the art of writing promotional text to make an emotional impression on the reader, usually to encourage a purchase. Don't confuse with [tag:copyright] or [tag:copy-editing].
7
votes
5answers
189 views
What's a better label for the traditional “Browse…” button for selecting files to upload?
I've been working on an advanced file uploader, complete with folders and animated progress bars, and wanted to improve the vague "browse" button generally used for launching a file selector window. ...
2
votes
3answers
58 views
Show file size of (inline) linked downloads?
Should we show the file size of downloads linked on a web page?
For download sites (e.g. file hosting services), the answer is obviously yes. But what about websites that offer downloads only ...
69
votes
7answers
2k views
“Your” vs “My” in user interfaces
Some user interfaces feature titles such as:
My documents
My photos
My previous orders
While others opt for:
Your documents
Your photos
Your previous orders
Are their any guidelines addressing ...
112
votes
12answers
6k views
Why shouldn't we use words such as 'here' and 'this' in textlinks?
Over the years of surfing on the web I have found numerous examples of people saying that you shouldn't use the word "here" in a textlink etc. Personally I like the idea of using the word, because it ...
1
vote
5answers
98 views
What could be a single term (for use in a website) to refer to a community that encompasses students groups, academic institutes & recruiters?
I need a simple term that I could use in website's main navigation bar to refer to community encompassing academic groups, academic institutes & recruiters.
The target page is supposed to contain ...
2
votes
2answers
91 views
Mobile, “Show Remaining” or “Show All”?
In a mobile screen I have n data items in collection, but I am limited to show first 3 or 4 items from it. For the rest I can put a button below 3rd or 4th item which can lead my user to a popup where ...
14
votes
2answers
483 views
Should I put “.” at the end of messages for mobile users?
Should I write "." at the end of messages displayed to the user in my mobile Android application?
For example:
High bandwidth required, switch to WiFi.
or
High bandwidth required, switch ...
6
votes
3answers
124 views
Where should I display 'free shipping if payment by debit card'?
I've been working on an e-commerce website, and the stakeholders want to add the following text: 'free shipping if payment by debit card'. Where should I display this on the website?
I think the most ...
5
votes
2answers
58 views
content for information message
Is it better to display
a positive informative message
"You can only view and share links of icons. for additional options please login"
or negative informative message
"Downloading, Uploading or ...
5
votes
3answers
97 views
Is it OK to use 'free' in a tax subtotal?
we are designing a checkout page and in the subtotals area we have a breakout for tax, shipping and discounts.
We use the term 'free' rather than '0.00'.
So, for example:
Subtotal: $140.00
Tax: ...
2
votes
2answers
77 views
Experience with effective subject and body for “credit card expiring soon” emails
I have a subscription service that has a few dozen subscribers drop off every month because of expired credit cards. I was hoping to gain a little insight into some best practices for an email to prod ...
13
votes
5answers
439 views
How to define/classify messages and notifications
I have seen content from various style guides and UX guidelines about this, and was wondering if there is a much more simple system to create a consistent and easy to implement design for various ...
12
votes
2answers
162 views
How to realistically test blog headlines before publishing?
I'm currently writing a post for my company's blog. I'm agonising over the headline, as I really, really want people to read this post (I'm trying to convince our users to opt in to our customer ...
6
votes
5answers
292 views
Alternative wording to 'upgrade from free trial to a paying plan'?
Looking for an alternative to 'upgrade'. The problem is that in our web-app ui and communication, we are currently using two different versions of upgrade:
the common upgrade/downgrade of the ...
4
votes
2answers
214 views
“File” for name of drop-down menu
In Windows mostly, a lot (most?) applications have a "File" drop-down menu, with things like "Exit", "Import/export settings", "Preferences", ...
Is "File" a blindly accepted standard/default? ...
5
votes
3answers
143 views
Fusing words for website name: confusing or doable?
Arguably UX starts with the domainname. Well perhaps a bit far-fetched, so please feel free to suggest what might be a bitter fit than UX.SE for this question, but here it is anyhow.
I'm looking at ...
33
votes
13answers
1k views
What word can be used to mean either click or tap?
Very often we need to speak generically about clicking or tapping an item, but there seems to be a lack of vocabulary in English for this. We could just say "click or tap" every time, but that is ...
2
votes
2answers
92 views
How fluent should filters be?
I have a few types of filters for a table and they should be concatenated.
So in the end I should get something like this:
URL contains google.com and Visits > 1000 and Date is before 30.12.2011
...
3
votes
3answers
138 views
Contact page. Which is the better wording?
What is the most appropriate Contact page title for a website?
Contact, Contacts, Contact us or other?
Contacts is used, among others, in iOS and Android.
Seems to me more related to a list of ...
3
votes
2answers
121 views
Is there a better label for the “OK” button in message boxes with just one button?
Having read "Should I use Yes/No or Ok/Cancel on my message box?", I do understand that message boxes with two or more buttons should use verbs instead of e.g. Yes and No.
To further improve the user ...
4
votes
2answers
44 views
What would you label 'Delete oldest and Save' action?
The (iPad) app has a limit to the number of sessions which can be saved.
Once the limit is reached, when the user tries to save a new session he gets a dialog box telling:
You can either delete ...
4
votes
2answers
99 views
What call to action to use on a button that sends an e-mail with order details?
On a website you can use your e-mail address to view your current order status. No personal identifiable information is displayed. However, you can let the website resend the full order confirmation ...
7
votes
3answers
248 views
What is the correct way to indicate something can be either singular or plural?
Taking it as a given that the system is not intelligent enough to be able to recognise a single result as apposed to multiple results (don't ask!), what is the correct way to represent the possibility ...
8
votes
1answer
208 views
How much text markup is good, before it becomes bad?
In 1997 Jakob Nielsen told us about how users read on the web. (Actually in a typically headline grabbing way, he says they don't and then tells us how they do!)
Nielsen is a big proponent of using ...
5
votes
5answers
211 views
Is “<Object name>: <quantity>” notation acceptable in most popular localization?
This question was originally asked in the linguistics SE (which is not a good place to ask this kinds of thing).
Full question follows
I follow the software localization guideline, that states ...
24
votes
7answers
779 views
How to phrase button labels?
How should I phrase the following button labels:
"Import image" or "Import an image"?
"Create app" or "Create an app"?
"Add description" or "Add a description"?
If you could also supply the ...
4
votes
1answer
120 views
Startup screens: “Show this page at startup” vs. “Don't show this on startup”
I'm currently working on an iOS app where the user is presented with a startup screen until the user disables it.
I am insisting that this startup screen should have an already ticked checkbox that ...
7
votes
3answers
152 views
“Activate” / “Enable” + “noun verbing” or simply “Verb noun”?
A popular chatting application has the global option "Enable buddy icon animation". Would this be better phrased as "Animate buddy icon" or not? And if so, is this a general rule? For example, ...
1
vote
3answers
477 views
Enter your email below and we will contact you
My client wants a page in which the following text appears:
"Enter your email below and We will contact you"
It's then followed by a textfield (to write the email address) and a button to submit ...
5
votes
3answers
225 views
Should field labels be nouns or verbs?
On a web form should field labels be nouns or verbs? This issue arose from two fields on an account request form that currently read:
Temporary Password
Re-Enter Temporary Password
There is debate ...
7
votes
5answers
466 views
How to say that an online demo is interactive in 2-3 words?
Basically, they can play around with the app, to get a feel for it in a advance. The target audience is business owners who may or may not (likely not) be technologically inclined.
Demo implies that ...
7
votes
4answers
92 views
Print array index in plain text
I'm developing an engineering application which stores data in C arrays. When a user edits data representing one of the items of the array, I want to be able to show the item number they're editing.
...
0
votes
3answers
214 views
Icon for “title” and “subtitle” [closed]
I am creating a template for TV programme details. For each programme, I have a title and a subtitle. Instead of writing "Title" and "Subtitle" in full, I was thinking of using an icon.
What icon ...
5
votes
5answers
268 views
“Millions of colors” vs “24-bit”: should technical concepts be simplified to ease understanding at the cost of precision?
Macs indicate 24-bit color depth by using the term "millions of colors", while Windows calls it "24-bit" or "32-bit". (I'm aware that Windows "32-bit" color simply adds an alpha channel that doesn't ...
15
votes
6answers
628 views
What is the recommended wording for a generic error message
What would be the best wording for a generic error message?
With generic error message I mean a message for an error that has occured but there are no details on what the error is or how to recover ...
248
votes
14answers
28k views
Should error messages apologize?
We are having a discussion on our team about an error message that says "Sorry, you do not have permission to access this feature. Please contact your administrator for assistance."
Is it ...
0
votes
1answer
67 views
Best practices for application alerts
As a developer, I'm always confused about the three basic values of any application's alert:
Title
Message
Dismiss button
What should be placed in those 3 values? FAQ for myself:
Should the ...
8
votes
2answers
249 views
Most effective way to display the enable/disable part of a setup page
We have an admin section with a number of different settings users can go to. In the majority of pages there is an option at the top which initially allows the users to either enable or disable that ...
6
votes
3answers
267 views
Should a username be truncated?
Is it ever OK to truncate a username? Is there any good solution / trade-off?
Site shows username as:
Username: Shrinivasuk View: Shrinivasu...
Username: Ritesh View: Rite
Username: Poonam ...
5
votes
2answers
91 views
Why use the append text to copy-paste (“Read more at …”) pattern?
I was copy-pasting some text from a website and besides the text I copied, the following text was appended "Read more at: http://www.YYYY.com Copyright © YYYY".
I've seen this pattern in many ...
16
votes
6answers
521 views
Why do some sites use “If you are not <user>, click here” instead of “Log out”?
I've recently noticed that several websites, e.g. Amazon, Dockers, etc. use "If you are not -username-, [click here]" instead of an explicit logout button. Is this another example of hiding the logout ...
13
votes
8answers
647 views
What to do when customers search for “Cheap” when you want to convey “Quality”?
An ecom client that I am working with has an interesting SEO challenge. They sell products that they want to convey quality and value; however, the #1 thing searched for on Google, Bing, and their ...
3
votes
2answers
100 views
Setting vs Settings? Which one makes more sense in a dropdown button
This button should do what it looks like it should do. It opens a drop down of actions that a user can perform on their user account. Should I go with "Setting" or "Settings"?
1
vote
4answers
264 views
Is there a reason to use this icon with a confirmation message?
This is the message Sharepoint 2010 gives as a confirmation message for requesting access to a particular site you do not have access to.
I am quite confused by the icon - to me this looks like a ...
3
votes
1answer
38 views
Should I retry a manual refresh when network is available?
I have a mobile app that automatically downloads user content from the Internet according to a schedule. Sometimes it might miss a scheduled update because the device wasn't connected to the Internet ...
14
votes
5answers
704 views
Is user experience a job position?
What I meant by my question was is user experience a stand alone job position, or is it a technical or artistic position that uses some principles of user experience design?
The reason I ask is ...
14
votes
1answer
1k views
When to use “join,” “register,” or “sign up”?
For a user, when is it better to be asked to do the following:
"Sign In" vs. "Log in"
"Join" vs. "Register" vs. "Sign Up"
"Sign Out" vs. "Log out"
Different websites seem to use them differently, ...
23
votes
7answers
1k views
Help menu - “?” or “Help”?
It is a very simple question, but it has been bothering me for quite some time: when creating an application, should the help menu (in the menu bar) be called "?" or "Help"?
I can see a few ...
14
votes
8answers
2k views
How to tell the user his login credentials are incorrect?
When a user has entered incorrect details into a login form, is it better to tell them:
The username or password you have entered is invalid.
or
The user name you have entered is invalid (for ...
24
votes
3answers
1k views
Use old or new name for an update confirmation message when name itself has been updated?
I want to provide a user of a web application some confirmation message like:
The task "foobar" has been successfully updated.
Now, in term of usability, if the update consists in changing ...
