Simplest GUI widgets are the building blocks for most functionality on the web, but it’s rare to find sites that use all the dialog controls correctly. Even something as simple as radio buttons and checkboxes are incorrectly used half the time. And let’s not even get started on drop-down menus, which are horribly abused. This article talks about another design element that gets frequently misused: tabs.
(Here, I’m talking about in-page tabs , as shown in the several example screenshots below. These are the tabs you might design yourself, as part of your website or web-based application. A different kind of tabs is used as browser chrome to allow users...
In addition to the lexical and alphabetic errors discussed above, it is even possible to make physical level errors in direct manipulation interfaces. A common example is the manipulation of scrolling lists where the scrolling speed is too fast. When the program runs on a computer with the speed of
For instance, players of Counter Strike: Global Offense (CS:GO) on PC can use hotkeys provided by the game to speed up interactions like switching weapons. Savvy players can also bind commands, thereby setting up controls exactly how they like them. This functionality makes it possible for users
Wireflows are an emerging UX deliverable for documenting user workflows and complex interactions for mobile and webapps. They are well suited for representing dynamic changes on one or few pages inside an app, and work less well for capturing flows through a large number of relatively static pages
A Tale of Two Bubbles: Why Cryptocurrency Isn’t the Next Dot-Com
Economic bubbles aren’t new. From the tulip bubble of the 1630s, to the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, to the big-tech mania we’re seeing today, overvaluations happen — but not all bubbles pose the same risks or offer the same rewards. Every few years, it seems we’re warned
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
The Future of Blockchain: Technology Partnerships with AI, Bots, and IoT
Even when a technology offers solutions that previous tools did not, it still may not be able to address every issue. However, when combined with other technologies, the synergies tend to cover more of these problem areas. For example, OSA DC is an AI-driven blockchain that helps by collecting
Tesla’s Touchscreen UI: A Case Study of Car-Dashboard User Interface
For those of us who learned how to drive a few decades ago, driving a modern car is a completely different experience. New cars come with rear-view cameras, obstacle sensors, parking assistance, lane-change assistance, adaptive cruise controls, autopilot driving, and even web browsers. Many of
tabs, used right
User Need Statements
As their name suggests, user need statements articulate the end user’s problem we are going to solve, and why it is worth solving. They are a tool to help us stop thinking about users’ needs as nouns and start thinking about them as verbs. When done collaboratively and correctly, they can serve
Marking Required Fields in Forms
Login forms are short and traditionally composed of two fields: the username and the password, both of which are always required. If you’re using the asterisk, the cost of marking these fields as required should be minimal, so you cannot go wrong. However, most users have encountered many, many
Split Buttons: Definition
In complex applications, it is easy to overwhelm users with a tremendous number of options, commands, tools, and controls. Showing a large number of tools all at once is visually overwhelming, and evaluating all the available actions places far too much cognitive load on users. Split buttons reduce
The User Experience of Customer-Service Chat: 20 Guidelines
In general, a fast response time reflected well on the company; in contrast, long wait times made users feel undervalued and they tended to assume that they shared the agent with many other customers. “It bothers me when it takes a long time to answer a question, although they seem they are
Why Personas Fail
Not everybody knows why they’re useful and how to reference them. It is up to you to educate your stakeholders, illustrate their effectiveness, and solidify their use on projects. Lead by example: don’t let the personas fizzle out, continue to bring them into meetings to set the stage for
Mobile's New Power Couple: PWA and AMP
Soon, everyone got on board and organizations began creating mobile versions of their site. However, inefficient and clunky infrastructure left users dependent on their desktop. Finally, the mobile web reached a point of maturation with the creation of Responsive Web Design. Using the same code for
tabs, used right
Introducing Gutenberg Optimized Themes
In addition to all of the above, the Genesis Framework will be further upgraded for Gutenberg with the release of version 2.8 in Q1 2019. 2.8 will include built-in features that allow you to easily and efficiently style and control Gutenberg blocks as well as auto-load demo content, which can arm
WP Engine Supports the Domain Connect Project .
If you’ve launched a site on WP Engine recently you may have noticed a new feature that allows you to easily connect to your domain name to your site. This integration is powered by an open source technology called Domain Connect, which enables WP Engine to find your DNS provider and be
Beware Horizontal Scrolling and Mimicking Swipe on Desktop
Dennys.com: This design offers obvious global navigation in addition to arrows to advance through content. In testing this site, a user never used the arrows to swipe between pages. Instead, he relied entirely on the global navigation and was able to complete all the tasks successfully. Note, too
The Most Hated Online Advertising Techniques
While, as a whole, web usability has improved over these past several years, history repeats and designers make the same mistakes over and over again. Designers and marketers continuously need to walk a line between providing a good user experience and increasing advertising revenue. There is no
Parallel Design and Testing by Jakob Nielsen and Jan Maurits Faber
We did not give the designers of versions 2.x and 2.y any of the design rationale used in the initial versions, so we could keep their work as independent as possible for evaluation and comparison purposes. Normally, one would expect the designers of the merged versions to talk to the original
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
CSS conversion of my Radio weblog
I’ve done a re-design of my Radio weblog, using CSS. Look ma, no tables! Yes, it’s now a tableless design. I’m doing my bit for the web standards cause, although I haven’t yet achieved 100% XHTML validation. For my re-design I used a CSS Zen Garden design by Michael Landis
How tweaks to IoT’s supply chain can close security gaps
Second, if you’re manufacturing IoT devices, consider the security of each piece of hardware you build into your device. One company that does a great job of this is Taser, a developer, manufacturer and distributor of conducted electrical weapons, body cameras and digital evidence management
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
tabs, used right
4 Ways Early Stage CTOs Can Learn to Roll With the Punches
In some instances, the CTO is a chief engineer who takes a hands-on approach to product development; other times; a CTO is a VP of engineering who is charged with hiring a team and designing the processes and culture necessary to turn business needs into deployed products. And then there are
You Have a Great Tech Idea. Now What?
After you have sufficient information to feel confident in the feasibility of your idea, you can start creating a business plan. Your business plan will cover several areas, including the unique value proposition of your business, your vision and mission, your market analysis, your competitive
Tabs, Used Right | Login Walls Stop Users in Their Tracks
Login Walls Stop Users in Their Tracks
Amazon is guilty as charged: they do not have a guest-checkout option. Probably the majority of Amazon’s customers are frequent shoppers, which is why Amazon’s UX requirements are different than those of most sites. Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean that these shoppers can remember their
Changes in Web Usability Since 1994
The change from 1994 is that scrolling is no longer a usability disaster for navigation pages. Scrolling still reduces usability, but all design involves trade-offs, and the argument against scrolling is no longer as strong as it used to be. Thus, pages that can be markedly improved with a
Aspects of Design Quality
Because voting laws differ between states, the sites are not literally identical. However, they are similar enough that it's fair to compare them. For example, states have different deadlines for requesting absentee ballots, but all states must inform their residents about absentee ballot rules —
