How to Design User-Friendly Canvas Apps

The Microsoft Power Platform offers users the ability to create Canvas Apps. Canvas Apps are powerful business applications that can be created without any development experience. When developing a Canvas App, it is important to deliver the best end-user experience possible. In this blog, we will discuss some helpful tips when designing a Canvas App to make it intuitive and accessible for all of your end users.

Canvas Apps Tips & Tricks

Simplicity

Make sure to use straightforward and simple visuals when building your Canvas App. Stick to a simple color palette and text that is easily readable. Intuitive icons go a long way as well. Filling the screen with highly contrasting colors and complicated icons can be distracting for your end users. When Canvas Apps are difficult to understand, your end users might not want to use them. This could lead to end-user adoption issues, causing all of your hard work to go to waste.

Consistency

Canvas Apps should have a consistent theme, functionality, and layout. To maintain a consistent theme, make sure to use the same colors, fonts, and icons throughout the application. For consistent functionality, ensure that every part of the application has a purpose that leads to your Canvas App’s primary goal. Finally, an intuitive and consistent layout. You can achieve this by adding a navigation bar to the top of your Canvas App. Have it contain simple and powerful actions to help end-users navigate around the app.

Accessibility

Not everyone is going to have the same experience while accessing your Canvas App. It is crucial that we consider individuals who have different disabilities. For example, individuals with visual impairments such as color blindness might have difficulty navigating an app that uses a lot of color. There are guidelines online, such as the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), that provide us with rules to follow when designing visual elements, such as suggested text size and color schemes. Canvas Apps also offer a plethora of other accessibility features, such as screen readers, tab index control, and closed captions. (read full post on www.beringer.net)

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