As a developer, I am often in contact with a strange species we call ergonomist. But I never really understood the impact they can have not only on the user experience, but also on the developer’s work. In my current project, the user interface is created as we go. The first versions of it had not been thought ergonomically. We therefore developed the code without this mindset. In doing so, we had nine concepts of buttons included in the software application. We noticed quite quickly that users did not realize that the buttons were in fact buttons. And once they were aware of it, they did not know what to expect when clicking on it. This is obviously a problem; the user must infer the rationale of a button from the first glance. The client asked an ergonomist to review the interface and define the concepts of all common elements in the software application. His first task was to reduce the number of different buttons used throughout the interface; go from 9 to 3. The unification of concepts helped me clarify the code. I could use these same concepts to make the code easier to understand and use. I was very proud to delete lots of code that had become useless. And that’s when I came to realize that Web ergonomist can really have an impact on the work of a developer. In my opinion, when starting a new project, the Product Owner must invest in an ergonomist to define and conceptualize the user interface. I truly believe that in doing so development goes faster. The developer can easily translate the concepts developed by the ergonomist, and develop better. In addition, your code will be cleaner. Isn’t it wonderful? Note: This blog post is not sponsored by a Web ergonomist 😉
