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.
183
votes
25answers
30k views
How can users be prevented from pouring water into the bean compartment of a coffee machine?
Typical coffee machines have two user-accessible compartments: one for water and one for coffee beans. Pouring water into the bean compartment kills most machines, the repairs cost a fortune.
Now ...
169
votes
12answers
7k views
What to call “Cancel” when “Cancel” is already the default action?
When attempting to cancel a service or setting, "cancel" is the default action. What should the normal "cancel" button be called?
Redbox uses a playful "just kidding", which may not be appropriate in ...
130
votes
11answers
33k 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 ...
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 ...
67
votes
12answers
2k views
How do you give your user options without overloading them?
I was using WinSCP the other day for transferring files, when I came across this.. umm.. I'll call it a set of options, but it was more like an interview.
Oh boy. I just want to move a file. Now I ...
65
votes
11answers
4k views
How to “force” users to upgrade their browser?
I couldn't think of a better title for this question, but please don't jump to conclusions - I don't really want to point a gun at my users heads!
I have a site that works well with the modern ...
40
votes
6answers
4k views
Why don't ATMs give you cash before your card?
I live in Australia, so this might not apply worldwide, but here, when withdrawing money, the ATM will give me back my bank card, then several seconds later the cash comes out.
This typically leads ...
40
votes
9answers
4k views
Should a button become lighter or darker on hover?
We're having a discussion in the office about whether a button should become lighter or darker when a user hovers over it.
Here are some examples from the field:
Apple "Buy Now" button (Second is ...
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 ...
37
votes
7answers
921 views
How should you show that an accordion is expanded?
When you have an accordion, you need some way of showing the current state is expanded.
There are a number of different ways of handling this, and each is used by a number of respected websites and ...
35
votes
3answers
2k views
Humor on the deathbed
Here is a rather accurate description of an extremely rare situation, displayed by a program right before seppuku:
cannot handle the fatal error due to a fatal error in the fatal error
handler!
...
35
votes
6answers
5k views
Regular pagination vs. infinite scroll
I'm currently making a dating site, my choice for pagination is between the traditional:
[<< Prev] [1] [2] [3] [Next >>]
vs
[ Load More ]
The 2nd is the "load more" bar or button ...
34
votes
9answers
1k views
Do non-technical/non-web savvy users understand the concept of tags?
Here at Stack Exchange we're currently wrestling with weaknesses in our tags system. As we open up new verticals – some of which include very non-technical users like cooking – we suspect that the ...
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 ...
32
votes
9answers
1k views
Drawing users' attention to unrecoverable actions?
We're working on an internal business app, and throughout the process the users have been very involved in all aspects of the design. They have explained their workflow, terminology, etc. and the app ...
29
votes
6answers
2k views
Which do users like more as of now, 'Flat Design' or 'Skeuomorphic'?
I have read multiple articles on-line that say that the era of Skeuomorphic design on the web is over, and that a new era of so-called 'flat design' is now the new thing for developers, but do users ...
28
votes
6answers
2k views
Can higher speeds harm the user experience?
Inspired by "Is coffee a good excuse for a slow application start-up time?" I tried to look for examples where having higher speeds could be bad for the user experience but I couldn't find any.
Are ...
28
votes
6answers
920 views
Can stairs have a user experience?
Is there any UX consideration that goes into the design/construction of stairs? I know there are various local building codes and the ADA which regulate these things to some degree but stairs at ...
26
votes
5answers
1k views
Is database too technical a term for user?
Are these terms 'Database', 'Record', 'Table', 'Field', 'Row', and 'Column' too technical (or even relevant) for a normal online banking application user, especially when talking to a customer service ...
26
votes
7answers
962 views
How patient are users at wait dialogs?
What is the length of time the average user will wait at a wait indicator (i.e. a spinning circle, beach-ball-of-death, egg-timer) before they think something has gone wrong?
If anybody can point to ...
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 ...
25
votes
4answers
2k views
When should I use a lightbox versus new page?
While designing for web, when should I use a light-box and when should I direct the user to a new page? For example, if the user clicks the "contact" link, should I open a small form in a light-box or ...
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 ...
22
votes
6answers
740 views
Are increase and decrease arrows redundant on scrollbars?
Surely these days users are either using touch devices to scroll with gestures or are dragging the thumb of the scrollbar or clicking inside the track. Would it be a bad idea to remove the arrow ...
22
votes
6answers
1k views
Best UI pattern for letting a user assign items to groups
Problem: the user has a list of about 5-20 uncategorised items and needs to categorize them into 2-4 groups. The tricky part is that the same item can be placed into more than one group (this is an ...
21
votes
4answers
885 views
Is it good practice to warn users that capslock is enabled when entering passwords?
Most websites that I have seen don't warn users when they type their passwords with capslock on. Given that it is possible to implement that function, why is this not a common practice?
21
votes
4answers
703 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 ...
21
votes
1answer
394 views
Are activity alerts effective? example: 5 people are viewing this hotel right now
For example, Expedia (and other hotel sites) have alerts that come and go that say things such as, "17 people have booked this hotel this week." Is there any documentation out there concerning this ...
20
votes
6answers
397 views
Calendar recurrences on the last day of the month
I noticed a difference in how Google Calendar and Outlook handle recurring appointments, specifically ones that are on the end of the month. If you try to schedule an appointment on the 31st of every ...
20
votes
2answers
359 views
What's better for invitation emails: a temporary password or a one-time login url?
Our web app allows our customers to invite their collaborators into their account. They can submit the new user's email address, and our app sends the new user an email inviting them to login. Once ...
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 ...
19
votes
7answers
953 views
Is it ok to style a label as a link to “trick” users into hover it?
The title alone would probably result in a chanting "NO!" as a popular answer, but please let me elaborate.
Background
We have a table of Something:s. Each Something can hold 1-5 Items. In the table ...
18
votes
6answers
2k views
Are custom scroll bars easier to use or do they just look “nice”?
I've noticed that a lot of webapps have started using custom scroll bars. A few examples include Facebook, Trello, Google Docs, and Twitter. I'm sure you can think of some more:
How do these types ...
17
votes
7answers
893 views
Should the order of add / edit / delete buttons be based on the frequency of their use?
In our application we have several places where users see a list of items and can add, edit or delete an item.
For some of these lists adding new items is probably the most frequent used ...
17
votes
9answers
859 views
Should radio buttons be pre-selected?
I am working on a re-design for a eCommerce site and they have a section where they offer a free gift card if the user makes a purchase over $1000. The idea of the gift card is to get users to ...
17
votes
6answers
629 views
How to represent an X/Y mood data to a user within a very small space (32x32)?
I'm building a mood tracker app for iPhone and am running into a user experience issue - I would like users to be able to track their moods, along with other events in a vertical "history".
The mood ...
17
votes
4answers
477 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 ...
16
votes
10answers
2k views
Is it a good idea to enforce a minimum comment length?
In a social application focusing on a niche community where the level of comment quality matters, is it a good idea to enforce a minimum comment length?
For example, see this set of comments on a ...
16
votes
6answers
761 views
What does it mean to 'humanise' interfaces?
When people say 'humanise' an interface, what exactly do they mean? Or is there a more formal word to this idea.
The word 'humanise' sounds vague to me. It could mean several ideas if not taken ...
16
votes
4answers
1k views
Good alternatives for replacing multiple nested modal dialogs?
Having a mature and good-selling Windows desktop application, we are focusing on improving the user experience for the next release.
One thing that I try is to get rid of multiple nested modal dialog ...
16
votes
3answers
396 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 ...
16
votes
4answers
739 views
Are there any recent studies of the “Keyboard vs Mouse”-issue?
Back in the late 80's, Apple Human Interface concluded that the mouse is faster than the keyboard, objectively. But also that every test person subjectively thought that the keyboard was faster.
...
15
votes
7answers
599 views
How to measure phone number views without annoying the user?
I'm working on a website where we have customer pages on which we measure user interactions such as opening a booking form or posting a review.
One of the interactions we want to measure is when the ...
15
votes
6answers
650 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 ...
15
votes
4answers
441 views
How to give users feedback about rejected input?
I've got a mobile app where the user takes a photo of an object. This photo is to go through some heavy-duty image processing server-side, so to prevent large wastage of time, a simple pre-check is ...
15
votes
4answers
425 views
Case-study for hiding the optional fields?
I am currently designing a web form for the Online Travel Insurance System and I am thinking of hiding the optional fields since there were so many of them. Like the image below.
I put a Show More ...
15
votes
9answers
701 views
How does user interface design fit in a development process?
In a software development process where does the user interface design fit?
If we take an agile approach for a small team (2 juniors, 2 seniors, a Team Leader and a web designer) what normally should ...
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
7answers
1k views
What is the most pleasant and fast UX when logging in / registering for a private web-app?
In my case, the openId login is out of the question. The application that I'm working on will only allow corporate users with a given specific email domain to register.
The login/register form needs ...
14
votes
5answers
1k views
Do we really need a “Remember me” option on a Login page?
I'm wondering why do we need to ask user to make a decision, for how long he want to be authenticated? This is done by having "keep me signed in" option login page:
Why can't we simply "predict" ...
