Intro to Author Experience

DevFest Triangle 2019 - Unconference

Author: someone who manages

• Product descriptions
• Event details
• Blog articles
• Documentation
• Messages
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Slides
• Biographies
• Forms
• ...

What is author experience (AX)?
 

How to participate

1. Intended audience
2. Questions at the end
3. Don't take notes
4. @KatieMaeFritz on Twitter

1: UX (Users)

2: AX (Authors)

3: DX (Developers)

1: UX (Users)

2: AX (Authors)

3: DX (Developers)

1: UX (Users)

2: AX (Authors)

3: DX (Developers)

Principles of

User Author Experience

Familiarity
is
important

Less
is
More
 

Less
is
More
 

What do authors need??????????
 

Guess

Guess

Ask

Guess

Ask

Observe

Observe

Guess

Ask

1. Observe

Guess

Ask

2. Iterate 🔁

UX > AX > DX

Familiarity

Less is more

Observe + Iterate

1. "That one thing looks weird."

Have them show, not tell

Bugherd

2. "How do I edit the home page again?"

Make it familiar

Familiar language 

Expose things that are hidden

Group related interfaces

When all else fails - instructions

3. "I can't get this page to look right."

Change your editor configuration

Hide unneeded buttons

4. "Help! All the images are broken!"

If they can't see it, they can't break it

Restricted permissions:

gift, not punishment

5. "How do we format dates again?"

Field validation

Keep it all in the site!

Field

instructions

Add links to dashboard