defines the structure and behavior of interactive systems. Interaction Designers strive to create meaningful relationships between people and the products and services that they use, from computers to mobile devices to appliances and beyond.
0
votes
1answer
37 views
Consistency on container, or item type?
I have a question which relates to the attached image. I have a sidebar with a thumbnail image which relates to three types of items - images (mainly) - pdf's and videos.
When someone lands on a ...
2
votes
1answer
48 views
CLI: How should I order sub-commands in usage messages?
I'm developing a tool with a command line interface. I am seeking the clearest, most obvious/user-friendly way of ordering the sub-commands in the usage/error messages.
The nature of the tool is that ...
1
vote
0answers
31 views
CLI: How should I order arguments to my import/export commands?
I'm developing a distributed project management tool with a command line interface. I have two commands relating to initially copying a project to/from a hub. The export command looks like this:
prog ...
0
votes
4answers
51 views
Should the sign on experience for microsites within a company be exactly the same as the master site?
I am currently redesigning a secondary website (microsite) for a company's financial advisors. The primary reason for accessing this microsite is so they can sign on to their private dashboard area. ...
2
votes
1answer
52 views
How should a “mains failure” indicator be designed on a UPS?
I've already faced this issue twice. There's a UPS and its mains cable is loose and all of a sudden the cable just falls out so the UPS gets disconnected from the mains. So it starts beeping which ...
1
vote
3answers
104 views
First launch tutorial - Stacked screenshots vs. overlayed bubbles?
When the user first launches our mobile application, we would like him to go through a few steps explaining the main features/controls of the interface.
I see two possibilities:
a series of stacked ...
14
votes
6answers
772 views
How to show the user the possibility to sort a column with space problems
I am working with a big table with 20 columns and a lot of information.
I know that the most common way to indicate that a column is sortable is by adding a little arrow at the right or left of the ...
3
votes
2answers
100 views
Best practice for sorting and being able to “check all” in a table with checkboxes
I have a table as part of a form for which users can click the header row to sort by that column (and click again to reverse order). The table also contains checkboxes, and clicking the checkbox in ...
4
votes
2answers
59 views
How to indicate selected item in table if I'm already using formatting?
I have a table of related items. Let's call them orders. Users can select an item from the table and full details will be displayed in a separate section below the table. I move the currently selected ...
8
votes
3answers
306 views
Are new app designs deviating from conventional (better?) Interaction designs?
I am on the 3rd chapter of Joshua Clark's Tapworthy : Designing great iPhone apps
And I was really taken aback by the first few pages. In these first few pages Joshua Discusses the "thumb hotspot" ...
2
votes
1answer
48 views
Where to put element controls?
I have the following:
I think it's less than ideal because the edit/delete buttons are requiring me to waste a bunch of vertical whitespace within the element.
Options that I can think of:
...
3
votes
4answers
162 views
Any reason not to programmatically put the cursor in the search box by default view instead of forcing the user to click before writing the search?
Is there any reason not to programmatically put the cursor in the search box by deafult instead of forcing the user to click before writing the search? Google for instance does this but not always.
...
1
vote
4answers
74 views
How do I label a button that exposes a “code behind” editor?
Background
I'm building an editor where the user interacts with a graphical representation of the data. This data is actually generated from a script which the user may expose and edit (the "code ...
8
votes
2answers
166 views
Should primary click/tap action be listed in contextual menu as well?
Contextual menus are a nice way to extend the number of actions that can be performed directly on an item. However, the primary action is sometimes doubled there, usually listed as the first one. ...
1
vote
2answers
49 views
Should Checked-in People be disabled, or non-checkedin people
I am designing a backend roster system. The administrator scans the users barcode and then records the time they checked in.
My question is which group of people should look disabled?
My thinking ...
5
votes
5answers
130 views
Better method of displaying recipes [closed]
I'm working on a recipes-saving application and trying to figure out which method of presenting recipes is better.
Each recipe that is displayed on the page has a name, but not necessarily a photo. I ...
5
votes
3answers
183 views
Should user be able to scroll a web page while a modal is active?
As far as best practices are concerned, should user be able to scroll the page while a modal is active?
5
votes
3answers
165 views
select from predefined list if exist ,else insert a new item to the list?
What's the best experience to do the following:
The user will insert a new subject(text) only if it isn't in the existing list. So, it will be added to the existing list for all users.
I have ...
1
vote
2answers
76 views
Notifying the user of unsaved changes
I have some settings that the user of my software can change via a GUI. The settings reflect both the current state of the underlying properties, and the state of the user interaction.
Example: A ...
3
votes
2answers
44 views
Time entry that doesn't allow overlaps
I'm working on a time entry form for a project management app. The time entries entered represent real tasks done, so they cannot be allowed to overlap. Currently we accomplish this by simly ...
1
vote
0answers
96 views
Multi-Column Form Design: Is There a Consensus? [closed]
All -
I've read a lot of articles/research on this topic, but some practitioners insist that multi-column forms can be used effectively. To aide in the discussion, here is a list of research we can ...
4
votes
2answers
63 views
Interaction model for hierarchical selection
For a line chart, I would like the user to be able to drill-down and look at how specific groups are fairing over time. First, there is the selection of dimension and then groups within that ...
7
votes
4answers
257 views
How should email threads be ordered?
I thought I had the answer to this question. If you view raw email, you can see that the most recent email is at the top, with the rest below in reverse chronological order. I think it's fair to say ...
19
votes
4answers
945 views
Why aren't Gmail-like “on-page” dialogs more popular UI solutions?
A few months ago, Gmail gave us the choice to switch to a new UI, with many new features (...) including an "on-page-docked" window. I personally find this piece of UI very useful as it allows users ...
0
votes
0answers
80 views
Managing users, roles and permissions [closed]
I'm designing an administrative interface to manage permissions. As of right now I have something along the lines of this:
The next step is to create the form for how roles are tied to specific ...
4
votes
3answers
88 views
Who should be able to pause/restart/quit the game in a turn based game?
I have a game that consists of players making moves in turn, on a single console (Xbox 360).
Up to 16 players can play in one game. The xbox can have up to 4 controllers associated/connected to one ...
3
votes
2answers
69 views
Where to place advanced search option in a shopping app?
Should users be provided with options to adjust budget, color, category etc. while searching or on the catalog page ?
I think providing advanced search options on the catalog page where relevant ...
3
votes
2answers
74 views
Navigating a multi-part article in ios?
In my application I've got some multi-part articles, about test-driving a car. The articles are split into multiple section.
I'm using this control to navigate between the sections (note: it's not ...
2
votes
2answers
171 views
Migrating a Tab Bar iPhone app to iPad
I have an iPhone app whose overall UI is designed like this:
That is, a tab bar and different app perspectives within each tab item, and you can navigate to different views from within a tab.
I ...
7
votes
1answer
128 views
Are fixed mobile headers and footers that disappear and reappear on tap really useful?
These fixed mobile headers and footers disappear and reappear on click / tap using jQuery Mobile's data-tap-toggle which is on by default. How useful are they?
Pro: More content is available when ...
6
votes
2answers
298 views
How can we visually improve the nested rule/predicate builder?
This has been discussed a bit here: Building logical criteria (with AND , OR, etc) - but we felt the examples left a lot to be desired.
Apple (with their hidden nested rules/predicate builder) in ...
9
votes
2answers
144 views
Timer for undos (aka ctrl + z for pointing devices)
We are in the middle of an endless conversation* in the office :
Should undos have a timer before disappearance or should they be displayed until next action?
In our discussion, closing or changing ...
5
votes
4answers
215 views
Should clicking a drop-down menu in a native app a second time close it?
Why do some UIs use drop-down menus that can be closed with a second click, while others do not? It really annoys me when I have to click outside of the menu in order to close it and I accidentally ...
0
votes
2answers
108 views
The best practices for a rating bar/slider/buttons
I need to make a rating scale input device that satisfies the following requirements:
1) Each value must be associated with a number to the user.
2) It must be immediately clear that this thing ...
10
votes
4answers
307 views
Form Design: Mutually Exclusive Tabs vs. One Form
I am working on a form design that currently has two mutually exclusive forms accessible via tabs (Option 1). During usability testing my team noticed that users missed the tabs and only noticed them ...
2
votes
4answers
100 views
Should I use 'Load More' or Automatic Loading? [duplicate]
I am creating a website that I want to have an infinite loading system on the home page. This page contains a tiled list that will fill up the page from left to right, and also most likely from top to ...
2
votes
2answers
142 views
When is Skeuomorphism appropriate in an iOS app?
I know there are no hard and fast rules regarding the use of Skeuomorphism, but I'd like to more fully understand when the use of Skeuomorphic elements is appropriate in iOS apps.
To my limited ...
8
votes
3answers
146 views
How to handle conflicting updates of a customer record
We are developing a simple web based single-page CRM-like app. I was thinking about what happens when two operators are both editing the details of a customer "John Doe". On the server side we use a ...
1
vote
1answer
72 views
How would you improve this search results interface? [closed]
I've been doing some research in successful UIs for search results and as a personal project I am trying to build one that is simple, yet elegant.
That has great interactions and a great experience.
...
1
vote
4answers
147 views
when is too much playfullness in interface / experience too much?
I think most of us know when an experience is too playful, but I'm talking about subtle interactions to delight the user.
I think it is too much when it prevents or postpones the user from reaching ...
-3
votes
1answer
100 views
How shall i convince user to select multiple email-id?
I am inviting people to participate in my activity. I entered the email id. It got added into the list. Now shall i select multiple? (Is the question faced by many users)
What shall i do:
-Provide a ...
0
votes
0answers
39 views
Mobile pattern library with animated IxD examples? [duplicate]
Can anyone suggest a blog or pattern library that demonstrates interaction design examples? Everything I've seen to date uses static screenshots, but nothing that actually animates the interactions or ...
2
votes
3answers
128 views
Another way of doing multi-select on mobile other than check boxes?
I saw a similar question asked but it wasn't exactly the same. On mobile check boxes feel rather fiddly and to be fair on my search around the web I haven't seen checkboxes commonly used on mobile ...
2
votes
5answers
130 views
How should horizontal scrolling be handled?
In this example, horizontal scrolling is handled with vertical scrolling.
My question is: is this a good practice for handling horizontal scrolling in desktops? Is there a better way or horizontal ...
0
votes
1answer
100 views
Colours to use in a fashion website [closed]
I am working on a fashion website for my own portfolio. However it allows users to have their own account where they can save fashion related items. A sort of Pinterest for fashion items.
Now, I know ...
1
vote
3answers
126 views
DropDownLists becoming TextBoxes - Should the user be able to go back?
So I have a menu on web application I am developing. In this menu, there is an option for how many Project vacancies one wishes to create. The user can choose as many as they need (large numbers will ...
4
votes
2answers
53 views
Incorporating new (unrelated) data on an existing table
We have a big table where user enters hours for each day of a time period (14 slots for day inputs)
each row represents a task.
the Dev team wants to incorporate tasks from another system into that ...
6
votes
4answers
96 views
When is it appropriate to split functionality into separate apps?
I'm a designer and my company has a single app that serves two different types of user.
One group is the general public, who uses the app to navigate big events (e.g. annual user group meeting ...
3
votes
1answer
121 views
Examples of patterns for multiple file uploads using drag and drop?
I've been working on an app that involves making an application for a permit. Applicants typically need to upload 5-16 documents (drawings and specifications) before they submit their applications. ...
2
votes
2answers
126 views
For a streaming music service, should clicking play on an album, add to the start or end of queue? Or play immediately?
I want to know what the user's expectation is when he/she clicks on the play button of an album and it's position in the queue.
Rdio:
If you press the play button – plays immediately. However, they ...
