for questions that specifically ask about academic papers or other scientific research
6
votes
3answers
357 views
How exactly does good usability cut development time?
I've been reading Return on Investment for Usable UserInterface Design: Examples and Statistics; it quotes:
"...usability techniques helped cut development time by 33-50%” (Bosert,
1991)
...
6
votes
5answers
339 views
What are some good questions to pose to stakeholders before redesign?
I've just started work with a big travel company that is working on redoing their 'self service' page. What would be some intelligent questions to ask the stake holders? How do I understand what ...
6
votes
2answers
315 views
Common screen resolution? (In a business environment)
Inspired by "Common screen resolution?" and a debate at work where I defended the teachings of this site...
In the debate we argued about how the business environment differ from home environment in ...
6
votes
2answers
228 views
User Experience Research on Users Total Digital Environment?
When we do User Experience Research we test a single application or even a single feature of an application. But there are no users who only uses one application. Users today are using several ...
6
votes
2answers
614 views
Conducting a competitive analysis
What are the questions you need to ask or the methods you perform when you're doing a competitive web site analysis from a UX perspective? How do you gather the facts? When in the project process do ...
6
votes
1answer
226 views
How can I convey the results of UX research to stakeholders?
How can I go about getting stakeholders to understand and "buy into" the results derived from UX research? For example, I ran across this great UX research plan by a Google UX researcher today.
6
votes
2answers
424 views
Is there any research available about the speed of working with a mouse vs. working with a trackpad?
I ask this because of a friend who never hooks up a mouse to his laptop because he claims he can work just as fast with a trackpad as with a mouse.
My personal experience is the other way around. I ...
6
votes
2answers
625 views
Where can I find research about UI Design Across Form-Factors/ Devices (e.g. TVs & entertainment systems)?
Has there been marketable research in new UI design ideas that could work across form-factors (from desktop down to smartphones on the one end and to widescreen HD TV for games on the other)? So that ...
5
votes
5answers
473 views
How reliable are heatmaps generated by cursor positions?
Heatmaps are one of the best tools we have to mesure the impact of a design, not just in UX terms but also in marketing/conversion terms.
I've found that most of the free or less-expensive solutions ...
5
votes
6answers
165 views
Should tabs changes in a web app be part of the browser history?
I've implemented a JavaScript plugin that tracks tab changes in through the browser history. Here's a brief overview of how it works:
Once tab is clicked, the URL hashtag (the part that looks like ...
5
votes
3answers
629 views
How to get stakeholder buy-in for proposed UX research initiatives?
Undertaking usability studies often requires selling them first. What methods have you found effective for getting your plans approved?
One example: I've used short project overview plans in the ...
5
votes
3answers
296 views
What's wrong with C-style syntax from a usability perspective?
Precursor: this a question about ux, not technical implementation.
Context. I'm looking at designing a small language with a textual syntax. It will be used by Business Analysts to define system ...
5
votes
2answers
381 views
Ratio of search vs. browse on consumer web sites
Where can one find referenceable stats or industry research which highlights the percentage of users who search vs. browse on consumer web sites. Are there any known studies in this area?
5
votes
3answers
159 views
How to gather and weight stakeholder ideas
When you interview stakeholders in order to gather business requirements – do you also document content ideas such as product benefits or ideas for sections on the web site? Do you put them in the ...
5
votes
2answers
219 views
Where can I find research on readability of web sites?
I am looking specifically for text alignment (e.g. left vs. full justification) and what size/width text sections ideally have.
5
votes
1answer
188 views
UX of background advertising (or other options)
My company's users use a website that features advertising from specific sponsors. The ads are all directly related to the content of the page and the situation in which the user is viewing the page ...
5
votes
1answer
115 views
Where can I find statistics on the use of mobile app features?
I am looking for academic research that investigates how frequently Set as wallpaper and Delete functions are used in image viewer applications on mobile devices (to defend their inclusion in a list ...
5
votes
1answer
154 views
Should you make your design personas public?
I have used personas a lot in the design of various products, including IBM Sametime and Lotus Notes. I publicly blogged the draft personas and asked for feedback from the users themselves.
The users ...
5
votes
2answers
112 views
Standards, guidelines or usability research for touch laptops?
From what I've read about CES it seems like a big upcoming trend in hardware is touch enabled laptops. And of course Microsoft's Surface device is sort of a touch enabled laptop.
This is a whole new ...
4
votes
5answers
191 views
Citation for the proposition “flashing boxes on the screen are annoying”
It seems self-evident that one should not put a large box on the screen and then change its dominant color frequently (i.e. make it flash) because it's very hard to ignore and will irritate people, ...
4
votes
3answers
315 views
Based on what usability research did Microsoft omit the save button on OneNote Web App?
I've started to use the OneNote Web App, and I think Microsoft have made a very good job developing it. I use it on the computer and on the phone with ease. I use the keyboard shortcut ctrl + S to ...
4
votes
2answers
449 views
Use of 'she' in scientific literature
While reading through plenty of scientific papers for my thesis relating to Human Computer Interaction (HCI), I am under the impression almost everybody refers to users/subjects/persons/... as 'she'.
...
4
votes
2answers
100 views
Can SUS scores be used for comparison between different systems?
The System Usability Scale (SUS) resulted score seem to me as somewhat subjective. What ever score yields from a questionnaire for System A may just solely be just for System A, and is difficult to ...
4
votes
5answers
378 views
Color in Scientific Visualization
I am interested in any academic research or guidelines that suggests the most effective use of color in scientific visualisations. Particularly I am interested in the merits of black on white or white ...
4
votes
1answer
262 views
What are the design guidelines to make interfaces friendly to dyslexics?
I've come across this question on Quora where it's likely to be forgotten.
Unlike other disabilities that are often considered in design, dyslexia has many forms. As a result, the guidelines can't be ...
4
votes
2answers
217 views
What original sources have research on how long it takes a visitor to decide whether to stay on the site?
I've seen many statistics referenced along the lines of:
Visitors decide where to stay on or leave a website within [7, 2, 11, 0.8 seconds] of seeing it.
Typically the statistic is used when ...
4
votes
3answers
348 views
How to visualize a calendar with a vast amount of recurring events?
Many of the events are recurring daily or weekly but are only interesting to the user once.
4
votes
3answers
598 views
Are there any advantages to matte interfaces over glossy interfaces (or vice versa)?
I'm curious about the usability of such interfaces for complex tasks, repetitive tasks. Are there any studies that focus on this comparison?
Note: My question is not just about phone interfaces but ...
4
votes
2answers
479 views
Best practices for applying user achievements to business applications
I've read over a few papers projects and related to the use of video game style achievements being put into regular applications as a means to encourage users to explore the tools and create a desire ...
4
votes
3answers
205 views
Is there research that shows that users don't like typing on virtual keyboards?
A widespread assumption among UX professionals says that users are not keen to use the virtual keyboard. Guidelines for mobile UX recommend to minimise text entry, suggest that typing holds back the ...
4
votes
2answers
71 views
Research on continuously animating list panel content
I am trying to find evidence for or against automatically scrolling (animating) panel content. Please open this Axure prototype to see exactly what I am talking about.
http://share.axure.com/5287A1
...
4
votes
3answers
397 views
How to collect and then extract user's behavior patterns
I have some SDI windows forms application. This application has main form, a huge of module forms. At the same time I can view one module form and many it's sub modal forms. So, every module form is ...
4
votes
5answers
159 views
Do you design/develop a site primarily for the laptop/desktop and think about mobile later?
Do you design/develop a site primarily for the laptop/desktop and think about mobile later, or do you design your website to be mobile and unmobile friendly, therefore cutting design/dev time in half? ...
3
votes
3answers
320 views
CVV “What is this?” help dialog - still necessary?
Many online shopping carts have a "What is this?" help dialog attached to a CVV input field.
Here is an example from Paypal:
My assumption is that more people are familiar with online shopping, ...
3
votes
6answers
162 views
What's the best way to conduct user research at a trade show?
I've tried a couple of times to perform usability studies at an industry-specific trade show, and it's been largely awkward. In my experience, people are milling around and love to chat, but don't ...
3
votes
8answers
353 views
What motivates people to keep on sharing ideas, develop new concepts and innovate on online innovation communities? [closed]
I'm very interested in crowd-sourcing and online innovation communities. Currently, I'm conducting research on what motivates users to continue sharing ideas, developing concepts, funding projects and ...
3
votes
4answers
126 views
Is pop up always bad?
I am involved in a redesign project (web app) where existing system throws quite frequent, random pop ups. These pop ups are used to gather information and also to display information and ...
3
votes
2answers
67 views
studies on passcode/keypad versus password/keyboard?
When designing a tablet-based app that needs it's own extra security, there seems to be a couple of common choices: add a password screen with a keyboard, or use a passcode screen that has a keypad.
...
3
votes
3answers
172 views
Should Focus Group interviews include people of different stakeholder categories?
I was told by a friend that when conducting focus groups to gather information for needfinding for a design, I should avoid grouping different stakeholders together into a single group.
This got me ...
3
votes
3answers
124 views
Are user able to accurately identify their persona? Or should the be able to?
We are currently developing Personas for our website and as part of the validation process we wanted to see if usability participants would be able to identify which persona segment they most closely ...
3
votes
2answers
76 views
Phrasing of diary study prompts to get more user insight
I am in the process of designing a diary study to investigate the interaction between a current software application and its users. I am seeking open-ended data and insights from users that I might ...
3
votes
2answers
111 views
Research on the effectiveness of subtle animation to draw attention?
Is there any research reporting on the effectiveness of subtle animations (sliding, fading in/out, etc) as a means to draw attention to the key part of a website?
A partner company is critiquing a ...
3
votes
2answers
668 views
Is there any research or data on horizontal vs. vertical navigational menus?
I've seen many sites using both horizontal (top) navigation, vertical (left) navigation, and both across web sites for a long time. My understanding is that they're both conventions, but I would ...
3
votes
1answer
172 views
Are there any studies on which keyboard keys get pressed the most?
I am surprised about the trend to make arrow keys half-sized and crammed right next to each other in recent laptops:
These are the same keys that stand completely isolated on the conventional ...
3
votes
2answers
75 views
What training opportunities are there in the UK for UX research? [closed]
I'm looking for a short (2 days maybe) training course in the UK (preferably London or South East) on how to conduct great depth interviews for UX type research.
What courses are there out there that ...
2
votes
4answers
168 views
Ideas and/or research results on the best way to present a lengthy list of chapters
I'm looking for the best way to present a list of chapters on an iPhone. My first stab was to create a vertically scrolling table with a row for each chapter. For example, when showing the chapters of ...
2
votes
2answers
78 views
Studies showing what prompts users to view the privacy policy of a website that does not have user accounts?
As opposed to websites where A user signs up and can be concerned about their privacy (i.e. Instagram, etc). What have case studies shown to motivate a user to look through a website's privacy policy? ...
2
votes
2answers
95 views
Express mode in lift
In some lifts, if we press and hold the close door button, it acts like pass button and doesn't opens the doors in intermediate floors if some one gives lift request from intermediate floors. Does it ...
2
votes
3answers
468 views
Relationship between Front-End Dev and Interaction Design [closed]
[I am not changing the original question as there are valuable answers here. but the research I was conducting is now finished and results are published here
and http://hci.me.uk/jqueryperformance/
...
2
votes
1answer
111 views
Organizing Competitive Site Research
One type of research in UX is competitive analysis. The way I define this is visiting related web sites (competitors), visiting unrelated sites that are inspiring or solve a problem differently... and ...
