I finished re-designing the signup page of one of my websites last week. Here’s a reflection on what I accomplished last week, and whether it was a good use of my time (nope).

Highlights

• Finished redesign of webpage
• Used InVision to mock up design before implementing to code
• Learned a lot of HTML, CSS and JavaScript
• 22 hours total of focused work to get this done. Great learning, but ultimately not worth the time spent.

Issues I faced

• I didn’t fully flush out the reasoning as to why I embarked on this redesign. Basically I just started working on it, and I didn’t want to stop until it was finished
• Translating design mock up to code is tedious work
• Maintaining this code for future improvements no the UI is a lot of work, and I don’t think it’s worth my time. I am considering outsourcing this type of work in the future.

What I learned

Plan plan plan! I need to write out my plan for the upcoming week next time.

Reflections on my last week

After spending a week to redesign the payments page, I realized I should have planned for this better. Basically, I should’ve written out or vocalized exactly why I needed to redesign the page. I had a few reasons floating in my head, but I didn’t have a clear, defined rationale.

Now that I’m writing out the points below, I don’t believe I should have wasted a week doing this. This was not an urgent issue to fix. It took away time that I need for Project #3.

Why did I redesign the payments page?

Poor User Interface

One person did not immediately see the promo code section and did not enter their promo code in. I think this is just a symptom of a larger issue, which is generally poor user interface design. It also exposes some risks and issues:

• I have to retro-actively apply their promo code. This is not a big issue - it’s only happened once so far, and I don’t expect it to happen often
• A new customer might decide to not sign up...this is a bigger issue.