Custom Function Database - Part 8

Planning out your UX (user experience) obviously requires less work on a smaller solution than it does within a larger solution. I guess that goes without saying, but no matter what solution you start working on, it will always seems to grow and expand to add new features and functionality.

While you can’t always plan for what you don’t know is coming down the road, you can certainly work with what you have in front of you. Trying to prototype and account for how your solution will be used is what your primary focus should be.

For the most part, this comes in two different forms. There’s the build it, then test it camp, and the get feedback/suggestions, then build it camp. In this video I start with the process of building first and then asking for feedback. This is typically my first approach because I simply lack the resources to take the other route.

The big trick with creating your UX is the fact that when users start using it, they establish mental pathways of how to get things done. It’s very hard to change things on your users once a “certain way” of doing things has been established.

So, the best approach is to think really hard about how users will use the software and go as simple and minimal as you can. Don’t try to put everything in within the first release. You can always add more to a user interface and keeping things simple makes it really easy to get feedback when people start asking the inevitable question “can it do this?”.

AttachmentSize
CustomFunctions08.zip1.31 MB

Comments

Hi Matt, this vid is about icons and not in line with the description "Planning out UX". Just checking

Sorry if the title is confusing with regards to the content. I didn't mean to spend so much time on the icons stuff. The plan was about using the same layout for both list and form view and making that my plan instead of using two different layouts.

Also, how I was going to use the offscreen tab panels and knew I needed to preserve state.

I'll work on being more focused with my content in relation to the title.

-- Matt Petrowsky - ISO FileMaker Magazine Editor

Hi Matt,
Great Video, again, thanks. I edited my Sketch svgo plugin config file, svgo.json, as you outlined in the video, the class and fill are added to the svg element of the file, but not to the path/polygon element, so the icon does not work nicely in Filemaker. This is consistent with the info in the readme and on the github page. Just wondering if/how you got it to work, exporting directly from Sketch to use in FileMaker?

For now I'm using Claus Lavendt's excellent DM-SVG_Gallery and the Gulp converter from Lui de la Parra you introduced in the previous video.

Hello Matt,
I get the comment 'sorry we're having a little trouble' from vimeo when I try to download this file. It also happens with the Custom Function 5-7. I am working on a mac with latest Sierra system. Any solution?

best regards

Kenneth Hamberg

ps Currently, there is an issue with the site which caches older download links that expire. I'm trying to find the time to fix the bug. For now, if you let me know I can manually flush the cache.

Hello Matt,

Now it is working again. Strange! Maybe it is an overload situation somewhere??
best regards

Kenneth