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.
143
votes
18answers
33k views
Is this rotating cube interface user-friendly?
I'm working on a prototype for an innovative form interface, where different parts of the form are shown on different sides of a cube. The cube rotates, and the user can fill it out as the cube spins. ...
46
votes
9answers
4k views
Undo History - Why limit it?
Why do most applications have fairly limited 'undo' history functionality?
I've been caught out on multiple occasions (granted its technically my fault) where I've needed to undo a number of changes ...
45
votes
18answers
2k views
How can I keep up-to-date with the latest thinking about designing complex, rich applications?
I am designing a very complex eco-system of apps.
I like to make sure I am up-to-date with the latest thinking, research and trends in app and UI/UX design. I find that there are many great articles, ...
37
votes
16answers
3k views
Why do we say we “browse” to a place on the Internet when we actually download a web server’s content to our browser? [closed]
Browsing the web is a common daily task for more than a billion users, and we do not pay much attention to it. We just “browse to a place” or ask our laughing friend across the table “where she is on ...
36
votes
8answers
2k views
How to work with visual designers who treat wireframes as literal graphic suggestions?
Recently I started to face quite many cases on my client projects when a visual designer on the team produces design that looks like wireframes produced by me, only colored. Perhaps, the obvious ...
34
votes
10answers
2k views
What's the point in electronic devices beeping on keypress?
Many electronic devices, mostly cell phones, by default beep on keypress. What's the point in that?
Once a key is pressed their state is changed and that's reflected in the graphic interface anyway. ...
34
votes
4answers
2k views
Can you, and should you, design against buyer's remorse?
We know that one way to design an engaging experience is to design for emotion, e.g. as outlined in Aarron Walter's book of the same name.
Part of the process of designing for an emotional response ...
32
votes
14answers
3k views
Should double click be avoided in web applications?
I find that double click is a great gesture that could be successfully used in graphical interfaces but for some reason has negative connotation on the web. Should it be avoided at all costs?
25
votes
17answers
5k views
Form for inputting operating hours of a business
I am designing an interface where restaurants need to input their operating hours. I am thinking of using a slider control for timings for a single day, and then let the user choose days of the week ...
25
votes
6answers
365 views
What are your favorite counter-intuitive principles or ideas within UX? [closed]
A quick example:
"Paradox of Choice" - Giving a user more control via options, configuration, and settings is counter-intuitive from a UX standpoint. We expect users will relish their total ...
25
votes
6answers
2k views
What makes users register?
First off - I want users to register on my site. It's a site for image sharing, sort of like imgur.com. But what makes a user on a website register? I have people coming back to my site but they ...
24
votes
12answers
2k views
Is 'crazy' good?
I am in a group at University that is producing a mobile application targeted at Android. Our efforts are going to be on the mobile platform and making an application that 'stands out'.
I have come ...
22
votes
11answers
4k views
Better way for users to select a date range
In my application, users select a date range for which results are required. The UI looks something like this:
My users don't like this, because the date picker requires them to select a specific ...
22
votes
8answers
3k views
How should I interview UI and IA job applicants?
I'm a programmer who knows enough about UI/IA to sound convincing and cares enough to want to hire someone who actually knows what they are doing. Interviewing programmers is easy - they go on and on ...
22
votes
8answers
851 views
How do you deal with very long dropdown values?
Usually, dropdown menus are made as long as their longest value. However, that works well only for dropdowns with a predefined set of values. How can we deal with a dropdown that receives its values ...
21
votes
4answers
569 views
Bathrooms near elevators
Some office buildings have communal bathrooms (British English: lavatories). By this I mean bathrooms for use by the tenants and guests of all the offices on that floor, as opposed to bathrooms under ...
21
votes
9answers
892 views
How can you make a user experience addictive? [closed]
What factors and techniques contribute to making a user experience addictive?
I ask this in the context of websites, games and other software. What makes people want to keep coming back for more?
21
votes
7answers
896 views
How can a TV Remote's UX be improved?
TV remotes have the astounding distinction of having about half as many keys as my keyboard and one thousandth the functionality. The problem stems from the (perceived) need to present every possible ...
20
votes
5answers
15k views
Best Practices for UI design on Android (Usability/UX) [closed]
I'm switching for web development to Android development. I know some things about web usability and I see that UX is too often left behind on Android from my I experience with it.
As the interaction ...
20
votes
4answers
1k views
When is red the right color for a button?
After reading this question about Big Bad Red buttons, where it was generally agreed upon that red buttons draw the user to click, I was left thinking: then when are they good affordance and ...
18
votes
10answers
2k views
Is it ok to require certain users to have JavaScript enabled?
I am a firm believer sites should work perfectly fine for people who choose to disable Javascript while browsing any and all of the content.
However, when it comes to higher-level interaction (such ...
18
votes
2answers
568 views
Is a private messaging system really necessary?
I have a very old private messaging system that either needs to be redone or removed. It currently accounts for about 20% of the activity on the site.
We already have a system in place for ...
17
votes
6answers
978 views
If input text length is known, do I really need a submit button?
Use case
On a mobile device a user is improving her math skills using a native app (Windows Phone). There are many expressions being calculated in a series and the user is trying to get 10 correct ...
17
votes
4answers
487 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 ...
17
votes
3answers
1k views
Guidelines for autocomplete widgets
What guidelines exist when working with autocomplete widgets? I'm hoping for general guidelines that apply across different application types: web, desktop, and mobile.
A response to a Search as you ...
16
votes
8answers
886 views
Where can I find problems to challenge my UI design skills?
I'm still in the beginnings of my career as a programmer, and have always thought I was more interested in low-level back-end type stuff. However, having done a few projects lately on my own, I've ...
16
votes
13answers
942 views
How to build a budgeting interface (sum of items must equal 100)?
I'm trying to build a visual web interface where users can distribute a budget over some (varying) number of items. For example, if the budget is 100 points, I might allocate:
50 points to 'Apples'
...
16
votes
6answers
465 views
Should validating an email automatically sign someone into an application?
When signing up for a new account with a web application, it is standard to send a validation email. I don't want to go into the pros and cons of the validation email though.
When receiving a ...
16
votes
3answers
975 views
Character limits on fields - pros and cons and best practices?
Some of our form fields have character limits. We're debating whether we should reflect the current size of data entry, or to simply hard-limit and inhibit data entry beyond that size.
In HTML, ...
15
votes
15answers
1k views
Examples of spartan/basic web sites [closed]
I am looking for examples of web sites that have a very spartan and minimal interface - mostly text and very few graphics or even styling - yet the user experience is good enough that users are not ...
15
votes
7answers
558 views
At what stage in a project would hiring a UX contractor provide the most value?
In this case it would be for a small company that can't afford lots of specialized positions, developing a new (browser based, this time) version of an enterprise application. The new version is a ...
15
votes
5answers
943 views
How do you document your interaction flows?
For many years I've been using an evolved version of Jesse James Garrett's Visvocab diagramming style for documenting information architecture and interaction design concepts.
Today though we're ...
14
votes
4answers
232 views
Is it ok to force a user to reenter data instead of editing existing
Is it acceptable to force users to delete and recreate data they entered incorrectly or should they be provided with a way to edit every instance of that particular data?
Use Case:
The wireframe ...
14
votes
8answers
453 views
Is it ok to change the (US) address input field order in favor of a pre-fill feature?
I am working on an international site that requires the user to enter his postal address. I am wondering if it makes sense to have a slightly different order of input fields in favor of a time saving ...
13
votes
8answers
1k views
App interface for changing relational percentages
Has anyone ever seen or used a good app interface (web or mobile) for changing relational percentages? E.g I need to change 3 amounts to make up £100 and I need to be able to use any permutation to do ...
13
votes
4answers
254 views
Can user experience be mutually exclusive for two groups of users?
Is it possible for an item to have good usability and a positive user experience for one core group of users and, by virtue of that design, make the experience worse for another core group of users? ...
13
votes
5answers
813 views
What systematic methods there are for designing user interfaces?
I'm writing my Masters thesis about one method for designing user interfaces (GUIDe+GDD from Sari Laakso) and I would like to know what other systematic methods there are for UI design/interaction ...
13
votes
4answers
634 views
Making space for the “drop cue” in a drag-n-drop design
I'm developing a drag-and-drop reordering interface for books on shelves.
(You can try it live if you're on the latest WebKit.)
When you drag a book over a shelf, it accommodates space for it by ...
12
votes
4answers
568 views
How Do I Teach People Rules When They Don't Read?
I'm the product guy for a fantasy sports gaming website. We often find that we need to give people basic rules to get started playing the games, but people always skip reading and try to dive right ...
12
votes
8answers
3k views
UX design case studies [closed]
I am looking for well-written and in-depth case study articles of real life UX designs. I'd like to read how other designers tackle design challenges, and how their designs solve those challenges. ...
12
votes
4answers
3k views
What are the advantages and disadvantages of multi-window functionality vs single-window functionality?
I am considering porting a windows application to a web application for one of my clients. The windows application is an MDI app (multiple forms open at once), but obviously the web app would be much ...
11
votes
3answers
630 views
How do you calculate the cognitive memory load requirements of an interface?
If you break an interface down into elements and possible actions, how do you calculate the memory load requirements of an interface? Further, how do you relate the existing familiarity of an element ...
11
votes
8answers
682 views
When is double-clicking appropriate for the web?
I recently saw a website that required the user to double-click an item in a scrolling list to 'open' it for editing. It surprised me, as I don't usually think double-click is appropriate for ...
11
votes
6answers
446 views
How easy should I make it to delete content?
We want to make it easy for people to perform task in an application, but we also want to prevent them from accidentally deleting something. Where is the middle ground between these two opposing ...
11
votes
4answers
412 views
Building logical criteria (with AND , OR, etc)
I am looking for inspiration on this. We have a Dot.Net web application, where we are building pretty complicated criteria. It works, but I would like to change this, re-shape this, possibly from the ...
11
votes
2answers
448 views
Designing a web front end for launching long running batch processes
I'm looking for an example of a "web portal" application which has a well-done, easy-to-learn user interface.
By "web portal", I mean a web interface to a batch-processed system that runs ...
10
votes
9answers
482 views
Do users like choice? How much should I give them?
I built a photo slideshow web page as an exercise for myself.
One thing I found myself doing was adding a Settings button. Clicking this reveals a little settings pane that lets a user choose between ...
10
votes
4answers
840 views
How do you define interactions in a mockup?
I'm both a programmer and a UX/UI designer. When I design things, I generally make static images of what the interface will look like. The problem is, most UI's aren't static; they change and resize ...
10
votes
1answer
688 views
What are the “Big Three” Gestures in Mobile Development?
last week, our project manager mentioned that we needed to incorporate more of the "big 3" gestures in our mobile software. unfortunately, she's off on vacation now and none of us know what exactly ...
10
votes
4answers
161 views
Have you witnessed a UX/IxD fail recently? [closed]
This is the UX equivalent of the firehouse burning down.
Please, allow me to rename my file for you...if you were human, I'd slap you in the mouth.
Do you have any screenshots, stories, or videos ...
