Creating a Great User Experience in

SharePointMarc D Anderson

Who Is Marc?• Co-Founder and President of Sympraxis

Consulting LLC, located in the Boston suburb of Newton, MA, USA. Sympraxis focuses on enabling collaboration throughout the enterprise using the SharePoint application platform.• Over 30 years of experience in technology professional services and software development. Over a wide-ranging career in consulting as well as line manager positions, Marc has proven himself as a problem solver and leader who can solve difficult technology problems for organizations across a wide variety of industries and organization sizes.

• Awarded Microsoft MVP for SharePoint Server 2011-2015

Session OverviewBuilding solutions in SharePoint isn’t simply about getting the functionality right based on the business requirements.

Developers and designers must think about the entire user experience.

‒ How should the user feel when they use this piece of functionality?‒ Will they see it as saving them work or creating new work?‒ How will it compare to what they see on the consumer Web?

We’ll look at good and bad examples from SharePoint itself, as well as specific customizations.

The Problem

Forrester Report on SharePoint Adoption“Dissatisfaction is centered on several areas, including adoption challenges, a dislike for the SharePoint user experience, a preference for other tools like email and skepticism over its business value.”“Business management’s dissatisfaction with SharePoint and perception of its value is hurt by uninspired user experiences.

Microsoft SharePoint faces a challenging future: Forrester | PCWorldhttp://www.pcworld.com/article/2027391/microsoft-sharepoint-faces-a-challenging-future-forrester.htmlSharePoint Adoption Faces Three Barriers: Mobile, Social, Cloudhttp://www.slideshare.net/johnrrymer/share-point-survey-2012-slideshare

What’s the Solution? Use SharePoint as an out-of-box application whenever possible -

We designed the new SharePoint UI to be clean, simple and fast and work great out-of-box. We encourage you not to modify it which could add complexity, performance and upgradeability and to focus your energy on working with users and groups to understand how to use SharePoint to improve productivity and collaboration and identifying and promoting best practices in your organization.

SharePoint

Microsoft Doesn't Advise You Customize SharePoint 2013http://www.cmswire.com/cms/information-management/microsoft-doesnt-advise-you-customize-sharepoint-2013-016608.php

What Is “User Experience”?User experience (UX or UE) involves a person's emotions

about using a particular product, system or service. User experience highlights the experiential, affective, meaningful

and valuable aspects of human-computer interaction and product ownership.

How does the user feel when they are finished with using

SharePoint?“User experience” from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_experience

Consumer Web The consumer Web is both

a source of inspiration and an anathema for enterprise developers

Our users expect no less than what they see on Facebook, Dropbox, Google, etc.

It’s an expectations problem

Image from The Conversation Prism http://www.theconversationprism.com/

How Can We Succeed?

Form vs. FunctionForm Function

Typically the domain of Designers, Marketing

folks

Typically the domain of

Developers, IT folks

RealityIt has to be both:“function requires

form” The Form v Function Ratio by Dan Antion http://www.aiim.org/community/blogs/expert/The-Form-v-Function-Ratio

Information ArchitectureA sound Information Architecture provides:ConsistencySimpler maintenanceOne version of the truthUse wisely:Content TypesManaged metadataList-based Site Columns

Image from “Explain IA Poster” http://userallusion.com/blog/2010/10/explain-ia-poster/

Be the UserDon’t think about what SharePoint does or how it does it. Think about what your users want.

Too many developers eschew SharePoint as a collaboration tool. Use what you build.

If it’s too slow or cumbersome to you, guess what? It’s worse for your users.

Collaborative DevelopmentSit with your usersListen to what they are asking forRepeat what they want Iterate, iterate, iterateLather, rinse, repeat – It’s never “done”Agile with a small “a” – roll with the punches

Consultative ServicesDon’t expect your users to understand all functionality

Training can’t cover everything: demonstrate patterns

Be an internal consultant“How can I help you to solve your requirements?”

Use the “Mom Test”Questions to ask:• Can a relatively

inexperienced technophobe make sense of this?

• Do we feel like people will need training? Why?

• How often will they use it?• Is it visually appealing?• Is it “accessible”?

Don’t Talk About Budget (Too Much)Your end users don’t care about your budget

Figure out how to help themLook for quick wins – they can help fund the big changes

Decide if the workloads SharePoint supports are important enough

Find executive support

Speed Matters

Two Seconds

Boston Globe, February 02, 2013: Instant gratification is making us perpetually impatient ow.ly/i8Pth

Ramesh Sitaraman, a computer science professor at UMass Amherst, examined the viewing habits of 6.7 million Internet users in a study released in 2012. How long were subjects willing to be patient?

Do you think that’s gotten any longer?

Size MattersViews should show the amount of information required to make decisions, no more

Carefully balance server side and client side code

Large images can kill the UX

Lowest Common DenominatorKnow your user base

‒Browsers Brands Versions

‒Screens Size Resolution Shape

‒BandwidthAvailable RAM

Image from NetMarketShare – timeframe = Q1 2014http://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=2&qpcustomd=0&qptimeframe=Q

“It works on my machine” doesn’t

cut it.

Mind the Fold If users have to scroll every time they land on a page, you’ve put things in the wrong place

Eyes scan from upper left to lower right, much as a TV “paints” the screen

Image 2: F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content http://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content/

Use Real Estate WiselyDecide on your design aesthetic‒Few dense pages vs. many sparse pages

‒Graphics vs. text‒Color vs. monochrome

Pet Peeve: Executive images or senseless banners

Error MessagesPlease, please, please NEVER: “Contact your administrator”

Correlation IDs – Good idea, horrible execution, especially for SharePoint Online

Tell the user:‒What happened?‒What did I do to make it happen?‒How can I fix it?

Relinquish ControlRemove the developer from the equation

List-Based Settings vs. Property bags

Give users control – it’s their system

Focus on important development work

Seek and Ye Shall Find…Search is about finding, not searching

Search is not just a search boxRequires regular care and feeding

Use search to drive effects

Additional Thoughts and ContradictionsConsistency to a fault - Don’t be constrained by what SharePoint gives you

Yet, you’ve bought a box, don’t stray too far out of it

Name it – it’s not SharePointVisual cues – not just text

It always comes back to “It Depends”

Remember…

Form vs. FunctionForm Function

Typically the domain of Designers, Marketing

folks

Typically the domain of

Developers, IT folks

RealityIt has to be both:“function requires

form” The Form v Function Ratio by Dan Antion http://www.aiim.org/community/blogs/expert/The-Form-v-Function-Ratio

Thank you to our sponsors!

Contact InformationEmail marc.anderson@sympraxisconsulting.

comTwitter @sympmarcBlog http://sympmarc.com

SPServices http://spservices.codeplex.comSPXSLT http://spxslt.codeplex.comBooks http://sympmarc.com/books

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