Earlier this year, we honored Webby for Good nominees using WordPress to bring positive changes to the world. On November 15th, 2018 industry experts and technology innovators from across the EU will meet for the Webby’s European sister show, The Lovie Awards. Winners are selected for creating a stunning overall digital experience as well as for excellence in select areas: websites, apps, mobile sites and podcasts, online advertising, internet video, and social media.
This year, WP Engine partnered with The Lovie Awards to bring Lovie For Good, a project highlighting digital experiences bringing positive change to the world. From an algorithm to promote compassionate leadership to campaigns recognizing the importance...
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
Austin’s Annual PRIDE celebration is one of the largest opportunities for local non-profit organizations, social groups, and causes to gain exposure in the LGBTQ community. This year marked 28 years of Pride events in Austin. This year’s parade emphasis was awareness, equality and
At the end of September, we held our 2018 WP Engine Summit in Austin, Texas. Last week, agencies, brands, and digital innovators from EMEA came together in London for the WP Engine EU Summit. Attendees discussed the future of digital experiences, Gen Z’s perception of the Internet, and the
Can the blockchain and IoT solve international freight’s issues?
One team has found a novel way to address these inefficiencies and authenticity challenges through the blockchain. In January Dominik Schiener and his team won first prize at the Shanghai Blockchain Hackathon for their project Cargochain. We saw their work recently here in Berlin where they
Why Blockchain and Remanufacturing are a Perfect Match
Remanufactured items could also be tagged with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to track where parts are, their quality, and their shelf life. Newly added elements could also go through some form of quality assurance system to ensure that counterfeit parts do not enter into the blockchain. Any
9 Blockchains Transforming the Way We Pay, Play, and Work
Look past digital currencies’ nosebleed pricing volatility, and you’ll discover a robust, decentralized, secure database. Brands and technologists are quickly figuring out how to put this powerful ledger to good use. Here are several real-world examples that demonstrate cryptos’
Trustworthiness in Web Design: 4 Credibility Factors
Thorough information related to the business exudes expertise and authority. In our study, users appreciated sites that contained a large amount of relevant content because it showed that the organization was well informed and committed to helping its customers. For example, participants favorably
wordpress for good: relieving fatigue .
When and How to Create Customer Journey Maps
At the heart of a journey map’s narrative is what the user is doing, thinking, and feeling during the journey. These data points should be based on qualitative research, such as field studies, contextual inquiry, and diary studies. The granularity of representation can vary based on the purpose
Split Buttons: Definition
In the Windows Snipping Tool application, choosing an option from the split button’s menu (such as Window Snip) becomes the new default option, and clicking New would thereafter trigger a Window Snip (until the user chooses a different option from the menu). It is worth noting that in this
OK-Cancel or Cancel-OK? The Trouble With Buttons
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
Progress Indicators Make a Slow System Less Insufferable
It can also be helpful to add additional clarity for the user by including text that explains why the user is waiting (e.g., “Loading comments…”). One note of caution though: spinning gears can be dangerous for data that is loaded from a server, simply because the connectivity quality is
Assessing the Usability of a User Interface Standard
User interface standards have become the object of increasingly intense activities in recent years [Abernethy 1988; Holdaway and Bevan 1989], including work in the International Standards Organization (ISO) [Brooke et al. 1990] and the European Community [Stewart 1990]. Work is also going on in
Touch Targets on Touchscreens
Maps on touchscreens often cause touch-target errors. When many locations are presented in a map view, the markers for each location are so small and densely packed that it becomes nearly impossible to precisely select a particular pinpoint. In testing, we often see users immediately make a
wordpress for good: relieving fatigue .
Accot-Zhai Steering Law: Implications for UI Design
Why people have trouble maintaining the cursor on a straight path has to do with human physiology: the elbow and wrist, which enable the movement of the hand, describe an arc, not a line. Try it yourself: hold your arm out directly in front of you and move your hand from left to right. You’ll
Helpful Filter Categories and Values for Better UX
Within filter categories, you’ll need to decide how to order the filter values. For numerical filter values, the preferred way is to sort them from lowest to highest (for price ranges) or vice versa (for example, for average customer ratings). When the filter values are words, the default
Dropdowns: Design Guidelines
A while back, as part of a presentation on web-usability methods, we ran a small user test for the audience. When completing a registration page, our test participant had to enter her address on a form with a text field for the name of the street but a dropdown menu for the type of street (Avenue
Wizards: Definition and Design Recommendations
Wizards are a powerful design pattern that can be used to simplify complex processes performed infrequently or by novice users. By showing less information at a time, they allow users to focus better on the content pertinent to each step and decrease the chance of errors. When they include
When and How to Create Customer Journey Maps
Journey maps should always be created to support a known business goal. Maps that do not align to a business goal will not result in applicable insight. The goal could be an external issue, such as learning about a specific persona’s purchasing behaviors, or an internal issue, such as addressing
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
Why AI and Viztech hold the key to a safer internet
Driven by deep learning and neural networks, it’s similar to the technology behind the iPhone X’s facial recognition system, but much more sophisticated. Rather than being reactionary, it’s predictive, filtering, identifying and categorising video content before it even appears online. In
Is Your VPN Masking your Online Privacy or Exploiting Your Data? 6 Ways to Find Out
Research has shown that VPNs have their limitations and issues to be addressed. Addressing private security issues is why it is essential to carefully and thoroughly read through every legal document attached to their pages. Okay — at least read through trustworthy VPN review sites that
Standardizing “Tribal Knowledge”: It’s Time for Your Company to Grow Up
Another must-have component of a company’s knowledge base is a clear breakdown of the company’s accountability structure — which areas are responsible for completing specific tasks within designated time frames. According to Atlassian, 59 percent of U.S. workers cite communication as
wordpress for good: relieving fatigue .
How to Choose a Startup Investment
Look for platforms where founders have shared their thought leadership. This includes blogs, industry sites, and social media channels. What they say is integral to understanding how they think and approach growing a business. This in turn will tell you about the type of return you might expect
Steps to Building a Successful and Scalable Sales Process
With the right systems in place, crafting and scaling a profitable sales process is much easier than most people would ever believe. Using your customer persona to keep the needs of your prospects in mind at all times will help, but market research and split testing will take you even closer to
WordPress for Good: Relieving Fatigue . | Photos as Web Content
Photos as Web Content
This is a good example of why it's not always good to copy the biggest sites' designs. Because Amazon hawks a monstrously wide product range, they use a standardized gallery layout that sort of works for many different category pages, without being optimized for any individual category. In
Usability Insights From Sun Microsystem's 1997 Web Design
Smaller sites can get away with a much simpler approach. The figure shows the navigation area from Toby Braun Information Design. It is obvious that the user is in the "visioning" part of the site, which again is a part of the "information" area. This design provides two levels of navigational
Finally Progress in Internet Client Design
I also find it strange that there is little visual integration between the video area and the interaction area. The anchors could easily point over to the other area to draw the user's attention to things to click on or surveys to answer (in a personal email, one of the anchors told me that they
