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...
Physicists and mathematicians often stretch their imaginations by considering what the world would be like if some of their basic assumptions and principles were violated (for example, see [1]). This has led to new concepts such as non-Euclidean geometry, positrons, antimatter, and antigravity. At
Despite these (and other) early examples of human-centric products, design has historically been an afterthought in the business world, applied only to touch up a product’s aesthetics. This topical design application has resulted in corporations creating solutions which fail to meet their
At the heart of a journey map’s narrative is what the user is doing, thinking, and feeling during the journey. These data points should be based on qualitative research, such as field studies, contextual inquiry, and diary studies. The granularity of representation can vary based on the purpose
IoT solution to supply chain management
Currently, IoT startup space is getting to the point of being saturated with each aiming to provide solutions in niche areas. Tive, Evrythng and Discovery are few of the IoT based solution providers in the supply chain. While Tive focuses solely on providing SCM solution using a tracker and a
Blockchain Scalability: Even If Most Transactions Are in Layer II We Still Need a Layer I
The most pressing obstacle to blockchain’s march to mass-adoption is its scalability, or current lack thereof. For blockchain to be genuinely useful, it has to cater to the population at scale and provide a fast, functional alternative to traditional transfers. So, when you consider that Bitcoin
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
A post merger intranet team often includes multiple people who have experience with intranets and who have studied how their employees work. This merged team brings forth wide-ranging knowledge about intranets and capitalizes on the strengths of each component subteam. For example, one subteam’s
defeated by a dialog box
Centered Logos Hurt Website Navigation
It appears that other factors (such as the contrast, padding, and legibility of the brand name) affect brand recall more than the position in the center of the page versus the top left corner. For example, the Nolitan hotel websites had a background image behind the logo, which may have
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
'About Us' Information on Corporate Websites - User Research Findings
This reliance on reviews means that companies also have an opportunity to set themselves apart by including authentic review content in their About Us sections. Though users will likely still use a search engine to form their final opinions, at least surfacing unadulterated reviews shows you have
The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think
There is one more difference between you and the average user that’s even more damaging to your ability to predict what will be a good user interface: skills in using computers, the Internet, and technology in general. Anybody who’s on a web-design team or other user experience project is a
Why People Shop on the Web
American e-commerce strategists should not use this survey as an excuse to rest on their laurels, however. Europe will improve and become more of a competitor in the future. Also, Denmark is somewhat atypical in several ways: it is a very small country with a particularly well-educated population
At SXSW, WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner Underscores Importance of Altruism in a Growing City
As Austin’s tech scene has evolved from semiconductors to startups, Heather added that new tech companies have consistently had to define their corporate identities. While some of Austin’s legacy technology businesses have jumped out as philanthropic leaders, she said that new, larger
defeated by a dialog box
WP Engine Named A Best Place to Work in Technology for 2019 .
When it comes to facilitating a truly enjoyable and productive workplace, it takes more than just the promise of perks and ping pong. Employees want their workplaces to reflect what they value and expect out of the company they work for: trustworthiness, morality, and the opportunity to grow both in
StudioPress Theme Spotlight: Daily Dish Pro
As we continue to showcase a sample of the amazing StudioPress themes now available to WP Engine customers, we’re shifting our focus to food with this new StudioPress Theme: Daily Dish Pro, which is designed to make your content just as appetizing as the best meal at your favorite four-star
Design Critiques: Encourage a Positive Culture to Improve Products
If critique is already a successful part of your team’s process, think about inviting someone with a different background or from a different department on a rotating basis. Critique helps create a common foundation by bringing together different perspectives. Over time, not only do extended-team
Service Design 101
The term “service design” was coined by Lynn Shostack in 1982. Shostack proposed that organizations develop an understanding of how behind-the-scenes processes interact with each other because “leaving services to individual talent and managing the pieces rather than the whole make a company
Journey Mapping 101
For example, imagine the world before the ridesharing market existed (Uber, Lyft, Bird, or Limebike, to name a few). If we were to create an experience map of how a person gets from one place to another, the map would likely include walking, biking, driving, riding with a friend, public
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
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
What to Consider When Leveraging File Sharing
File sharing delivers convenience, collaboration, and productivity. However, to get the most out of it while maintaining data security, you need a thoughtful approach for file and folder management. That means considering each person’s role, project involvement, security level, and length of time
Killer Marketing Plan For Startup Entrepreneurs
Why break the bank for your marketing needs when you can brainstorm your way to a killer marketing plan? The best marketing ideas come simple and cheap but these ideas do not come out of the blue. Your actual business plan will require an out-of-the-box, innovative thought process. You’ll
defeated by a dialog box
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
Fifteen Podcasts You Must Listen to in 2019
This podcast, with host Tiffani Bova, is like listening in on two friends talking over coffee. With her eclectic guest lineup including leading thinkers, Best Selling Authors, an Olympic Athlete, an NFL Coach, and a Grammy Nominated Artist all sharing what they have learned along the way, and
Defeated By a Dialog Box | Change vs. Stability in Web Usability Guidelines
Change vs. Stability in Web Usability Guidelines
Take, for example, the guideline to avoid splash screens. The best-selling Web design book in the 1990s strongly advocated splash screens, which is why I had to campaign so strongly against them in 1999. I don't bother mentioning splash screens in my current courses, however, because no decent
Site Map Usability, 1st study
I have often predicted that Internet Explorer version 8 will be the first decent Web browser. One feature request for version 8 is better navigation support by offering a visualization feature that would pull the site map out of the website and make it a standardized browser element. Unfortunately
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
