User interaction is generally what happens when a user interacts with an artifact. How the users thinks and experience the interaction is what is placed on this tag.
142
votes
11answers
35k views
Why do users click randomly and rapidly when an application hangs?
This question came to me when I witnessed a collegue's behaviour on an application freezing due to a large operation. And it's something I've certainly done myself.
An app freezes for more than a ...
8
votes
4answers
264 views
Navigation menu with only one drop-down child — intuitive or not?
Here is a website's main navigation:
Having sub-navigation on-click is pretty common and irreplaceable:
But as a user and designer, I have struggled with the case where there is only one child ...
4
votes
1answer
71 views
How best to display multiple choices for multiple fields?
I have a tricky one. I need to let an IT administrator set the value for each field and assign that combination of values to an entity. (The following image shows a simplified example, where fields ...
2
votes
2answers
67 views
Clarifying the controls in “draft” mode
We have an application where pages are created/viewed. There is two modes for users of the application: live and draft. When the application is in draft mode, you can edit multiple changes and then ...
4
votes
1answer
93 views
Placement of flash/growl notifications or messages in web application
Question
I have been wading through tons of questions on the topic of flash/growl notifications, but none of them touch on where those notifications should be placed and why they should be placed ...
8
votes
3answers
339 views
Using Dropdowns AND Radio Buttons to avoid confusion
For you reference I wanted to point out that this is a Video project.
I am designing a menu in which the user can choose 1 of 4 formats for SD (standard definition) and two options for HD (high ...
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
214 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
1answer
404 views
Differences between iOS and Android GUIs [closed]
People sometimes ask me why I chose to buy an iPhone instead of an Android. I always reply the same thing: iPhones (and Apple devices in general) are more user friendly, in my opinion, than Androids. ...
-1
votes
3answers
156 views
Restaurant Menu
I'm working on a restaurant's website who gives the possibility to book the meal online. I have a doubt. How organize the menu?It has several dishes categories (appetizer, salads, chicken etc) and in ...
16
votes
6answers
854 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 ...
16
votes
3answers
501 views
What is the optimum button size of touch screen applications?
I read this blog post about the ideal button size of touch screen control sizes. It was based on the study form the MIT touch lab that gives some measures of the size and sensitivity of the finger. He ...
6
votes
5answers
257 views
Two-level menus: Why? and When?
Two level menus: should they be used? Why are they important?
I never found any resource explaining this.
Should I avoid them and only use them when you really have too much stuff to present?
3
votes
6answers
148 views
When to combine comboboxes?
Let's say that my GUI has two fields to configure: input and output.
Both fields are implemented with comboboxes that may have the following values:
Input Values: A, B, C, D, E, F
Output Values: 1, ...
6
votes
3answers
141 views
Is Successful Validation useful for step forms
We've been designing a registration form with 5 steps.
The form has many input fields, some required and some not.
The validation is client side and is represented with red text for errors.
I was ...
5
votes
2answers
107 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 ...
8
votes
3answers
119 views
Should I verify that the output directory exists or just create it?
In my job, I create apps where I'm converting data and frequently need, among other things, an input and an output directory. Obviously, the input directory needs to exist, but for the output ...
1
vote
1answer
90 views
Will it be better for making call-for-action buttons in warm colors?
Are there any A/B test/ statistics results revealing whether using warm color buttons is generally better than cold color buttons in UI? (despite the concern for the theme color of the brand)
9
votes
2answers
325 views
Best way to show user image is being process by the server
I have an App that takes images from the users for a beauty competition.
I use Amazon EC2 to process the images and SQS to queue images being processed.
Right after the user upload when they go to ...
5
votes
2answers
204 views
What is the difference between user journey and task flow
I was wondering if you could explain me what is the difference between a user journey and a task flow? I tried to read and look for example images in Google...and I can't find the difference between ...
3
votes
3answers
163 views
Time Scheduler UI
Working on a doctor availability schedule page. In this page I need to setup the available time for each day in a week for a doctor.
This is one time activity. Samething is repeated for every week. I ...
4
votes
2answers
117 views
Are modals usable on smartphones, or is there a better alternative?
I want to make a simple popover (or modal) that allows a user to subscribe to a newsletter (of course only when a user clicks on "subscribe to newsletter", I don't want to be obnoxious). It'll be a ...
19
votes
8answers
1k views
Is shaking a device to refresh an accepted behavior?
I have an app that displays downloaded information that is cached. I could use valuable space to include a button that is used to re-download the information, or I could simply add a "shake the device ...
6
votes
3answers
94 views
Country/Region Specific locales: How much is it important?
In our website, we are providing more than one language choice, so users will be able to use the website if they knew any of these languages.
However, it surprised me that one site I've visited ...
10
votes
3answers
212 views
What's a good alternative to cascading checkboxes?
We have a web interface for running a report. The report can be pretty complex. There are various topics that can be included in the report, and each topic has sub-topics.
Right now, the interface ...
5
votes
2answers
123 views
Filters on top or on side of the table
I have 2 options to show filters for a table. One option places filters on the top and the other on the side of the table. For both options we'll give users the ability to hide the filters (by ...
8
votes
6answers
333 views
How can I make these links more obvious to click on?
I'm working on a website redesign for a dental laboratory.
While testing the home page with a user, they never clicked on the links in the subnavigation. They clicked on the larger buttons in the ...
13
votes
3answers
434 views
Web app keyboard shorcuts
Is it a good practice to give keyboard shortcuts to web apps that allows a user to do tasks that are repeated often. In my personal experience, I've rarely used keyboard shortcuts offered by GMail to ...
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 ...
3
votes
5answers
109 views
Combining the concepts of “Archive” and “History”
I have two apps (each with iOS and Mac versions) where people add items that appear in a list. Currently when an item is deleted from the list, it is permanently and immediately removed. I'm working ...
2
votes
2answers
121 views
Adding paging, sorting and filtering toolbars to a table
I have a bunch of report views, which essentially are tables. They should enable the user with sorting, paging and filtering capabilities.
My idea is to add those features via menu-bars.
Paging ...
3
votes
3answers
102 views
Should I send the private message body in the notifying email?
My website is a bit similar to StackExchange sites in regards of user interaction, but additionally it has a private messaging system. A message has a subject and a body.
Every time a new message or ...
5
votes
1answer
78 views
Resorting items after editing on a paginated page
We show a list of users in a paginated fashion (10 rows per page). There is a column to flip the status of an user to activate or disable. Assuming I am in the 3rd page and I am disabling a user. ...
2
votes
2answers
255 views
Quick Booking UX/UI design [closed]
I am using Twitter Bootstrap UI for developing screens for my application.
I created the booking / appointment page.
This page will be used by hospital staffs. They want to quickly fill the data, ...
4
votes
2answers
119 views
Default Android input field styling
I have been showing a prototype of my app to a few people and am surprised by how many of them don't know where to type.
The main screen has three input fields and a search button.
I'm talking about ...
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.
...
0
votes
2answers
135 views
Is an accordion worse than a grid?
I am building an author site for myself, and would like to display, for each book, the cover image, the title and an enticing blurb, and links to (say) four other books that might be of interest.
...
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 ...
2
votes
2answers
182 views
What is the best alternate layout for horizontal and vertical tabs on one page?
The original design uses horizontal tabs for categories that are not related, and vertical tabs for pages that are sequentially related. In terms of usability and navigation I think it is not as ...
1
vote
1answer
65 views
Four different types of actions need to be applied to elements in a list on a mobile phone. How do I organize these actions?
I have a bunch of user created items in a list on a mobile phone. I've broken the possible actions applied to each into four types, listed below in order of most often used:
reply to internal ...
5
votes
2answers
156 views
Should marking a chat message as spam automatically ignore the user?
Two typical features of chat rooms are, the ability to ignore another user (hide all of their messages) and to mark a particular message as spam.
Should marking a user's message as spam automatically ...
5
votes
1answer
133 views
Tile UX: Is there too much information in these tiles?
I'm working on a flashcard application - I really like the UX of skydrive.com and want to apply the tile paradigm to this app. In the app, Cards belong to Sets belong to Folders. A Folder is ...
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 ...
5
votes
1answer
197 views
Building search interfaces with a large number of options
I'm about to start developing a web interface to a search - it indexes a large number of items with a lot of metadata, so there is a need to enable searching in multiple ways over lots of data.
There ...
6
votes
3answers
110 views
How to make other tabs more noticeable?
We have a dialog that allows the user to choose the "type" of a shape: text, pop up and link. Changing the type also changes the modal's body. Our current design uses an underline to indicate the ...
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 ...
21
votes
4answers
719 views
Display comments order - best practice
I wonder what is the best comments order on the website. I assume there are two major methods to display comments:
from newest to oldest,
from oldest to newest.
Facebook uses method one and ...
8
votes
4answers
156 views
Why did older Windows installs delay before automatic restart?
Every time I need to install an older copy of Windows (today it's Server 2003 Enterprise), I run into the screen where the initial install phase completes and my machine needs to reboot.
The ...
36
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
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 ...
