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...
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
Interactive filtering has another disadvantage: continuous updates can be visually distracting, even if they are fast and don’t scroll the page. Any time items in a results list update, the flicker of an image swap will attract attention (though it probably will not be clear what exactly
Our initial research on store locators was conducted 18 years ago. Our subsequent studies have found that the majority of our initial findings have remained stable, though many of our guidelines have been updated to reflect modern design trends and developments, as well as changes in user behavior
5 Tips for Protecting Your FinTech Data Assets
While making use of the most basic security measures seems like a no-brainer, many investors fall prey to hackers because they neglected to follow basic security measures. For instance, cryptocurrency investors should set up a separate account for each exchange. This way, if a hacker does gain
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
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
Intranet Design After a Merger or Acquisition
Equating employees with "human capital” may be acceptable on financial statements but is not on intranets. The organization should project that it considers its employees to be human beings, not just financial assets or robots. After a merger, the intranet’s design and content should take steps
better link labels: 4ss for encouraging clicks
Applying Discounts and Promotions on Ecommerce Websites
Shoppers love deals, whether in the form of site-wide sales, select sale items, or coupons. However, for users to be successful using promotions, a website must do two things well: (1) it must communicate these various promotions effectively throughout the site, and (2) it must also make it easy
Beyond Usability: 3 User Experiences Reshaping Their Industries
When they call a regular cab, riders have no control — hence, all the anxieties listed above. With Uber, they suddenly get all the control they need: once they order an “uber”, they see how far away the car is and how much they have to wait, they know in advance how much the ride will cost
Wireflows: A UX Deliverable for Workflows and Apps
Usually it’s bad to introduce a new specification format because many stakeholders won’t know how to interpret it. What’s old is usually familiar. However, we do like wireflows because (1) they are easily learnable by those who’ve seen wireframes and flowcharts before, and (2) wireflows
Help People Create Passwords That They Can Actually Remember
A classic memory study (Baddeley, Thompson, and Buchanan, 1975) looked at memory for a list of words in relation to the amount of time it takes to say the words in the list out loud. It turned out that it was easier for people to remember a list such as wit, sum, harm, bay, top than university
Radio Buttons: Always Select One?
In traditional application design, the first radio button in the list was always selected by default. But the unbridled world of website design challenged this practice, making it fairly common to have no radio button selected by default. Today’s websites, forms, and applications inconsistently
How to Recover Abandoned Shopping Carts for WooCommerce Stores
Many of those abandoned carts are probably lost for good because you don’t have any contact information from the shopper to try to win them back to checkout. But for a percentage of the carts, your shopper will have gotten far enough along in the process that you’ll have an email address (or
better link labels: 4ss for encouraging clicks
Introducing Gutenberg Optimized Themes
In addition to all of the above, the Genesis Framework will be further upgraded for Gutenberg with the release of version 2.8 in Q1 2019. 2.8 will include built-in features that allow you to easily and efficiently style and control Gutenberg blocks as well as auto-load demo content, which can arm
Recapping the State of the Word 2018
Mullenweg began the talk by offering the audience a perspective. “With so much going on, I’d like to give WordPress a chance to reintroduce introduce itself,” he said. “WordPress isn’t a physical thing, it’s not a set of code. It’s kind of an idea. It only exists in the space between
Which UX Deliverables Are Most Commonly Created and Shared?
Since UX work takes place in such widely differing environments, the types of deliverables vary hugely, from formal reports and presentations, all the way to whiteboard sketches that only get documented when someone takes pictures with a smartphones and emails them to the team. We communicate so
Customer Journeys and Omnichannel User Experience
A great customer experience is the product of an effective and well-designed omnichannel ecosystem. To achieve it, organizations must research and understand the customer journeys that users take as they complete tasks across devices and channels. To every single customer, a journey is one holistic
5 Strategies for Presenting UX Remotely
The users and their goals are the most rudimentary components of a story, upon which empathy, context, conflict, plot, and insight can be built. A good UX story should be simple, yet engaging enough and accessible to a range of audiences: young to old, beginner to expert. Create a story to use in
Are AI and Big Data the Economic Levelers We’ve Been Looking for?
At least publicly, colleges aren’t using AI algorithms to make admissions decisions — yet. But according to Kevin Kelly, WIRED founder and author of “The Inevitable,” the use of AI in college admissions is an inevitability. For years, colleges have used algorithms to sort applicants by
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
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
How to Differentiate Your Startup in a Red Ocean Industry
We all dream of coming up with the next ingenious idea that redefines and industry, or creates one from scratch. Netflix opened the floodgates to the world of streaming content, and they benefited enormously from being the only players in town (at least, for a few years). Uber capitalized on an
better link labels: 4ss for encouraging clicks
Blockchain Success Stories Show Valuable Opportunities
IIN’s developers are hoping it will be the eventual successor to the current interbank messaging standard, known as SWIFT, as it will facilitate international money transfers by decreasing the amount of time it now takes to resolve regulatory or other data-related delays. They expect such
How to Get into Tech Without a Tech Background
If you look at the greatest recent tech companies there are plenty of newcomers that aren’t even considered tech, let alone, high tech. Uber and Airbnb, are less about tech and more about their concept. You can run a tech company without a tech background but find the best tech you can when
Better Link Labels: 4Ss for Encouraging Clicks | Responsive Web Design (RWD) and User Experience
Responsive Web Design (RWD) and User Experience
Responsive design is a tool, not a cure-all. While using responsive design has many perks when designing across devices, using the technique does not ensure a usable experience (just as using a gourmet recipe does not ensure the creation of a magnificent meal.) Teams must focus on the details of
Fight Against “Right-Rail Blindness”
Unicef.org: Important facts are sandwiched between brightly colored boxes that look like advertising. This information doesn’t have a chance of being read. It’s better to tone down the visual design to create a more balanced visual hierarchy. Also, while we support the use of the side columns
Top 10 Web Design Mistakes of 2002
Web pages that require horizontal scrolling in standard-sized windows, such as 800x600 pixels, are particularly annoying. For some reason, many websites seem to be optimized for 805-pixel-wide browser windows, even though this resolution is pretty rare and the extra five pixels offer little
