In-context descriptions or hints can help clarify what goes inside each form field, and therefore improve completion and conversion rates. There are many ways to provide hints. A common implementation is by inserting instructions within form fields. Unfortunately, user testing continually shows that placeholders in form fields often hurt usability more than help it.
Labels and Placeholders
Labels tell users what information belongs in a given form field and are usually positioned outside the form field. Placeholder text, located inside a form field, is an additional hint, description, or example of the information required for a particular field. These hints typically disappear when the user types in the field.
This is what level-2 people can do: “At this level, tasks typically require the use of both generic and more specific technology applications. For instance, the respondent may have to make use of a novel online form. Some navigation across pages and applications is required to solve the problem
The software radio button was modeled after these physical radio buttons. Skeuomorphism naysayers may baulk, but using metaphors that simulate the physical world can be helpful and engaging. However, in this particular case these antiquated radios are foreign to most of the web-user population
It used to be that you would buy two or three nice outfits to have in your wardrobe and would rotate them for special events. But in today’s era, with social media like Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, all your friends will see what you wear, whether they go to the same event or not. And even
Sharing Economy 2.0: Technology is Removing the Need for Single Asset Ownership
Beenest is one example of a company utilizing blockchain technology to improve the house-sharing economy. They are eliminating the Terms of Service and costs incurred by centralized giants that typically hold the market share. Beenest is improving on qualities of existing companies classified under
Is Crypto the Missing Ingredient for Universal Basic Income?
As time goes on, there’s a good chance that the GDPR will have a ripple effect in the rest of the world, accelerating the pace of legislation meant to put individuals in control of what should, by all accounts, be their private property. Once that happens, and indeed if the political will
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
Why WSJ Mobile App Gets ** Customer Reviews
The 2-step workflow's obvious penalty is that users must pass through the 2nd screen each time they log in. However, because this is a low-security app, it should be possible to store the login credentials on the phone and log in users automatically upon subsequent uses. (A high-security app such
placeholders in form fields are harmful
Brand Is Experience in the Digital Age
Though interaction has always been important for forming customer impressions in service industries — customers would quit going to McDonalds if they were consistently treated rudely by staff no matter how highly they rate the fries — what’s new is that interaction and user experience have
Remote UX Work: The NN/g Case Study
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When to Use Which User-Experience Research Methods
While it's not realistic to use the full set of methods on a given project, nearly all projects would benefit from multiple research methods and from combining insights. Unfortunately many design teams only use one or two methods that they are familiar with. The key question is what to do when
Infinite Scrolling is Not for Every Website
The success of infinite scrolling on social media sites such as Twitter have made this technique popular, but that doesn’t mean you should do it too. Continuous scrolling is advantageous for content that streams constantly and has a relatively flat structure, where each unit of content belongs at
Status Trackers and Progress Updates: 16 Design Guidelines
Where detailed tracking information is presented in a table format, ensure that the information is easily scannable. In the Echo tracker, the table columns are too narrow, causing the date and time to wrap. The result is that the information becomes difficult to scan. In the Royal Mail tracker
Journey Mapping in Real Life: A Survey of UX Practitioners
The most frequent frustration participants reported with journey mapping was inconsistencies and ambiguity with process and scope. They found it difficult to set constraints appropriately in order to define the scope, as well as to standardize a method and process for creating the map. As one
placeholders in form fields are harmful
Troubleshooting Group Ideation: 10 Fixes for More and Better UX Ideas
Hierarchy intimidation is related to groupthink and unequal contribution. It can manifest when one high-ranking member of the group proposes an idea, and all the teammates agree and begin to focus on that idea, rather than contributing alternate solutions. It can also happen when new or
Beware Horizontal Scrolling and Mimicking Swipe on Desktop
However, because horizontal scrolling is a lot less common on desktops, users often have no idea that they can discover content by “swiping” on large screens. Since people interact with mobile and desktop devices differently, the one-size-fits-all approach can backfire. The key point is that
How to Recover Abandoned Shopping Carts for WooCommerce Stores
Many of those abandoned carts are probably lost for good because you don’t have any contact information from the shopper to try to win them back to checkout. But for a percentage of the carts, your shopper will have gotten far enough along in the process that you’ll have an email address (or
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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
3 Awesome New Apps for 2010: Thesixtyone, Quora, Plancast
Take a team of early Facebook engineering rock-stars, have them tackle the age-old field of Question & Answer and what do you get? Quora, a social Q&A site that is a whole lot of fun to use and a great place to learn things trivial or useful. The company’s goal is to create a
Is more IoT driving more cyber attacks?
For general users like us, right now, there are two kinds of cyber attacks: inbound and outbound. Inbound cyber attacks target our smart devices like phones, tablets, or cameras directly. DNS Amplification Attacks are common outbound attacks, with over 80% of family level cyber attacks resulting
Why IoT Data Protection Has Become More Important than Ever
Passed in May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is an EU law designed to give users more control over their personal data – and to protect against data breach and misuse. Unlike in Europe, in the US, there is no single, national law that regulates the collection and use of
Elements to Help You Develop Emotional Intelligence
You took some time off work to get some extra chores done around your home. You need a break and decide that a 15-minute break is what you want to take. During your break you became lost in your thoughts and you’re in a quasi-hypnotic state. You glance over at the clock only to notice that it
placeholders in form fields are harmful
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
Blockchain Success Stories Show Valuable Opportunities
Anywhere from the medical industry to forward-thinking ecommerce businesses, the blockchain is gaining a foothold in our everyday lives, and showing no signs of slowing down. The problem is that most of the blockchain tech has been built by some old-line companies that technophiles wouldn’t
Placeholders in Form Fields Are Harmful | Effective Use of Style Sheets
Effective Use of Style Sheets
Cascading style sheets (CSS) are an elegantly designed extension to the Web and one of the greatest hopes for recapturing the Web's ideal of separation of presentation and content. The Web is the ultimate cross-platform system, and your content will be presented on such a huge variety of devices
We recently ran a usability study in the U.K. where one user was attempting the following task: "Does Siemens have any special deals on washing machines?" Without much trouble, the user arrived at this homepage for Siemens Appliances in the U.K.: User task: "Does Siemens have any special deals on
Shopping Online for an iPhone Plan Is Painful
When users want to shop online for an expensive item such as a house, a car, or a two-year service contract, they spend more time researching their purchase beforehand. Research shows that for costly products, the actual purchase may occur many days after the initial visit to a site. Shoppers start
