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Making Tech Simple For Users (WordPress Essex Edition)

Lewis Cowles
September 20, 2018

Making Tech Simple For Users (WordPress Essex Edition)

This talk goes over some patterns and considerations for simplifying technology (specifically UI within WordPress). It takes a journey through potential for improvement and also improvements as they exist as well as a short focus on what professionals can do to assist in making simpler UI's for improved UX.

Find the presentation online soon at https://wpessex.org/watch/

Lewis Cowles

September 20, 2018
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Transcript

  1. About Me •I Own & run CODESIGN2 (tiny local business,

    focusing on technology solutions) •I’ve been working in paid IT for >16 years (this July) •I’m a programmer, trainer, designer*, sysadmin, digital architect (I do too much) •I’d rather be “practical” or “pragmatic”, than “clever” •I’ve worked in a number of industries, with a number of technologies (be thankful this isn’t 2006 & this isn’t in Flash) •I Open Source Technologies, but should still release more Libre & open-source ❤️ Connect: via https://www.lewiscowles.co.uk Buy: via https://www.codesign2.co.uk
  2. The problem(s) •Traditional IT focuses on a few “experts” solving

    a lot of problems •“experts” take 10-20 or more years to mature •“experts” have limited domain •“experts” are still human •Those not identified as “experts”, which there are more of, are often side-lined. •It’s rare, if not improbable for an “expert” to be orders of magnitude more effective past a certain involvement. •There can be economic barriers to access of “expertise” Image via wikimedia commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rubik%27s_cube_scrambled.svg
  3. Practical non-expert UI issues Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur

    adipiscing elit. Suspendisse sed est at neque pulvinar tempor eget in risus. Nunc imperdiet nec eros nec interdum. Sed blandit metus in euismod sagittis. Donec rhoncus augue a turpis tempor lobortis. Morbi cursus vitae nulla ut aliquam. Praesent dui lectus, bibendum ut semper vel, semper at urna. Aenean aliquam orci quis scelerisque porttitor. Quisque eu placerat justo. Proin vestibulum congue commodo. Maecenas ut commodo lectus. Donec vehicula bibendum tellus, sed condimentum quam hendrerit sed. Nulla tempor porttitor elit, eu porttitor felis ullamcorper et. Proin vel arcu vel odio varius volutpat at ut leo. Sed non placerat eros. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Aliquam elementum nibh lorem, consectetur fermentum urna feugiat a. Praesent accumsan urna dolor, non efficitur eros suscipit eu. In feugiat purus sed ex rhoncus rhoncus. Donec quis interdum dolor. Suspendisse porttitor vel arcu at volutpat. Proin at pellentesque lorem. Nunc lacus turpis, rhoncus sit amet quam sed, laoreet feugiat felis. Pellentesque nec semper eros.
  4. • Not everything starts simple, it’s a process. Make it

    simpler until it’s simple. • Try to get a series of small-wins over an existing interface than burning the village down to build a spectacle. • Let users know what you are doing, when you are doing (loaders, animations), why you need things. • Try to avoid asking for things you don’t need, like pattern matching, over- complicated cognition, or unnecessary user-data. • Where systems such as WordPress exist, use them to get more done. • Learn when it might be simpler to not-use WordPress • Learn to find resources to ensure you can focus on what matters. Recap