Whether you’re designing web pages, web-based applications (e.g., SaaS), or native mobile apps, one of the basic building blocks is the humble text-input field: a box where the user can enter some text. Uses of this widget are plenty and not the topic of this article. We should point out that there are many issues in application design relating to workflow and other big-picture questions that are important for good application user experience. (These topics are discussed in our full-day Application Design course.)
In this article, we focus on the nitty-gritty of input fields. Each of these issues may seem minor, but we repeatedly see these usability guidelines violated —...
You can also repeat phases. It’s often necessary to do an exercise within a phase multiple times in order to arrive at the outcome needed to move forward. For example, in the define phase, different team members will have different backgrounds and expertise, and thus different approaches to
When it comes to modal dialog boxes, our winners have very distinct ideologies. At one extreme is Seating Management. As a real-time application monitoring a physical environment, Seating Management didn't set out to interrupt hostess work in any way. If a hostess wants to seat 5 guests at a table
Imagine you’re designing the website for a city-transportation system used by both local commuters and tourists. If you plan a usability study with 10 people and let anyone participate, you could easily end up with 9 commuters and 1 tourist. (Or even worse: 10 commuters, if you recruit a
3 Areas Where Blockchain Will Propel the Drone Industry Forward
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Regardless of how listing regulations could or should be changed, there’s no question that they continue to play a vital role. The various listing processes, company disclosures, and due diligence requirements may seem tedious, even daunting. But these measures are necessary for anyone who wants
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The second issue the subcommittee raised was that of government-created cryptocurrencies. Alex J. Pollock of the R Street Institute said that: “In short, to have a central bank digital currency is a terrible idea — one of the worst financial ideas of recent times.” Pollock argued that
Beyond Usability: 3 User Experiences Reshaping Their Industries
Airbnb makes it easy to satisfy the needs of these travelers by connecting them with owners who want to make an extra dollar by renting out their property. Before Airbnb, sites such as Home Away and property-management agencies used to connect owners with interested renters, but these were focused
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Brand Is Experience in the Digital Age
As his pillaging continued and Blackbeard grew in craftiness, he realized it would be prudent to extend the essence of his menacing nature from afar. He devised a tool to extend his message — an early version of the skull-and-crossbones pirate flag we all know well today. The flag served as
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Service blueprints map out the relationship between various service components (people, processes, and props) and customer touchpoints. The process of creating a service blueprint is just as beneficial as the output (the artifact itself). Service blueprinting, as a process, fosters communication
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Online shopping has become so big in recent years that it is disrupting the traditional brick-and-mortar retail industry. Many of the large retail chains we knew over the years, like Toys R’ Us and Circuit City, have gone out of business. Others, such as Kmart, Sears, and JC Penney, have begun
Ecommerce Usability Improvements
In general, sites would benefit from a longer-term perspective on the full sales cycle and total user experience. A transmedia design strategy should reach beyond the main website to encompass a mobile site, an email newsletter strategy, and good customer service (including good confirmation
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Don't be quick to assume anything based on customer appearance or demographics, because assumptions offend, and people tend not to be WYSIWYG. Hungry people are often irritable, but when satisfied, they can transform into your happiest customers. People who are used to bad service may arrive with
Fortune Names WP Engine a Best Place to Work in 2018 .
At WP Engine, we believe our people are the core of every success, award, milestone and every achievement. That’s because employees who truly feel empowered and validated by their workplace are energized to delight and inspire the customer in every interaction. When new employees walk through the
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Fortune Names WP Engine a Best Place to Work in 2018 .
At WP Engine, we believe our people are the core of every success, award, milestone and every achievement. That’s because employees who truly feel empowered and validated by their workplace are energized to delight and inspire the customer in every interaction. When new employees walk through the
Fortune Names WP Engine a Best Place to Work in 2018 .
At WP Engine, we believe our people are the core of every success, award, milestone and every achievement. That’s because employees who truly feel empowered and validated by their workplace are energized to delight and inspire the customer in every interaction. When new employees walk through the
The exact functionality of each exit popup differs. Sometimes the popup will appear as soon as the user starts moving towards the top of the page; in other cases, it will show up after a specific amount of time (5 seconds, 10 seconds, etc.). Sometimes the popup is combined with animation — for
When to Use Which User-Experience Research Methods
Most of the methods in the chart can move along one or more dimensions, and some do so even in the same study, usually to satisfy multiple goals. For example, field studies can focus on what people say (ethnographic interviews) or what they do (extended observations); desirability studies and card
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Scrolling and “swiping” horizontally on the desktop is a different experience than on touchscreen tablets and mobile devices. This is one more example of why it is important to understand that people use mobile devices, tablets, and desktops differently, and why it’s beneficial to optimize
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Transitioning from an internship into a high-paying career is hard. In the data science world, the competition for employment is intense. While there still are a lot of unfilled roles out there, most of them require something slightly more than just a textbook education. The best way to make the
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Pioneers in the new field of Viztech have developed a highly effective adult and violence video filter. It uses AI to identify terrorist and other harmful digital content automatically – and not within two hours of being published, but before it actually goes live. It can spot inappropriate
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Thomas Merton said, “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” Well, I sure didn’t want the peeps at work losing themselves in art. “Lose yourself in the next tech project, please — this is a tech company.” If you’re a writer, “Lose yourself in
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A Checklist for Designing Mobile Input Fields | Usability Insights From Sun Microsystem's 1997 Web Design
Usability Insights From Sun Microsystem's 1997 Web Design
The balance between looks and speed was resolved by a design that utilizes plain-and-fast HTML (prettied up with style sheets) to define the basic features of the page. Visual enhancements like the Sun logo and other graphic elements will fill in more slowly the first time a user visits but will
Maximize Content-to-Chrome Ratio, Not the Amount of Content on Screen
Eliminating the search box and replacing it with a magnifying-glass icon has become almost standard on mobile. It doesn’t work as well on the desktop: the space is simply too large and users don’t have the patience to hunt for a small search icon. If you consider using it on the desktop, keep
Maximize Content-to-Chrome Ratio, Not the Amount of Content on Screen
Eliminating the search box and replacing it with a magnifying-glass icon has become almost standard on mobile. It doesn’t work as well on the desktop: the space is simply too large and users don’t have the patience to hunt for a small search icon. If you consider using it on the desktop, keep
