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 —...
If you must make your own scrollbars, stay as close to user expectations as possible. Unless your scrollbars look like scrollbars, users might not notice them. Unless your scrollbars behave like scrollbars, users might not be able to bring the desired content into view. In either case, your
Each phase is meant to be iterative and cyclical as opposed to a strictly linear process, as depicted below. It is common to return to the two understanding phases, empathize and define, after an initial prototype is built and tested. This is because it is not until wireframes are prototyped and
Aggregated empathy maps represent a user segment, rather than one particular user. They are usually created by combining multiple individual empathy maps from users who exhibit similar behaviors and can be grouped into one segment. The aggregated empathy map synthesizes themes seen throughout that
Blockchain Beyond Banking
To put it simply, blockchain technology will proliferate industries far and wide at a speed that will leave consumers and business leaders struggling to keep pace. The change in the air has potential to cannibalize existing revenue streams and create new revenue streams; companies that don’t
dApp Development Will Help the Healthcare Industry
The technology is still in its nascent state. There are many difficulties in using blockchain technology in the healthcare industries. There are unclear areas concerning data privacy. There is doubt about who should get access and who shouldn’t. The cost of technology is another obstacle to
A 60-Second Trailer of the 60-Day Report on Cybersecurity
Finally, Hathaway sees this as a unique opportunity for the United States to work with countries around the world, and with organizations on an extremely local level. “We cannot succeed if our government works in isolation,” she added. It requires “leading from the top” from
Brand Is Experience in the Digital Age
While “branding” products with an identifying mark (definition #1) has been around since people first began trading and selling goods, the use of brands to differentiate products — to truly attempt to influence consumers’ perceptions and choices within a market (definition #2) — is a
a checklist for designing mobile input fields
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
The Most Hated Online Advertising Techniques
While, as a whole, web usability has improved over these past several years, history repeats and designers make the same mistakes over and over again. Designers and marketers continuously need to walk a line between providing a good user experience and increasing advertising revenue. There is no
Teenager’s UX: Designing for Teens
Despite usability improvements, we observed users struggling with the same issues as in previous years — as well as new issues created by emerging features and design approaches. Thus, both traditional and new guidelines must be considered as technology and people continually evolve; our new
Store Finders and Locators
Another noticeable change over our years of research is users’ increasing reliance on external mapping tools such as Google Maps, Apple Maps, or Waze to provide turn-by-turn directions. Companies have reacted to this new state of facts. In Study 4, only two of the 11 sites tested used an on-site
Text Scanning Patterns: Eyetracking Evidence
Right-to-left languages such as Arabic favor a reversed F-pattern, like the one seen in this study participant’s gaze plot, as he was scanning a page on an Arabic website. (Each blue dot signifies a fixation. The lines between the dots represent saccades in which the user is moving the eyes and
Introducing Revolution Pro, the First Block-Based Genesis Theme
Using the new Gutenberg post editor with Revolution Pro, developers and designers are able to create custom, reusable modules for design and content. As we continue to release new block-based themes, we hope users will find it easier to dive into their creative projects more quickly and build
a checklist for designing mobile input fields
A First Look at WordCamp US .
In less than two weeks, members from the WordPress community around the world will head to Nashville, Tennessee for WordCamp US. This is the second consecutive year that the event has been held in Music City and WordPress community has evolved significantly since 2017. The most anticipated topic of
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
Case Study: Iterative Design and Prototype Testing of the NN/g Homepage
This incremental approach also gives us the flexibility to learn as we go. If something isn’t quite right, we can make adjustments rather than getting too far down the road, potentially tripling the re-do work. (And there are always tweaks needed after any launch: if you do enough user testing
Small Pictures on Big Screens: Scaling Up from Mobile to Desktop
For example, as the screen gets wider, scale the image up in width, height, or both, but stop before the image becomes either disproportionately large or hard to understand. Then, crop the image so it works in the new screen dimensions and start expanding this version until the image needs
A Model for Conducting UX Workshops and Exercises
Your goal is to remain out of focus as the activity goes on, unless you were assigned a specific role during the activity. If something goes wrong (for example, participants appear lost or do not obey the rules of the activity), you may step in to review the information from the explanation phase
Why AI and Viztech hold the key to a safer internet
In the same week in June that German lawmakers passed a bill forcing major internet companies to banish “evidently illegal” content within 24 hours or face fines up to $57 million, a conference took place in Harvard University entitled: Harmful Speech Online: At the Intersection of Algorithms
Groundbreaking Tips for Managing Big Data
Big data is the type of data that is characterized by informational and technical features. A huge and ever-growing data volume, a variety of data formats and a log of records nature belong to the informational aspects. Traditional solutions are no longer suitable for capturing, storing and
Understanding Today’s IT Hierarchy
This position involves planning and managing all IT projects across the department and those that relate to other functions and departments. They oversee the budget and track resources to stay on target with the IT strategy. The role requires a bachelor’s degree or higher in IT or computer
5 Key Metrics You Should Be Tracking in Your Business
Ideally, your business will have a greater level of equity than debt, though this is rarely the case for new businesses or businesses that are planning a major expansion. Still, by using the debt to equity ratio, you will be able to determine your general financial status and current level of
a checklist for designing mobile input fields
A 60-Second Trailer of the 60-Day Report on Cybersecurity
She explained that the original design of the Internet was driven more by considerations of interoperability rather than security, and as a result we are now faced with almost insurmountable issues. Some examples include online criminals who steal our information, mass bandits who have the ability
How Tech Startups Succeed With a Fully Remote Model
First and foremost, offices are expensive. Smart city technology may one day make commercial space more appealing and less expensive, but for now, the average entrepreneur can expect to shell out thousands of dollars a month for leasing even a small office space, and even more money to keep the
A Checklist for Designing Mobile Input Fields | Users Interleave Sites and Genres
Users Interleave Sites and Genres
In our example case, the user also integrated offline information sources. For example, none of the sites helped her figure out how many lumens were needed to show presentations to her target audience size. Luckily, our user was an experienced projector-buyer and owned a reference book with this
Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design
For other pages than the homepage, start the title with a few of the most salient information-carrying words that describe the specifics of what users will find on that page. Since the page title is used as the window title in the browser, it's also used as the label for that window in the taskbar
Finally Progress in Internet Client Design
Napster connects many users to many servers and basically allows users to view the entire Internet as a collected resource for getting music (or, potentially, other content and services). At the same time, Napster also encourages users to contribute back to the richness of this resource by making
