APEX UX: treat your users as you like to be treated

APEX World 2025

Philipp Hartenfeller

20-MAR-2025 | Ede

$whoami

Philipp Hartenfeller

  • Düsseldorf, Germany
  • Oracle APEX Dev since 2016
  • Product Lead at United Codes
  • Web Dev and Databases

Agenda

(Shift + A: jump to Agenda, Shift + O: overview)

Introduction to UX

What is bad UX?

Anything that gets in the way of the user achieving their goal.

What is bad UX?

Anything that makes the user fearful or uncertain.

Definition

“User experience (UX) is how a user interacts with and experiences a product, system or service. It includes a person's perceptions of utility, ease of use, and efficiency.”
Wikipedia

Easier said than done

  • Humans are individuals
  • Users have different needs
  • Hard to measure → good UX is invisible
  • Constraints: Time, Budget, APEX, Design Skills, etc.

Step1: understand your audience

Deep user understanding is the foundation of exceptional experiences.

User demographics

  • Age range
  • Cultural background
  • Education level

Device and platform

  • Small vs. large screen
  • Multiple monitors?
  • Touchscreen / Mouse / Keyboard
  • Wired internet connection / mobile

Usage context

  • How much time do users spend with the app?
  • What tasks do they perform?
  • How critical are the tasks?

Different purpose and tone

Both good UX, but users visit for completely different things

Style differences

    NYT Lego
    Black and white Colorful
    Serif fonts Sans-serif fonts
    Clean and professional Playful and engaging
    Text heavy / few images Huge images / not much text
    → "Anything I should read?" → "So much to explore!"

There is no golden standard

  • Good UX is affected by all these criteria
  • Understand your audience to know how to fulfil their needs
  • This talk: typical data-driven apps for company employees
  • Adapt the tips to your cases
  • Feel free to discuss!

App Structure

Why structure is important

  • Users don't like to get lost
  • Users like to easily find things
  • Users don't like to get overwhelmed by too many options
  • Users value predictable navigation patterns
  • Users appreciate logical grouping of related features
  • Users want quick access to frequently used functions

Don't: new page → add to navigation

  • This is just overwhelming, users will scroll this a lot during the day
  • New users need to find their way around
  • Existing users want to access things quickly

Do: structured menu

  • Grouped in logical sections
  • Level of details hidden by default
  • (Not every page has to be directly accessible from nav menu)

Do: nav pages

  • Get an overview
  • Additional description
  • What else to do on navigation entry click?

Do: Breadcrumbs

  • Know where you are
  • Links to get up some levels

Do: Make page parameters obvious

What do these have in common? (Google)

What do these have in common? (Wikipedia)

What do these have in common? (Amazon)

What do these have in common? (YouTube)

What do these have in common? (New York Times)