Gaia/Design/ApplicationUXDocumentation

The following is a list of common UX considerations to take into account when building out Gaia apps.

First Run

• Usually presents an Empty State
• Provides opportunity to prompt user to setup an account, etc.
• Can also be used to educate user via tutorials, tooltips, etc.

Empty state

• Occurs when there is no content available.
• Most commonly seen on app First Run.
• Also seen when user clears all content.
• To avoid user confusion ("Nothing is showing up. Is the app broken?") we can display a status and/or explanation. For example, a "No messages" string where a list might usually be.

Error states

• Most common will be "no internet connection".
• As with Empty State, we should avoid user confusion by communicating situation in UI.

Gestures

• Note where gestures are available to the user, and what they do.

Input Errors

• What happens when a user's form input fails?
• Can communicate with:
  • Inline-message (displayed alongside erroneous field)
  • Banner dialogue
  • Prompt dialogue

Date & Time dependencies

• Is the app effected by user changing global Settings for Date & Time?
  • Time zones
  • Regions
  • Number formats

Dependencies

• What hardware dependencies exist, and how do we flag them?
• eg: Music app could be dependent on SD card removable storage, and app could use Banner dialogue to communicate.

Settings

• User preferences and settings that effect the operation of the application.
• First determination: does the app _need_ dedicated specs?
• Second determination: what settings are needed? Larissa's Settings Design Patterns are a handy reference when laying out.

Application data states

• How do apps display states for items?
• eg: Mail message states:
  • New
  • Unread
  • Read

Orientation Support

• Does the app support landscape orientation?

Activities

• Does the app receive or send activities? eg: Share, Select, etc.

Notifications

• Does the app issue Notifications? When, and what?
  • Icon
  • Title
  • Body
  • Action (eg: open App, open SMS thread, open keyboard)