7 ways to improve user experience without UI design.

UI Design is the first (and probably the only) post that people run to when there is talk of improving the user experience. However, it is just one of the ways. In this post, I intend to list 7 ways in which you can make users happy without touching the UI design:

1. Page load time – Every page today is developed using some framework or another, which adds their overhead and increases the page load time. The longer the page load time, the more frustrated the user. Many times, these frameworks are really not needed, and the same effect can be achieved through some basic javascript coding. Remember that everybody is streaming content and contributing to low speeds. Optimize your pages and use the least number of frameworks and plugins for your pages.
2. Server Errors – Imagine filling a form to enroll for something only to get a server error when you submit it. I have faced this many time – especially with servers using dotnet technologies (Not saying that MS is bad but they made so it easy for everybody to code that bad developers using MS technology abound). This is very frustrating. Write robust and clean code.
3. Loss of data – I was once playing a popular mobile game, only to find all my data – my achievements, levels, currency were lost with a carelessly developed update. The developers were helpful and got my data back, but it did cause me enough heartburn to stop playing the game. What if this happens with more serious applications…
4. Incorrect loading of pages – We see this so many times – a page loads only to show a part of the page, or the page formatted incorrectly in a way that makes it difficult to follow the flow. This happens especially when websites are not developed to be responsive or adaptive – use a good HTML developer instead of a mediocre one or worse still – an amateur.
5. Application reliability – Application crashes are covered in the earlier point. But what happens when behind your back, the application does not submit the form that it shows as submitted? All your effort is in vain and from the next time onwards, you have to use a secondary channel to ensure that this does not affect your work, money or even your reputation. This adds to your time and effort overhead. Many hasty “beta” applications suffer from this malady, giving “agile” a bad reputation as an excuse for buggy products and services. 
6. User error recovery – Users are humans. They tend to commit errors. It is important that you let them recover from their error by offering a backup or rollback mechanism. If that is not possible, then sufficient warning about the consequences. If you don’t, users will always be afraid of taking the wrong step, discouraging them from exploring the full potential of your application.
7. Need for plugins – Silverlight, flash, etc. etc. How many times in the past have you seen and cursed websites and applications that make you install and enable outdated or niche plugins just to get your work done? I know 2 that I unfortunately have to use time and again at my workplace – they need me to enable Flash. While not debilitating, it is irritating and potentially dangerous, since some of these technologies are unsecure and outdated.
8. Bonus – lack of cross-device synchronization – This one applies specially to mobile apps. Users work across multiple devices. When the work they do is not automatically synchronized correctly across all of them, this introduces a chance of errors and conflicts that can be potentially difficult to reconcile and cause damage.

These are some of the issues commonly faced by the users, that affect their experience with your site or application.

Hope you enjoyed reading. Next time, I will attempt to cover how better content can improve the users’ experience. Feel free to comment and add more points that I may have left out.