Web Application UI Guidelines?

Tom Davies asks: "Every GUI platform has a document which describes the conventions developers should use when building GUIs with that toolset. There are also lots of good resources for Web site usability (e.g. Jakob Nielsen's useit.com). But what about web -applications-? I am developing an intranet application which is aimed at people who use it every day, not those who stumble on a web site and need to be able to use it immediately. It can have a higher learning curve, but must deliver more 'client/server like' usability. Are there any sites/books which address how to make HTML GUIs for applications?"

Comments

2nd Post! A few resources for you...

[Anonymous Coward]

Check here, though admittedly you have to wonder about the GUI skills of someone who makes you click "Next" 10 times to read their thoughts. It's a decent paper, though, and cites numerous references.

And here is a decent but damned expensive book on the topic. Fortunately, a couple of the P2P application developers are good at GUI design and have made it quite easy to locate this book in PDF eBook format...

Intranet Privacy

[tedDancin]

I've come across a recent top-list of intranets here in Australia, and had to dismiss it as a joke. Every intranet that I've ever built/worked on has had extremely strict confidentiality clauses etc etc attached with it. It's just the fact that companies don't want a smidgeon of their information out in the open (even to a rating company).

I think software engineering design guidelines would be more appropriate for a web application that anything Jakob Nielsen could come up with. As you know, web applications and websites are two totally different breeds of fish.

Simple answer: Don't

[Twylite]

Ask Google about ui design guidelines for web applications. IBM's Ease Of Use site comes up tops.

But, IMHO, you need to examine your choice of development platform (i.e. "web application") and your methodology. If you have already decided on your platform before determining UI requirements, you have issues.

Quite simply a web application can't deliver the same level of user interaction as a traditional C/S application. HTML (even with JavaScript) does not have a rich widget set for building UIs, which causes most intranet applications to have non-obvious even tedious solutions to common UI problems.

One of the few places where HTML excels is in displaying reports and non-interactive tables. By contrast, it is poorest at interactive tables and dynamic filtering.

Some examples: many applications with long lists have a facility to search-as-you-type, either focused on the list or in a text field adjacent to the list; applications with filter or present options based on another selection draw their data on demand in a C/S model, but in a web application must use submit-and-update or multidimensional JavaScript arrays and transfer ALL values to the client on the first request. Simple elements like menus and toolbars are difficult to get right and keep consistent in a web application.

Re:Simple answer: Don't

[larien]

I guess the advantage in most cases is the ease of development based on how much is already handled in the HTTP protocol (and SSL for encryption). This allows a faster development cycle as you don't have to worry about creating widgets (just use form/table/input tags). The other advantage is that 99.9% of desktop workstations have a web browser installed, but not all will allow the remote installation of software (a good thing, IMHO) due to security settings.

I guess that currently, there's enough expertise in delivering web apps that it's a good proposition. Whether that paradigm will continue in the longer term or not is a different matter, and time will tell as to the long term usage of web apps.