Read part 1, part 2, and part 3.

Building a user interface is hard. This is especially true for programmers that do not have a lot of experience or background in design, usability, human-computer interaction. Linux is a perfect example of this; solid in function, poor design in the user interface.

On the web, design and usability critically important. A recent article suggests that web users judge the quality of a web page within seconds of viewing it.

Some teams might comprise of programmers and designers, but some teams are small enough that the programmer is the designer. If this is the case then you’ll want to employ some techniques that designers use. One of those is sketching.

One of the hardest things to start with is a blank piece of paper. The blank piece of paper can lead to procrastination and even worse, it can cause people to just give up entirely.

This is where sketching comes into play. Sketches are rough drafts. They don’t have to be (and shouldn’t be) perfect. Just get some stuff on paper and work from there. Whip out a couple of sketches and start defining the details from your favorite ones.

I’ve whipped up some small, quick and rough sketches on what my new blog might look like. Since these are just sketches, it’s easy to throw away ones that I don’t like or to erase and start over.

• Sketch 1
• Sketch 2
• Sketch 3
• Sketch 4