Don’t design like a programmer

"Error establishing a database connection"

Don't program like a designer?

That was a really good article. I definitely find myself making some of those mistakes when I mock up forms for websites I'm developing

I agree. The article is actually pretty good and provides useful tips. Even as a programmer I've many times been annoyed by these kinds of UI laziness, usually in "enterprise software".

It's not only programmers that make these kinds of mistakes, though. Also designers that come from a "forms on paper" background, or simply don't know enough of HTML/JS to make friendlier forms. So they simply make an unending list of text fields...

My most common annoyance with forms on the web is asking things that you A) don't need to know or B) already know.

Code like a programmer, design like someone who will use it. The best approach is if you can get some test data, in order to directly experience using the system. If the user enters dates a lot, you better make the date entry method as painless as possible (no mouse popup on dates, maybe even allow for - or . as separators so operators can stay on the number pad, etc.).

Do they enter bulk records more than one-ofs then have it so they can bulk-enter a group of records, etc. If you were told to do the entry what would you want to make your life easier.

As a programmer we think of the computer and how it reacts when running our code, it also helps to think of the user and how they react when using the UI.

Of course I know a couple of the problems with this - frameworks and IDEs, some of which don't give the programmer easy access to custom interface elements (or by using such tools the programmer is never aware of other ways to implement a UI).

These design articles are interesting but I wish more would provide examples of what you should do instead of just what you shouldn't.