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...
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
Modal dialogs were originally intended to alert users to an error or to some other system state that required immediate user action. In these cases, it was essential for users to be interrupted in order to fix the error. Thus, placing the dialog box in the middle of the screen as the focal point of
The lesson from this case study is not how to design a better "Save As" dialog. Depending on the circumstances, you could use any of the four designs I listed, or perhaps even design a fifth that works better for your particular type of data. It's easy enough to find out what's best for your users
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’
Banking is the Next Personal Assistant
Daily, banks manage to overcome a litany of internal and external obstacles — all while providing service with a smile. Long before anyone used online data and social media accounts to track people, banks could collect that sort of insight by following the money. Banks have access to a treasure
Past Bitcoin to Making Money from the Blockchain
As the cryptocurrency bubble has gone up and down, there have been other developments in blockchain technology that warrant our attention. According to the Brookings Institution, blockchain based voting can reduce fraud significantly while increasing voter turnout thanks to the ability to vote from
Beyond Usability: 3 User Experiences Reshaping Their Industries
Unless you have an unlimited clothes budget, it’s unrealistic (and wasteful) to wear a new outfit for every single occasion, yet social media pressures us into it. Rent a Runway solves this tension elegantly by recycling (expensive) clothes across a large set of women. It’s an example of the
that defeated by a dialog box this
Intranet Design After a Merger or Acquisition
High-level managers often have pressing decisions to make after a merger, and thus, they may step away from the day-to-day, detailed intranet-design decisions. This lack of management attention allows the intranet team to dig and work, eliminates (albeit temporarily) some of the politics associated
User Need Statements
As their name suggests, user need statements articulate the end user’s problem we are going to solve, and why it is worth solving. They are a tool to help us stop thinking about users’ needs as nouns and start thinking about them as verbs. When done collaboratively and correctly, they can serve
Mobile Navigation: Image Grids or Text Lists?
Even in cases where the categories are vastly different, images allow users to skip reading altogether — and some users might do exactly that. As one user stated, “I prefer image menus so I don't need to do as much reading, but I don't mind text menus as long as the text is big, bold, and easy
Wishlists, Gift Certificates, and Gift Giving in E-Commerce
We went to various physical stores to observe couples as they added items to their wedding registries. Although websites shouldn't be mirror images of the real-world shopping experience, it's still a good starting point to see how people behave without the technological limitations and
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
UX Retrospectives 101
At regular, but rare, intervals (maybe once a year), you can conduct a retrospective of your retrospectives: a meta retrospective. Are you running your retrospectives right? Do they help make subsequent projects better? Most important, do you see regular improvements in your design process, or are
The exact functionality of each exit popup differs. Sometimes the popup will appear as soon as the user starts moving towards the top of the page; in other cases, it will show up after a specific amount of time (5 seconds, 10 seconds, etc.). Sometimes the popup is combined with animation — for
Small Pictures on Big Screens: Scaling Up from Mobile to Desktop
As the screen size increased, the image on Kiwi Crate’s site first grew wider while retaining its height in the design, then shifted to a differently cropped image that expanded horizontally as screen width increased while retaining height. When that image lost meaning due to cropping at the top
A First Look at WordCamp US .
In less than two weeks, members from the WordPress community around the world will head to Nashville, Tennessee for WordCamp US. This is the second consecutive year that the event has been held in Music City and WordPress community has evolved significantly since 2017. The most anticipated topic of
Introducing Gutenberg Optimized Themes
In addition to all of the above, the Genesis Framework will be further upgraded for Gutenberg with the release of version 2.8 in Q1 2019. 2.8 will include built-in features that allow you to easily and efficiently style and control Gutenberg blocks as well as auto-load demo content, which can arm
A Look at WordCamp Los Angeles 2018 .
There are so many things to love about WordCamp. The one thing that makes these events uniquely awesome is it’s inclusion of different people of all backgrounds, skills, and interests. This made for a comfortable, safe environment to truly learn and explore the open-source world of WP. Huge
Understanding Today’s IT Hierarchy
This position also averages between one and nine years of experience. The IT Engineer usually requires a bachelor’s degree in IT or computer science. The average salary is between $68,000 and $85,000. There are variations in this department and depending on the type of IT engineer, number of
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 Open Data Initiative’s Benefits Go Far Beyond Improved Customer Intelligence
But U.S. companies that don’t deal with EU consumers’ data aren’t off the hook. Sweeney Williams, Vision Critical’s senior director of security, privacy, and compliance, argues the ODI can help companies prepare for similar compliance challenges coming to the California market. “One
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
or defeated by a dialog box and
20 Exciting Business Ideas that you can Start for 10k or Less
This is a relatively new concept. If you have a passion for outdoor activities, why not use it for your business as well and make money. Outdoor activities such as hiking, trekking, camping, river rafting are all part of adventure sports that people love doing these days – irrespective of their
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 | Nielsen's Law of Internet Bandwidth
Nielsen's Law of Internet Bandwidth
Of course, low-end users will still have slow speeds in 2003, so high-end users' megabit access will still not sanction bloated design. Looking even further ahead, Nielsen's law does predict that the web will be 57 times faster in 10 years (2008). At that time, even low-end users will be able to
Minimize the Need for Customer Service to Improve the Omnichannel UX
Work closely with your customer-support team to identify the most common complaints and questions received. Do not ignore any method of contact, be it telephone, email, online chat, or social media. Then focus your attention on addressing the root problem that has led to these common issues
Why Country Sites Are So Bad
When they're fed substandard websites, local customers notice. In our testing of B2B websites, we often hear business customers express contempt for international vendors' localized sites. Users suspect that these sites have impoverished product information that's been translated without an
