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...
Put together an action plan, pitch personas to leadership, analyze prior failures and address corresponding solutions, and communicate the business value of personas to build buy-in. Educate your colleagues, refer to personas in meetings, and solidify their place on your projects. Circle back and
Rather than hiding irrelevant actions, disable them so that users won’t have to try to find where menu items disappeared, nor will they have to determine how to get the system back in the proper context to reveal a specific command. Also, make sure that you include all options (instead of just
Don’t expect to get “buy-in” and foster interest in your journey map by simply sending a lovely graphic as an email attachment. Make it a living interactive document that people can be a part of. Bring up your story in meetings and conversations to promote a narrative that others believe in
5 Ways Blockchain Startups Can Appeal to Enterprises
Though enterprises see the appeal of using blockchain, companies often don’t want to take on the challenge of working with their business partners to create a new blockchain solution. Last year, 74% of organizations in a global blockchain survey said they felt compelled to use a blockchain
Developers Set to Use Bear Market as an Opportunity to Accelerate Ethereum Upgrades
The second most famous cryptocurrency in existence has had challenges of its own this year, particularly from the direction of Ripple, which overtook it in terms of market cap back in September. This was followed by a dramatic fall in the Ethereum price in recent weeks, but the developers seem to
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 User Experience of Public Bathrooms
There’s an urgent need to improve the user experience of public restrooms. I address this unrefined topic because I am uncomfortable with the persistent delays at any well-attended venue — be it an opera hall, a baseball stadium, or a trendy restaurant — and I know that you are, too. The
tabs, used right
Beyond Usability: 3 User Experiences Reshaping Their Industries
Take Uber for example. While the experience is hugely popular and generally pain free, there is room for enhancement — especially for large groups travelling together. Currently, a group must problem-solve in order to figure out how many “ubers” to call and and how many passengers can fit in
6 Rules for Persuasive Storytelling
For example, you can show your audience the original design that Randy (our protagonist from above) used to purchase his gift. Then present your new-design idea using the same scenario; point out how the gift options will be more easily accessible in this new version to allow Randy to include a
Design Thinking 101
Imagine your goal is to improve an onboarding experience for new users. In this phase, you talk to a range of actual users. Directly observe what they do, how they think, and what they want, asking yourself things like ‘what motivates or discourages users?’ or ‘where do they experience
Tips for Better Product Descriptions on Websites
Shoppers often want to know details — about accents on clothes, dimensions of furniture, care of clothing, size of toys, proper storage of edible products, whether a hotel’s outdoor pool is heated for year-round use. Many sites however focus only on basic information, or on the wrong
How to use Screening Questions to Select the Right Participants for User Research
If there are specific categories of people you need to exclude from the study, an open-ended question will be better than a multiple-choice one with answers that list the excluded categories. For example, unless your design is for expert users, it’s best to exclude those whose job relates to the
How to Try Gutenberg Safely in a Sandbox Environment .
Because you are in a safe, copied sandbox environment, you can safely test the Gutenberg editor here. Take a look around the new editor and make sure the editing experience makes sense, and that any custom fields your plugins or theme have added to the editor page still appear. After running these
tabs, used right
WP Engine Named a Great Place to Work in Ireland
Almost three years ago, WP Engine expanded its global presence and opened a second international office in Limerick, Ireland (our first was in London). Known as a city where technology and culture collide, Limerick has been the perfect location for WP Engine to grow and evolve. At its start, the
Always Innovating for You: WP Engine Mid-Year Review 2018
As voice technology continues to expand and see greater adoption, expectations that digital experiences include voice tech are growing. The Amazon Polly plugin for WordPress, co-authored by AWS and WP Engine, lets users bring voice technology to their websites by turning text into lifelike speech
Accordions for Complex Website Content on Desktops
Accordions may seem to be a good solution for shortening long content pages. However, in many situations when all the page content is relevant to users, it is more advantageous to show all the content at once, even if doing so results in longer pages. On the desktop it is easier to simply scroll
Service Design 101
As services grow in sophistication, so does the need to support them. Complex user experiences often break due to an internal organizational shortcoming — a weak link in the ecosystem. For example, when was the last time you called a support hotline, gave your personal information, only to be
The Magnifying-Glass Icon in Search Design: Pros and Cons
If your website uses a magnifying-glass icon instead of a search button on desktop, the recommendations here should help. At NN/g, we’re still using the search button on our website. We have the space, and we have no doubt that people can spot search on our site. We’ll also keep an eye on other
6 Emerging Cyber Threats to Lookout for in 2019
2018 showed us an accelerated growth in cyber threat activities. Data breaches, attacks using malicious software and insider threats were among the most familiar forms of attack. Many well-known organizations suffered from these cybersecurity disasters and compromised data of millions of users
Profiling Hackers: Defining the Good, Bad, and Ugly Personas
There are many methods hackers use to test and identify vulnerabilities that let them get to the desired data. The first is a penetration test, which stimulates a cyber attack to see what might happen. A network penetration test focuses on potential vulnerabilities in firewalls, routers, and any
What Frequent Fliers Need to Know About Airport Facial Recognition
Facial recognition in American airports isn’t a sci-fi future scenario. According to a report from the Department of Homeland Security, 97% of U.S. airports will use facial recognition technology to identify passengers by 2023. Automated systems will soon capture images of your face at
How to File an International Trademark When You’re Ready to Take Your Business Global
Not only is the USA the biggest market in the world, but it also has a fast and electronic application system that can be completed online through the USPTO website. Additionally, registering in the USA first will give your application stronger credibility and priority when you seek to register
tabs, used right
Top Outsourcing Destinations in Latin America for 2019
For companies seeking to keep costs down without sacrificing the quality of work, hiring development teams in Latin America is an advantageous option. Certain countries in Latin America, such as Mexico and Colombia, are the top choice for IT outsourcing due to their proximity to the U.S. and high
Building a Workplace for the Next 100 Years
The astounding shortage of computer science professionals in the US demonstrates the need for enterprises to become less reliant upon IT professionals to persist in digital transformation. SMBs often have a limited IT budget and were previously unable to utilize high-tech tools to improve
Tabs, Used Right | Give Thanks for Good UX
Give Thanks for Good UX
While many items on this list are mobile or device-centric, desktop shan’t be left behind. Microsoft’s modern browsers have a setting to make passwords visible, so people can more easily confirm that their password is correct. (We’ve longed for the option to toggle password masking for a
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
Scoped Search: Dangerous, but Sometimes Useful
Asking a customer to decide in advance what category they want to search for increases their cognitive load by causing them to make a decision. But people want to do the least amount of work possible. That’s not a criticism: our brains are designed to work efficiently, devoting the minimum
