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What Are the Essential UX and UI Tools that Shouldn’t Miss From Your Toolbox?
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What Are the Essential UX and UI Tools that Shouldn’t Miss From Your Toolbox?

by Adrian Ababei on May 12 2016

To help you make the right choice or choices, below you can find the most valuable UX and UI tools on the market today.

InVision

InVision is the world’s leading product design and collaboration tool. It’s equally useful for individuals and small teams, and if you work on multiple projects, or projects involving large numbers of team members, the cloud-based Enterprise version is perfect. InVision Enterprise can accommodate an unlimited number of team members working on an unlimited number of projects. InVision’s unlimited testing capability, which allows you to test your prototypes directly on users’ mobile devices, record their interactions with your prototypes, hear their voices, and even see their faces, is hugely helpful. Feedback doesn’t get much more contextual than that. With such relevant feedback, you’ll have the power to make the right UX and UI decisions quickly, rather than having to rely on days or weeks of serial usability testing activities.

Proto.io

If you’ve been searching for a high-fidelity prototyping tool with powerful collaborating features, you need to look no further than Proto.io. Some prototyping tools, including many of the more advanced ones, can link screens together, but don’t go beyond that. With this tool, you can create prototypes that are feature-rich, animated, and interactive, and do so in minutes – without having to rely on coding. That’s half the story. The other half is your ability to overcome those pesky communication gaps that can exist between the project manager and the team, between team members, and among other project stakeholders. Proto.io gives you the capability of producing prototypes that are so realistic that your team, or your company, will be able to make the right decisions before investing resources in the final design and development efforts.

Appsee Mobile App UX Analytics

Appsee’s app analytics platform goes beyond reporting basic, quantitative data by providing mobile teams with visual data. The user recordings and touch heatmaps allow you to see for yourself how users actually behave within your app. These tools can help you pinpoint where you can optimize your user experience and troubleshoot issues from performance to usability. In conjunction with these visualization tools, Appsee supplies mobile teams with insights regarding retention, user journeys, usage, and conversion funnels. These insights can answer questions like: “Which navigation path do my users take the most? “ Or “How many users return to my app after a month?” Overall they can help paint a clearer picture of how your users behave.

PowerMockup

If you are a PowerPoint user, PowerMockup is a wise choice. This prototyping toolkit enables you to create mockups and wireframes for virtually any website, or for any mobile or desktop application. Select your shapes and icons from the PowerMockup library, drag and drop them onto a PowerPoint slide, and let PowerPoint functionality do the rest. The PowerMockup library is constantly being added to, and you can add your own custom shapes, and share them with other users as well.

Pidoco

Pidoco offers a better way to create and share beautiful, interactive wireframes. This web app has it all, from making easy sketches to making custom templates, adding interactive elements, and using features that allow quick and easy previews of your work as you progress. Your prototypes feature all of the necessary clicks and touch gestures you’ll need to trigger the system reactions you are looking for. Pidoco offers four different plans, ranging from the Starter Plan (2 projects/ month), to the Platinum Plan (100 projects/month), and you can try any of their plans for free.

Lucidchart

Lucidchart is an online, cloud-based, multipurpose wireframing and diagramming application that will be an excellent choice if you are looking for an easy way to sketch and share professional-looking wireframes and mockups. Lucidchart employs drag and drop functionality, a variety of useful keyboard shortcuts, and features a large library of icons for the full range of device types. This application can be used on PCs, Macs, and all browsers, and it is fully integrated with Google Apps, Google Drive, Visio, and Jive.

Notism Collaboration

Notism Collaboration is the ideal choice for creative teams who would benefit from having a real-time design and video platform through which team members can discuss and share their design efforts with others. You can share mockups, videos, interactive web, and mobile prototypes, or any other design-related activity. Notism provides everything needed to ensure that team members and project stakeholders are always able to participate in the feedback loop. You can also use this handy toolkit to support your task management needs, including enhanced data backup and security features.

Loop11

Loop11 is the type of usability tool that individuals or teams look for when they need a quick way to perform website, wireframe, and prototype UX testing. Instead of tossing your design over the fence and waiting for a response, Loop11 enables you to carry on a continuous conversation with your customers and users. This usability tool provides heatmaps, clickstreams, task analysis, and other feedback types that enable you to make data-driven design decisions with confidence. It offers the perfect solution for all types of usability testing, including A/B testing.

Patternry

If you are fortunate enough to have all the UI and UX work you can handle, Patternry might just be one of the most useful tools you can have for storing your design and code assets and sharing them with your team. Patternry gives you the ability to store more than just shapes and icons. Design patterns run the gamut from shapes and icons, to code and screenshots, to guidelines and recorded or documented discussions. You can store all of your valuable design assets in a logical, carefully arranged way that not only supports your deliverables, but gives you and your team a library of reusable design patterns as well. As you can see, there are a number of truly excellent prototyping and UX and UI tools to choose from; and you can feel free to do so without fear of making a poor decision. UI design is one thing, but having an ability to verify the UX performance of that design can be something else entirely. Because of this, we’ve included several usability tools that are easy to use while providing rapid feedback of qualitative results. Whether you are happy with our selections, or you believe we have left something out, we would like to hear from you.

Form Analytics by UseItBetter

Form Analytics by UseItBetter is an invaluable tool for analyzing user data; particularly with respect to form abandonment, fixing forms, and improving conversion rates. This usability tool may be more specialized than most you could choose from, but it gives you the information you need to fix problems or potential problems on the spot. Form Analytics can also be a tremendous form event tracking time saver. A couple of clicks gives you all of the metrics you might need to determine which form field or fields are causing customers to drop out, and why that is the case.

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An eCommerce solution that integrates payment processing, shipping, inventory management, order tracking, and other functions needed to run a successful online store. Social media widgets that let you embed social sharing buttons on your website. This lets your audience share information about your company via their favorite networks. Videos on web pages make great examples of how to create interactive websites. The best part about using videos is that it doesn't need to be fancy -- just get creative! Visual designs tend to attract and engage more users. User-generated content can add value to any type of site. It helps people feel connected to what you're saying by giving them an opportunity to contribute ideas and opinions. A blog allows users to comment on posts as well as read others' comments. Blogs often have polls where readers vote on topics. Interactivity isn't limited to these five categories. There are plenty of ways to incorporate interaction into your website. 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Making your website interactive strongly supports your digital marketing efforts An interactive website design and functionality can significantly improve the customer experience, which will most likely increase engagement among your target audiences. Your digital marketing strategies can greatly benefit from an interactive design layout and functionality. According to a study, "the average person spends more than two hours per day consuming digital media." An interactive website design and functionality give businesses the chance to engage with consumers at all times. How interactive elements affect SEO The more interactive experiences you provide on your website, the better they'll perform when it comes to search engine optimization. In fact, Google has stated that sites with rich user interactions tend to rank higher in its results pages. Google uses many signals to determine whether a webpage should appear high up in its rankings. 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The Ultimate Guide to Canadian Web Accessibility Laws

The Ultimate Guide to Canadian Web Accessibility Laws

  According to a 2017 study, 1 in 5 Canadians aged 15+ has at least one disability. Failing to prioritize web accessibility means ignoring a significant part of the population.  The increasing number of published legal cases around web accessibility shows that making websites accessible for people with disabilities is no longer optional.  The international web standard WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) includes three levels of accessibility compliance: A, AA, and AAA. However, as digital environments continually evolve, these requirements are frequently updated to match increasingly modern needs. 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Relevant, appropriately formatted headlines that help people with disabilities that use assistive software easily find the information they are interested in. This accessibility step also improves your SEO and SERP rankings.  Use meaningful link texts that clearly describe what the URL i about. Try to include specific keyword and avoid raw URLs.  Clear website instructions that make your users' interactions with your site more straightforward and streamlined.    What is accessible content? Maybe your website is an Ecommerce platform, or it might be a publishing site on various topics. Regardless of its scope, your website has to provide clear, meaningful, and concise content in order to be considered accessible.  As a content editor, you need to pay attention to how you write your copy so that it is always: Perceivable. Website users should easily perceive any piece of content that is presented on the site. Operable. When structured, a site's content should focus on operability. Understandable. Accessible content is comprehensive, concise, and includes meaningful structural elements. Robust. A piece of content is considered robust when it can be easily scanned and interpreted by assistive technologies.  By doing so, your web content will be accessible to all your users (persons with disabilities, smartphone users, elderly people, non-native English speakers, etc.)    What are the most important web accessibility laws in Canada? 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Additionally, you can talk and ask for feedback from your active users to better grasp your website's strengths and weaknesses. By gaining awareness of ideas of improvement directly from your audience, you'll deliver more personalized and accessible web experiences. Testing assistive technology tools to gain a more accurate perspective on how you can support, for example, people relying on screen readers. Get in the shoes of your users and become more empathetic to be able to come up with appropriate inclusive solutions to make your site more accessible.    Fines and penalties So, what happens if you fail to comply with the accessibility regulations that apply to your organization?  The fines under the AODA include: Companies can be penalized up to $100,000/day. Individuals and unincorporated businesses can receive fines of up to $50,000/day. Managers and officers in a corporation can be fined up to $50,000/day.   The current enforcement instructions state that businesses are fined larger penalties for their first violation, and, if the lack of compliance continues, these penalties can apply every day.  However, the way these fines are given depends on the impact of the non-compliance and the history of the company or individual that has committed the violation. For minor violations, organizations may be fined as little as $500/day.  The AODA applies to all levels of government, non-profit and private sector companies, but the penalties are currently targeting only organizations with 50+ employees.    How can your business benefit from complying with accessibility laws? Improving your website's accessibility is wise regardless of legal compliance regulations. It is also good for the business. Some key benefits of optimizing your site for accessibility are: Higher traffic rates on your website. By making your site accessible, you are opening the door for a wider range of visitors, which may lead to increased traffic, engagement, and conversion rates. More customers. Web accessibility is all about meeting a wide variety of customer needs, and it can grow your customer base in the long run.  Improved SEO rankings. Some practices to make your site more accessible include writing relevant, concise content, adding ALT-text to images, or selecting simplistic layout designs. Also, these practices are good for SEO, as they increase your SERP ratings and your website's visibility.  Faster page loading speed. By working on your website's accessibility, you also improve your page loading time and the overall user experience.    Conclusion Keeping up with the evolving web accessibility laws in Canada is a must. The next step is to become proactive on your accessibility journey by designing and optimizing your web apps and sites to comply with the rules and regulations of WCAG. This will not only keep you away from lawsuits and penalties, but it will also boost your brand reputation and your business outcomes.  If you need a hand in building websites and web apps that are compliant with the latest Canadian accessibility laws, we are happy to help with proactive Drupal support for your development projects. Check out our Drupal Website Accessibility services and let's discuss how you can embrace an inclusive mindset that supports all your customers.    Photo credit: Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash. ... Read more
Raluca Olariu / Jul 22'2021
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How to Create Accessible Content More Easily

How to Create Accessible Content More Easily

  Web accessibility heavily relies on developers and designers. They are responsible for building code and specific design patterns to make a website accessible for people with disabilities.  Another way to enhance a site's accessibility is through content. Creating accessible content is paramount when it comes to making a website accessible to screen reader users or visitors that use assistive technologies.  Content editors can give a piece of writing accessibility by: writing relevant, concise, descriptive text links creating easily scannable headings adding alternative texts to every non-text element of the content writing meaningful copy   Regardless of the scope of your website, as a content editor, your mission is to create and optimize every piece of writing on your site with accessibility in mind. This also means putting yourself into the shoes of your audience and thinking from their perspective. You should ask yourself: What do I need in order to have full access to this website? Which features and website tools can help visitors interact with this website more conveniently?  If you use empathy to answer these questions, you'll get closer to understanding your audience. Only then will you be on the right path to building accessible content on your website.    How do you define accessible content? Web content accessibility doesn't just include people with disabilities. It also refers to content that can be easily understood and interacted with by smartphone users, older people, persons with low literacy, or those who have low English skills.  According to the WCAG 2.0 standards, web content is considered accessible if it's: Perceivable. Website users should easily perceive any piece of content that is presented on the site.  Operable. When structured, a site's content should focus on operability. Understandable. 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Write clear and simple content.  Using concise language for your website's content benefits multiple groups of visitors, such as: Users with cognitive disabilities Non-native English speakers Screen reader users Busy people who want to quickly go through your copy Depending on the professional level of your content's target audience, you should either avoid or explain technical terms and acronyms. Also, focus on using an active voice that clearly states your ideas and avoid long sentences and idioms.    3. Provide transcripts and captions.  While captions appear on the screen as written text, transcripts are the textual version of the video or audio content provided in a separate document.  Transcripts and captions make websites more accessible for users who: Have hearing issues Have low English skills Can't listen to the content due to environmental reasons Transcripts and captions can be provided for all video and audio content, or they can be done by request. Either way, they are great ways to improve a website's accessibility.    4. Add relevant, appropriately formatted headlines.  People with disabilities that use assistive software need scannable content that allows them to quickly find relevant information instead of wasting time going through the entire chunk of text. Structuring and styling your content in a scannable manner can also enhance your SEO efforts and improves your SERP visibility.   Design your headings with accessibility in mind, and ensure that you use them as structural elements of the content and define its hierarchy. The accessible text needs to provide readers the ability to quickly navigate between the most important sections, and headings are the tool for allowing this.    5. Use ALT text for images.  Whether you have complex images or just decorative images on your site, make them accessible by providing precise and concise ALT descriptions. Screen readers can't interpret non-text content elements, so images without ALT text are useless for screen reader users.  Like headlines, alternate descriptions highly improve your SEO rankings and visibility.  Make sure you use ALT text wisely by: Keeping your description short (under 125 characters) Avoiding images with text like graphs or diagrams    6. Write clear, to-the-point website instructions. Web accessibility is all about easier interactions with digital platforms. People want web experiences that require as few resources as possible on their part. And for online visitors with disabilities, this is more than a demand; it is a necessity.  Therefore, web instructions, error messages, or data formats must be easy to understand, so they can be considered accessible.  Part of creating accessible web content includes paying attention to how you write basic text like website instructions.   Web accessibility is here to stay. Implementing web accessibility into the core of your digital platform is a must. As web accessibility laws are getting more restrictive, brands start to think of making their websites accessible to support the future of their businesses. In an increasingly populated digital landscape, the mindset has to evolve in order to meet the complex needs of a variety of internet users. Companies that don't keep up with these trends will fall behind, and those who take web accessibility seriously will be on the winning side.  As we've seen, accessible content creation is not rocket science and will improve your website in multiple ways. Making your content accessible should be a priority and an essential part of your editorial workflow.  A few practices to remember for optimizing your content are: Always use ALT text for images Provide captions and transcripts for audio and video content Properly structure and format headings   If you need help to make your website more accessible, check out Optasy's Drupal Website Accessibility services. We'll offer our best support for helping you adopt an accessibility-first mindset to your website.    Photo credit: Nick Morrison on Unsplash.   ... Read more
Raluca Olariu / Jul 20'2021

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