Your users rely on link text to navigate through your site. These small and unassuming bits of UX copy contribute substantially to the findability, discoverability, and accessibility of your content.
The links that best fulfill those roles are:
Specific
Sincere
Substantial
Succinct
Specific
A link’s primary purpose is to communicate to users what they’ll find on the other side of a click. Vague or repetitive language fails that purpose.
One of the most common link failures is the generic and unhelpful Learn more.
Not Specific: Mailchimp used vague Learn more links throughout its site.
I’m generally impressed with Mailchimp’s copy. (I even use it as an example of good writing in the...
In this pattern, labels are placed within the form field as placeholders until the field becomes active and the user moves the input focus into the field. At that point, the placeholder label moves to the top of the field. As a result, the floating label (also known as an adaptive placeholder) is
Because the objects of interest and the potential actions in the system are visually represented, users can use recognition instead of recall to see what they could do and select an operation most likely to fulfill their goal. They don’t have to learn and remember complex syntax. Thus, although
The question about whether they would comply with the standard under all circumstances divided the developers into two camps, with 33% who would sometimes deviate from the standard. Of the 67% "loyalists," only 27% were "blind loyalists" who would follow the standard no matter what, whereas the
Blockchain Trends that Everyone Should Watch Out For 2019
I’m not going to be inept or sufficiently reckless to anticipate that the estimation of cryptographic forms of money is going to shoot into the stratosphere (once more) in 2019. As I’ve said previously, guessing on the estimation of these computerized resources isn’t my business
Sharing Economy 2.0: Technology is Removing the Need for Single Asset Ownership
The Internets ability to make an impact on sharing smaller items such as home DIY tools hasn’t really caught on — but it could. And that dream is one that keeps so many entrepreneurs dreaming and producing. Transaction costs and convenience still favor purchasing an item outright. But
The Future of Blockchain: Technology Partnerships with AI, Bots, and IoT
Although the blockchain can do some amazing things, there are still limitations to this relatively new technology. A Medium article on these limitations listed some of the blockchain’s limitations. These included significant energy consumption during the mining process, scalability problems
When and How to Create Customer Journey Maps
Don’t expect to get “buy-in” and foster interest in your journey map by simply sending a lovely graphic as an email attachment. Make it a living interactive document that people can be a part of. Bring up your story in meetings and conversations to promote a narrative that others believe in
better link labels: 4ss for encouraging clicks
Five User Requirements for Online Ads
While your stakeholders might insist that conversions are the highest-priority interactions, it is a designer’s responsibility to balance the priorities of the business with the priorities of the user. If your most valuable screen real estate is being used for intracontent advertising and
User Need Statements
First time practitioners are often apprehensive to include anything that is not a verbatim finding from research in their need statements. However, it is important to remember that our users will not always directly say or even know precisely what they specifically need or why. Instead, it is our
The Slow Tail: Time Lag Between Visiting and Buying
Dr. Alan Rimm-Kaufman from the Rimm-Kaufman Group recently tracked one million clicks on search ads on Google and Yahoo. These advertising clicks eventually translated into 41,377 conversions on the target websites. Although the clients in question must remain anonymous, they presumably have
Design Thinking 101
Despite these (and other) early examples of human-centric products, design has historically been an afterthought in the business world, applied only to touch up a product’s aesthetics. This topical design application has resulted in corporations creating solutions which fail to meet their
Typography Terms Cheat Sheet
Some typefaces must be purchased from a type foundry, while others are available in the public domain. When deciding between typefaces for your designs, it is important to consider whether it is web-safe or not. If a typeface is not web-safe, the text may not load as desired, which typically
WP Engine Supports the Domain Connect Project .
If you’ve launched a site on WP Engine recently you may have noticed a new feature that allows you to easily connect to your domain name to your site. This integration is powered by an open source technology called Domain Connect, which enables WP Engine to find your DNS provider and be
better link labels: 4ss for encouraging clicks
WP Engine Named A Best Place to Work in Technology for 2019 .
When it comes to facilitating a truly enjoyable and productive workplace, it takes more than just the promise of perks and ping pong. Employees want their workplaces to reflect what they value and expect out of the company they work for: trustworthiness, morality, and the opportunity to grow both in
Naughty or Nice: Check Your Ecommerce Site Twice! .
Every year it can feel like the holidays sneak up on us. We assemble, we strategize, and we take the necessary precautions yet we frequently feel like we are scrambling. For ecommerce businesses, this time of year is crucial not only for generating revenue but for generating recurrent relationships
UX Expert Reviews
Domain knowledge about the problem that your system attempts to solve can be helpful in understanding the goals and limitations of the system, but is not necessary to conduct a thorough, effective design review. It is more important that the reviewer has expertise in usability and user experience
5 Strategies for Presenting UX Remotely
When presenting in person, preparedness and expertise can be expressed in a variety of ways — how you dress, eye contact, energy, and more. Remotely, you lose the ability to leverage these mediums. Create tight, concise, and well organized slides to communicate preparedness and expertise. Use the
Good UX: What I Learned While Working in Restaurants
No one likes to be surprised by some rigid rule that prevents them from getting what they need (or forces them to accept something they don’t want). Explain the policy, but meet customer needs within reason. Mashed potatoes instead of fries? Hold the special sauce? Not a problem. Don’t be that
The Biggest Hacking Risk? Your Employees
Just as importantly, HR representatives must be aware that negligence isn’t the only cause for an internal data breach. In fact, a significant number of cybercrimes are inside jobs — at least 22 percent, according to Shred-it’s report — so HR personnel should be on the lookout for
Blockchain’s Mainstream Debut Awaits Dev Ecosystem Evolution
Given that networks like EOS and Ethereum are ground zero for blockchain progress making it easy and inexpensive for developers to create things on these blockchains is paramount. This is a notion that’s been embraced by the blockchain community more in recent years. Major projects now focus the
Best Data Visualization Tools for 2020 Reviewed
One of the main benefits these tools and software offer is the ability to provide real-time visualizations. In a business scenario, you’ll want to update new reports. You don’t want to access the datasets and find they are obsolete, closed, or can’t be updated automatically. On the other
How To Validate Your Startup Idea
Review And Decide: Eventually, you have to review all feedbacks and decide what work would be best for your potential clients and how can you change or modify your product for your targeted market. Lean market validation helps you to get enough information and data to make a decision. This concept
better link labels: 4ss for encouraging clicks
How Do You Determine Which Partners Will Fuel Your Success?
Marketing Week pointed out that behemoths like Amazon and Adidas have grown larger as a result of their partnerships — Adidas increased its brand value by 50 percent, mainly thanks to its expanded roster of partners, while Amazon notched a $208 billion brand value rating as a result of its
Building a Startup Culture that Encourages Wellness
The reason that’s the case is that startups establish much of their workplace culture early on in their development, and there’s a risk that they could enshrine some negative practices into the company ethos that won’t be easy to shake. That’s one of the factors feeding a
Better Link Labels: 4Ss for Encouraging Clicks | Centered Logos Hurt Website Navigation
Centered Logos Hurt Website Navigation
It appears that other factors (such as the contrast, padding, and legibility of the brand name) affect brand recall more than the position in the center of the page versus the top left corner. For example, the Nolitan hotel websites had a background image behind the logo, which may have
After Healthcare.gov was rescued, the United States Digital Service (USDS), 18F, and Code for America formed to address US government digital transformation and usable services, following in the footsteps of the U.K. government Digital Service. The 18F sign-in form pattern (shown above
Page Parking: Millennials' Multi-Tab Mania
Growth in the number of browser tabs over time during one usability-testing task. The currently active tabs are shown in blue. Red represents tabs that have been closed by the user; those tabs were thus no longer present in the browser’s tab bar. In total, the study participant employed 12
