This module focuses on the practical aspect of bringing your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) idea to life by building a basic user interface (UI) for a core feature. This hands-on exercise will solidify your understanding of MVP development and the initial technical execution required for a tech startup.

Before diving into UI development, it's crucial to clearly define the single, most important feature your MVP will offer. This feature should solve a core problem for your target users. For this exercise, imagine your MVP is a simple task management app. The core feature could be 'creating and viewing a task'.

For building modern web UIs, front-end frameworks are invaluable. They provide structure, reusable components, and efficient ways to manage user interactions. For this exercise, we'll consider popular, beginner-friendly options. You don't need to be an expert developer, but understanding the basics of one framework will be beneficial.

For this exercise, we'll focus on building a simple UI using HTML, CSS, and basic JavaScript, as it's the most accessible way to grasp fundamental UI concepts without the overhead of a full framework.

A good UI is intuitive and easy to use. For our task management MVP's core feature ('create and view a task'), we need two main components: a form to create a task and a list to display existing tasks.

Let's outline the basic HTML structure for our task management MVP. This provides the skeleton for our UI.

Here's a simplified HTML example:

  
  
  
    
My Tasks
    
      
Create New Task
      
      
      Add Task
    
    
      
Tasks
      
        
      
    
  
  

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is used to make our UI visually appealing and user-friendly. We'll apply basic styling to improve readability and layout.

A simple

style.css

body { font-family: sans-serif; margin: 20px; }
.container { max-width: 600px; margin: auto; }
h1, h2 { color: #333; }
.task-form, .task-list { margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 15px; border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius: 5px; }
input[type="text"], textarea {
  width: calc(100% - 20px);
  padding: 10px;
  margin-bottom: 10px;
  border: 1px solid #ccc;
  border-radius: 4px;
}
button {
  background-color: #4CAF50;
  color: white;
  padding: 10px 15px;
  border: none;
  border-radius: 4px;
  cursor: pointer;
}
button:hover { background-color: #45a049; }
ul { list-style: none; padding: 0; }
li { background-color: #f9f9f9; padding: 10px; margin-bottom: 5px; border: 1px solid #eee; border-radius: 3px; }

JavaScript will handle the dynamic behavior: taking input from the form, adding it to the task list, and displaying it. This is the core of making our MVP functional.

A basic

script.js

document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function() {
  const taskNameInput = document.getElementById('task-name');
  const taskDescriptionInput = document.getElementById('task-description');
  const addTaskBtn = document.getElementById('add-task-btn');
  const taskList = document.getElementById('tasks');
  addTaskBtn.addEventListener('click', function() {
    const taskName = taskNameInput.value.trim();
    const taskDescription = taskDescriptionInput.value.trim();
    if (taskName) {
      const listItem = document.createElement('li');
      listItem.innerHTML = `${taskName}
${taskDescription}`;
      taskList.appendChild(listItem);
      // Clear the form
      taskNameInput.value = '';
      taskDescriptionInput.value = '';
    } else {
      alert('Task name cannot be empty!');
    }
  });
});

Focus on the absolute core functionality. Keep the UI clean, intuitive, and functional. Use basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build a working prototype that validates your core assumptions. This practical exercise is about learning by doing and iterating quickly.