About the User Interface Designer and Web Developer company of Wedding-Calculator.com
Made by Forward Thinking
Wedding-Calculator.com is one of our showcases. Forward Thinking is an innovative User Interface designer and Web Developer company which began as a start up at the University of Twente in the Netherlands.
We specialize in Consultancy, Design and Software Developer in the field of Usability, User Interfaces and Experience Design. In this area, we have worked for several major financial and telecom companies to help them improve their online presence.
The de facto technology standard for our front end development is HTML-5 with JS frameworks. Most of the online tools we build also have a back-end section. APIs are used for the full stack integration. The back ends almost always run on Linux servers or Microsoft Windows servers, hosted on AWS and / or Azure. Global or local CDNs are used for high scalability and availability.
Usually we also develop a CMS for these tools to easily add / update content, configure the tools and push them into production.
How to design and develop great online tools?
The ISO 9241-11 standard provides a framework for designing great User Interfaces. This framework divides Usability into three main components:
1 - UX Effectiveness
The first component is to understand the tasks that users perform. User tasks are often not straightforward, different users can use multiple routes to achieve desired goals. Tasks also have hierarchical structures where a main task can be split into multiple sub-tasks.
For example, the main task of users of the Alcohol Calculator is to get an estimate of the drinks they should buy and what the cost would be. However, the route to do this will be different for different users. Some users just need a quick estimate that is as simple as possible. Other users want a more accurate calculation and are willing to enter more detailed information in the advance settings and price settings.
Designing an effective online tool means that the tool allows users to successfully perform the main task regardless of the differences between these users. The designs should be able to deal seamlessly with the various sub-tasks and route differences between users.
2 - UX Efficiency
The second component of ISO 9241-11 focuses on how much effort it takes the users to complete the main task successfully. For example, how many steps are needed, how many fields need to entered and how much clicks are required to complete the task.
Also, if the user is distracted by bad design decisions, completing the task will be less efficient.
Not only the design but also the development can have an impact on UX efficiency. How fast and smoothly does the tool work? If users have to wait each time for the tool to process inputs or steps, it takes longer for the task to complete.
3 - UX Satisfaction
The third and last component of ISO 9241-11 focuses on how users perceive the user-friendliness of the online tool. A design can be effective which means that users can successfully complete the task with the help of this tool. However, users may still not like this tool for several reasons. For example, they don't like the layout or the colors used.
Most of the time, an online tool with poor UX effectiveness and / or poor UX efficiency will usually also have poor UX satisfaction.
Usually UX satisfaction is measured by conducting prototype and beta testing with small groups of actual users. There are several methods of doing these tests so that the results are reliable and consistent. It is our experience that UX satisfaction tests often also reveal effectiveness and efficiency problems.
This ISO 9241-11 framework, when properly applied, can help user interface designers and web developers to significantly improve the usability of the online tools they develop.
How can we help you?
Here are some services we provide as a User Interface Designer and Web Developer company.
1 - Full Service design and development
Are you looking for an agency that can design and develop one or more online tools for you? Please contact us and we may be able to help you. We have experience with design and development of a.o. online mortgage calculators, energy calculators, shopping calculators and more. On this site, we showcase three wedding calculators that have been completely designed and developed by us.
The price of such full service custom work starts at $5,000.
Please send an email to info@f-think.com to get in touch with us.
2 - Consultancy
Are you looking for consultancy services related to the design, development, testing and evaluation of one or more online tools? Please contact us and we may be able to help you with our practical experience in this area.
Our hour rate for consultancy services starts at $125.
Please send an email to info@f-think.com to get in touch with us.