Building User-
Centered Web Apps
in a Crunch
Jackson Fox / Lulu.com / jacksonfox@gmail.com

Goal: Build web applications that are usable
and user-centered even when time and money
are in short supply.

Guerilla HCI
Agile UCD

Themes:
Sort out your priorities
Incremental and iterative development
Release early, release often

Web App
Feature Feature Feature
Feature
Feature Feature Feature

Web App
Feature Feature Feature
Feature
Feature Feature Feature

Web App
Feature Feature Feature
Feature
Feature Feature Feature
Most Effort Least Effort

Web App
Feature Feature Feature
Feature
Feature Feature Feature
Now Later

The Guerilla HCI Toolbox

Information Architecture
Card Sorting
Affinity Diagrams

Photo by Yandle @ Flickr
Card Sorting

Photo by josh.ev9 @ Flickr
Affinity Diagrams

Interaction Design
Competitive Analysis
Paper Prototypes

Competitive Analysis
AKA “What Would Amazon Do?”

Photo by Kables @ Flickr
Paper Prototypes

Usability Testing
Hallway Testing
Heuristic Evaluation
Cognitive Walkthroughs

Photo by Kables @ Flickr
Hallway Testing

✓ Visibility of system status
✓ Match between system and the real world
✓ User control and freedom
...
Heuristic Evaluation

Cognitive Walkthrough

Test → Fix → Test
Don’t sweat the numbers

Putting it all Together

Research Design Development Validation
Paper Hallway
Card Sorting
Prototypes Testing
Affinity Hallway Cognitive
Diagrams Testing Walkthroughs
Competitive Competitive Heuristic
Analysis Analysis Evaluation
Heuristic
Evaluation
Cognitive
Walkthroughs

The End