We get countless questions about small details in UI design that don’t matter much to the overall user experience. One classic is the order of buttons in dialog boxes:
OK / Cancel
Cancel / OK
Both are reasonable choices, and people can argue for hours about their preferences:
Listing OK first supports the natural reading order in English and other languages that read left-to-right. Many other button sets have a natural progression (say, Yes / No or Previous / Next). You should always list these so that the reading order matches the logical order — in this case, OK / Cancel. Further, assuming users need OK much more frequently than...
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
Over many years of seeing customization tools implemented in a variety of systems in a variety of ways, we often find that users do not use them. The fact that customization relies on users’ actions means that the potential benefits of customization will reach fewer users than personalization
Whether you're designing web pages, web-based applications (e.g., SaaS), or native mobile apps, one of the basic building blocks is the humble text-input field: a box where the user can enter some text. Uses of this widget are plenty and not the topic of this article. We should point out that there
Cryptocurrency Fraud Is the Exception, Not the Rule
Meanwhile, the case between Maksim Zaslavskiy and the SEC dealt with an alleged ICO scam. About 1,000 people invested in Zaslavskiy’s project, but it became apparent that neither a token nor a digital asset was issued to investors, and no real blockchain technology was playing a role in his
Past Bitcoin to Making Money from the Blockchain
People who got in on the ground floor of Bitcoin are sitting pretty. In January of 2011, you could buy over 300 BTC at $100USD. If you held onto it until today, it would be worth $1.7 million. If you held it until Bitcoin was close to $20,000 in December of 2018 it would have been worth nearly $6
Developers Set to Use Bear Market as an Opportunity to Accelerate Ethereum Upgrades
November 2018 will not go down in history as a glorious month in the evolution of cryptocurrency, with all the major digital currencies taking a dive in value, largely as a result of the furore surrounding the Bitcoin Cash hard fork. It prompted even more media drama than usual, partly because it
Brand Is Experience in the Digital Age
In their definition of user experience, Don Norman and Jakob Nielsen claim that “the first requirement for an exemplary user experience is to meet the exact needs of the customer, without fuss or bother.” Brands that choose to address an unmet user need at the core of their business are
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Modes in User Interfaces: When They Help and When They Hurt Users
An alternative to modes are spring-loaded modes (also known as quasimodes); such modes are active only while a modifier is engaged. For example, holding down the Shift key on a keyboard is the spring-loaded equivalent of the Caps Lock key — the quasimode is only active while the Shift key is
Banner Blindness Revisited: Users Dodge Ads on Mobile and Desktop
Your browser does not support the video tag. This gaze replay shows a mobile user searching for an external hard drive on www.pcmag.com. She had been reading text and scanning images of hard drives. When a large ad for a Samsung Galaxy appeared, she fixated on it a few times. The ad was hard to
Good UX: What I Learned While Working in Restaurants
No one likes to be surprised by some rigid rule that prevents them from getting what they need (or forces them to accept something they don’t want). Explain the policy, but meet customer needs within reason. Mashed potatoes instead of fries? Hold the special sauce? Not a problem. Don’t be that
Usability 101: Introduction to Usability
If you run at least one user study per week, it's worth building a dedicated usability laboratory. For most companies, however, it's fine to conduct tests in a conference room or an office — as long as you can close the door to keep out distractions. What matters is that you get hold of real
UX Research Cheat Sheet
User-experience research methods are great at producing data and insights, while ongoing activities help get the right things done. Alongside R&D, ongoing UX activities can make everyone’s efforts more effective and valuable. At every stage in the design process, different UX methods can keep
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
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Join WP Engine at SXSW 2019
In this panel, Brunner will be joined by popular Austin figures as they discuss who and what has been the major change agent in Austin. Brunner will represent technology while other panelists will represent food and film. Joe Nick Patoski, author of Austin to ATX: The Hippies, Pickers, Slackers
International Study by WP Engine Reveals Enterprise Investment Lags Today's Mobile-First Consumer
For those who integrate AMP with WordPress and Adobe, respondents cited strong integrations and ease of use as the main benefits. However, WordPress users also called out site performance improvements including site loading speed and SEO impact as main reasons why WordPress works best with AMP. For
Journey Mapping in Real Life: A Survey of UX Practitioners
Journey maps are visualizations used for understanding customer needs and pain points as people interact with an organization. They typically include three zones: a lens that provides focus and context for the journey being mapped, an area depicting the user’s experience, and a third zone for
Design Critiques: Encourage a Positive Culture to Improve Products
Presenting work, whether in a critique setting or not, makes the presenter feel vulnerable, especially if the critique is not established in your organization. Remember to not take feedback personally; instead, keep your mindset on improving your product. This attitude will make it easier to work
What Is Design Thinking, Really? (What Practitioners Say)
The characteristic category was also the least diverse: out of the total 66 words provided in this category, there were only 16 distinct words. That means that a lot of these words were supplied by more than one participant. Respondents often named these characteristics in pairs. Duplicative
How to Choose and Implement the Right Cloud-Hosted Desktop
The cloud provides security in case of a disaster or other interruptions that would otherwise bring operations to a halt. However, access is key. Invest in a second internet line to protect your data, applications, and transactions in case the primary line goes down. You should not use the same
Is more IoT driving more cyber attacks?
As the concept of a connected world is becoming more and more popular, different types of smart home appliances have become first choice for millions of families. And because of this, the cyber attacks on IoT are changing to multiple modes. Outlaws can access all connected appliances by only
The Positive Evolution of Your Business Depends on the Tech Revolution
Most of today’s businesses are subject to security threats and vandalism. You can use technology to protect your company’s financial data, confidential executive decisions, and proprietary information. Take prodigious care so that you won’t succumb to hackers or be taken over by your
How to Use Cornerstone Content to Kick-start Automatic-SEO?
The word automatic means, things should happen without any manual or in this case human intervention. Meaning SEO should happen automatically without any SEO inputs from a user. A user should only maintain the website and add relevant content. The on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and the hygiene of SEO
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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
A Tale of Two Bubbles: Why Cryptocurrency Isn’t the Next Dot-Com
The international scope of this marketplace presents both unique challenges and an array of opportunities. Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum, argues that blockchain offers particular value in parts of the world where people can’t yet trust their institutions — places such as Africa, India
OK-Cancel or Cancel-OK? The Trouble With Buttons | Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design
Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design
Sometimes the answer is simply not there and you lose the sale because users have to assume that your product or service doesn't meet their needs if you don't tell them the specifics. Other times the specifics are buried under a thick layer of marketese and bland slogans. Since users don't have
Official Olympic Website: UI Silver - but UX DQ
Another example is even more grotesque: The site's homepage features a promotion to buy the official souvenir program for £10. So if you click this link, what would you expect? A page about the souvenir program, with a button to add it to your cart. After all, the web's one fundamental rule is
The User Experience of Customer-Service Chat: 20 Guidelines
Messages such as “You’re number 5 in the queue” are less helpful than an actual time estimate — for example, one of our study participants noted, after waiting for a few minutes while being number 2 in the wait queue: “They must be really understaffed….” Another user was puzzled by
