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...
He was the only user to test this site because he encountered it during a task in which users could choose a site to visit (usually from a search listing). In this case, the user eventually overcame the confusion and proceeded to enter his measurements. If we had tested more users, a small
Salini Impregilo has four major social sections with clear content types; this helps users understand what is acceptable to post. These include: employee selfies, a discussion forum, a corporate-vocabulary wiki, and contests to stimulate creativity. The company’s intranet also displays the names
A classic memory study (Baddeley, Thompson, and Buchanan, 1975) looked at memory for a list of words in relation to the amount of time it takes to say the words in the list out loud. It turned out that it was easier for people to remember a list such as wit, sum, harm, bay, top than university
10 Things Teaching Us About Running Successful Crowdfunding Campaigns
It is the duty of the accelerator or marketing support agency to advocate for quick funding of crowdfunding campaigns, with the hindsight that it overwhelmingly and resoundingly sends across the message that the startup has come on board and is one to watch out for. It also contributes greatly to
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
9 Blockchains Transforming the Way We Pay, Play, and Work
Look past digital currencies’ nosebleed pricing volatility, and you’ll discover a robust, decentralized, secure database. Brands and technologists are quickly figuring out how to put this powerful ledger to good use. Here are several real-world examples that demonstrate cryptos’
How to use Screening Questions to Select the Right Participants for User Research
But screening questions that make the purpose of the study obvious can backfire. If people can easily guess what the study is about, some will be tempted to exaggerate their responses just so they can participate (and receive the incentive, if the study offers one). When part of the screening
defeated by a dialog box
The Attention Economy
Advertising campaigns that entice or force users to dedicate their attention to the ad. Some free games offered on the iPhone’s GameCenter include advertisements. The close icon does not appear on the advertisement until the ad has displayed for a certain length of time. This design forces users
Eartracking: A New UX-Research Method
The finding of gender differences in mammoth webpages was due to a lucky coincidence: we employed the new eartracking technology with a few of the users during our recent study of UX design for children, and happened to include the wooly-mammoth page on National Geographic Kids’ website
Modes in User Interfaces: When They Help and When They Hurt Users
Modes are not different ways of looking at the same data. For example, in the Mac Finder, the list view and the icon view take the same data (the files and folders stored on the computer) and present them differently, with the list view showing additional metadata absent in the icon view.
User Experience vs. Customer Experience: What’s the difference?
The widest scope of user experience is the relationship level (aka the customer experience). At the relationship level we focus on the lifetime experience that a person has with an organization and his cumulative impression as a patron of that organization. Rather than assessing the quality of one
Wishlist or shopping cart? Saving products for later in ecommerce
Wishlists are often made available in the page header (next to the cart button) and on product pages (often near the Add to Cart button). These spots make the feature easy to discover and access; however, our study participants tended to add items to their cart first. Our users’ mental model for
Recapping the State of the Word 2018
Mullenweg referenced his 2017 State of the Word where he told the WordPress community to “learn JavaScript deeply.” He said the second request is much easier: learn blocks deeply. The blocks are now the DNA of WordPress. Once you have learned about blocks, the possibilities with creation will
defeated by a dialog box
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
Join WP Engine in Web Week 2018
If you’re currently using a different platform to power your website, WP Engine’s platform offers a plethora of benefits to improve your agility, maximize your performance, provide insightful intelligence, and incorporate top-notch integrations. Our platform will help you create scalable
User Intent Affects Filter Design
On the other hand, scrolling to the top of the page has some benefits as well. First, the best results will appear at the top of the list: if relevance or popularity declines dramatically with results lower down on the page, then users will see the best options sooner if they are taken to the top
How Channels, Devices, and Touchpoints Impact the Customer Journey
One common misconception is that computing devices such as smartphones, smartwatches, and tablets are interaction channels themselves. However, devices are not channels. Devices simply provide the means to access channels (usually digital channels, but there may be exceptions, for example smart
Modal & Nonmodal Dialogs: When (& When Not) to Use Them
In the case of Zillow.com, a real-estate website, users can browse property listings without having an account or real-estate agent. However, when they attempt to contact an agent for a listing, the site displays a modal dialog asking them whether they already have an agent. This information is not
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
Remote Access Solutions: Overcoming the Challenges
Choose a remote access solution that offers central management. The ability to facilitate access to physical or virtual desktops and hosted applications from a centralized location is more cost-effective and reduces the draw on IT resources. Administrators should be able to manage requests and
Microsoft-GitHub Purchase’s Huge Price Tag Belies Big Competitive Worries
In 2006 Google’s acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion, and Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion in 2012. Many dismissed these purchases as indulgences of cash-rich tech behemoths, and federal regulators took no action. But, these acquisitions were far from frivolous. They shut out
Enterprise Community Event and C2C Event Platform Bevy Raises $6.4 Million
Startup Grind has been building its name and brand by helping to promote director’s who are running their own private businesses. Startup Grind is these directors’ side hustle. Operating in over 400 cities across 120 countries globally. The SG Director’s have to be able to plan and execute
defeated by a dialog box
How to Open a Company Bank Account for Your Startup & Avoid the Pitfalls
A common issue that many startups run into is not realizing that different types of entities have different signing requirements, and this can lead to a number of issues when opening the bank account. For example if your startup is setup as a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) and it is member
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
Defeated By a Dialog Box | Banner Blindness: The Original Eyetracking Research, 10-year research overview
Banner Blindness: The Original Eyetracking Research, 10-year research overview
As the replay shows, the user did fixate once within the ad, but at that moment, the ad is obscured by a pull-down menu. In reality, the user couldn't see the message; the fixation was clearly a mistake that occurred while she was trying to reacquire the menu after briefly looking away from the
Top 10 Web Design Mistakes of 2003
Without dates on articles, press releases, and other content, users have no idea whether the information is current or obsolete. It's great to keep content in archives. The Alertbox, for example, gets 80% of its readership for old columns, which readers continue to find useful. But some facts and
Shopping Online for an iPhone Plan Is Painful
I recently experienced endured this process firsthand, as I set out to look for a new carrier. What I found was scary. Every time I sat down to look at plans, I ended up drowning in open tabs. I hunted down details in complex tables and accordions, dodging modals and pop-up windows. Inevitably
