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...
Toggles help users update preferences, settings, and other types of information. When using toggles, provide direct labels, use standard visual design, and deliver immediate results. Keep in mind that toggle switches should only be used when the user needs to decide between two opposing states. As
Airbnb makes it easy to satisfy the needs of these travelers by connecting them with owners who want to make an extra dollar by renting out their property. Before Airbnb, sites such as Home Away and property-management agencies used to connect owners with interested renters, but these were focused
Although it seems obvious that domain-specific applications need field studies, most design projects in the past typically did without them. When we analyzed the first decade of Intranet Design Annual winners, we found that field studies were used by only 10% of the winners from 2001–2003 and
Is Blockchain Winning or Losing? — 4 Stages of Blockchain Evolution
While cryptocurrencies and blockchain are at the top of the hype cycle, we must not lose sound view of things – building a real foundation for these technologies still has to go a long way before they reach mass implementation. Despite the tremendous tasks ahead, I believe that in less than a
Past Bitcoin to Making Money from the Blockchain
There are jobs listed from all over the world for every specialty from developer to trader to meme specialist (it’s real – look it up). There are also gig economy opportunities for blockchain and cryptocurrency companies if you don’t want to quit your day job. You can even do gigs and get
Blockchain Metrics Will Add Transparency to Investing and Better Inform Investors
Every year an uncountable number of investment offerings are brought to the market, and each provides varying degrees of transparency and often the yield of the asset or investment is not natural for the public to locate. Integrating blockchain technology to financial products managers
Mobile Microsessions
A good design will often translate into a reduced interaction cost and thus low task time. Yet, it is not enough. You can do more. To understand why, let’s think of a user who is trying to check in for a United Airlines flight on the phone. First, the user must find the app on her phone, launch
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The Layer-Cake Pattern of Scanning Content on the Web
People don’t usually read every word on a webpage, in an app, or even in an article or text passage. Instead, they often scan — because their experience with many websites has taught them that scanning can deliver almost the same value (that is, amount of information) with significant less
Teenager’s UX: Designing for Teens
Teens are wired. Technology is so integrated with teenagers’ lives that creating useful and usable websites and apps for them is more critical than ever. To succeed in a world where the next best thing is a click away and text message interruptions are the rule, not the exception, website and app
When and How to Create Customer Journey Maps
Journey maps should always be created to support a known business goal. Maps that do not align to a business goal will not result in applicable insight. The goal could be an external issue, such as learning about a specific persona’s purchasing behaviors, or an internal issue, such as addressing
The User Experience of Public Bathrooms
For longitudinal research, recruit people via social channels or other means and ask them to record their own experiences in public restrooms. Consider asking them to download a sound recorder on their phone so they can start recording any time they approach a restroom. Ask them to send you these
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
Genesis Framework and StudioPress Themes Now Available for WP Engine Customers .
Countless publications such as Wired and the New York Times live on WordPress. The News Pro Theme gives you the look and feel of a full-featured publication. Display featured stories, article snippets and different categories. The theme even includes built-in ad space so you don’t have to account
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WP Engine: 2018 in Review
New year, new you, did you say? Well, that was our reality in 2018 as we rolled out some of our favorite new platform additions. We took the lead on the Amazon Polly plugin, the first plugin to bring voice technology to WordPress. The WP Engine Digital Experience Platform continued to evolve and
WP Engine Sales and Customer Service Teams Recognized at The Stevie Awards
The Stevie Awards are a set of hundreds of business awards given annually by the American Business Awards organization. They were created in 2002 to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of companies and business people worldwide. Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Awards are given to
UX Expert Reviews
Example of design-review finding: A screenshot from the design is annotated to describe the usability issue found, along with its severity rating. Realistic recommendations for fixing the issue can provide a starting point for the redesign. When available, a reference for the usability guideline
Storyboards Help Visualize UX Ideas
Each step in the scenario is represented visually in a sequence. The steps can be sketches, illustrations, or photos. Depending on the purpose of the storyboard and on its audience, these images can be quick, low-fidelity drawings or elaborate, high-fidelity artifacts. Images include details
Design Critiques: Encourage a Positive Culture to Improve Products
First, make everyone aware of the critique’s scope and goals. Setting the common understanding of what the conversation should and should not cover is an important part of making the most of the team’s time. Establish rules and expectations beforehand, to make sure that participants know what a
What to Consider When Leveraging File Sharing
For example, you may want to see who has looked at the file to ensure everyone is staying current on their responsibilities. If there is an issue related to the changes, it helps to see a version history so you know who made what changes and when in order to resolve those disputes. Or, you can make
4 Things Spotify Can Teach You About Data Sharing
After Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal broke this past May, the social network announced it would roll out a suite of new privacy tools. But while Facebook did debut a feature that allows users to access and download their data, it’s months behind on a “Clear History” tool. “That
How to Create an Effective Cybersecurity Routine
If you want to keep your business safe for years to come, then you’re going to need to stay one step ahead at all times. Work with a team that actively searches out and predicts the latest threats before they manifest themselves, and you’ll notice your number of attempted breaches falls off
7 Business Killers — Thoughts Startups Ought to Consider
Criticism is a natural part of the business. If no one is criticizing your business, then you are not doing the business correctly. As a business start-up, much of what ultimately happens is out of your direct control. However, look around and see if you can see what others don’t and anticipate
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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
Generic Commands | WeChat: China’s Integrated Internet User Experience
WeChat: China’s Integrated Internet User Experience
We did not find evidence for sophisticated natural-language understanding in WeChat. (Those human-staffed official accounts that reply to individual user queries are definitely not scalable in the long run and were not the norm in our study.) Instead of a true conversational text interface, we
Flat Design: Its Origins, Its Problems, and Why Flat 2.0 Is Better for Users
Apple’s homepage in 2012 (via WayBack Machine). The tabs metaphor is gone, but the navigation bar still appears glossy and rounded (an example of realism rather than skeuomorphism). The new search tool has inset shadows to make it appear hollow (a more elegant visual effect than the appearance of
Comparison Tables for Products, Services, and Features
To narrow down the number of alternatives to a manageable one, they usually use one hard criterion that outweighs any other considerations. For example, a user looking to buy a new car might filter out all the cars that are more expensive than that $20,000, even though some of them may be
