With the announcement of the upcoming iPhone SDK, Apple also released their iPhone Human Interface Guidelines for Web Applications available both on the web and in PDF. It’s a little over 50 pages long but it’s a very quick and easy read for anyone looking to build iPhone applications with the User in mind. Most of their advice though can be applied to other systems, especially if screen real estate is at a minimum.

The document is written in such a way that someone without much technical experience would still be able understand it. Some of the guidelines I found most important were:

• Be prepared for the probability that users will not be giving their undivided attention to your content, at least not for long.
• Make sure your layout accommodates the average size of a fingertip and finding alternatives to drag-and-drop and cut, copy, and paste.
• Before you begin to work on your iPhone web application, be sure you know precisely who your users are.
• Minimize the number of controls from which users have to choose and labeling them clearly so users understand exactly what they do.
• A webpage that is cluttered with many different sizes and styles of elements, different sizes and colors of text, and gratuitous images presents an unpleasant user experience.
• When you ask for input from users, consider using lists (or pop-up menus) instead of text fields whenever possible.
• Make sure you use interactivity to get users closer to their goal and avoid interactivity that serves no functional purpose.
• Avoid technical jargon in the user interface.

“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” – Antoine De Saint-Exupery

As a fan of Apple products and software, we often don’t hear about who is behind the great designs and user centered features. An article in BusinessWeek gives a small glimpse of Apple’s Design Process from Michael Lopp, senior engineering manager at Apple.

Pixel Perfect Mockups
Taking the time in the beginning to get it right will cause less problems (and expenses) down the line and “removes all ambiguity” upfront.

10 to 3 to 1
Apple designers come up with 10 entirely different mock ups, designed without any restrictions of any new feature. They eventually decide on three and spend more months on them before finally ending up with one strong decision.

Paired Design Meetings
Two meetings each week. One to brainstorm and think freely of any restrictions. The sky’s the limit. And another production meeting which is the opposite and the engineers and designers try and work out all the details.

Pony Meeting
Everyone thinks they want a pony, but is that what the Users want (or need)? The best ideas from the paired design meetings are presented to leadership to transform the pony into requirements and deliverables everyone can agree upon.

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Having done high fidelity mockups before, it really does take an enormous amount of time. However, it does give you results and removes a lot of questions and ambiguity. The 10 to 3 to 1 design process is great. I love the unfiltered creativity and Loop’s quote of the designs not being “seven in order to make three look good.” I’ve experienced it before. The paired design meetings are also a great idea. I remember having a creative no restrictions type of meeting before and the ideas that came out of it were spectacular (and even patentable). It is difficult for people to be creative when still thinking about the constraints. I read a good analogy for “The Pony.” A person may like ice cream and he may like pickles but that doesn’t mean he’ll like pickle-flavored ice cream.

All in all, it is nice to see that Apple takes the time to really think outside the box. Now if only other companies can be convinced to invest their time and money on the User Experience.

Today I became a local ambassador for the Los Angeles area for UXnet (User Experience Network).

What is UXnet?
UXnet is a non-profit organization that focuses on connecting people, organizations, resources, and ideas to enable the growth and maturation of User Experience as a practice, a community, and eventually a discipline

What is a Local Ambassador?
A Local Ambassador is a UXnet volunteer who makes connections between people, resources and organizations related to user experience (UX) within a specific geographic locale, in this case, Los Angeles (although I’m going to try and focus on Orange County as well).

Luckily for me, the User Experience/Interaction Design community in Los Angeles is already booming and there are events happening all the time so it should make my job a little bit easier. I’m hoping I’ll be able to help grow and mature not only the User Experience discipline, but also strengthen the Southern California community.

In The Elements of User Experience, Jesse James Garrett wrote that “users don’t visit Web sites to experience the joy of navigation”. It’s true – they don’t. They just want to get to the information they are looking for, which makes information architecture really important to the User experience. The use of Search is one such way Users try and find what they are looking for. Anyone who has done a search on a website has probably had a not so pleasant experience where they got back a totally different set of results than what they expected or nothing all at. Websites have experimented with various different ways to improving search, whether it is through an Advanced Search, adding filters, or providing additional suggestions.

Google Suggest is one innovative way which assists Users in getting the results they want. If you are not familiar with it, Google Suggest provides frequently searched phrases based on the letters or words in your query as you type and even lists the number of results. This feedback is given pre-search, increasing the chances of a successful search, rather than trying to improve on the results after the search.

Yahoo! has also gotten into the game by adding their own Suggest feature on their homepage. Unlike Google Suggest, the matching letters are also highlighted. Users have the ability to turn the feature on and off as well.

The good folks at Apple have taken things one step further and incorporated pictures in their search. Besides the added benefit of the image, they have also separated the results into different categories and provided a short description. These extra bits of information can make a world of difference to the User in finding what they want. It is clear, organized, and Users have a better idea of what to expect if they use the suggestion.

The Apple website is an example of a good User Experience design. I had not seen this feature on their site before because I never had the need to search, as I could find what I wanted through their simple navigation menu. Sites that have many products for sale could really benefit by incorporating a similar search mechanism. The possibilities are endless. At the same time one must be careful not to diminish the User Experience by over-doing it. In a world where Users are accustomed to searching with Google and expecting correct results, websites can do a great service for their Users by making search as simple as possible, while at the same time aiding and guiding the User to provide results that are accurate and relevant.