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 —...
In some cases, users will have only few date choices. For example, Google Express, an online shopping service, makes it possible for customers to order groceries online and schedule a delivery time. Rather than offering blank date fields or a calendar picker of limitless options, Google Express
Why are we willing to sleep in strangers’ beds, or conversely, let strangers into our homes? We do so because Airbnb has established a trusted, secure, and easy to use customer experience. Similar to Rent the Runway, Airbnb is a player in the growing “sharing” economy. The peer-to-peer online
People naturally choose personal information when creating passwords, sometimes so personal—pets’ names, a wedding anniversary and street address—that they become easy to infer and mar the system’s security. But we can encourage people to instead use details that are not easy to guess
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
Why Small Businesses Need to Be Vigilant About IoT Security Too
Another way attacker tries to gain access is by exploiting known vulnerabilities in the device’s code. It’s critical to keep devices running on their latest firmware and software. Managing multiple devices can be made easier by using remote management services. Not only could such tools help
10 Things Teaching Us About Running Successful Crowdfunding Campaigns
They travel to the largest crypto conferences in the world and have networked with thought leaders like Charlie Lee, the Founder of Litecoin, Joseph Lubin, Co-Founder of Ethereum, and, Tim Draper, the biggest Bitcoin Whale VC Investor. Get connected to a team with clients on other channels
UX Mapping Methods Compared: A Cheat Sheet
Low-fidelity maps are unpolished and often created with sticky notes in a flexible, unrefined manner. These maps are best in an early part of the process. Low fidelity means little commitment or creation effort and empowers people to collaborate, revise, and update as needed. Use sticky notes
a checklist for designing mobile input fields
Journey Mapping: 9 Frequently Asked Questions
Journey maps should always include a point of view — an actor. Actors usually align with personas, which results in mapped actions rooted in data. For this reason, you should create separate journey maps for different personas or customer segments. For example, for a health-management tool, you
Portfolios for UX Researchers: Top 10 Recommendations
Remember that attention spans online are short. A hiring manager, industry peer, or conference organizer may be more invested in reading than the average person browsing the internet, but you should still try to make a strong impression quickly. Select the projects that you feel are most important
The State of Ecommerce Search
We no longer recommend supporting complex-search operators, because few users know or use them these days. And they shouldn’t have to know them — the search engine should be smart enough to return good results without forcing people to use unnatural language. Perhaps the one exception here is
How Community Can Drive Commerce: A Lesson from China’s Little Redbook
Companies can learn a lot by paying attention to what resonates with online shoppers. Establishing and monitoring a community around your products gives retailers the ability to analyze trends and preferences. Consumer insights and real-time feedback can inform businesses of what works and what
Pricing information gives B2B sites a competitive advantage
B2B transactions tend to have high-price tags and purchase decisions could result in strong repercussions. Relieve any tension people might have about doing business with your organization by offering details about products and services in a meaningful manner. This means being candid about the
WP Engine's London Office Recognised as a Great Place to Work
In 2015, WP Engine opened our first global office in London as a physical representation of our desire to expand our team of WordPress specialists and better serve our customers globally. Since then, we’ve worked hard to create a workplace that is collaborative, productive, and fun. Today, we
a checklist for designing mobile input fields
Genesis Framework and StudioPress Themes Now Available for WP Engine Customers .
Countless publications such as Wired and the New York Times live on WordPress. The News Pro Theme gives you the look and feel of a full-featured publication. Display featured stories, article snippets and different categories. The theme even includes built-in ad space so you don’t have to account
WordPress for Good: Relieving Fatigue .
In this segment, we highlight Untire, an application that helps cancer patients and survivors reduce cancer-related fatigue (CRF) symptoms and regain life. CRF is a common side-effect of cancer and related treatments; patients describe it as a paralyzing level of fatigue that leaves patients
The perceived popularity of a piece of content was also used as a clue for judging whether that content was personalized. Our participants tended to assume that trendy or talked-about items were shown to everybody; in contrast, niche or less mainstream content was more likely to be judged as
Store Finders: Why People Still Need Locator Links
Hallmark mobile site: Options to either ship each item to an address or to pick up in store for free, along with a link labeled Find a store, were displayed for each product shown in the shopping cart. This design made the feature discoverable. Listing the option for each item meant that users
Journey Mapping 101
For example, imagine the world before the ridesharing market existed (Uber, Lyft, Bird, or Limebike, to name a few). If we were to create an experience map of how a person gets from one place to another, the map would likely include walking, biking, driving, riding with a friend, public
IoT Developments and its Effects on the Job Market
The industrial revolution came as the dawn of a new day. However expected, this change (although this was nothing short of a revolution) instilled a fear of unemployment among masses. However, it opened many unexplored avenues of employment, to their relief. Employment opportunities opened in areas
The Business Benefits of Visualizing Your Data
In the end, data visualization — like any other form of data process — involves diving deeper into the information and data stores you have at your disposal. It’s not just about making the information more readable and presentable to analysts and higher-ups; it’s about empowering
29% of Internet Users Have Bought Things From Spam Email?? Say It Aint So!
The announcement of the study concludes with these funny lines, from Anstis again: “The other way to look at this situation is from a spammer’s perspective. There are approximately 250 million people out there who are interested in these kinds of products and have made purchases from
How Minnesota Became the Land of 10,000 Startups
Don Ball, Co-Founder and Chief Social Officer at Fueled Collective, has experienced Minnesota’s growth firsthand and has a finger on the pulse of what might be the clearest sign of Minnesota’s entrepreneurial prowess: “Since 2010, we’ve been practically the only coworking game in town
a checklist for designing mobile input fields
A Tale of Two Bubbles: Why Cryptocurrency Isn’t the Next Dot-Com
When looking for dynamic and adaptable management teams, focus on candidates with a track record of success — those who can navigate an ever-changing technology landscape while incorporating traditional financial market tactics. At Neptune Dash we did just that, incorporating a well-versed
Focusing On Debt Consolidation Helps Startups To Be More Organized
You will also have to consider the different criteria for eligibility of such loans and fulfill it to procure the loan from a leading consolidating firm. These criteria include having a credit score of around 500 or more and a business that is not less than six months old. Apart from that, your
A Checklist for Designing Mobile Input Fields | Why Country Sites Are So Bad
Why Country Sites Are So Bad
When they're fed substandard websites, local customers notice. In our testing of B2B websites, we often hear business customers express contempt for international vendors' localized sites. Users suspect that these sites have impoverished product information that's been translated without an
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
Site Map Usability, 1st study
I have often predicted that Internet Explorer version 8 will be the first decent Web browser. One feature request for version 8 is better navigation support by offering a visualization feature that would pull the site map out of the website and make it a standardized browser element. Unfortunately