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...
Inline validation can also be used to indicate successful completion. For example, if your users must create a unique username, a green checkmark and a message that the username is available let users know they can proceed to the next step. Follow the error-prevention guidelines: offer suggestions
Currently, the only generic Web commands that truly work are those in browsers rather than on individual sites. Examples include Back, Forward, and Print. In the latter case, it would be much more useful if the generic Print button subsumed a page's Printer-friendly version feature; clicking Print
Submenus triggered from contextual menus can easily disappear if the cursor moves away from the primary list item or if the user accidentally clicks outside of the contextual menu. If a submenu is needed, make sure that none of its options open yet another level of submenus and don’t overload it
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
Can the blockchain and IoT solve international freight’s issues?
DS: The initial concept behind CargoChain was initiated about six months ago, when I was researching what I wanted to develop for the Shanghai Blockchain Hackathon. As is nearly always the case in the blockchain space, you’re looking from an outsider’s perspective to figure out where blockchain
How Blockchain Brings Innovation in Staffing?
The communication between them is increased and the data shared by both parties is safe and secure. Recruiters will determine the potential candidates and reach them. Encrypted info place informed blockchain cannot be altered and deleted making certain high security and privacy. Again, privacy and
Beyond Usability: 3 User Experiences Reshaping Their Industries
Pre Uber we were all plagued with standing on the corner, possibly in the rain, belongings in hand while attempting to wave down one of the few free taxis. (The worse the rain, the fewer the taxis — that’s a law of nature.) An abundance of unknowns adding further anxiety: how much is it going
designers defeated by a dialog box both
Incorporating UX Work into Your Agile Backlog
An example of a unified backlog in which each item is split into multiple components assigned to different roles In this example, the backlog item Filtering enhancements breaks down into 4 subtasks — some for UX, some for development, and some for quality testing. When all these subtasks are
The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think
This is what level-1 people can do: “Tasks typically require the use of widely available and familiar technology applications, such as email software or a web browser. There is little or no navigation required to access the information or commands required to solve the problem. The problem may be
Communicating Ecommerce Discounts and Promotions
Communicating a promotion through a single banner on the homepage is often not enough. Popular promotions are not always straightforward, requiring minimum spend or multiple items purchased. Your job is to help visitors understand your offers and qualify for them. This goal may require a
How to Display Taxes, Fees, and Shipping Charges on Ecommerce Sites
Under the Shipping & Returns accordion menu on the same product page, there was a brief mention about the surcharge directing users to the aforementioned-surcharge detail near the price, which was not helpful. However, clicking the link to the Shipping and Delivery
Celebrating Holidays and Special Occasions on Websites
Also, the entire concept of appearing up-to-date and creating joy of use backfires when holiday celebrations are out of synch with the actual holiday. Once a holiday is over, the ornaments need to come down. That said, it's just as bad to be early: During Thanksgiving, U.S. users are typically
WP Engine Culture Recognized at Greater Austin Business Awards
The annual Greater Austin Business Awards competition, presented by The Austin Chamber of Commerce, is designed to honor excellence in all aspects of business. In order to promote awareness and perpetuate good practices, the Awards recognize companies and organization in the Austin region for
within defeated by a dialog box
WP Engine Celebrates Pride 2018 .
Austin’s Annual PRIDE celebration is one of the largest opportunities for local non-profit organizations, social groups, and causes to gain exposure in the LGBTQ community. This year marked 28 years of Pride events in Austin. This year’s parade emphasis was awareness, equality and
A First Look at WordCamp US .
People of all skill levels are welcome to join in contribution to WCUS 2018 Contributor Day. The event will be held Sunday, December 9th at the Music City Center in Exhibit Hall B. Teams include Accessibility, Community, Core. Design, Documentation, Gutenberg, Hosting, Marketing, Meta, Mobile
5 Strategies for Presenting UX Remotely
Every presentation has a story that’s ready to be told. It’s your job as the presenter to take your content and create a story that people will remember when they sign off. UX practitioners are immersed in user’s stories — their wants, needs, context, and actions. The story you tell around
Breaking Web Design Conventions = Breaking the User Experience
Regarding “The Everything Directory” (the 2nd category in the global navigation) this alphabetical listing of the university’s online content was not helpful for users. Alphabetical listings can work well when there is a well-known, common vocabulary for the terms used. At a university
Test Paper Prototypes to Save Time and Money: The Mozilla Case Study
The final design started with the choice of products, then showed the task-based navigation after the first click, following good progressive-disclosure principles. In addition, a number of participation options were consolidated under one button, Volunteer for Mozilla Support, that allowed people
The Open Data Initiative’s Benefits Go Far Beyond Improved Customer Intelligence
One of the biggest headaches of siloed data became immeasurably bigger this past May, when the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect. In order for compliance professionals to know exactly what data they have on which customers, they must be able to search
Could the General Data Protection Regulation Be the First Step Toward Real Data Protection?
This would be a radical departure from how we currently handle data. Think of it as a centralized database or an open-sourced ombudsman in which no one entity owns the information. Everyone would be able to see what data is collected, by whom, how it’s used, and who it’s shared with
Data Privacy Attitudes and Connected Cars: A Deeper Look
The Otonomo-Edison Research Survey is a US online survey of 1,070 persons 18 and older. Of that total, 514 were connected car owners, and 794 planned to purchase a new car in the next year (note: there was some overlap between the two groups.) Participants were recruited through Survey Sampling
Steps to Building a Successful and Scalable Sales Process
If you condense the average age, income level, interests and needs of the people who buy your products into a single person, how would that person look and speak? Once you have decided on your customer persona, print out a stock image of the person you have in mind and give him a name. Imagine you
have defeated by a dialog box use
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
Defeated By a Dialog Box | Evolution of a Home Page Design: Article by Jakob Nielsen
Evolution of a Home Page Design: Article by Jakob Nielsen
This design succeeded in making the Sun logo prominent, thus addressing some of the usability problems identified in the tests with the initial "SunWorld" series of designs. Unfortunately, this design looked too much too like a series of boxes without the feeling of being a unified single
Official Olympic Website: UI Silver - but UX DQ
Another example is even more grotesque: The site's homepage features a promotion to buy the official souvenir program for £10. So if you click this link, what would you expect? A page about the souvenir program, with a button to add it to your cart. After all, the web's one fundamental rule is
Priming and User Interfaces
The aesthetics and look-and-feel of a page also create first impressions about a website and a business. Below, you can see the websites for two different Chinese-restaurants. You can probably easily identify which of the two restaurants is a chain just by looking at the homepage. Although users
