiring full page reloads when navigating between them.
• Progressive web applications: Progressive web apps (PWAs) provide a native app-like experience, offering features such as offline access, push notifications, and responsive design while being accessible directly through web browsers.

You also have static and dynamic web applications. To explore them, read our article about creating a web app.

What is a web application development process?

Web application development process is a systematic approach to creating web apps. It comprises multiple steps that result in building a user-friendly web app. The process is similar to creating a mobile app: it has a design stage with a few iterations, development stage, and testing phase.

Whenever, design and developmenet teams want to add a new feature, they follow the same workflow as if they were building a new web app. They design a feature, iterate on it, and develop it. The same process gets replicated for web development for mobile devices.

The Do’s of web app development

We’re creating a web app. It means that we need to follow a couple of principles regarding app user experience and user interface design as well as software development. We recommend you stick to those do’s.

Follow responsive design best practices

Responsive design is an approach to web app development that ensures a web application’s user interface and layout adapt seamlessly to different screen sizes, resolutions, and device types. The primary goal is to provide an optimal viewing and interaction experience for end users.

Since your users can access your web through a wide range of devices, from desktop computers and laptops to tablets and mobile devices, you need to take care of responsive user interface design.

Some tips about responsive user interface design include:

• Start with a Mobile-First Approach: Begin your design process by focusing on the smallest screens first, typically mobile devices. This approach ensures that your core content and functionality are prioritized for smaller screens and then progressively enhanced for larger ones.
• Use Fluid Grids and Flexible Layouts: Implement fluid grid systems and flexible layouts using relative units like percentages and ems instead of fixed units like pixels. This allows your web content to adapt proportionally to the screen size, ensuring a consistent user experience across devices.
• Use Media Queries for Breakpoints: Use media queries to set breakpoints at which your design will change to accommodate different screen sizes. Adjust your layout, font sizes, and other styles based on these breakpoints to provide an optimized experience for various devices.
• Test Across Multiple Devices: Regularly test your responsive web design across a variety of devices and browsers. Emulators and browser developer tools can help, but real-world testing on actual devices is crucial to identify and address specific issues that may arise on different platforms.
• Prioritize Content: Prioritize and organize content based on its importance and relevance to users. Ensure that critical content is accessible and prominent, especially on smaller screens where space is limited.
• Typography Adjustments: Adjust font sizes and line heights to ensure readability on different devices. Consider using relative units for font sizes to ensure that text scales appropriately across various screen sizes.
• Consider Touch and Gesture Inputs: Design with touch and gesture interactions in mind, especially for mobile devices. Ensure that buttons and interactive elements are appropriately sized and spaced to accommodate touch input.
• Accessibility Considerations: Pay attention to accessibility standards. Ensure that your responsive design accommodates users with disabilities and provides a seamless experience for everyone, regardless of their abilities or the devices they use.
• Performance Optimization: Optimize your website’s performance by minimizing unnecessary assets and reducing the overall page load time. Consider lazy loading images, minimizing HTTP requests, and leveraging browser caching to enhance the user experience.

Want to build an app wireframe that is responsive from the start? Follow our guide on how to do that with UXPin Merge and MUI components: How to Build a Responsive Dashboard?

Adhere to coding standards

Coding standards are a set of guidelines and conventions that developers adhere to when writing code. Coding standards act as a common language, ensuring that all team members write code in a similar manner. This consistency fosters better communication, minimizes misunderstandings, and allows developers to seamlessly switch between different parts of the codebase.

Additionally, when coding standards are followed, it becomes simpler for software developers to identify and fix issues. Debugging becomes a more straightforward process because the code is structured in a predictable way, making it easier to trace the flow of execution and locate potential problems.

Coding standards cover various aspects of coding, including naming conventions, indentation, formatting, and best practices.

Optimize images and media

Optimizing images is crucial for web-based apps because it directly impacts the app’s performance, user experience, and overall loading speed. Large or poorly optimized images can significantly increase page load times, leading to slower user interactions and potentially driving visitors away from a web page or application. Here are some ways to achieve optimized images and media:

• Compression: Use image compression techniques to reduce the file size without compromising image quality excessively. Tools like ImageOptim, TinyPNG, or online services like Squoosh can help in compressing images effectively.
• Resize Images: Ensure that images are resized to the appropriate dimensions for their display on the web app. If an image is larger than needed, resizing it can significantly reduce its file size. Use tools like Photoshop, GIMP, or online platforms to adjust dimensions.
• Choose the Right File Format: Select the appropriate file format for each image. For photographs, JPEG is often suitable, while PNG is ideal for images with transparency. SVG is a good choice for simple graphics and icons. Each format has its compression and quality considerations.
• Lazy Loading: Implement lazy loading for images, especially for those that are not initially visible on the user’s screen. Lazy loading ensures that images are loaded only when they come into the user’s viewport, reducing the initial page load time.
• Responsive Images: Use responsive images that adapt to different screen sizes. This prevents unnecessary loading of large images on smaller screens and ensures a better user experience on various devices.
• Content Delivery Network (CDN): Utilize a Content Delivery Network to distribute images across servers geographically. CDNs reduce latency by serving images from servers closer to the user, further improving loading times.

Leverage caching strategically

Caching is a technique used in web development to store and reuse certain data or resources, reducing the need to repeatedly request and retrieve them from the original source.

It improves the performance and user experience of web applications by minimizing the time and resources required to load and display content. Caching is particularly beneficial for frequently accessed or static data.

Use browser caching, server-side caching, and content delivery networks (CDNs) to reduce the load on servers and improve the overall speed of your web-based application.

Engage in Continuous Integration and Deployment (CI/CD)

CI/CD stands for Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery, and it represents a set of modern software development practices aimed at improving the development and delivery process.

Continuous Integration is about automating the deployment process of software to staging or production environments. Continuous Delivery focuses on automating the deployment process of software to staging or production environments.

So, set up a CI/CD pipeline to automate the testing, building, and deployment processes. Continuous integration ensures that changes are merged seamlessly, and continuous deployment allows for faster and more reliable updates to your web application.

CI/CD is crucial for web-based apps because it enhances the speed, reliability, and collaboration aspects of the development and deployment process, ultimately leading to a more efficient and competitive development lifecycle.

The Dont’s of web app development

There are a few no-no’s when it comes to web-based apps. Here are key things that front-end developers and designers need to avoid.

Inconsistent UI

UI consistency in web app development refers to maintaining a uniform and cohesive design across the user interface elements, visual elements, and interaction patterns throughout the entire application. It ensures that users encounter a predictable and harmonious experience as they navigate different pages and sections of the web app.

Consistency involves adhering to established design patterns, styling conventions, and interaction behaviors to create a seamless and intuitive user interface. Here are a few dangers of having an inconsistent user interface:

• Confusing User Experience: Inconsistencies in the UI can lead to confusion among users. If elements like buttons, navigation menus, or color schemes vary across different pages, users may struggle to understand how to interact with the application, leading to a less intuitive and frustrating experience.
• Higher Cognitive Load: Users must invest additional cognitive effort to adapt to an inconsistent UI. When design elements behave differently or have varying visual cues, users need to constantly readjust their mental model of the application, resulting in increased cognitive load and potentially hindering their overall experience.
• Increased Error Rates: Inconsistencies may lead to higher error rates. Users accustomed to a certain interaction pattern may make mistakes when confronted with unexpected changes. This can result in unintended actions, frustration, and a higher likelihood of errors during the use of the web app.

If your UI is inconsistent, you need to redesign your app. Now! Check how other companies updated their UI quickly by using a modern component library that’s perfect for the web-based apps.

Poor usability

Usability encompasses factors such as ease of use, intuitiveness, navigation, and overall user experience. A web app with poor usability often presents challenges that lead to frustration, confusion, and an overall negative user experience.

Identifying poor usability in your web app involves assessing various aspects of user interaction and experience. Here are signs that may indicate your web app’s usability needs improvement:

• High exit rates on key pages: If users are frequently exiting your web app on crucial pages, such as checkout or registration pages, it may signal usability issues. Analyze exit rates on important pages to identify potential roadblocks or confusing elements.
• Frequent support requests: An increased number of support requests or inquiries related to how to use the web app may indicate poor usability. Users should be able to navigate and perform tasks intuitively without the need for extensive guidance.
• Low task completion rate: Users might encounter difficulties in completing tasks, leading to task abandonment, they may leave forms unfilled, not convert to paid users or they won’t invite friends or coworkers to join them in app.
• Limited user engagement: A lack of user engagement with key features or functionalities may suggest poor usability. Users might not be discovering or using certain elements, indicating that the design or placement is not intuitive.

Not handling users errors

Handling user errors effectively in web applications is crucial for providing a positive user experience and preventing user frustration. Web developers and designers should provide clear and descriptive error messages that convey the nature of the problem and suggest possible solutions.

The text should be written without technical jargon or complex terminology that might confuse users further. Communicate the error in a way that makes sense to the user. Another important thing is the error message placement. Display error messages in proximity to the specific field or area where the error occurred. This helps users quickly identify the problem and understand which part of the form or process needs attention.

Implement real-time validation for user inputs. As users fill out forms, provide instant feedback on whether their input is valid. This proactive approach helps users correct errors before submitting the form.

If you want to create a prototype that can test validation, use UXPin Merge for your web app design. It helps you quickly set up user input validation and test it with real users.

Lack of testing UI before release

The development team may forget about testing the UI before they release the first version of the app. Testing the user interface is crucial for identifying and addressing potential issues that end users may encounter.

Testing the UI early in the development process helps detect design flaws or inconsistencies that may have been overlooked during the design phase. Addressing these issues before the release saves time on redesigning app’s user interface.

Gather feedback from potential users through usability testing sessions. Observing how users interact with the UI can provide valuable insights into areas that may need improvement. You can also release a beta version of your web app to collect feedback, monitor user interactions, and identify any unexpected issues before the full release.

Neglecting cross-browser compatibility

Neglecting cross-browser compatibility is a common mistake in web development that can have significant repercussions on a website’s usability, functionality, and overall user experience.

Cross-browser compatibility refers to the ability of a website or web application to function consistently and effectively across different web browsers. Ignoring this aspect can lead to various challenges and user frustrations, as some users will not be able to use your app or they may encounter performance and layout errors.

Always test UI across various browsers (Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, etc.) to ensure that your web app looks and functions consistently across different browser environments. This is crucial for avoiding potential issues specific to certain browsers. There are some tools that can help you with that.

Failing to provide documentation

Documentation serves as a crucial resource for understanding the codebase, facilitating collaboration, and ensuring the maintainability of the web app.

Without proper documentation, app maintenance becomes a challenging and time-consuming process. Documented codebase explanations, architectural decisions, and coding conventions help development team members understand the project more efficiently.

Well-documented code provides clarity on the intended behavior, reducing the likelihood of introducing errors during maintenance. Documented codebase guidelines and architectural documentation are also essential for scaling the app without any problems.

Overlooking security measures

Neglecting security can lead to severe consequences, including data breaches, unauthorized access, and compromised user trust. Since the app is based on web, it is susceptible to common cyber attacks such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and cross-site request forgery (CSRF). These attacks can lead to unauthorized access, data manipulation, and session hijacking.

Neglecting security often results in a lack of incident response preparedness. Without a well-defined incident response plan, software developers and security teams may struggle to contain and mitigate the impact of security incidents promptly.

Build an interactive web application prototype with UXPin Merge

We explored do’s and dont’s of web application development. Do you feel inspired to build your own web-based app? If so, try our drag-and-drop UI builder, UXPin Merge and design with React UI components that come from MUI and other open-source libraries to move from design to development 10x faster. Try UXPin Merge.

The post Web-Based Application Development – Do’s and Don’ts appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Interaction design is one of the most critical facets of user experience design. It makes the product’s interface respond to user’s action, aiding in human-to-computer interaction.

Key takeaways:

• Interaction design is a multidisciplinary design field that focuses on the interaction between users and digital products, systems, or interfaces.
• It involves designing how users engage with and experience a product, with the goal of making that interaction intuitive and efficient.
• It’s often abbreviated as IxD.

It’s one of the most challenging stages of UX design process. UXPin’s code-based design tool reduces those challenges by allowing designers to build functional prototypes with extreme fidelity and interactivity. Deliver better customer experiences today. Sign up for a free trial.

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What is Interaction Design?

Interaction design is a process of making human-to-computer interfaces (HCI) feel human-like. Interactive digital products create this “human” connection by giving feedback to the end-users. The feedback can be through a scroll-provoked animation, clicked state of a button or transition to another page.

Often shortened to IxD, interaction design uses appropriate interactive elements, such as transitions, microinteractions, animation, but also text, color, visuals, and layout impact users’ feeling and behavior–allowing them to design interactions strategically to elicit the appropriate response.

A good use of interaction design successfully leads to positive user experiences, including:

• Greater product satisfaction
• Deeper usability comprehension
• Faster learnability
• A deeper personal connection
• Increased likelihood of repeated use

Interaction Design vs UI Design

Interaction design focuses on human-computer interaction, including animations, microinteractions, transitions, search, and other motion-based designs. They decide, for example, what happens when a user taps an element.

User interface design focuses on visual design and aesthetics, including color, fonts, iconography, layouts, etc. They decide what a user interface must look like.

To summarize:

• Interaction design is about Interactions and movement
• UI design is about visual design and aesthetics

In smaller companies and startups, a UI designer is often responsible for both tasks, while the roles are separate in larger organizations. Like anything in digital product design, the roles and responsibilities can synergize. It all depends on the company, product, and organizational structure.

Interaction Design vs UX Design

Interaction design is a specialized discipline within UX design. Where UX looks at the entire user experience and how everything ties together, interaction designers focus on user interactions and motion.

User experience designers apply UX fundamentals like design thinking, human-centered design, and user research to make decisions. They’re specifically concerned with a user’s tasks, actions, and environment, while interaction designers focus on making the digital product respond to user actions in an appropriate way. They tend to think about what happens when a user clicks a button, types a phrase into a search bar or hovers over an image.

Interaction Design Principles

We’ve chosen our favorite IxD principles from Don Norman’s (co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group) book, The Design of Everyday Things.

Visibility

With many features and limited space, prioritizing visibility is a significant design challenge. Don Norman’s theory is that the more visible something is, the more likely a user sees and interacts with it. Interaction designers must balance visibility prioritization based on user needs and business goals.

A typical example of visibility is prioritizing navigation links on mobile devices. What links are visible via the app bar, and what do designers place in the navigation drawer behind a hamburger menu?

Feedback

Feedback is how a digital product or system communicates with users. Interaction designers have several ways to express this feedback, including motion/animation, tactile, audio, copy, etc.

They must also consider accessibility and how products relay feedback to all types of users and assistive technologies.

Constraints

Cluttered UIs with too many possibilities confuse users and create usability issues. Good interaction design limits (or constrains) user actions to guide them through the product more efficiently.

We see these constraints most commonly with landing pages. Designers strip away navigation, links, and anything else that might tempt users to leave the page, leaving only a prominent CTA or form. Constraining users to a single action allows them to focus on the content that leads to a conversion.

Mapping

Interaction designers must create a clear relationship between controls and their effect on a digital product. The idea is to map these relationships to feel natural to users.

For example, the top button on an iPhone increases the volume while the lower one decreases. This intuitive layout means users don’t have to think about which button performs which action.

The more intuitive and obvious a product is to use, the easier and more enjoyable the experience.

Consistency

Consistency is vital for interaction and UI design. Inconsistency can confuse users and create usability issues. Designers not only have to design consistent UIs and interactions but also consider consistency across multiple screen sizes and devices.

Many organizations build a design system or adopt an open-source component library to increase consistency with approved UI patterns and interactions. When designers don’t have to think about these choices, they can focus on the user experience and apply the appropriate pattern to help users achieve the desired result.

Affordance

Affordance tells users how to use something or perform an action. It’s an interaction designer’s job to ensure that it’s obvious to users how to complete tasks using UI elements.

For example, a submit button’s disabled state tells users to complete a form’s required fields before submitting. Using a different color and underline for links tells users which text they can click.

Cognition

Interaction designers must have a basic understanding of cognitive psychology in UX design–attention and perception, memory, problem-solving, and creative thinking. The aim is to design products and experiences that don’t overload these mental processes.

Cognition deals with several design psychology principles, including:

• Gestalt principles: how the human brain perceives visuals to create familiar structures.
• Von Restorff effect: predicts that in a group of objects, the one that differs stands out or is most likely to be remembered.
• Hick’s Law: the more choices you give someone, the longer it’ll take them to make a decision.
• The Principle of Least Effort: users will make choices or take action requiring the least amount of energy.
• The Serial Positioning Effect: humans are most likely to remember the first (primacy effect) and last (recency effect) items in a list, sentence, or piece of content.
• The Principle of Perpetual Habit: people rely on familiar routines and habits–which is why it’s crucial to use universal design patterns.
• The Principle of Emotional Contagion: humans will mimic or empathize with the emotions and behaviors of others, including animals and animations–which is why designers use faces (even emojis) to emphasize feeling and emotion.
• Fitts’s Law: the time required to move to a target area is a function between the distance and the target’s size.

Dive deeper into cognition in this article: UX Design Psychology Tricks for Design Excellence and this one: A UX Designer’s Guide to Improving Speed of Use. These principles apply to all UX disciplines.

Interaction Design Checklist

We found this helpful interaction design checklist from the US Government’s Technology Transformation Services website, usability.gov. The checklist includes several questions to consider when designing interactions.

• Define how users interact with the interface – click/tap, push, swipe, drag & drop, keyboard controls, etc.
• Give users clues about behavior before they take action – correct labeling, different colors for links, using consistency for clickable UI elements, etc.
• Anticipate and mitigate errors – how do you prevent errors while providing helpful messages to correct problems?
• Consider system feedback and response time – what happens after users complete an action, and how soon does that feedback appear?
• Strategically think about each element – have you chosen the appropriate element/pattern? Is there enough space between clickable elements to avoid errors? Have you followed design psychology principles (mentioned above)? Scrutinize every decision from a user’s perspective.
• Simplify for learnability – make user interfaces and tasks as simple as possible, use familiar patterns, and minimize cognitive-draining tasks and features to simplify the user experience.

Also, check out the IxD Checklist from Aaron Legaspi and Amit Jakhu.

Interaction Design Resources

• Interaction Design Association
• Interaction Design Foundation
• 50 Best Interaction Design Programs

UXPin–The Ultimate Interaction Design Tool

A lack of fidelity and functionality is a significant problem for interaction designers when prototyping and testing using traditional image-based design tools.

Interaction designers must create multiple frames to replicate basic code functionality, which takes considerable time and effort. With UXPin’s code-based design tool, designers can achieve significantly better results with less effort. Here’s how:

States

UXPin enables designers to create multiple States for a single component. For example, you can build a button with default, hover, active and disabled states, each with separate properties and triggers.

UXPin’s States also allows designers to create more complex UI patterns like carousels, accordions, dropdown menus, and more using a single frame. These UI patterns behave like code, giving interaction designers accurate results and feedback during testing.

Interactions

With UXPin Interactions, designers can build immersive, code-like experiences far beyond the capabilities of image-based design tools. UXPin offers a wide range of triggers, actions, and animations to create fully functional, animated prototypes.

Conditional Interactions allow designers to take prototypes a step further with Javascript-like “if-then” and “if-else” conditions to create dynamic user experiences. 

Variables

In UXPin, form fields look and function like the final product. Variables allow designers to capture user inputs and use that data elsewhere in the prototype–like a personalized welcome message after completing an onboarding form.

Expressions

UXPin Expressions take prototyping to another level with code-like functionality, including form validation and computational components (updating a shopping cart). When combined with States, Interactions, and Variables, Expressions allow designers to build prototypes that function like the final product.

These powerful features mean interaction designers don’t have to learn code or rely on engineers to build fully functioning prototypes for accurate testing. With UXPin, designers can build, test, and iterate faster and achieve significantly better results.

Tired of asking usability participants and stakeholders to “imagine” something happening? Switch to UXPin and start prototyping with the world’s most advanced code-based design tool. Sign up for a free trial today.

The post What is Interaction Design? appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Creative scrolling patterns let you adjust the pace, delivery, and interactivity of the content. Considering that our attention span on the web has dropped to about 8 seconds, a delightful scrolling experience certainly prolongs user interest.

In this post, we’ll examine the most common and time-tested scrolling pattern. As explained in the free e-book Web UI Patterns 2016 Vol.1, each pattern is creative yet proven usable through years of refinement.

UXPin helps you build interactive, scrollable prototypes even on trial. Try UXPin and all its advanced features for free. Sign up for trial.

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What are Scrolling Patterns?

Scrolling patterns are the various ways content is presented to the users as they scroll down a web page. Scrolling patterns influence how users engage with the content and how they feel about it.

Choosing the right scrolling pattern depends on the nature of the content, the user experience you want to create, and the specific goals of your website or application. A thoughtful selection of scrolling patterns can enhance engagement, guide user navigation, and contribute to a positive overall user experience.

Types of Scrolling Patterns

Here are some common scrolling patterns:

1. Traditional or Sequential Scrolling – This is the most common scrolling pattern where users scroll vertically through content in a linear manner, one section at a time.
2. Infinite Scrolling – New content continuously loads as users scroll down. It’s often used in social media feeds and content-heavy websites.
3. Parallax Scrolling – It creates an illusion of depth by moving background and foreground elements at different speeds as users scroll.
4. Fixed or Sticky Elements – In this pattern, certain elements, such as navigation menus or headers, remain fixed in place as users scroll.
5. Carousel or Slider – They allow multiple pieces of content to cycle through horizontally as users scroll. They’re useful for presenting a variety of information in a limited space.
6. Full-Page Scrolling: Each scroll action takes users to a new full-page section, often with unique visual designs or interactions. It’s often used in portfolios or promotional websites to create a visually impactful experience.
7. Scroll Snap: Scroll snap ensures that the page automatically aligns with defined points or sections as users scroll, creating a more controlled scrolling experience.
8. Minimal Scrolling: In this pattern, the content is presented on a single screen without requiring users to scroll. It’s often used for landing pages with minimal content or single messages.

Long Scrolling

Le Mugs

Take It

Beoplay

Flickr

Problem

A site has so much eclectic content that a multi-page format would be too difficult to navigate.

A site wants to tell a story in a smooth, linear fashion.

Solution

Create a single-page, long-scrolling site to consolidate your content in a single place. This works great for social media sites and others with user-generated content, where part of the fun is browsing through everything all at once, and the content is diverse and difficult to categorize because it’s always updating.

The prominence of mobile browsing supports the long scrolling pattern since smaller screen sizes call for more scrolling.

Combined with the infinite scrolling pattern described below, long scrolling can create a completely immersive browsing experience. If users are searching for something in particular, a more structured navigation system like Amazon’s works better — but for explorability, long scrolling is the fastest and most fun for users.

Tips

• Use sticky navigation. Disorientation and the inability to go back are the innate drawbacks of long scrolling, but a fixed menu allows users to move freely.
• Long scrolling can have a negative effect on SEO.
• Don’t autoplay heavy media like videos, since in abundance they drastically slow down loading.
• You don’t have to commit to a single-page format with long scrolling: often sites feature a central long-scrolling home page that links out to traditional secondary pages, like Facebook and Twitter’s separate profile pages.
• For one-off long scrolling on specific page sections, try the fixed technique described below.

Fixed Long Scrolling

Squarespace

UXPin Tour

Problem

A site could benefit from the advantages of long scrolling but doesn’t want to convert entirely from a multi-page structure.

Solution

Fixed long scrolling sites display information that might otherwise require multiple sections within one long-scrolling section. The effect feels like a “scroll within a scroll”.

Tips

• When deciding what to include in a fixed scroll section, make sure you only choose content that fits within a unified theme or category. Each part of Squarespace’s fixed scroll section, for example, focuses on explaining how to “Create a beautiful website” for different business types.
• Place CTAs in at the end of each of each fixed-scroll frame.
• As the UXPin product tour page shows, you can also consider adding a “scroll progress bar” to the top navigation. The pattern helps add a greater sense of pace if you have more than 3-4 frames.

Infinite Scrolling

True Tube

Tumblr

By Kato

Imgur

Problem

Content is better organized on a single page, but there’s too much to load all at once.

Solution

With the infinite scrolling pattern, content is loaded as needed to provide a more paced experience. Infinite scrolling proves useful for single-page sites with more than a few screens worth of content, especially with multimedia galleries.

Infinite scrolling creates a rhythm for social media sites, where users are continually entertained with new content without clicking or waiting.

The problem with infinite scrolling is when users lose their place, though there are ways around this. Sticky navigation is the best way to give your user mobility in a near-infinite sea of content.

Tips

• In addition to sticky navigation, there are other methods to help infinite scrolling’s disorientation. A jump-to-section option, as with Tumblr, lets users return to the start if they become lost.
• Infinite scrolling can be combined with pagination for more accurate searches. For example, Facebook allows users to search timelines by year.
• Don’t be constrained by the traditional loading circle — your choice of icon is an opportunity to deepen your site’s identity. Facebook, Tumblr, Imgur, and others all have custom loading signifiers.

Tasteful Parallax Scrolling

The Walking Dead

Oakley: Airbrake MX

The Boat (SBS)

McWhopper

Problem

Users are not engaged enough in long scrolling formats.

Solution

Give your long scrolling site more impact with a parallax effect. Known to the video game industry for decades, this pattern refers to the layers of a two-dimensional image moving at different speeds when scrolling, i.e., the foreground and background moving at different speeds, or differing layers of the background. The effect creates a mesmerizing three-dimensional feel.

The parallax effect unlocks the more creative aspects of scrolling, especially when combined with scroll-triggered animations. This style lends itself to storytelling sites, building a more immersive and stimulating experience with better visuals.

The Walking Dead uses parallax and other scrolling techniques (i.e., atypical direction since the frames move left to right as you scroll down) to deepen their narrative. While not necessary, the differentiated backgrounds make just watching the scroll more enjoyable. It also makes sense for the context of the site since the character react to the scroll.

Tips

• For help on coding for parallax sites, read Dave Gamache’s piece on Medium.
• Be careful of loading times. A simplified fast site is still better than an extravagant slow site.

Create scrollable prototypes in UXPin

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The post The 4 Types of Creative Website Scrolling Patterns appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Accessibility testing evaluates digital products or services to ensure they can be accessed and used by individuals with disabilities. It involves assessing various websites, applications, or content aspects to identify and address barriers that hinder users with disabilities.

UX teams aim to identify and rectify issues related to visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive impairments, making their digital products more inclusive and usable.

Accessibility testing is crucial because it helps ensure equal access and usability for all individuals, regardless of their abilities. It plays a vital role in creating inclusive digital experiences that comply with accessibility standards and guidelines, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) and Section 508.

Test your designs without leaving the canvas with UXPin’s built-in accessibility features. Sign up for a free trial to explore the world’s most advanced UX design tool.

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Understanding Accessibility Guidelines

The most widely recognized and adopted guidelines are the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It covers various aspects of accessibility, including visual design, multimedia, navigation, forms, and assistive technologies.

WCAG uses four principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust (POUR), to categorize accessibility, accompanied by specific success criteria. These criteria outline the requirements that digital products must meet to be considered accessible. 

WCAG has three conformance levels:

• A (basic)
• AA (intermediate)
• AAA (advanced)

Achieving a higher conformance level indicates a higher level of accessibility.

This article focuses on accessibility tools. You can learn more about accessibility and testing here:

• Things Every Designer Needs to Know About Accessibility – We outline the basics of accessibility to help you get into the topic.
• Design System Accessibility: Check What You Need to Know – Some teams need to have accessibility built into their design systems. Learn how to do it.
• Accessibility UX Best Practices – 8 Tactics for Web Design – We recap some of the best practices that you can find in our eBook about web accessibility.
• Web Accessibility Checklist – 28 Points You Must Comply With – Need an easily skimmed piece of content? Here’s an accessibility checklist ready to be printed out.
• Web Accessibility Guide: Everything Designers Should Consider and Implement – A great piece of content about user interface design for accessibility.

Types of Accessibility Testing Tools

Accessibility testing tools fall into three primary categories:

• Automated testing tools
• Manual testing tools
• Hybrid testing tools

What are automated testing tools?

Automated Testing Tools are software applications designed to scan and evaluate digital products for accessibility issues automatically. These tools use algorithms and predefined rules to analyze web pages or applications, identifying potential violations of accessibility standards and guidelines.

They can detect common issues like missing alternative text for images, improper heading structure, and color contrast accessibility problems.

While Automated Testing Tools are valuable for identifying specific types of accessibility issues, it’s important to note that they have limitations and cannot fully replace manual testing and expert judgment.

What are manual testing tools?

Manual Testing Tools are tools that require human intervention and evaluation to assess the accessibility of digital products. Unlike automated testing tools, which rely on algorithms and predefined rules, manual testing tools involve direct interaction with the product, thorough inspections, and expert judgment.

Teams use manual testing tools to conduct in-depth evaluations of various accessibility aspects, such as keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, and cognitive accessibility. These tools often include checklists, guidelines, and testing methodologies to guide testers through the evaluation process.

What are hybrid testing tools?

Hybrid Testing Tools are a combination of both automated and manual testing approaches in accessibility testing. These tools leverage the benefits of automation to streamline the testing process while incorporating human evaluation for a more comprehensive assessment.

Teams use hybrid testing tools to take advantage of the efficiency and speed of automated testing, which can quickly scan and identify common accessibility issues. These tools often integrate with automated accessibility testing engines or APIs to analyze code (HTML, CSS, Javascript), markup (ARIA, alt text, etc.), and design elements.

Hybrid testing tools also provide room for manual inspection, allowing testers to conduct deeper evaluations, assess user interactions, and identify complex accessibility barriers that may require human judgment.

Automated Accessibility Testing Tools

axe by Deque

Developed by Deque Systems, axe offers a comprehensive set of features to identify and address accessibility issues, helping to ensure that digital products are usable by individuals with disabilities. The automated accessibility testing tool evaluates the accessibility of web pages and applications.

Pros:

• axe provides extensive automated accessibility testing capabilities, scanning web pages and applications for various accessibility issues.
• You can integrate axe into various development workflows and environments, including popular web browsers and frameworks.
• axe generates detailed reports highlighting accessibility violations and provides guidance on how to fix them.
• You can customize axe’s rulesets to fit your specific accessibility requirements and preferences, allowing for more targeted and tailored testing.
• axe has an active and supportive community, offering resources, documentation, and ongoing updates to stay aligned with evolving accessibility standards.

Cons:

• axe’s automated analysis may not fully understand the context and intent of specific design elements or interactions, leading to potential limitations in identifying nuanced accessibility barriers.
• axe’s accuracy and effectiveness relies on the quality and accuracy of the underlying code and markup. axe may not capture issues related to poorly structured code or incomplete implementation.

WAVE

WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool) is a widely used automated accessibility testing tool developed by WebAIM. It helps evaluate web content for accessibility issues and provides visual feedback for identifying potential problems.

Pros:

• User-friendly interface and intuitive visualizations make it easy to understand accessibility issues.
• Provides detailed reports with clear explanations of accessibility errors and warnings.
• Offers a browser extension for quick on-page accessibility testing.
• Supports testing of both live websites and local development environments.
• Available as a free browser extension and an online tool.

Cons:

• Limited to automated testing and may not detect all accessibility issues.
• Requires manual interpretation of results for accurate assessment.
• The tool may not fully capture some features, such as dynamic content or complex web applications.

Pa11y

Pa11y is an open-source automated accessibility audit tool that helps identify accessibility issues in web pages. It allows developers and testers to automate accessibility testing and integrate it into their development workflow.

Pros:

• Supports multiple testing standards, including WCAG and Section 508, providing comprehensive accessibility evaluation.
• Offers a command-line interface for easy integration with build processes and continuous integration tools.
• Provides detailed reports with specific accessibility errors and warnings.
• Allows customization of testing rules and thresholds to match project requirements.
• Available as a free and open-source tool, allowing customization and community contribution.

Cons:

• Requires technical knowledge to set up and configure.
• Pa11y relies solely on automated testing, which may not capture all accessibility issues.
• Requires manual interpretation of results for accurate assessment.
• Limited support for dynamic content and complex web applications.

Manual Testing Tools

UXPin

UXPin provides designers with two built-in accessibility tools to test UIs on the fly, including a contrast checker and color blindness simulator.

Pros:

• Enables designers to test colors without leaving the design tool.
• Automatically identifies text colors with insufficient contrast.
• Displays results for all types of color blindness and allows designers to preview interfaces as a user with each visual impairment would see it.
• Doesn’t require plugins or external tools when testing designs in UXPin.

Cons:

• Limited to testing color only.
• Only works with UXPin designs (but you can import Figma and Sketch files).

NVDA

NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) is a free accessibility tool and open-source screen reader designed for Windows. It enables users with visual impairments to navigate and interact with digital content by converting on-screen information into synthesized speech or Braille output.

Pros:

• A free and open-source screen reader for Windows, making it accessible for users with visual impairments.
• Supports various web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Edge), applications, and document formats, allowing comprehensive testing across different platforms.
• NVDA is actively maintained and regularly updated, ensuring compatibility with the latest technologies and accessibility standards.
• It offers customizable settings and options, allowing testers to simulate different user experiences and preferences.

Cons:

• NVDA is limited to the Windows operating system, so it may not be suitable for testing on other platforms like macOS or Linux (you can use VoiceOver in conjunction with NVDA to cover all platforms)
• There may be slight differences in interpretation and rendering compared to other assistive technologies, so it’s important to conduct additional testing with multiple tools.
• NVDA requires some level of familiarity and training to use effectively, particularly for accurately interpreting complex web content and interactions.
• Support resources are limited, and users may need to rely on community forums or documentation for assistance.

Hybrid Testing Tools

Storybook Testing

Storybook is a web-based open-source tool primarily used for developing UI components in isolation. The free tool offers a built-in accessibility toolkit that helps developers identify and address accessibility issues within their components.

Pros:

• Storybook’s accessibility tool seamlessly integrates into the component development workflow, allowing developers to catch accessibility issues early in development.
• By testing components in isolation, developers can focus specifically on their accessibility and ensure they meet the required standards.
• The tool provides visual feedback on accessibility violations, making it easier for developers to identify and understand the issues.
• Integrates with UXPin Merge to provide product teams with design and development accessibility testing capability.

Cons:

• Storybook’s accessibility tool focuses primarily on the accessibility of UI components and may not comprehensively evaluate the entire website or application.
• The platform requires developers to manually check and address accessibility issues, which may require some accessibility expertise.
• While Storybook offers customization options, it may require further configuration to align the tool with specific accessibility requirements.

Google Lighthouse

Google Lighthouse is an open-source web accessibility testing tool. It includes an accessibility auditing feature that evaluates a website’s adherence to accessibility standards.

Pros:

• Google Lighthouse thoroughly evaluates accessibility issues, covering a wide range of accessibility best practices and guidelines.
• Lighthouse’s accessibility tool is part of a suite of performance audits, allowing users to assess multiple aspects of their website simultaneously.
• The tool generates detailed reports highlighting specific accessibility issues and suggestions for improvements.
• Chrome extension allows you to test user interfaces on the fly.

Cons:

• Using Lighthouse effectively may require technical knowledge and familiarity with web development tools.
• Lighthouse focuses specifically on web accessibility and may not be suitable for evaluating accessibility in native mobile apps or other digital products.
• While Lighthouse automates some aspects of accessibility testing, manual testing is still necessary to evaluate specific interactive or dynamic components.

Accessibility Insights

Accessibility Insights is an open-source accessibility testing tool developed by Microsoft. It provides automated and manual testing features to help identify and fix accessibility issues in digital products.

Pros:

• Accessibility Insights offers automated tests to quickly identify common accessibility issues and manual testing capabilities for evaluating more complex interactions.
• The tool integrates seamlessly with popular web browsers and developer tools, making it convenient for developers and testers to incorporate accessibility testing into their workflows.
• Provides detailed guidance on how to fix identified issues, including code examples and best practices.

Cons:

• While the tool offers extensive features, there may be a learning curve for users new to accessibility testing.
• Accessibility Insights primarily focuses on web accessibility and may not be as suitable for evaluating native mobile apps or other non-web digital products.
• Some features have compatibility limitations with specific browsers or development environments.

Streamline your accessibility testing with UXPin. Sign up for a free trial to explore UXPin’s advanced design and prototyping features.

The post 3 Types of Accessibility Testing Tools that You 100% Need appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Web design basics help you get a grasp of what web design is and how it affects user experience. Let’s learn all of that in today’s article.

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What is Web Design?

Web design is a multidisciplinary craft that crafts visually appealing, intuitive, and functional digital environments. It goes beyond aesthetics. Designers must create interfaces users can easily navigate, leading to satisfying and efficient interactions.

Web design aims to enhance user experience through the thoughtful arrangement of elements–colors, typography, images, and more–to drive engagement and fulfill the website’s purpose, be it a news publication, eCommerce store, or online community.

Website Design vs. Web Development

There are two distinct disciplines within the web development process. People often use web development as the all-encompassing end-to-end process of building a website, but there are two separate phases within the web development process:

• The web design phase includes research, user interviews, ideation, prototyping, and testing.
• The web development phase must develop the solution into a functioning website or web application based on the design team’s designs, prototypes, and documentation.

The design process creates a plan and roadmap for developers, including the look and feel of the site, navigation structure, information architecture, and interaction design. Without a solid design, developers lack direction, resulting in a poor final product, bad user experience, rework, and designer/developer friction.

To use a restaurant analogy, the design team creates a recipe and sources the ingredients based on what users and stakeholders need. And the engineering team prepares and serves the final dish.

User Interface vs. User Experience Design

There are two roles within web design, each with a slightly different focus:

• User interface design (UI design): Focuses on creating the visual design elements users interact with when using a digital product or website–i.e., buttons, color, icons, typography, images, forms, and other elements and components.
• User experience design (UX design): Encompasses the broader user experience and how people feel when interacting with a product–including user interfaces. UX designers also focus more on navigation and user flows to optimize the product’s experience and make it more enjoyable and user-friendly.

In large organizations, you may have other design roles, including:

• Interaction design
• Content design
• UX research
• DesignOps

Further reading: UX Team Structure – How to Plan Your Career in Product Design

Web Design Basics

Here is a broad overview of the basic web design elements.

• Layout: The arrangement and structure of elements on a webpage. Layout influences how users interact with a site, guiding their eye from one point to another. An effective layout ensures a smooth user journey, promoting a positive user experience.
• Typography: The typefaces and styles used on a site convey a brand’s personality and facilitate readability. Good typography uses fonts, sizes, and arrangements that complement the overall design, enhance readability, and maintain visual harmony.
• Colors: Colors evoke emotions and can drive user behavior. An effective color scheme is consistent with a brand’s identity and the target audience’s preferences. Contrasting colors can highlight essential elements like call-to-action (CTAs) buttons.
• Images and Graphics: Visual content like photos, illustrations, icons, and other assets can elevate a website’s appeal and reinforce the brand message. Supporting graphics must be high-quality, relevant, and optimized for fast loading.
• Navigation: Navigation is the roadmap of a website. Clear, intuitive navigation makes it easy for users to move around a site, improving user satisfaction and engagement. A user-friendly navigation system includes a logical page hierarchy and clickable buttons.
• Content: Content design incorporates text, images, maps, videos, etc., to provide information, tell a brand’s story, and drive user action. Content must be relevant, valuable, and engaging to users, as well-structured content can boost SEO rankings (search engine optimization) and user engagement.

Principles of Web Design

• Balance: Balance in web design refers to the distribution of visual elements across the layout. A balanced design helps maintain stability and harmony. Designers can achieve balance by using appropriate proportions in size, colors, and textures.
• Contrast: Contrast uses shapes, sizes, and colors to make elements stand out. It aids in highlighting key points and guiding users’ attention to essential areas, such as call-to-action buttons or key messages.
• Emphasis: Emphasis is the technique of making a particular element or feature stand out more than others. Designers can achieve emphasis by using color, size, or animation. Emphasizing specific elements helps guide users’ attention to the most essential parts of the site.
• Consistency: Consistency in design helps create a coherent and predictable user experience. Using consistent fonts, colors, and styles across a website ensures a smoother user journey and strengthens brand recognition.
• Unity: Unity refers to how well all the parts of the design work together. It’s about ensuring that all elements on the page appear harmoniously and create a cohesive user experience, reinforcing the overall design theme and purpose.

Responsive Web Design

Responsive web design provides an optimal viewing experience across a range of devices and viewports. Whether a visitor accesses a site on a desktop computer, tablet, or mobile phone, the user interface must look and function consistently and seamlessly.

Importance of responsive web design

Responsive web design is critical to provide consistent user experiences across the multitude of devices people use worldwide. Websites that aren’t responsive can appear cramped, unreadable, or skewed on mobile devices, leading to a frustrating user experience and a high likelihood of user abandonment.

Impact on user experience

Responsive design significantly enhances user experience by ensuring that no matter the screen size or orientation, users can easily read and navigate your site with minimal resizing, panning, and scrolling.

A responsive design isn’t just about fitting the screen; it’s about applying a user-centered mindset to create a cross-platform environment that accommodates users’ preferences and circumstances. Responsive web design is no longer optional; it’s vital to creating an inclusive, user-friendly website.

Understanding Web Accessibility

Web accessibility considers how a web design impacts users with disabilities. It’s a critical aspect of inclusive design, and in some countries, web accessibility is a legal requirement.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a set of recommendations that designers should follow to make their web content more accessible. These guidelines cover visual, auditory, cognitive, and physical accessibility to ensure that all users, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, can interact with and benefit from the web.

3 Steps to Getting Started in Web Design

Get learning resources

Platforms like Coursera, Udemy, and Khan Academy offer extensive online courses, some of which are taught by leading experts in UX design. For example, Coursera offers a UX design course taught by former and current Google employees. There are also many free tutorials and courses available on YouTube.

Books such as “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug and “The Elements of User Experience” by Jesse James Garrett provide valuable insights into user-centric design.

Get our book recommendations: Best books about Product Design.

Build a portfolio

Most UX design and web design courses teach you how to create a portfolio. A portfolio showcases your work and understanding of design principles, including design thinking, user experience, research, wireframing, prototyping, etc. Your portfolio must evolve; regularly updating it with your latest work is vital to showing your growth and versatility as a designer.

Seek networking and mentorship

Networking and mentorship are critical for a career in web design, especially if you plan to climb the ladder to a Design Leader or launch a startup. These relationships help you grow as a designer and professional, exposing you to more opportunities and earning potential.

Web Designer Skills

Hard skills

1. Understanding of Design Principles: Proficiency in design principles, like balance, contrast, and typography, is fundamental to creating aesthetically pleasing and practical web designs.
2. Proficiency in Design Software: Mastery of various design tools is essential for web designers. These tools help to create and edit visuals, develop prototypes, and design user interfaces.
3. HTML/CSS Knowledge: Though not always required, understanding HTML and CSS is advantageous for web designers. It lets you know how devs will implement your designs, facilitating better collaboration with engineering teams.
4. Responsive Design: Understanding how to design for various devices and screen sizes is critical. Familiarity with media queries and fluid grids is vital in creating responsive designs.
5. User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) Design: UX design focuses on creating a smooth and enjoyable user journey, while UI design concentrates on the look and feel of the website. Both are crucial for creating user-friendly designs.
6. SEO Knowledge: While often associated with content creation, SEO is also important in web design. Knowing SEO best practices can help a designer create a more effective and easily discoverable site.

Soft Skills

1. Communication: You must often articulate your ideas to clients and stakeholders, understand their requirements, and collaborate efficiently with other team members.
2. Problem-Solving: Web design has many complex challenges, from usability issues to client/stakeholder demands. Being able to identify problems and find creative solutions is an essential skill.
3. Versatility: Web design trends and technologies are constantly evolving. Adapting and learning new skills is crucial in this ever-changing field.
4. Time Management: Web designers often juggle multiple projects simultaneously. Good time management skills help to meet deadlines and manage workloads effectively.
5. Empathy: Empathy is fundamental to understanding user needs and creating designs that offer a great user experience.
6. Attention to Detail: Even minor details can impact the overall user experience in web design. An eye for detail can help a designer create a polished and efficient design.
7. Receptiveness to Feedback: Design is subjective, and critiques are part of the job. Being open to feedback and criticism–and using it constructively–can help you grow as a designer.

Interactive Prototyping With UXPin

One of the biggest challenges designers encounter with traditional image-based design tools is the lack of fidelity and functionality, making it nearly impossible to create a prototype that looks and feels like the final product.

UXPin’s biggest differentiator is that instead of producing vector graphics when a designer draws or places an object on the canvas–like other popular design tools–it renders HTML, CSS, and Javascript behind the scenes.

This code-based design approach enables designers to achieve prototyping fidelity and functionality indistinguishable from the final product. Higher-quality prototypes improve testing, giving designers meaningful, actionable feedback to iterate and improve.

Enhance your design skills with the world’s most advanced user experience design tool. Sign up for a free trial to build your first interactive prototype with UXPin.

The post Web Design Basics that Will Kick-Start Your Career appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

No matter how incredible the design is, 404 pages can frustrate your users. The UX design team’s goal is to provide the fastest solution to fix the error with minimal effort.

404 pages are an interesting facet of website design. Some designers choose to be creative, while others clearly have better things to do–like this example from the blogging platform Ghost. 404 error page. 5 minutes. Done.

This article reviews 404 pages from some of the world’s leading brands, including tips and best practices.

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What is the Purpose of a 404 Page?

A 404 error occurs when someone types the wrong URL, or the page doesn’t exist. They may have entered the address incorrectly or clicked a “broken link.” A 404 page informs the user of this error.

404 error history

The earliest models of personal computers had 64k RAM or less. Programmers needed to keep things simple. They developed a classification system for program functions. Input errors got assigned to class 400.

There are four class 400 input errors (status codes).

1. 400 Bad Request. The input is in the wrong syntax.
2. 401 Unauthorized. The user cannot access without a username and password.
3. 403 Forbidden. The user doesn’t have permission to access the file.
4. 404 Page Not Found. The user entered or linked to a URL that doesn’t exist.

In these early days, the computer gave no solutions, just an error code–not very helpful. Many websites still don’t offer much help or explanation other than the title “404 Page Not Found,” resulting in a poor user experience and missed opportunity.

Why do you need a 404 page?

If you don’t have a dedicated 404 page, the user’s web browser will generate one. This example is what they might see:

Browser-generated 404 web pages provide a terrible user experience, resulting in lost visitors and potential conversions. The only way to fix it is by editing or retyping the URL–which many people won’t do. This process is particularly frustrating and time-consuming for someone using a mobile device.

A custom 404 page allows designers to take control of the error and provide a smooth user experience to fix it.

How to Design a 404 Page?

A 404 landing page design must be simple and helpful. Here are four key design elements to include.

• Header navigation: allows users to find the content and features they are looking for.
• 404 error title: explicitly describes the error type so users immediately know what has happened.
• Error message: summarize the error in a sentence. Unfortunately, with a 404 error, it’s difficult to determine what went wrong other than the page doesn’t exist.
• Links: the link or links on your 404 error page will depend on your website and content. For example, Google’s 404 error page provides one link to the homepage via the company’s logo.

The news publisher BBC provides several options:

• A purpose-built header navigation with popular content categories
• A link to the homepage
• Search box

Custom 404 Page Best Practices

Error prevention

The first step must be 404 error prevention. While it’s near impossible to control human error–i.e., entering the wrong address–there are steps webmasters can take to prevent 404s from occurring.

While some of these tasks are beyond a designer’s responsibility, as advocates for user experience, designers must ensure the relevant team monitors and addresses these issues.

• Broken internal links are links from one page to another on your website, which are easy to fix and prevent 404 errors. Regular UX audits will ensure these broken links are identified and fixed.
• It’s essential to use 301 redirects when deleting pages or changing URL structure. These redirects provide a good user experience and help with SEO.
• Use tools like Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, and SEMRush to find broken backlinks and contact the publishers to correct the mistake—usually an SEO manager’s responsibility.

Implementing these error-prevention processes will reduce the likelihood of 404 errors, creating a better user experience for your website visitors.

Keep it simple – “Don’t make me think”

404 pages are annoying and frustrating, especially if it’s content you need urgently. Designers must avoid clutter by providing users with the fastest solution to move on. Here are two excellent examples from PayPal and YouTube.

Global payment giant PayPal have a simple 404 page that’s easy to read and understand with minimal thinking. The header and footer navigation are visible above the fold, meaning users can find the appropriate links without scrolling.

YouTube takes design simplicity to the next level on its 404 page with a monkey graphic, short explanation, logo (linked to the homepage), and search field.

With both examples, users don’t have to read and process what has happened; they can simply move on.

The opposite of this example is HubSpot. While we love HubSpot’s products, their 404 page is very busy and confusing. There’s no reference to a 404 or error; you must read the first few lines of text before realizing what’s happening.

Maintain brand consistency

404 pages must maintain brand and design consistency so that users know they’ve arrived at the correct website. Providing a smooth user experience to solve the issue will help strengthen brand affinity.

One of the best 404-page examples we’ve found is from the awwwards website. Awwwards’ designers have created a beautiful 3D-style 404 page that looks fantastic and fits the brand–showcasing the best web design.

Lego’s 404 page is another example where designers have nailed the on-brand experience with humor and business value. The Lego Movie character Emmet, the construction worker, appears concerned, while the call-to-action (CTA) is “Start shopping”–an excellent strategy for eCommerce 404 pages.

Use humor–with caution

The problem with using humor is that it’s subjective. What one person finds funny, another will find annoying for a 404 page. If you’re going to use humor, make sure it doesn’t require too much reading to interpret, or you’ll make a frustrating experience worse, particularly for users with cognitive and learning disabilities.

Our UXPin 404 page features a fun design and caption, but it’s still very clearly a 404 error, and we provide a bright blue button taking users to safety.

IMDB’s 404 is another excellent example of on-brand humor. The page features a large speech bubble with a 404 ERROR in bold and a movie quote, replacing the keyword with “page.”

In this example, it’s “I am Jack’s missing page”–a quote from the 1999 blockbuster phenomenon Fight Club. This quote changes each time, providing users with a link to the movie.

Business opportunities and increasing conversions

Designers can utilize 404 pages to promote products or steer users to revenue-generating opportunities. Like humor, it’s important to approach this design strategy with caution–it must be clear this is a 404 page and that you’re not trying to take advantage of a bad situation.

VPN provider NordVPN provides links to its VPN plans and features. This strategy works well for NordVPN because they only sell one product on this website, so most visitors want to view either of these pages.

Productivity app Monday.com uses a minimal 404-page design. The primary CTA in the center of the screen helps users by directing them to the homepage, while a second CTA lower on the screen encourages visitors to try the product.

Website Design With UXPin

Designing websites and error pages with most image-based design tools is relatively simple, but getting accurate results during testing is nearly impossible. Designers must rely on external tools or get engineers to build code-base prototypes.

UXPin is a code-based design tool that allows designers to achieve the same results with prototypes as front-end devs do with code. The best part. Designers use UXPin exactly as they would with any popular image-based tool and don’t have to write a single line of code.

Interactive prototyping

UXPin’s interactive prototypes respond to user triggers like clicks, taps, swipes, scrolls, etc., providing users with a prototype experience that’s indistinguishable from the final product.

UXPin also connects to APIs via IFTTT, allowing teams to import live data, send emails, sync calendars, send a Tweet, or link to IoT devices from a prototype built using a design tool.

These interactive prototypes allow designers to increase prototyping scope, thus solving more issues while identifying more business opportunities.

Advanced code-based features

UXPin has four key features that set it apart from other popular design tools. These features allow designers to create complex user interfaces and components that look and feel like the final product.

• States: allow designers to create multiple states for a single UI element and design complex interactive components like accordions, carousels, steppers, and more.
• Variables: capture data from user inputs and create personalized, dynamic user experiences–like a welcome message using data from the name field in a signup form.
• Expressions: Javascript-like functions to create complex components and advanced functionality–no code required!
• Conditional Interactions: create if-then and if-else conditions based on user interactions to create dynamic prototypes with multiple outcomes to accurately replicate the final product experience.

With UXPin’s advanced prototypes, designers can test form error handling, error pages, and other usability issues during the design process, ensuring users have the correct information to fix problems fast.

Start designing better websites and digital products with the only design tool built for accurate user experience prototyping and testing. Explore UXPin’s advanced features. Sign up for a free trial.

The post 404 Page Best Practices – Top 5 UX/UI Design Tips appeared first on Studio by UXPin.