Users need to learn, but quickly

End users need some time to get familiar with a new application and learn how to use it. This is normal and it is a good sign showing that the adoption of the platform by users is in progress. However, you have to give enough clues to users to let them learn independently. The shortest this learning time will be, the more confident users will feel with your platform. Be consistent in your wording, and always provide feedback.

Users hate surprises

Always use the same UI patterns. An interface needs to be predictable to give a feeling of stability to the user. Try to always have the same way to display actions, page layouts, data tables and listings. Define UI patterns and apply them everywhere you need. It will also be a great indicator to see if something is not clear for users.

Users hate to wait

As a user, you don't like it when you have to wait before you can do an action. This point doesn't only depend on the platform performance. The time you need to find something on the screen is also a part of the performance feeling. So be clear in your wording, don't drown your users in a bunch of icons, be consistent in how you display and organize actions and in your layout.

The "five W" rules

During your customization process, always ask yourself:

• Who: who is the end user?
• What: what problem will this feature solve?
• Where: where does the existing interface need to be improved?
• When: when do you need to show it?
• Why: why does the solution you designed solve the problem?

User's level of experience

Your audience will never consist in a single kind of user. There will always be people who already know a process, and people who will discover it. So once your customization is ready, always ask yourself if all the steps of your page, feature or task are easy to understand and quickly doable.

Users hate to feel lost. Even if your feature works great, you can't consider the feature as efficient if the user has no marks to identify where he is.

• Titles: you page or modal window has to have a title.
• Back links: make sure that user will always be able to come back to a previous step or screen with the browser's Back button or a back link.
• Actions: always provide a close button on modal window, or a cancel button in forms.

For each development, be sure to be consistent, simple and clear.

Never use br tags

The br tag is a lure. Even if you think it is a temporary solution, it will never help your designer style any element, he will remove it. You need to start a new paragraph? Use a new p tag.

Code quality

There are generally many contributors on a project, we need to follow a set of coding rules to finish each project successfully. See the code quality page on doc.nuxeo.com.

Coding and design guidelines

For any other coding guidelines, read the online documentation available about this topic on the Nuxeo Documentation Center.