One of the oldest principles of human-computer interaction is that things that are close together on the screen are seen as related . (Similarly, users view as related those things that are the same color or shape , that move or change together, or that reside within an enclosure , such as a box.)
I wrote about how to apply the proximity gestalt principle to GUI design in my 1993 book Usability Engineering, but it was well documented long before that.
Even though it’s an ancient insight and is covered in countless books and courses, we frequently see users overlook features because layouts violate the proximity rule. When buttons, drop-downs,...
Some systems help people retrieve a forgotten password by answering personal questions, such as the “name of the street you grew up on”, or “your first pet’s name”. These can help, but they too can be problematic if users forget their answers or the specific way in which they entered
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
We get countless questions about small details in UI design that don't matter much to the overall user experience. One classic is the order of buttons in dialog boxes: OK / Cancel Cancel / OK Both are reasonable choices, and people can argue for hours about their preferences: Listing OK
Images of Fitbit next smartwatch reveal heart-rate improvements
Fitbit is on schedule, as its boss James Park keeps reminding us, to launch its next smartwatch by the end of the year. We don’t know what the smartwatch will be called, though Blaze 2 seems likely, but thanks to leaks we know its design and some of the hardware improvements. Images obtained 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
Cybersecurity in IoT: Achieving Digital Security in an Age of Surveillance
One of the obvious but unique aspects of IoT is that all of its devices broadcast their information through the internet. Even two devices sitting directly next to one another will communicate across millions of miles of internet infrastructure. Since these devices broadcast through cloud services
Centered Logos Hurt Website Navigation
Based on these observations, it’s clear that left-aligned logos are better than centered logos for supporting user navigation to the homepage. Note that the left-logo sites in this study still caused some homepage-navigation errors (although far fewer than the centered-logo sites). This is
closeness of actions and objects in gui design
Brand Is Experience in the Digital Age
In digital systems, customers interact with the representation of the brand in the form of websites and other interactive services, making behavior a crucial attribute of brand. The granularity of behavior as a brand attribute can and does vary and can be expressed holistically at the level of
The Layer-Cake Pattern of Scanning Content on the Web
People don’t usually read every word on a webpage, in an app, or even in an article or text passage. Instead, they often scan — because their experience with many websites has taught them that scanning can deliver almost the same value (that is, amount of information) with significant less
10 Heuristics for User Interface Design: Article by Jakob Nielsen
Visibility of system status The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time. (Read full article on visibility of system status.) Match between system and the real world The system should speak the users' language, with words
Applying Discounts and Promotions on Ecommerce Websites
JCPenney was mindful of price-conscious buyers and implemented a Find Best Coupon banner during checkout. Users could click this, and an overlay would appear on the right, showing available coupons. Once users found an appropriate coupon, they could click Apply and the code would be applied
Applying Discounts and Promotions on Ecommerce Websites
While this user did not mind going to her email inbox to retrieve a discount, it can be risky to provide the code by email, because the user will need to navigate away from the site and could get sidetracked or simply get annoyed with the extra work needed to get a discount. Instead, rather than
A Look Back at the WP Engine London Summit .
At the end of September, we held our 2018 WP Engine Summit in Austin, Texas. Last week, agencies, brands, and digital innovators from EMEA came together in London for the WP Engine EU Summit. Attendees discussed the future of digital experiences, Gen Z’s perception of the Internet, and the
closeness of actions and objects in gui design
WP Engine All Hands Spring 2019: EMEA
Last week, WP Engine employees from our Limerick and London offices came together for the bi-annual All Hands event in Limerick. All Hands is a 2-day event where employees come to engage with, collaborate, and strategize with employees from other offices. This year’s theme was “Boldly
StudioPress Theme Spotlight: New Breakthrough Pro
As we continue to showcase a sample of the amazing StudioPress themes now available to WP Engine customers, we’re extra excited to bring you this new StudioPress Theme: Breakthrough Pro, which is the first new theme to be launched since our acquisition of StudioPress in June. Breakthrough Pro
What Is Design Thinking, Really? (What Practitioners Say)
The number of words offered by the participants ranged from 0 to 7, with most participants providing 2 words. The average number of words per participant was 2.25; the median was 2. Some participants provided words that were not related to each other and, in some cases, even contradicted each
5 Steps to Service Blueprinting
Add the process that employees rely on to effectively interact with the customer. These processes are the activities involving all employees within the company, including those who don’t typically interact directly with customers. These support processes need to happen in order to deliver the
Hamburger Menus and Hidden Navigation Hurt UX Metrics
We wrote 2 simple tasks for each website. Some tasks could be completed without the use of the general site navigation, while other tasks required the use of navigation (or search). Here’s an example of a task: “Go to http://www.bbc.com and see if there is any information on nature or wildlife
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
Why IoT Data Protection Has Become More Important than Ever
Passed in May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is an EU law designed to give users more control over their personal data – and to protect against data breach and misuse. Unlike in Europe, in the US, there is no single, national law that regulates the collection and use of
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
closeness of actions and objects in gui design
How To Validate Your Startup Idea
Everyone is excited about starting their own business. Countless people try their luck every year, but most of the business failed due to a lack of proper planning. Approximately 45% of startups struggle because they didn’t reach their target market. To run a startup successfully, you need to
Secrets of Financial Applications: Traits of Fintech Apps
Blockchain fintech technology is on the rise and a must-have nowadays for these companies. Using this technology will create further confidence in the users as it is the building block for the app’s transparency. In essence, blockchain development does not allow a single transaction to be
Closeness of Actions and Objects in GUI Design | Homepage Design Changes
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
Scrolling and Attention
Even with lists or information presented in a structured way, people use more eye gazes (and thus reading time) for the top of the page, as they need to understand how the page is organized. Once they do so, they tend to focus very efficiently only on the information relevant to the task at hand
Customer-Service Information on Websites: The Hub-and-Spoke Model
Users had a difficult time locating information about Kohl’s price-match guarantee on Kohl’s website. Several people looked at the bottom of the page, where the site listed multiple customer-service options (such as Contact Us, Shipping, and Kohl’s Cash), but the area provided no high-level
