Website design involves the structure of the website including the information architecture, layout, content, and the conceptual design with branding.
4
votes
2answers
592 views
What are the differences between Progressive Enhancement and Graceful Degradation?
What is Progressive Enhancement? I'm not able to understand this concept. How it works, and how it’s a model different/better(?) than Graceful Degradation?
7
votes
6answers
183 views
Hiding information when a user has expressed a reason for visiting a website
In the process of implementing an registration page that will be seen by two types of users (those registering to buy from the site, and those registering to sell on the site). The current ...
2
votes
3answers
459 views
Good reasons to omit a top bar navigation on a webpage?
Top bar navigation seems like a Good Thing. It works, people know where to find it and how to use it. But under which circumstances can I omit it, in favor of less clutter and larger images?
12
votes
5answers
402 views
Web - How to represent a numeric input that is limited to increments of some number
I have a requirement for a form that restricts a field value to fixed increments of 50 and I'm not sure what would be the most elegant way to represent that constraint in a meaningful fashion.
The ...
9
votes
5answers
5k views
Pagination Best Practice [closed]
I am not sure on the best way to handle some pagination I need to perform on a table that could potentially get very big (5,000 rows plus).
My first question is should the amount of rows shown per ...
18
votes
6answers
1k views
Why is there a convention on the web for dropdown menus on hover instead of on click?
This is something I've always wondered. On all major operating systems, application menus (File/Edit/View etc) only appear on click. However, nearly every web site that uses a drop-down menu ...
5
votes
7answers
1k views
Favourite site with examples of well-designed web ui elements [closed]
Please list your favourite site for finding examples of well designed web elements, one per answer so they can be upvoted individually. Explain why it is good in the answer
7
votes
5answers
442 views
Zoom In / Zoom Out features of latest browsers…an accessibility feature? How does this impact design going forward?
Many of the current browsers will zoom in/out the entire page instead of increasing/decreasing just the font size. This is great because generally it doesn't break the visual design. I'm assuming ...
5
votes
4answers
350 views
DPI independent UI for webpages
For almost a decade, before LCD became the norm, screens used to be 72 or 96 DPI (Usually only found on Trinitron displays). However, now 120 and 144 DPI displays are quite common.
With the coming of ...
6
votes
3answers
321 views
Progressive disclosure techniques to allow advanced simplicity for web apps?
What progressive disclosure techniques where the information and options given starts out small and lets the user decide what they want expanded on can I use in a web app?
59
votes
31answers
4k views
Common web app usability gotchas? [closed]
What are some common mistakes regarding usability for web applications?
7
votes
6answers
664 views
How much should be on the homepage of a website?
Some websites I've noticed hardly have much on their website's homepage (i.e. google.com) where as some have a lot on their webpage (i.e. msn.com). Neither of them look good to me (google has too ...
5
votes
5answers
493 views
Where are good places to display ads on a webpage?
Where on a webpage is the best chance that a visitor will notice an ad and look at it?
22
votes
8answers
2k views
Is there an optimal font size?
For most website projects I've been involved with, the font size for the bulk text is usually 12px - 13px, but I'm wondering if this is a good size. I remember reading an article saying that font ...
8
votes
8answers
677 views
Best practices for a sidebar on a blog
I see a lot of blogs that seem to have really cluttered sidebars, with a ton of additional widgets, navigation, etc, that I never find myself using. What are some tips for things that make good ...
18
votes
5answers
248 views
Tools for checking accessibility compliance [closed]
As part of my website designs, I like to make sure that I am adhering to the accessibility standards (Section 508, UK Disability & Discrimination Act, etc...).
Can anyone recommend any ...
52
votes
16answers
4k views
Do you need a search button with a search box?
On websites with a search box, should you add a button they can click on, or will users understand a search box like on this site?
The target group is not very technical, such as women aged 40-60.
14
votes
7answers
1k views
Designing for the iPad
I'd like to make my site accessible to people that have the iPad or other iOS devices.
What considerations do I need to take into account when designing a user interface that is compatible with the ...
6
votes
7answers
406 views
Why do most websites have a custom skin where as most desktop applications don't?
You rarely ever see websites with a UI that has the same skin as the operating system. But, desktop application rarely ever change skins. Why do custom-skins work so well for webpages but not for ...
7
votes
6answers
383 views
Is using the alt-attribute for text-as-graphics ok?
There are several ways to present text on your web page in exactly the font your designer decided; as an image, a flash hack, some javascript hack, dynamic fonts. But to this day, the only thing that ...
12
votes
8answers
1k views
Which side of a web page should a side menu go on?
Many websites have side menus and I seem some have the side menu on the right and some on the left.
Which side is better?
29
votes
11answers
2k views
For websites, is it better to have a variable width layout or a fixed width layout?
Due to different screen resolutions, the user experience browsing a website might be different. Is it better to layout the website with a fixed width? (and if so should there be different static ...
10
votes
3answers
239 views
Free Video tutorials about Web Usability and Accessibility [closed]
What are free Video tutorials about Web Usability available on net? from Basic to advanced.
Do you have any good links?
I found some:
Web Form Design
http://videos.visitmix.com/mix09/c17f
Web ...
9
votes
2answers
245 views
Bilingual website usability
Can anyone provide me with links to research material stating best usability practice is not to develop websites with content written in two languages, but rather seperating content into two ...
9
votes
4answers
784 views
Font sizes for WCAG2.0 AAA
Anyone know what the WCAG2.0 definition of 'Normal' and 'Large' fonts are, as they relate to the AA and AAA levels?
I've googled and read the WCAG site and docs but unless I'm being really stupid ...
7
votes
5answers
46 views
Recording website speed
Are there any excellent sites out there that evaluate a website's loading speed at different levels of Internet connection?
I have used this site in the past but the information is out of date and I ...
26
votes
12answers
701 views
Blocking IE6: Deny outright or warn of issues?
We're looking at (finally) retiring IE6 support.
I've always been a big fan of graceful degradation but we're really pushing ahead and trying to embrace features that we're simply not going to want ...
26
votes
8answers
935 views
Is it a good idea to have a large footer containing many links?
In recent years, it's become quite a common design pattern to have a large footer on every page, containing a 'mini sitemap'.
For example:
This has supposed SEO benefits, but would also seem to ...
12
votes
3answers
127 views
Stamping the current date & time on a page
I recently wrote to First Capital Connect to raise a number of issues with them relating to their St Pancras Thameslink station layout, and also complained that their site features the current date ...
42
votes
10answers
3k views
Home button vs Logo link?
Is a "home" button on the navigation required if there is a link to the homepage using the company's logo?
Increasingly I have noticed more and more websites using the logo as a link to return to ...
7
votes
9answers
369 views
Has anyone been to Jakob Nielsen or Steve Krug's day-long seminars?
Both these gentlemen are offering day-long seminars in London this spring:
Jakob Nielsen - Fundamental Guidelines for Web Usability for £458
Steve Krug - Do-It-Yourself Usability Testing: The ...
15
votes
5answers
508 views
When you have to fill up the rest of the page…
I've noticed that I often run into the same problem in many projects I work on: It seems like I always end up having that extra space that I have nothing to fill up with. Here's a quick sample:
See ...
13
votes
8answers
866 views
What should be included in a standard web UX/usability audit and recommendation?
UXers here probably audit existing websites or pieces of software that are already established. Sometimes, we are involved in designing them from the start, but for times when we are not, we just have ...
18
votes
8answers
228 views
Do we still need text scaling links on websites?
Links/buttons to adjust font size used to be one of the accessibility must-do's but do we still need to include the text scaling links on our sites?
Most modern browsers and operating systems support ...
28
votes
45answers
1k views
What tools (ideally affordable ones) would folks recommend for creating a website wireframe? [closed]
What tools (ideally affordable ones) would folks recommend for creating a
website wireframe? What tools have you used, and did you find them better than pen and paper?
