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...
You might be wondering, "if proximity is such a problem, then why not place the labels inside the text fields?". Don't be tempted. When you place the labels inside the text field as filler text, the label disappears when users input their text and they must remember it as they fill in the field
Because WeChat’s primary function is chatting, the home screen is dedicated to recent conversations. To see mini programs, users need to swipe down from the top; this action reveals a list of recently used mini programs. Although swiping was easy and convenient for regular min-program users, new
The opposite problem — having something that looks like a GUI control when it isn't one — can reduce usability even more. We often see text and headlines that look like links (by being colored or underlined, for example) but aren't clickable. When users click these look-alikes and nothing
FinTech is Transforming the Finance Industry
As the FinTech industry matures, legislators have responded in varying ways. Representatives of the Federal Reserve System (FRS), for instance, have assembled the FinTech High-Priority Initiative to address their concerns about the industry. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has
Images of Fitbit next smartwatch reveal heart-rate improvements
Fitbit is on schedule, as its boss James Park keeps reminding us, to launch its next smartwatch by the end of the year. We don’t know what the smartwatch will be called, though Blaze 2 seems likely, but thanks to leaks we know its design and some of the hardware improvements. Images obtained by
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
Website Logo Placement for Maximum Brand Recall
A left-aligned logo is comfortable for users, but because it’s such a longstanding tradition, this standard is a tempting target to anyone wanting to appear unconventional. Violating this convention seems like an easy way of immediately distinguishing a design from its competitors, and standing
generic commands
3 Design Considerations for Effective Mobile-App Permission Requests
Interruptions at the start can be overwhelming and confusing. First impressions are formed when users install an app. Asking for all permissions (like Viber does on Android) is like asking for a donation without telling people anything about the charity. A better modus operandi is to ask only for
Beyond Usability: 3 User Experiences Reshaping Their Industries
Why are we willing to sleep in strangers’ beds, or conversely, let strangers into our homes? We do so because Airbnb has established a trusted, secure, and easy to use customer experience. Similar to Rent the Runway, Airbnb is a player in the growing “sharing” economy. The peer-to-peer online
Mobile Tables: Comparisons and Other Data Tables
To compare credit cards on Citi.com, users needed to follow the instruction, Rotate your device to continue using the compare credit card feature. Once the phone was rotated, most of the screen height was dedicated to large images of the credit card, which locked in place as the user scrolled
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
Mobile Navigation: Image Grids or Text Lists?
Lowes mobile website: The images used within the list of Appliances categories are too small to be helpful to users, and are likely to be ignored completely. At this size, they are simply added page weight, slowing down load time and increasing data usage. Most people know the difference between a
International Study by WP Engine Reveals Enterprise Investment Lags Today's Mobile-First Consumer
WP Engine is the WordPress Digital Experience Platform that gives companies of all sizes the agility, performance, intelligence, and integrations they need to drive their business forward faster. WP Engine’s combination of tech innovation and an award-winning team of WordPress experts are trusted
generic commands
Gutenberg—Believe in the Beauty of Your Dreams
The earlier way of designing websites involved using full page templates. These templates were helpful but very rigid and you ran the risk that your template matched someone else’s. With Gutenberg’s block approach, you get the convenience of pre-designed layouts, you don’t have to write
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
Slider Design: Rules of Thumb
Use a slider only when the precise value won’t matter to the user, but rather only the approximate range. Make sure that the users can select that range correctly without having to struggle too much to hit a precise value. In addition, any slider labels must be displayed above or beside the
Fight Against “Right-Rail Blindness”
Unicef.org: Important facts are sandwiched between brightly colored boxes that look like advertising. This information doesn’t have a chance of being read. It’s better to tone down the visual design to create a more balanced visual hierarchy. Also, while we support the use of the side columns
The Role of Enhancement in Web Design
On Cartoon Network’s responsive site, hovering on the Video option in the navigation bar exposes shortcuts to specific-characters’ video pages. This feature is an enhancement: it does add to the experience, but is not essential for accessing the corresponding content. The inability to access
As Digital Identities Evolve, Data Security Should Too
Pretend my personal data is a pencil. I can wrap tissue paper around the pen and hand it to you, and you’ll know it’s a pencil. You may not know the exact specifications of the pencil, but you understand through context what I’m giving you. This environment is ripe for AI disruption. Machine
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
8 predictions for the future of IoT in 2017
As IoT gains momentum, the volume of data generated will be stratospheric. Not only will there be more data, but there will be different types of data, and data from sources that have yet to be considered. Big Data analytics will evolve into a distributed analytics model, which will help with the
How Start-Up Chile Helps Entrepreneurs and Chile Alike
When it was first founded, the program was meant to “change the nation’s culture towards entrepreneurship and to position Chile as the hub of innovation for Latin America,” but its impact has significantly surpassed that goal. While economic growth was not one of the goals CORFO originally
generic commands
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
JS-Kit Score: Turn Your Site into a Localized Digg
Of course, because this is the only page on ReadWriteWeb that is running a Score widget, it won’t have any data on which content is the highest rated site wide. But the ease of installation is what really catches the eye. JS-Kit is building a suite of tools for web publishers that are modular
Generic Commands | Kill the 53-Day Meme
Kill the 53-Day Meme
I arrived at the estimate by quite simple means: I collected estimates of the number of web servers from many public sources, such as the various WWW robots (programs that traverse the Web and move on from each server to any other servers it links to). I used the average of the numbers from those
Banner Blindness: The Original Eyetracking Research, 10-year research overview
For example, unskilled researchers often ask users to simply look at a page, rather than have them encounter it as part of a task flow. Users naturally look at things differently depending on the context. For example, if you want to know how users look at the elements of a form, you can't just
The Role of Enhancement in Web Design
Now that most desktop users have a scroll wheel, this hardware facility has taken on enhancements of its own. For example, many web browsers allow users to change the font size by holding down the control key while scrolling the wheel. While this is a nice feature, it’s definitely still only an
