From conducting decades of user research, we know that people dislike popups and modals. I was reminded of this fact during a recent usability study. While attempting to complete a task, a participant tossed his phone across the table after encountering multiple popups, consecutively. Frustrated, he abandoned his task and left the website with a very bad impression of the organization. Several other users shared a similar sentiment, albeit they did not throw their phones.
A popup (also known as an overlay or popover ) is a window or dialog that appears on top of the page content. A popup can be classified according to two dimensions:
Now what's the value of having that "interesting" data from the additional question? Maybe the company can make $100,000 based on that deeper knowledge about customers. If so, do keep the extra question and the less-usable form. But, in most cases we know of, the value is closer to zero because the
Think of service blueprints as a part two to customer journey maps. Similar to customer journey maps, blueprints are instrumental in complex scenarios spanning many service-related offerings. Blueprinting is an ideal approach to experiences that are omnichannel, involve multiple touchpoints, or
What distinguishes the best mobile checkout experiences from standard ones is the extra attention to detail. Mobile-focused, user-centered UI elements can help move your users through the experience with speed and ease. Though often overlooked and easily forgotten, these seemingly small design
Transparency In The Cryptocurrency Ecosystem with James Giancotti
Giancotti also sees the market becoming more serious. Some of the brightest people he worked with at JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs have gone into blockchain funds. Giancotti lays out a simple reason why: the future will be shaped by blockchain. These trends—and their customers’
Blockchain-Based Data Security Taking Over Key Industries
The healthcare field in particular has been implementing blockchain as they shift toward a data-centric discipline regarding the integrity, safety and storage of sensitive patient information such as electronic health records (EHRs). However, lax data security among enterprises has made patient
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
Brand Vocabulary in the Context of UX: Key Terms Defined
At first, brand promise in the context of UX may seem abstract. However, think about using brand promise as a metric. Before release, return to your stated promise and compare the experience. Is your brand fulfilling its promise to its users? If not, how can you use your role as a designer to
popups: 10 problematic trends and alternatives
Remote Ideation: Synchronous vs. Asynchronous
Of course, asynchronous ideation could also be conducted using a physical channel — for example, ideas can be posted to a bulletin board or a white board in a shared location such as a meeting room or hallway, and team members view and contribute to this space according to their own schedules
The Most Hated Online Advertising Techniques
To understand how ads compared with each other, we ran multiple comparison tests (using Tukey contrasts). We found that, for most advertisement types, the mobile and the desktop counterparts did not differ significantly, with the exception of related links and the prevideo advertisement (p<
Help People Create Passwords That They Can Actually Remember
Using chunking with passwords maybe be difficult for some people because there are no standard characters, such as dashes, used to visually separate the chunks or numbers or words. While some people can do fine with no separator (such as, “mypasswordisthis”), others may be stymied. In my
Indicators, Validations, and Notifications: Pick the Correct Communication Option
American Century Investments used a conditional indicator to provide information regarding a specific stock’s performance. When the daily change was negative, the indicator was a red arrow pointing down. When the daily change was positive, it showed a green arrow pointing up. The condition of the
Direct Manipulation: Definition
Continuous feedback? Only if you attempt an operation that the system feels like letting you do. If you want to do something that’s not available, you can push and drag buttons and icons as much as you want with no effect whatsoever. No feedback, only frustration. (A good UI will show in-context
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
popups: 10 problematic trends and alternatives
Naughty or Nice: Check Your Ecommerce Site Twice! .
Every year it can feel like the holidays sneak up on us. We assemble, we strategize, and we take the necessary precautions yet we frequently feel like we are scrambling. For ecommerce businesses, this time of year is crucial not only for generating revenue but for generating recurrent relationships
Bringing Array Themes into the WP Engine Family
Sifting through the thousands of themes in existence today is a daunting task, and finding the right one for your website is just part of the challenge. No one wants to trust their portfolio, online magazine, or e-commerce site to just any formulaic theme. Making sure it’s well designed, well
What Is Design Thinking, Really? (What Practitioners Say)
Regardless of your own perception of design thinking, it is important to have an educated understanding of how others define design thinking. As indicated above, design thinking can mean a variety of things to different people. When collaborating or sharing your own experiences (whether positive or
Which UX Deliverables Are Most Commonly Created and Shared?
Interactive prototypes offer an interactive experience that’s most reflective of the final product, and, thus, are a powerful tool for showing what the user experience will ultimately be like. Usability reports and other research information were also found to be an especially useful with
Small Pictures on Big Screens: Scaling Up from Mobile to Desktop
As the screen size increased, the image on Kiwi Crate’s site first grew wider while retaining its height in the design, then shifted to a differently cropped image that expanded horizontally as screen width increased while retaining height. When that image lost meaning due to cropping at the top
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
6 technologies you need to know to secure your IoT network
It is important for businesses to balance the benefits that IoT devices can deliver with a recognition that the same IoT devices have become a soft target for hackers and cyber criminals who are looking to intrude into your IoT networks and get access to your confidential and sensitive information
13 Major Vulnerabilities Discovered in the Popular IoT OS FreeRTOS
We often forget that what makes our devices smart is that they are embedded with little computers that are connected to the internet. It is this connectivity that enables the flow of communication between the device and a backend that collects the data and helps the user do something more
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
popups: 10 problematic trends and alternatives
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
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
Popups: 10 Problematic Trends and Alternatives | Can Hated Design Elements Be Made to Work?
Can Hated Design Elements Be Made to Work?
That said, PDF has its uses — they're just not in the realm of interactive information access. When people want to download a report for later reference, PDF shines. Indeed, I use it myself for this purpose. (As an example, see our report on social media usability, which is available for free
The Role of Enhancement in Web Design
Some gestures or actions may start as enhancements and later become so standard that they no longer need extra support in the interface and can become the only way through which an action is performed. However, we advise a high degree of conservatism in disabling older interaction mechanisms, since
"Get Started" Stops Users
All our users were unable to find the information they were looking for. On the T-Mobile site, the participant was frustrated that he had provided personal information about himself and was given nothing in return. He expected details about plan pricing but received what felt like a gimmicky sales
