subject: Web Application Developmentdesigning User Interfaces [print this page] It has been observed that many business applications are not meet the requirements of either business or its users and become the failure and lost the profit and resulted into the poor user experiences. This is happens because the designer is not involved with the project and developers carry all loads of the web application development and designing.
Before proceeds to web applications development we have to understand the difference between websites and web applications. Websites are generally static and have content like images, video, etc. which offers limited interactivity with their users. While in case of web applications it is interactive and dynamic in nature. Web applications are requiring higher level of knowledge and involvement from their users and perform the task which is critical to your business.
Thus, designing web application demands extensive knowledge of the business functions and its components. Web applications are either open type or close type. Open type of business applications the system which is available to anyone online who opens an account. Users can access the web applications via the web by paying fees or for free. While in case of closed system it is accessible for only company staff and can be run on web or local network as offline system.
Now you understand that designing web application development is quite complicated task and Agile method is the best solution for it. Agile helps through its key principal- Its iterative approach. Each iteration consists of all of the phases defined by your process. This means that at the end of the first iteration, you will have a product that can be tested, a prototype.
Sketching is the powerful way to explore the idea and its pay ways to have better wireframe with right sketching. You can create more detailed wireframe and go straight to create interactive prototypes.
Prototypes are nothing but simulate the real applications so users feel that they are doing something. Prototypes may have one or more functionality or features but it simply simulates the behavior of real applications. Prototyping is temporary and there is much software available in the market to create prototypes.
Prototypes are useless unless you test them. With testing you can yield useful and valuable insight about your design decisions. You will use this information for another sketching, prototyping and testing. Does it until major issue have been fixed. It is well versed that software projects are time constraints and budget constraints so test early and test often during web application development.
