Salesforce User-Experience-Designer - Salesforce Certified User Experience Designer (SP25)

A heuristic evaluation is a usability inspection method that involves having evaluators examine a user interface and assess its compliance with established usability principles (or “heuristics”). These heuristics are guidelines or rules of thumb that help identify common usability problems. During a heuristic evaluation, evaluators inspect the interface and identify potential usability issues based on the heuristics. The evaluators then report their findings to the designers or developers, who can use this feedback to improve the interface. Heuristic evaluation is a cost-effective and efficient way to identify usability problems early in the design process. It can be done quickly and does not require large groups of participants. It is particularly useful for identifying problems that may not be detected through user testing or surveys1.

A heuristic evaluation is the most suitable method for determining the portal’s compliance with recognized standard usability principles, such as Nielsen’s 10 heuristics for user interface design2. These heuristics cover aspects such as visibility of system status, match between system and the real world, user control and freedom, consistency and standards, error prevention, recognition rather than recall, flexibility and efficiency of use, aesthetic and minimalist design, help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors, and help and documentation. By applying these heuristics to the portal, the UX team can identify and prioritize the usability problems that need to be fixed.

An intuitive review is a less formal and less rigorous method of usability inspection, where an evaluator relies on their own intuition and experience to judge the usability of an interface. An intuitive review does not follow a set of predefined heuristics or criteria, and it is more subjective and prone to bias. An intuitive review can be useful for getting a quick overview of the interface, but it is not as reliable or comprehensive as a heuristic evaluation3.

User testing is a usability evaluation method that involves observing and collecting data from actual or potential users as they perform tasks with the interface. User testing can provide valuable insights into how users interact with the interface, what difficulties they encounter, and what their preferences and expectations are. User testing can also measure the effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction of the interface. However, user testing is not the best method for determining the compliance with standard usability principles, as it does not directly assess the interface against the heuristics. User testing is also more time-consuming, resource-intensive, and complex to conduct than heuristic evaluation4.

Two resources that can help a UX Designer to explore sample code for Lightning components and see how changing the code affects the visual appearance in real time, without deploying any code to a Salesforce org, are:

Lightning Design System Website. The Lightning Design System website is a resource that provides design guidelines, UI components, and code samples for building Lightning applications. The website also features a live code editor that allows the designer to edit and preview the code for Lightning web components and Aura components, and see the changes reflected in the browser instantly. The live code editor also provides syntax highlighting, auto-completion, and error checking features. The designer can use the Lightning Design System website to experiment with different code snippets and learn how to apply the design principles and best practices for Lightning components. Lightning Design System Website, [UX Designer Certification Prep: Salesforce Design System]

Local Development Server. The Local Development Server is a resource that allows the designer to build, run, and test Lightning web components without deploying them to a Salesforce org. The Local Development Server is a CLI plug-in that creates a local web server that serves the Lightning web components from the local file system. The designer can use the Local Development Server to edit the code for Lightning web components in their preferred code editor, such as Visual Studio Code, and see the changes updated in the browser automatically. The Local Development Server also supports hot reloading, which preserves the component state and the browser session during code changes. The designer can use the Local Development Server to speed up the development and testing process and to debug the code for Lightning web components. Local Development Server, [UX Designer Certification Prep: User Testing and Evaluation]

The Lightning Web Component Recipes App and the Developer Center’s Lightning Component Library are not resources that can help a UX Designer to explore sample code for Lightning components and see how changing the code affects the visual appearance in real time, without deploying any code to a Salesforce org. The Lightning Web Component Recipes App is a sample application that showcases the functionality and best practices for Lightning web components. The Developer Center’s Lightning Component Library is a reference guide that provides documentation and examples for Lightning web components and Aura components. However, neither of these resources allow the designer to edit and preview the code in real time, as they require the code to be deployed to a Salesforce org or a scratch org first. Lightning Web Component Recipes App, Developer Center’s Lightning Component Library, [UX Designer Certification Prep: User Testing and Evaluation] References: Lightning Design System Website, Local Development Server, Lightning Web Component Recipes App, Developer Center’s Lightning Component Library, [UX Designer Certification Prep: Salesforce Design System], [UX Designer Certification Prep: User Testing and Evaluation]

When restyling a <lightning-modal /> Lightning Web Component (LWC) to meet brand guidelines, it's important to know that styling customization options may be limited. Specifically, only the main Lightning Modal component can be styled using styling hooks. This limitation means that while you can apply brand-specific styles to the overall modal component using styling hooks, the finer control over the modal's internal sections (like the body, footer, and header) might not be directly accessible through these hooks. This constraint necessitates a strategic approach to styling, focusing on the aspects of the modal that can be customized to align with brand guidelines while understanding the inherent limitations.

The approach that is being followed by the UX Designer is the Human-Centered Design. This is a creative design approach that focuses on understanding the end-user’s needs, problems, and context, and then creating solutions that are desirable, feasible, and viable for them. The Human-Centered Design process typically involves four phases: empathize, define, ideate, and prototype.

A grid system is a set of columns and rows that help to organize and align the layout and content of a web page. The Salesforce Lightning Design System (SLDS) provides a responsive grid system that adapts to different screen sizes and devices. The SLDS grid system is based on the CSS Flexbox layout module, which allows for flexible and dynamic positioning of elements. The SLDS grid system consists of the following components1:

Containers: These are the outermost elements that wrap the grid. They have a fixed width that changes according to the breakpoints defined by the SLDS. Breakpoints are the points at which the layout changes based on the screen size. The SLDS has four breakpoints: small, medium, large, and x-large2.

Grids: These are the direct children of the containers. They are the main elements that define the grid structure. They have a display property of flex, which enables the flexbox layout. They can also have modifiers that control the alignment, direction, and wrapping of the grid items3.

Grid items: These are the direct children of the grids. They are the elements that contain the actual content of the page. They have a flex property that determines how much space they take up in the grid. They can also have modifiers that control the order, offset, and visibility of the grid items4.

A UX Designer should use the SLDS grid system to design responsively within the SLDS, as it provides a consistent and flexible way to create layouts that work across different devices and screen sizes. The SLDS grid system also follows the SLDS design principles and best practices, such as clarity, efficiency, consistency, and beauty5.

The conceptual approach of desirable, feasible, and viable describes how to evaluate design solutions based on three criteria:

Desirable: The solution meets the needs and wants of the users and stakeholders.

Feasible: The solution can be implemented with the available resources and technology.

Viable: The solution can generate value and sustain itself in the market and environment. By incorporating human-centered design, CK is aiming to create design solutions that are desirable for its Sales team and customers, feasible with the Salesforce platform and tools, and viable for its business goals and strategy. References:

[1]: UX Designer Certification Prep: Design Thinking, Unit 3: Ideate

[2]: UX Designer Certification Prep: Design Thinking, Unit 4: Prototype and Test

 T-shirt sizing is a methodology that can be used to roughly estimate the work required for each item in a sprint backlog. It involves assigning a size category (such as XS, S, M, L, XL) to each item based on its complexity, effort, and uncertainty. T-shirt sizing is a relative estimation technique that allows the team to compare items and prioritize them accordingly. It is also a quick and easy way to get a high-level overview of the scope of work without getting into too much detail. References:

[UX Designer Certification Prep: Agile UX]

[Agile Estimation Techniques: A True Estimation in an Agile Project]

 Experience Cloud is the Salesforce solution that enables businesses to create engaging and personalized digital experiences for their customers, partners, and employees. Experience Cloud can easily integrate customer relationship management (CRM) data from Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and other Salesforce products to provide a seamless and consistent experience across different touchpoints. Experience Cloud can also leverage the power of Commerce Cloud to create B2B sales portals that allow buyers to browse, order, and pay for products online. Experience Cloud offers various templates, components, and tools to design and build customized and branded B2B sales portals that meet the needs and expectations of the target audience. References: Experience Cloud Overview, Learn About B2B Commerce, Salesforce B2B Commerce Basics

When developers are building custom components in Salesforce and need to ensure that these components adapt to user preferences for density settings (Comfy or Compact), they should avoid using REM-based spacing values. This is because REM-based spacing does not automatically adjust based on the density setting chosen by the user, leading to a lack of consistency with the rest of the Salesforce UI, which does adapt to these settings. Instead, developers should:

A. Use the varSpacingMedium design token in CSS, as Salesforce Lightning Design System (SLDS) design tokens are context-aware and can adjust their values based on the density setting, ensuring a consistent user experience across different user preferences.

C. Use existing Lightning Components such as the card or page header, which are pre-built to adapt to density settings, ensuring that custom components align with the overall Salesforce UI and respect user settings for density.

These are three of the four core principles of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which provide a set of standards and best practices for making web content accessible to people with disabilities. The fourth principle is Perceivable, which means that the information and user interface components must be presented in ways that users can perceive. The principles are further divided into 13 guidelines and three levels of conformance (A, AA, and AAA). References:

[Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview]

[WCAG 2.1 at a Glance]

 Usability testing is a type of testing that evaluates how easy and intuitive a product or service is to use by observing real users performing specific tasks. Usability testing can help the UX Designer to measure the effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction of the new form for the call center staff. Usability testing can also help to identify any usability issues or areas for improvement in the form design. Usability testing can be conducted in various ways, such as moderated or unmoderated, remote or in-person, qualitative or quantitative, or using various tools and methods12. References:

Usability Testing

Usability Testing Methods