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...
As we continue to showcase a sample of the amazing StudioPress themes now available to WP Engine customers, we’re extra excited to bring you this new StudioPress Theme: Breakthrough Pro, which is the first new theme to be launched since our acquisition of StudioPress in June. Breakthrough Pro
As we continue to showcase a sample of the amazing StudioPress themes now available to WP Engine customers, we’re shifting our focus to food with this new StudioPress Theme: Daily Dish Pro, which is designed to make your content just as appetizing as the best meal at your favorite four-star
Diversity has long been an important topic for WP Engine. CEO Heather Brunner often says “diversity attracts diversity.” This means that as a company naturally attracts and retains diverse talent, that diversity is sustained from the inside by employee referrals. Ultimately, the
Emerging Technologies are Banding Together to Accelerate Big Data’s Growth
Thanks to the growth of the internet, the rate at which new information is being released is growing exponentially. Accelerating big data between machines. We are in an age when communication is not just between human beings. Machines are now the go-to for connections between the people to people
Emerging Technologies are Banding Together to Accelerate Big Data’s Growth
Thanks to the growth of the internet, the rate at which new information is being released is growing exponentially. Accelerating big data between machines. We are in an age when communication is not just between human beings. Machines are now the go-to for connections between the people to people
A 60-Second Trailer of the 60-Day Report on Cybersecurity
Finally, Hathaway sees this as a unique opportunity for the United States to work with countries around the world, and with organizations on an extremely local level. “We cannot succeed if our government works in isolation,” she added. It requires “leading from the top” from
Brand Is Experience in the Digital Age
Brand is a tool for influencing choice. Brand is not made of visuals or words alone — it’s not a logo or a slogan. Nor is it a figurehead, such as Steve Jobs. Those things are simply ways to communicate the brand. Although a figurehead such as Elon Musk or a logo such as McDonald’s golden
wordpress for good: relieving fatigue .
Brand Is Experience in the Digital Age
While “branding” products with an identifying mark (definition #1) has been around since people first began trading and selling goods, the use of brands to differentiate products — to truly attempt to influence consumers’ perceptions and choices within a market (definition #2) — is a
The Four Dimensions of Tone of Voice
Using product-reaction testing to see if your users choose tone words that correspond to your target tone profile. For example, let’s say you want your users to view your brand as funny but respectful. If users choose “humorous” to describe your content, you could consider that it matches
7 Tips for Successful Customization
Customization allows users to make selections and set preferences in a system, with the intent of giving users more control over the user experience. Customization allows users to select the content, layout, functionality or design that appeals to them. However, customization tools require work and
Confirmation Dialogs Can Prevent User Errors (If Not Overused)
First of all, why does Windows use two different icons to represent the same issue (permanent file deletion)? The X and the exclamation mark are both reasonable icons for this type of warning, but pick one, for the sake of consistency (another top-10 UI heuristic). However, this is a minor issue
Progress Indicators Make a Slow System Less Insufferable
Jokes and complaints about tacky hold music aside, the truth is that, because of the multiple instances of feedback, I was much more at ease while waiting to connect to the DMV. And ultimately, I was impressed with their service. These few design improvements to their on-hold system must have been
Teenager’s UX: Designing for Teens
Are teens getting better or are websites getting better? Probably a bit of both. We observed many of the same bad user habits among teens in our last study as we saw in our first study, back in 2004. Thus, the improved performance obviously stems in part from improvements in website design. That
wordpress for good: relieving fatigue .
Cancel vs Close: Design to Distinguish the Difference
Note that saving intermediate work or maintaining an ongoing process before closing is proactive, but sometimes can be contrary to the user’s intention: If users intend to cancel their selections by clicking the X button, auto applying those selections could be confusing and frustrating. This is
Dot Voting: A Simple Decision-Making and Prioritizing Technique in UX
To prevent skewed voting from the HIPPO effect (or other strongly opinionated team members), dictate the order each person places their votes. Have junior participants place their votes first, while saving stakeholders or subject-matter experts for last. This approach protects the votes (and
Service Design 101
Reducing redundancies with a bird’s-eye view. Mapping out the whole cycle of internal service processes gives companies a bird’s-eye view of its service ecosystem, whether within one large offering, or across multiple subofferings. This process helps pinpoint where duplicate efforts occur
UX Research Cheat Sheet
When deciding where to start or what to focus on first, use some of these top UX methods. Some methods may be more appropriate than others, depending on time constraints, system maturity, type of product or service, and the current top concerns. It’s a good idea to use different or alternating
Case Study: Iterative Design and Prototype Testing of the NN/g Homepage
As new components were designed (for example, buttons, lines, type, hover styles, and tiles), they were added to a master component stylesheet. This process made creating specifications for developers efficient because there was no redundancy; we named each component on the page layouts, allowing
These Are The Concerns Slowly Killing Ad-Tech
Black Mirror, recently bought by Netflix, is a hugely popular TV series that is a dark, twisted but spot-on portrayal of the possible ramifications of technology in the future. Advertisements for the show are ironically targeting ad block users, and some argue, are “intentionally creepy.” For
4 Reasons Behind Slow Adoption of IoT
Well, remember earlier when we mentioned that all the IoT devices are going to be interconnected? It is obviously way harder to connect these devices with one another, if they work on different standards. That’s why it is important to establish once and for all some standards for development of
Data Privacy Attitudes and Connected Cars: A Deeper Look
The Otonomo-Edison Research Survey is a US online survey of 1,070 persons 18 and older. Of that total, 514 were connected car owners, and 794 planned to purchase a new car in the next year (note: there was some overlap between the two groups.) Participants were recruited through Survey Sampling
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
wordpress for good: relieving fatigue .
The 4 Critical Challenges of Tech Startup PR
There aren’t very many industries that have a language that’s as involved and specific as the technology industry. For example, tech-sector buzzwords like blockchain, big data, AR, and the like are regular fixtures of today’s industry coverage. The problem is that these buzzwords are often
A 60-Second Trailer of the 60-Day Report on Cybersecurity
Finally, Hathaway sees this as a unique opportunity for the United States to work with countries around the world, and with organizations on an extremely local level. “We cannot succeed if our government works in isolation,” she added. It requires “leading from the top” from
WordPress for Good: Relieving Fatigue . | Mastery, Mystery, and Misery: The Ideologies of Web Design
Mastery, Mystery, and Misery: The Ideologies of Web Design
Even designers who believe in user mastery can be tempted to taint their designs with shades of mystery. It's easy to delude yourself that an ornamental feature will attract users. For example, most users disliked the category name "lifestyle" on bbc.co.uk according to the British government's user
Ad Placement for Mobile
An additional benefit to the sticky-container treatment is that the ad is still readily available to users once they finish their task. While the user is focused on completing an activity or researching a topic, ads will be ignored because they aren't part of the goal. Assuming the advertisement is
Homepage Real Estate Allocation
Using these major categories to map a site's use of space above the fold is a revealing exercise. You can do this yourself: Grab a screenshot of your homepage and superimpose semi-transparent colored boxes on top of each design element, using color-coding for each important screen space category
