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<h1 id="prescription-form-ui-improvements">Prescription Form UI Improvements</h1>

<p>2019-03-13</p>

<p>I was browsing the Clearly website a few days ago and ended up using their prescription form to update my worsening eyesight. The design of this form wasn&#8217;t <em>bad</em> per se, but it could certainly be improved.</p>

<h2 id="current-design-of-the-prescription-view">Current design of the prescription view</h2>

<p><img src="/public/images/prescription-ui.webp" alt="Default prescription UI" /></p>

<p>As I stated, this design isn&#8217;t horrible by any means, but right away we can notice some problems:</p>

<ul>
<li>the layout causes the users&#8217; eyes to jump between left-to-right and top-to-bottom without good correlation</li>
<li>title content and <code>next</code> buttons are centered, while dropdowns are presented as left-to-right</li>
<li>anchor link coloring is inconsistent</li>
<li>too much whitespace between interactive sections</li>
<li>dropdown height overly large</li>
</ul>

<h2 id="starting-to-make-some-changes">Starting to make some changes</h2>

<p>Let&#8217;s tackle these problems one at a time. First, we want a more defined page layout so the user can scan through the content more easily (left-to-right, down to the next line, then repeat).</p>

<p><img src="/public/images/prescription-ui-update-1.webp" alt="Layout wireframe UI" /></p>

<p>We have now left-aligned the title content to be flush with the OD&#47;OS elements below it to help keep the reading flow consistent. </p>

<p>The previous layout also had the <code>PD</code> in-line with the OD&#47;OS element rows which created a problem of resetting the user thought-process. Since it requires the user to jump from the &#8220;right eye&#8221; option to the &#8220;PD&#8221; option, then back to &#8220;left eye&#8221; option it breaks the flow of user &#8220;tasks&#8221;. The new UI shifts the <code>PD</code> down into it&#8217;s own row, grouping the unrelated tasks on the page separately.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>You&#8217;ll also notice that I&#8217;ve updated the dropdowns to use a monospace font to convey that these options are number inputs.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Finally we place the button actions in-line with the <code>PD</code> block since it previously ate up far more real estate than was necessary.</p>

<h2 id="adding-some-color">Adding some color</h2>

<p>The original design has some inconsistencies with the link coloring - some being a muted grey while others use the accented blue. Updating all interactive links to use Clearly&#8217;s default blue accent color would make for a better disconnect from non-interactive elements.</p>

<p><img src="/public/images/prescription-ui-update-2.webp" alt="Layout UI with color" /></p>

<h2 id="finishing-touches">Finishing touches</h2>

<p>Now that the most important aspects of the refreshed UI are complete (layout, UX flow), we can implement all the visual extras to cleanup our basic wireframe.</p>

<ul>
<li>make default select styling include depth and importance (this is the main action of the page afterall)</li>
<li>round out harsh corner edges on elements</li>
<li>set labels and row items with more pleasing backgrounds (while still maintaining contrast)</li>
<li>give the <code>next</code> button visual importance (make it look like a real button)</li>
</ul>

<p><img src="/public/images/prescription-ui-update-final.webp" alt="Layout UI with color" /></p>

<p>That&#8217;s it!</p>
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