I can operate almost any user interface. After all, I have 33 years’ experience using computers and 25 years’ professional experience analyzing bad designs: I know most of the ways interaction designers can confuse or annoy users. I’ve seen it all before. Or so I thought.
Despite my prowess at defeating complicated user interfaces, I was recently stumped by a simple dialog box. I simply couldn’t figure out how to proceed, so I had to close the application and use another program to achieve my goal.
The offending software shall remain nameless; it’s a nice piece of shareware that I enjoy enough to have paid the fee. Also, a single...
Use a slider only when the precise value won’t matter to the user, but rather only the approximate range. Make sure that the users can select that range correctly without having to struggle too much to hit a precise value. In addition, any slider labels must be displayed above or beside the
Be cautious with the source of the data used for personalization. For example, when you personalize information by location or role for an intranet, the database that stores this information must be kept up-to-date. We’ve heard several intranet teams complain that they would like to implement
Even if you won’t be designing a WeChat mini program, the user-experience implications of this type of extensible user interface are interesting. Traditionally, websites and software applications are closed packages that can’t be extended by users or third-party providers. In contrast, the
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
CSS conversion of my Radio weblog
The hardest thing about the re-design was integrating the tableless CSS design into Radio Userland. I had to do some jiggery-pokery with the Radio Userland templates and macros, and the CSS implementation is not yet complete. I’ve had to temporarily remove my blogroll and topicroll, along
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
Image-Focused Design: Is Bigger Better?
Most sites will do best with a balanced approach: images that support the brand, without obscuring other important content. For example, the StateFarm homepage presents a large image representing driving, a critical part of their business. But this image is balanced by strong navigation elements
when defeated by a dialog box because
The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think
You might say that you’re not designing for the whole of the OECD. You’re only designing for the rich and privileged country in which you most likely live. Fair enough, but the conclusions don’t change much, even when we look at the richest countries, as shown in the following chart (which is
Why User Interviews Fail
The color preference affects the user's overall perception of the product. Even if users actually do like, dislike, or feel some emotions related to the color, it doesn’t mean it will affect their overall perception of the design or organization to any meaningful degree. A background color is
Setup of an Eyetracking Study
During each session, the participant (right) completed tasks using what looked to her to be a normal monitor. Meanwhile, the screen was shared on the facilitator’s screen with real-time gaze data. The facilitator (me, left) monitored the gaze calibration, watched user behavior, and administered
How to use Screening Questions to Select the Right Participants for User Research
However, open-ended questions alone are not enough to ensure effective participant screening, because they have some critical limitations. If you are recruiting for a very specific niche behavior, an open-ended question may fail to elicit relevant information because some people who do engage in
The Anatomy of a List Entry
Listing pages are sometimes called “category pages” (when they contain items belonging to a specific product category), “directory pages” (when they list locations or people), or “gallery pages” (when they contain graphics or images). Search-engine results pages (SERP) are yet another
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
with defeated by a dialog box in
WordPress for Good: The Price of Water .
In April 2017, the UNICEF Somalia and East and Southern Africa Regional (ESARO) offices were looking for a new way to raise awareness about the drought affecting millions of people in Somalia. The crisis was getting worse by the day, with thousands of Somalis fleeing home in search of water
A Look Back at the 2018 WP Engine Summit
To conclude the Summit, we heard from WP Engine leaders who offered a look into the WP Engine roadmap. This included a look at newly released products, like our Global Edge Security offering in partnership with Cloudflare, as well as a deep-dive into our recent acquisition of StudioPress. To wrap
Storyboards Help Visualize UX Ideas
Storyboards can be a form of ideation. You can sketch out an idea of how a user may use a feature if it helps to visualize a potential experience or you want to have a better understanding of the user’s environment before starting development. Ideation storyboards should be used as a means of
The Magnifying-Glass Icon in Search Design: Pros and Cons
If your website uses a magnifying-glass icon instead of a search button on desktop, the recommendations here should help. At NN/g, we’re still using the search button on our website. We have the space, and we have no doubt that people can spot search on our site. We’ll also keep an eye on other
The Magnifying-Glass Icon in Search Design: Pros and Cons
Icon labels help people make decisions faster: they give good information scent about what will come next. Labels should still be used for newer icons, such as the three-line menu (hamburger) icon. The map-marker icon is another icon with a still cloudy meaning and inconsistent use. Sometimes it
Is Your Chief Security Officer Prepared for M&A?
For many companies, fines are paid and damaged reputations become yesterday’s news. But the pain from an operational and/or business standpoint remains. How convincingly can you demonstrate commitment to investing in and rolling out a more robust security strategy? How quickly can a large
How a VPN Can Enhance Your IOT Devices Security
Of course, South Park’s account is a hyperbole. But IoT devices, by their very nature, do collect hoards of personal or confidential information, leaving personal data especially vulnerable to hackers or spies. Within the home, for instance, a smart security camera gathers data about when family
What does the WPA2 vulnerability mean for IoT?
Fortunately, the world as we know it is not going to end for now, but the Izrael notes that KRACK is a proof-of-concept. As patches are now being released, the hope is that it will not be exploited in the wild, but it’s likely that criminals will try. He suggests that for
ShiftLeft Raises $20 Million to Ensure Security Keeps Pace with Accelerating Software
Recognizing this growing issue, investors are betting big on solutions that can help developers better secure code, and offer customized security for every version of every application in the DevOps cycle. In fact, application-specific cloud security startup ShiftLeft today announced that it has
marked defeated by a dialog box text
9 Steps to Assess Whether a Startup is Suitable for Investment
Also, keep in mind the presence of earning potential, sustainable competitive advantage and potential market share. Finally, the “what” is focusing on the questions regarding the list of top customers, strategic relationships. Suppliers need to be considered, as well as on the thorough analysis
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
Defeated By a Dialog Box | Flat-Design Best Practices
Flat-Design Best Practices
Google’s Material Design, which has been around since 2014, took an admirable stab at this concept. The best thing about Material Design was that it defined a carefully considered framework with specific rules, behaviors, and visual properties. Unfortunately, it’s not always implemented
Beware Horizontal Scrolling and Mimicking Swipe on Desktop
Scrolling and “swiping” horizontally on the desktop is a different experience than on touchscreen tablets and mobile devices. This is one more example of why it is important to understand that people use mobile devices, tablets, and desktops differently, and why it’s beneficial to optimize
Store Finders and Locators
Ninety-seven percent is an astoundingly high success rate. Of course, finding an appropriate location address is a simple task compared to using other website services. Consider, for example, the much higher complexity of tasks such as managing your investments, researching car purchases and
