For 19 years, I’ve been collecting screenshots of a broad range of homepages, capturing shots of each site once a year. Comparing each screenshot with its homepage the year before lets me estimate the annualized degree of change in homepage design.
Let’s start by looking at a few typical examples across my collection period.
1994 to 1995: Huge Change (Example: Microsoft)
These are classic homepages from the Web’s earliest days: highly graphical and designed without any reference to traditional GUI (graphical user interface) conventions.
It’s also typical of the early years that the homepage was fully redesigned from one version to the next. At that time, web design was so...
Even those who can find the customer-assistance information may put in an unnecessary amount of work. Hard to find customer-service content impacts customers’ perceptions of the company. The hub-and-spoke model for the organization and delivery of customer-service information shows what important
The more confident users feel about having understood the instructions and the concepts behind the site, the more they will persevere through slight difficulties with the interaction. Conversely, if users are confused to begin with, they'll get even more confused if the site doesn't work like they
Anker’s comparison table has attributes that are useful in the context of comparing portable power banks: battery capacity in mAh, charging speed, and weight. What really makes this a good comparison table is the fact that it translates those attributes into things that would be meaningful for
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’
Is the Blockchain Role in Advertising Too Overrated?
Many blockchain advertising products are also built on Ethereum and so-called utility tokens that function within the system and are issued to participants when the desired action is verified. In such projects, utility tokens guarantee financial operations between supply and demand parties and
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
The Impact of Tone of Voice on Users' Brand Perception (Nielsen Norman Group UX research)
Quantitative data is useful for measuring whether users can perceive your intended tone, and comparing such numbers between alternate proposed pieces of writing. Qualitative research is much better for understanding why users like certain forms of communication, as well as getting deeper insights
homepage design changes
10 Usability Heuristics Applied to Video Games
Chess, an iOS mobile game, allows users to undo their last move. This functionality enables them to correct a misplaced piece (perhaps due to a slip of the finger) or revise their strategy as an afterthought. Not only is this functionality available, it is prominently placed at the top right-hand
Creepiness–Convenience Tradeoff
Our conception of the creepiness–convenience tradeoff focuses on the individual’s process in adopting and using a new technology. However, that process will, of course, be influenced by the individual’s culture and society. Societal norms and technology acceptance will influence people’s
Scrolling and Scrollbars
When pages feature both vertical and horizontal scrolling, users have to move their viewport in two dimensions, which makes it hard to cover the entire space. For people with poor spatial visualization skills, it's especially challenging to plan movements along two axes across an invisible plane
The Anti-Mac User Interface (Don Gentner and Jakob Nielsen)
Any realistic person who reads the preceding outline of the Anti-Mac interface will realize it is mostly impractical with the current state of computers and software. Language understanding is still in its infancy; most of the population are having their first encounters with computers; and most
Radio Buttons: Always Select One?
For example, years ago I joined Care.com to find a dog sitter for my Cairn terrier, Columbo, when I traveled. After I found someone, I decided to unjoin the service. As I canceled my membership the site astutely presented a page with two radio buttons: one for unsubscribing and one for keeping my
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
homepage design changes
Profit Maximization vs. User Loyalty
For example, a site that often deals in products that are exclusive or hard-to-come-by could offer these products to its most loyal users first. When something like a Furby craze hits, a site could decide to sell its Furby allocation to those customers who had bought the most in the past. (Paul
In-Store & Online: Designing For the Changing Behaviors of Today’s Shoppers
Consider the alternative customer journey: the user could have started online by looking at the extensive fabric and color options on various chairs, then gone to the store to touch and try the furniture. How can retailers eliminate the need to go to the store at all? Perhaps by offering samples or
WP Engine Celebrates Pride 2018 .
Austin’s Annual PRIDE celebration is one of the largest opportunities for local non-profit organizations, social groups, and causes to gain exposure in the LGBTQ community. This year marked 28 years of Pride events in Austin. This year’s parade emphasis was awareness, equality and
WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner Named as 2019 Great Place to Work For All Leadership Award Honoree
The results clearly showed companies that welcome ideas from all employees have better growth prospects than those with a less-inclusive approach to innovation. In fact, businesses that successfully create an “Innovation By All” culture see revenue growth that is 5.5x greater than others, as
StudioPress Theme Spotlight: Generate Pro
In an effort to help the WordPress community grow and prosper as well as expand and add value to the WP Engine Digital Experience platform, WP Engine recently acquired StudioPress. For our customers, this means, in addition to the Genesis framework, they’ll have access to 35 premium themes. All
UX Stories Communicate Designs
The user and her goals are the most rudimentary components of a story, upon which empathy, context, conflict, plot, and insight can be built. A good UX story should be simple, yet engaging enough and accessible to a range of audiences: young to old, beginner to expert. Tell your story to a
UX Research Cheat Sheet
When deciding where to start or what to focus on first, use some of these top UX methods. Some methods may be more appropriate than others, depending on time constraints, system maturity, type of product or service, and the current top concerns. It’s a good idea to use different or alternating
Augmented Reality: What Does It Mean for UX?
In the absence of an AR system, the mechanic would have to remember not only how to use the smartphone or the desktop to find information about the part, but also the part number itself (unless the mechanic would have chosen to write it down or use another form of external memory — a decision
Remote Access Solutions: Overcoming the Challenges
In a Server-Based Computing (SBC) model, primary IT resources are installed and managed centrally on servers. This central hosting allows for secure, on-demand access to these resources. Besides being cost-effective and boosting productivity, by allowing administrative management from a central
homepage design changes
We get Smarter with the Internet of Things (IoT) and so do Cities
One of the common technologies with a potential to improve smart city services is the big data analytics. As time goes by, digitization becomes an essential aspect of everyday life. Data collection results in an accumulation of huge data amounts and the diverse data can be used in each of the
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
Homepage Design Changes | A 60-Second Trailer of the 60-Day Report on Cybersecurity
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
Do You Have What it Takes to Be a Miserable Entrepreneur?
polinochka
The list of your favorite entrepreneurs is a rogue’s gallery of creeps. Jobs let his biological daughter collect welfare while he made millions. Jeff Bezos has a litany of insults that he unleashes on employees who let him down, including, “Are you lazy or just incompetent?” Larry Page
JS-Kit Score: Turn Your Site into a Localized Digg
irina
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
