Customization allows users to make selections and set preferences in a system, with the intent of giving users more control over the user experience. Customization allows users to select the content, layout, functionality or design that appeals to them. However, customization tools require work and input from users, so need to be designed in a way that entices and attracts usage, and provides adequate payoff for the work invested by the user.
Here are 7 tips for creating a successful customization experience:
1. Show users that customization is available.
It is not enough to offer customization to users. If users don’t know about the feature or can’t find it, they...
Learn more is the new Click here. Some of its popularity is likely due to a misunderstanding about how people read online. Mailchimp might justify using a vague link (Learn more) because it follows a very specific and well-written tagline (Make your life easier with automation). However
You are probably wondering how anyone could muster enough words for an entire article about the humble, ubiquitous radio button—and specifically, whether the designers should choose one of the options to be selected by default or not. Before you hit the Back button, think of the old adage "the
Not every task on your application needs a shortcut, so observe your users interacting with your application to determine the most common tasks and prioritize keyboard shortcuts for these. For example, when users access Facebook through a desktop browser, they can use a set of keyboard shortcuts to
A 60-Second Trailer of the 60-Day Report on Cybersecurity
Melissa Hathaway came across our radar recently when President Obama tasked the former Bush administration aide with leading a 60-day review of Bush’s Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative; a largely classified, purported $30 billion, multi phase plan to address cybersecurity issues
Blockchain Scalability: Even If Most Transactions Are in Layer II We Still Need a Layer I
We also spoke with PhD researcher at UCL, Sarah Azouvi. For Sarah, the combination of layer I and layer II solutions is possible only if a functional UX can be developed to facilitate it. “Both layer I and layer II solutions are interesting lines of research to solve blockchains’ scalability
Navigating Big Data’s Fake News Problem
While fake news is a problem for those who seek information online, it is a bigger problem when viewed from a big data perspective. This is because in this age, big data is the core of decision making for governments and businesses alike and when elements of bad data can no longer be sieved from
Usability Testing with Minors: 16 Tips
One of our challenges in testing youths was encouraging them to think aloud as they worked on the tasks. Children and teens tended to be much less talkative than adults, mainly because they were shy or self-conscious. Facilitating minors requires extra work to get the insights you need. For
7 tips for successful customization
Empathy Mapping: The First Step in Design Thinking
In this step, the team moves through the stickies on the board collaboratively and clusters similar notes that belong to the same quadrant. Name your clusters with themes that represent each group (for example, “validation from others” or “research”). Repeat themes in each quadrant if
5 Steps to Creating a UX-Design Portfolio
As designers we often generate many candidate solutions for a single problem and ultimately choose only one. In this process, many great ideas are left on the cutting-room floor. As you’re writing your case studies, include candidate solutions and explain the thought process behind the designs
Why Personas Fail
Not everybody knows why they’re useful and how to reference them. It is up to you to educate your stakeholders, illustrate their effectiveness, and solidify their use on projects. Lead by example: don’t let the personas fizzle out, continue to bring them into meetings to set the stage for
10 Usability Heuristics Applied to Video Games
In Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for Wii Switch, the play screen is overlaid by relevant game information positioned to the corners of the viewport. For instance, in the bottom right corner of the screen there is a prominent display of what place in the race you are (in the screenshot below, I’m in second
Celebrating Holidays and Special Occasions on Websites
Holidays and special events provide opportunities for websites to brighten up their design and connect with users on a more human level than that typical of daily business and transactions. There are a few pitfalls to avoid, and, even during the holidays, it's important to focus on supporting
Gutenberg—Believe in the Beauty of Your Dreams
Despite concerns that Gutenberg would launch too early, that simply hasn’t been the case, and in recent months a herculean effort has gone into checking a considerable subset of the most-used plugins to make sure they’re Gutenberg-compatible. An equally heavy lift has been undertaken by
7 tips for successful customization
A Look Back at the 2018 WP Engine Summit
In our third round of keynotes on Thursday, we heard from tech leaders about breaking edge technologies and the ethics that accompany them. Barb Palsner, Global Product Partnership at Google, talked about the importance of a mobile-first approach and technologies like AMP and PWA that can work
WP Engine Participates in the Day of Understanding
Diversity has long been an important topic for WP Engine. CEO Heather Brunner often says “diversity attracts diversity.” This means that as a company naturally attracts and retains diverse talent, that diversity is sustained from the inside by employee referrals. Ultimately, the
Small Pictures on Big Screens: Scaling Up from Mobile to Desktop
Designers and developers can overlook the issues described here if they only design, develop, and subsequently view their designs on a single monitor, or only on devices with their target breakpoints. See what your design looks like at those in-between sizes or on widescreen displays. While you may
Case Study: Iterative Design and Prototype Testing of the NN/g Homepage
Early layouts used a grid of squares to present articles, videos, and training events. Users said they liked this grid — but when we added an alternative layout using a list format for articles, people unanimously gravitated towards the list version. (Pay attention to what people do, which is
The User Experience of Public Bathrooms
When a sensor doesn’t respond quickly, the lack of feedback indicates to users that they should try something different. If a person holds her hand under a paper-towel dispenser and nothing happens, she might try touching it, pushing anything that looks like a button, hovering or waiving hands in
An Insider’s 11 Take-Aways from Companies Winning Industrial (IIoT) Cybersecurity
The most successful startups have a kind of institutional knowledge of industrial control systems (ICS)—often gleaned from working in industrial in their previous careers. They’ve learned important lessons (sometimes the hard way): They know the market. They understand its constraints. They
Has Martech Made Things Too Complicated?
Jebbit’s worked with brands like Cathay Pacific Airways. Cathay Pacific Airways ran several Jebbit experiences to capture where visitors might want to go next to give them personalized sets of routes Cathay Pacific runs. The airline went beyond consumers’ searched destinations into discovery
How To Secure Your IoT Devices And Why Should You Do It
Since 2015, when the IoT devices started to become more and more popular, the technology has been a controversial subject. Recently, the FBI released a statement through which they warned people in the entire world that these devices can be as dangerous as they are useful. Of course, we had the CIA
Images of Fitbit next smartwatch reveal heart-rate improvements
Fitbit is on schedule, as its boss James Park keeps reminding us, to launch its next smartwatch by the end of the year. We don’t know what the smartwatch will be called, though Blaze 2 seems likely, but thanks to leaks we know its design and some of the hardware improvements. Images obtained by
7 tips for successful customization
How New Tech Startups Can Differentiate Themselves
There’s a lot you can learn from your competition, including which brand personalities are already accounted for in your industry. Sometimes, all it takes is a new vision for a brand identity, like a different tone or different personality, to differentiate a company and reach a new audience. For
Start-ups and International Talent
Dan also said that “we’ll see an increasing number of important startups based outside of the Valley over the coming few years.” Again, I think this is a trend to watch out for. Not only in big countries like China, but in very small countries like my own. I’m certainly keen
7 Tips for Successful Customization | Working Memory and External Memory
Working Memory and External Memory
While working-memory capacity depends on the individual, it’s likely that many members of your project team enjoy a substantially bigger capacity than found among those in your target audience. For sure, many developers have large working memories, because of self-selection: programming is so
Nielsen's Law of Internet Bandwidth
Of course, low-end users will still have slow speeds in 2003, so high-end users' megabit access will still not sanction bloated design. Looking even further ahead, Nielsen's law does predict that the web will be 57 times faster in 10 years (2008). At that time, even low-end users will be able to
Homepage Design Changes
Although both versions have 7 tabs, the newer design's tabs reached all the way across the page and the color scheme indicating the selected tab was changed. More important, the actual navigation categories were also changed. The 2002 IA categories were Front Page, Enterprise, E-Business
