When building an application, one of the things we have to work alongside with is business requirements but we mostly forget about the users, “Is this application accessible to the users?”
User’s Interaction and accessibility are many of the factors that needs to be discussed when building an application. It’s important to consider how efficient your application is to your users.
Check out this Podcast Episode on A Girl in Love with Tech Podcast where I and Microsoft Snr Program Manager Ilya Fainberg who role is researching market trends and understanding customer needs to formulate product strategy. Helping customers succeed in their journey to the Microsoft Cloud by advising on best practices and product discussed about the importance of User’s Experience in Microsoft Power Platform
In this article, we would learn about simple user’s needs we can easily work on when building a Power apps application but first, let us understand what Power Apps is
What is Microsoft Power Apps?
Microsoft Power Apps is a low-code or no- code tool in the Microsoft Power Platform ecosystem that is used in building business applications with or without the use of programming languages. Microsoft has been able to bridge that gap, where both developers and non-developers have free rays in building solutions. What this means is that, the platform can be extended by code making it a pro code platform for professional developers.
What to look at for
1. Simple icons: it is advisable to use icons in place to help increase space and avoid distractions. Make use of icons that are understandable on what it does.
2. Consistency: When building an application, especially when you have many screens in the application. It’s important to consider the consistency of the controls in your screen especially the width and height.
3. Colours: How well you use your colours is very important, especially to the users, it has to be accessible, not contrasting the other, the colour should not be too dull.
These are the few examples to consider when working with colours
- The font colour and background colour of your screen should be accessible. Check the Colour contrast checker to see which colour works best.
- When using an image in the screen the colour in the background of the image should not contradict the background colour of your screen.
- Use primary colours to point out the main objective. A good example of not working well with colors is using a green colour for the delete icon.
4. Avoiding distractions: Application should always be easy to use. A user should not need a manual to use your application.
5. Performance: Improving how users interact with your applications should be met. A few examples to consider when working in an application:
- Application should not take too long to load or respond to an action.
- When a user clicks on a button they expect that something will happen. Button controls should not be used as a text control.
Check this out to learn more about ways you can improve Performance in your application
6. Size: The font type and size should be readable and accessible. Check here and learn more about accessible fonts.
7.Responsive: Building an application, always think about the use of your application on different devices. When building an application one of the mistakes we make is not having an idea or design of how the application layout will look like on different types of screens.
Check out the learning resources
PowerApps Canvas App Accessibility Guidelines | Microsoft Power Apps
Understand the Power Apps Studio
How to build the UI in a canvas app in Power Apps
How to build a color-contrast-ratio checker for improved accessibility in Power Apps
How to use custom fonts in Power Apps
Power Apps performance optimization guidelines
