My name is Carl Andersen.
I began coding GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) and designing UX (User Experience) over 30 years ago. I have worked for various companies during that time, including WordPerfect, Novell, and Micro Focus on everything from enterprise software to external web sites.
I have been writing code since 1979, before GUIs existed. My first experience with a GUI was the first generation Apple Macintosh that I purchased in 1984.
There is one basic principle that should guide UI/UX: The User is first, last, and everything in between.
KEY DESIGN POINTS
- Your Users are trying to accomplish a task; give them what they need and then get out of their way. Stop providing functionality “for users” without taking serious time to consider how it will affect what they are really trying to do.
- Backend architecture should never drive the User Interface. Simply exposing functionality should never happen without usability testing.
- The User Interface should lend itself to easy discovery. Users should quickly be able to find what they need and feel confident exploring. Most users will give up before reading documentation, if it even exists. (The emergence of apps with zero options for help has made it clear that GUIs must be extremely intuitive, or the app will be quickly uninstalled!)
PURPOSE
I started a version this blog in 2010 as UI/UX proliferated capriciously on web sites, where countless coders took little thought or time before publishing, knowing they could always change it at a moment’s notice. The ideas published here are intended to help UI/UX designers respect and retain their intended audience.
Note that when I was restoring the original posts in 2020 from a previous hosting service, some of my original images were lost and had to be reproduced from black & white printed copies and/or entirely recreated.