Behind the curtain: figuring out a gnarly user experience

The article discusses the process behind creating a user-friendly interface for Configurable Forms, which allows users to control the layout and content of their incident forms in one place. The team had two main goals: introducing more configuration options and making it easy for users to understand how changes will affect the form's appearance during editing. They started by focusing on problem 1 and built a UI that enabled access to various configuration options. After receiving feedback from beta users, they turned their attention to problem 2, aiming to create an interface where users could easily visualize the impact of their changes. The team went through several iterations, including adding interactivity to the preview, inlining the preview with the form, and refining the design based on feedback from polish parties. The final product features a Slack modal-style preview that helps users understand what they're adding or removing without needing field names.