In application design, there’s a tension between power and simplicity : Users want the ability to get a lot done, but they don’t want to take the time to learn lots of complicated features.
One way to address this dilemma is to use progressive disclosure — that is, to show users only the most important options until they ask for the advanced features.
Another good approach is to use generic commands , which remain the same across many different contexts and thus reduce complexity.
Cut, Copy, Paste
The cut-copy-paste triad offers the most famous example of generic commands. These 3 basic commands suffice to let users do everything from move...
On the other end of this dimension, methods that focus mostly on behavior seek to understand "what people do" with the product or service in question. For example A/B testing presents changes to a site's design to random samples of site visitors, but attempts to hold all else constant, in order
In the early 1900's husband and wife designers Charles and Ray Eames practiced “learning by doing,” exploring a range of needs and constraints before designing their Eames chairs, which continue to be in production even now, seventy years later. 1960's dressmaker Jean Muir was well known for
Top: Wayfair uses modal dialogs to request the user to specify a board where this item should be pinned. Another UI element (such as an option within the main content) would be more appropriate for entering this information. Bottom: After the board has been selected, Wayfair uses a modal dialog to
dApp Development Will Help the Healthcare Industry
Before we see how Blockchain helps the healthcare industry, we should look at the benefits of using this technology. Any technology may get used if it adds value to the existing system. Let us see how blockchain technology is beneficial. The first and most significant advantage of Blockchain is
Robotics and Big Data are Transforming Nursing: 4 Key Insights
In healthcare, the robot’s role is to take over tedious, time-consuming, and dangerous or dirty jobs for nurses. Very few nurses dream of sanitizing equipment or dispensing medication when they enter nursing school. They want to be working directly with patients, healing the sick and providing
Zest labs brings IoT and blockchain to the fresh food supply chain
With most industries considering how the blockchain may benefit their operations, food suppliers, in particular, are paying close attention since there’s a very real possibility that large companies may eventually require their supply chain partners to participate. This could mean many growers
Experience Design: Bridging Brand Intention and Brand Interpretation
Remember, your job as a designer (whatever type of designer that may be) is not only to produce a good use experience on each isolated channel. It’s also to ensure that every experience you design is made up of components driven by Brand. With key components defined, as well as a clear framework
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Usability 101: Introduction to Usability
To identify a design's most important usability problems, testing 5 users is typically enough. Rather than run a big, expensive study, it's a better use of resources to run many small tests and revise the design between each one so you can fix the usability flaws as you identify them. Iterative
Journey Mapping: 9 Frequently Asked Questions
Journey maps are best for scenarios that describe a sequence of events. You might want to map multiple scenarios for one persona, depending on your project goals. For example, in our health-management tool example, you may want to create several different maps for a patient actor: one for
Maps and Location Finders on Mobile Devices
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf mobile website: The placement of the map caused users to accidentally pan within the map when they intended to scroll the page. The “gutterless” design of this map (the extension of page elements to fill the entire width of the screen rather than leaving whitespace
Alternative Payment Methods Enable International Purchases
If your online sales are low in a particular country, conduct research and examine your analytics data to explore whether inadequate payment options could be the reason. Companies aiming to grow their international-customer base should start with the most-popular payment methods in those countries
Don't Force Users to Register Before They Can Buy
TinyPrints.com required that users create an account and also automatically subscribed users to the newsletter, mentioning above the Create Account button that “You will be subscribed to the Tiny Prints email newsletter” (stated in tiny print, which makes users weary right there.) Being signed
WP Engine All Hands Spring 2019: US
Last week, WP Engine employees from all over the U.S. came together at our Austin headquarters for the first biannual All-Hands event of 2019. All Hands is a two-day event in which employees from other offices and teams around the country get the chance to collaborate and strategize with one
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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
WP Engine Supports the Domain Connect Project .
If you’ve launched a site on WP Engine recently you may have noticed a new feature that allows you to easily connect to your domain name to your site. This integration is powered by an open source technology called Domain Connect, which enables WP Engine to find your DNS provider and be
UX Guidelines for Recommended Content
Recommendation engines are now common on a variety of websites and apps, often using some kind of artificial intelligence (AI) to drive personalized choices. With increased reliance on recommendations to direct users to items relevant to them, presenting lists of recommended content clearly, in a
Ideation in Practice: How Effective UX Teams Generate Ideas
Including more people in your ideation process can generate a much wider set of ideas than you could produce individually, because it allows you to draw on many diverse perspectives. Whenever possible, aim to include at least one other person in your ideation process to be more effective at
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
To Prevent Fraud, Healthcare Organizations Must Streamline Their Data Processes
Organizations are also starting to tap machine learning solutions. Algorithms can comb both structured and unstructured data to look for and flag anomalies. Healthcare organizations can then rely on the experience of just a few staff to verify fraudulent transactions that might otherwise have
Smart data exchange will bring value to smart city innovation
However, the two systems of data that collect the blockage on the highway and determine the speed shown on the highway live in two different environments. So if somebody comes along and asks a question ‘Do variable speed limits work?’ The next thing they find it will not be easy to answer not
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
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Passport Raises $3m to Build the Modern Shipping Carrier
Parcels move through Passport’s curated network of carriers, a “virtual delivery network”, in Yancher’s words. “We’re not two guys and a truck. We find the best private carriers and Posts all over the world and partner with them directly”. Tony Chen and Misha Moskovtsev, the team’s
Yes, Entrepreneurs Can Thrive in Corporate Environments
Government-funded or private research facilities at universities or research institutes can provide some of the elements needed. Large companies are also well-suited to create a cross-functional, collaborative, win-together environment. Demonstrated support has been shown by innovation incubators
Generic Commands | WeChat: China’s Integrated Internet User Experience
WeChat: China’s Integrated Internet User Experience
WeChat search results for Palace Museum (left) and for Xuxian, the fruit business (right). Checkmarks indicate that the account is verified by WeChat. But these verification checkmarks do not help identify the desired account, because many verified results may actually be returned. Some of these
Changes in Web Usability Since 1994
Even though users wanted sites to work, they were willing to accept sites that had very limited functionality. In the early years, the Web was more of an experimental environment and users understood that they would be limited to a sample of a company's services. Now, users expect comprehensive
Sympathy vs. Empathy in UX
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In UX, sympathy is limited to acknowledging that users are going through a difficult scenario, task, or journey. If we are sympathetic to our users, it does not mean that we put ourselves in their shoes and feel their pain or annoyance. For example, when we’re designing an accessible website for
