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...
While it's not realistic to use the full set of methods on a given project, nearly all projects would benefit from multiple research methods and from combining insights. Unfortunately many design teams only use one or two methods that they are familiar with. The key question is what to do when
Metaphors not only constrain and mislead users, they can also limit designers' ability to invent more powerful interface mechanisms. For example, we are as guilty as anybody for using the tired book metaphor: When we recently designed the user interface to 300MB worth of Sun's online documentation
After many years of being chastised for being unhelpful, online help went out of fashion. This was reinforced by the idea that an interface should stand on its own, and not need help to be usable. This year, however, we saw a resurgence of Help that is helpful. While the winning-intranets’ mostly
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
The Blockchain Talent Shortage May Be Nearing Its End
The blockchain remains a highly promising technology for almost every industry, but it has some growing pains to get through before it reaches widespread adoption. Soon, the talent shortage will be a thing of the past, and there will be ample developers prepared to spend their time working on new
How Blockchain Can Solve Major Problems for Gig Economy Freelancers
In addition to better (and faster) payments, cryptocurrency is also much more secure. Identity verification is done through consensus and community trust, which makes identity theft technically impossible. All information is stored and encrypted in the blockchain in an unalterable format, which
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
big defeated by a dialog box
Brand Is Experience in the Digital Age
In their definition of user experience, Don Norman and Jakob Nielsen claim that “the first requirement for an exemplary user experience is to meet the exact needs of the customer, without fuss or bother.” Brands that choose to address an unmet user need at the core of their business are
Brand Is Experience in the Digital Age
Before a siege, Blackbeard dressed himself in a dark heavy coat and captain’s hat to accentuate his domineering stature. He strapped pistols to his chest and tucked lit, smoking fuses under his hat and in his beard to create an image reminiscent of the devil himself having just emerged from some
Amazon: No Longer the Role Model for Ecommerce Design
It's often good to copy the big guys. When people grow accustomed to a certain design, following it in your own interface supports transfer of learning and thus increases usability. If you're designing an application, follow the lead of Microsoft Office — for example, use a floppy-disk icon to
6 Rules for Persuasive Storytelling
In our work as UX professionals, we use stories to help create a shared vocabulary, focus the team on a common goal, and persuade stakeholders — ultimately leading to buy-in. UX stories are a communication tool that can be used in lieu of boring task check lists that are far removed from the
Is Poor Usability Killing E-Commerce?
In 1997, I predicted that specialized sites will generate most of the Web's value. My assumptions then were somewhat too optimistic: I assumed that Web advertising would generate one cent per page view, and that the Web economy's total value would amount to $1.3 trillion by now. As it turns out
Parallel Design and Testing by Jakob Nielsen and Jan Maurits Faber
Note that the designer who moved from version 2.y to 3.y had access to the initial parallel versions' test data and achieved substantial measured usability improvements. This designer compared version 2.y's test results with those from the four original versions and looked closely at the original
in defeated by a dialog box appear
Using Swipe to Trigger Contextual Actions
To make matters worse, some apps use horizontal swipe gestures not only for destructive actions, but also to navigate across different sections of the app. In many iOS apps, the horizontal swipe is used to go back to a previous page, and in Android it is sometimes used to reveal a hidden menu
Small Pictures on Big Screens: Scaling Up from Mobile to Desktop
Designers and developers can overlook the issues described here if they only design, develop, and subsequently view their designs on a single monitor, or only on devices with their target breakpoints. See what your design looks like at those in-between sizes or on widescreen displays. While you may
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
How to Try Gutenberg Safely in a Sandbox Environment .
Because you are in a safe, copied sandbox environment, you can safely test the Gutenberg editor here. Take a look around the new editor and make sure the editing experience makes sense, and that any custom fields your plugins or theme have added to the editor page still appear. After running these
WP Engine Sales and Customer Service Teams Recognized at The Stevie Awards
The Stevie Awards are a set of hundreds of business awards given annually by the American Business Awards organization. They were created in 2002 to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of companies and business people worldwide. Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Awards are given to
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
Businesses Broke Ground on Blockchain. What Can Civic Groups Learn?
Although JPMorgan Chase scaled up its blockchain-based interbank exchange this past September to include 80 global banks, it debuted the model last October with just a handful of participants. The financial giant’s goal is to reduce the time and number of middlemen involved in bank-to-bank
Smart Hospitals: the Next Step in Healthcare IT
There is no doubt that healthcare is changing. Between innovation that the health industry is known for, and continually creating new drugs — better ways to treat illnesses are in the making. Add to the mix of physician innovation and pharma creations; we can look forward to a healthier
Your Swag is an Extension of Your Brand, So Don’t Neglect It
The company was founded in 2016 and has seen a massive 300% growth year over year since then. They’ve inked deals with thousands of customers including the likes of Amazon, Facebook, Google, WeWork, Netflix, and more. The startup is also backed by Uncommon Denominator, the same investors behind
use defeated by a dialog box thats
7 Critical Time Management Skills to Boost Your Productivity
Tasks that fall into this category are often given priority. They must be done now so our natural inclination is to complete them first, no matter their level of importance. For example, answering a phone call from an unlisted number is an urgent but not important task. It’s urgent because, if
The Role of IT or an IT Consultant Provider for Business Growth
IT services are now an integral part of every business globally. Your IT service person or IT service provider will contribute a lot to your business. Issues such as providing security, upgrades, data monitoring, and reduced costs. A good IT solution provider or IT solutions company increases
Defeated By a Dialog Box | Photos as Web Content
Photos as Web Content
This is a good example of why it's not always good to copy the biggest sites' designs. Because Amazon hawks a monstrously wide product range, they use a standardized gallery layout that sort of works for many different category pages, without being optimized for any individual category. In
Aspects of Design Quality
This negative correlation certainly doesn't mean that accessibility stands in opposition to a good homepage design. Remember: We evaluated the homepages' usability, not whether they had a particularly glamorous appearance or featured intricate Flash animations. (The latter usually reduce both
Iterative Design and Testing of Icon Usability
Some users liked the man holding up a computer because "it says strength and power - I can do it for you." However, the icon was very busy with the large number of computers behind the person (of course, we hope to sell that much, but even so, icons should be simple!). Nobody liked the guru and
