All Questions
12
votes
6answers
904 views
Should disabled options ever be hidden?
Comments from this question prompted me with this other usability proposal. In my opinion, tt's a bad idea to hide disabled options.
I like to see all the available options regardless whether some ...
11
votes
4answers
442 views
When developing the user experience for mobile applications, is it better to be consistent with the platform, or your brand?
Some of the best received mobile applications seem to be those that work harmoniously with the native platform (for example, an app that sticks to the metro guidelines, for Windows Phone); however I ...
160
votes
4answers
7k views
Why do progress bars animate backwards?
Gmail's new loading bar drew my attention to this today:
The colored pattern inside the bar animates from right to left.
The Mac OS progress bars do the same:
Is there a reason for this? If I ...
256
votes
22answers
11k views
Why do people clear the screen multiple times when using a calculator?
I've noticed that most people when using a real or a virtual calculator, they hit the Clear button multiple times when clearing the screen (even though hitting it once is enough), so I started ...
77
votes
8answers
6k views
Why might right aligned field labels be better?
For the longest time, I've used left-aligned labels in my forms, like this:
I did this because I thought having the labels left aligned made it easier for readers to scan the list of labels.
...
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 ...
93
votes
10answers
6k views
Do unique icon contours help people scan?
Many years ago, I ran across a good icon design tutorial. It said that having unique contours to icons help users scan for the item they're looking for. If this is true, why don't iPhone and Android ...
50
votes
10answers
4k views
How do rounded corners affect usability?
How do rounded corners on buttons and containers affect usability? Do they make buttons look more clickable? When used on other non-button elements, do they make the site look more friendly? I'm ...
57
votes
7answers
9k views
Re-thinking “hover” functionality with touchscreens in mind
Take the following page as an example (possibly in Firefox only):
As you hover over each search result, an "+ Add to Firefox" button appears.
However, that idea of the button appearing upon ...
31
votes
8answers
2k views
Merging firstname/last name into one field
I am entertaining the notion of a single field for name entry on our scheduling web app. I think this is an excellent case for a "forgiving format" to make it easy to enter their names quickly.
I ...
21
votes
6answers
1k views
Documents similar to Microsoft's guide on creating the best user experience
For several years, I've refered back to Microsoft's best user experience guide document but I'm starting to think that by just using one guide as my, uh, guide, I may be narrowing my horizons a ...
74
votes
13answers
3k views
Why don't we auto-save for users instead of having them save manually?
With the advent of Apple moving to auto-saving in its newest release Lion, should everyone start adopting the convention of auto-saving?
At first it is definitely awkward and the user can feel like ...
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?
27
votes
11answers
4k views
Most User-Friendly Form Fields for Entering Date/Time?
What are the different ways to have fields in an application for date, time, or both? What are the pros and cons for each?
The most common seem to be a combination of 2–3 drop-downs, or some form ...
54
votes
23answers
4k views
Better term for “user” [closed]
I often have to explain some aspect of an application, and often need to refer to users. I really don't like the term as it is not something with a good connotation (e.g. drug users) to the ...
34
votes
16answers
1k views
How long should a page take to load?
Back in 1997 Jacob Nielsen was suggesting:
Currently, the minimum goal for response times should therefore be to get pages to users in no more than ten seconds
Obviously expectations have sped ...
16
votes
13answers
940 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'
...
24
votes
8answers
4k views
All capital titles: good or bad?
What is the recommended use for all capitals titles? For example:
THIS IS A TITLE.
The website http://camvine.com/ has all capital titles, e.g. MARKET SECTORS.
Good, bad?
22
votes
9answers
1k views
What are good resources for testing UI design for color-blind users? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How can I check if my user interface is suited for colorblind people?
I'd like to ensure that color blind users experience the UI with sufficient contrast between ...
30
votes
9answers
2k views
Can ugly be good UX?
It's heresy I know, but look at DrudgeReport.com. It's raw, hand written HTML, it's plain, boring typography, it's something any UX or Graphic designer would scoff at if you handed it across their ...
8
votes
4answers
1k views
How did you create design guidelines for your organization?
As a newly hired UX specialist, I'm planning to create design guidelines for developers and QA testers in my organization.
The problem is I'm not sure what's the best way to approach this. Shall I ...
33
votes
9answers
3k views
What are the drawbacks of designing a Windows application to look like a Mac application?
I'm working with a company whose product is a Microsoft Windows application.
As the UI/UX designer (and as a Mac user) I want to redesign the application so it is more visually appealing.
Are there ...
25
votes
9answers
5k views
Good reasons to use bad UI
I know you just read the title, take a deep breath. I'll explain.
When should we make a conscious decision to retain poor UI, even if temporarily? Not because of budget or time constraints but ...
12
votes
6answers
1k views
Alternatives to a dual list for selecting a bunch of items from a long list?
What alternatives and examples are there for selecting a bunch of items from a long list of items instead of a dual list?
This question has some nice enhancements on the traditional dual list, but ...
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 ...
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. ...
30
votes
9answers
1k views
Ratings: 3 stars vs 5 stars. Why 5?
It's the most common interface used to display votes is the “star rating system,” in which a particular number of points (often expressed as stars) is assigned to an item by each reviewer. We find ...
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 ...
20
votes
6answers
2k views
Why does the golden ratio work? Or does it?
This is just one example of an article promoting use of the golden ratio in design. Over the past few years I've seen quite a few similar articles, but none of them really seem to go into depth beyond ...
19
votes
3answers
2k views
Input form label alignment top or left?
Although I have researched on input form label alignment, I need solid suggestion on when to use form label alignment top and when to use left and why?
For example in the below form username and ...
14
votes
4answers
2k views
What is the ROI of UI or UX design?
I was trying to find out if there have been studies on how much a bad UI or UX design affects sales on websites? I couldn't really find anything in my searches.
Also, does anyone know about any ...
9
votes
7answers
1k views
What do I need to know to get started as a professional UX/interaction designer?
I am a student of Software Engineering (mainly focusing on Requirements Engineering). I am a beginner in the field of UX. There already are a few questions on this forum regarding books etc. Still, I ...
31
votes
5answers
3k views
Default gender, “Male” or “Female”
Should our default gender when selecting male/female on the dropdown list be based on the local sex ratio (if a country have more female than male then female is the default value)?
28
votes
10answers
1k views
Should you place the “add a comment” form above or below the list of comments?
There seems to be very little consistency across most sites when it comes to placing the comment form.
Which do you think is the most usable, above the comments list or below?
Above the list:
...
21
votes
8answers
3k views
Should hyperlinks be blue?
I've built a site where all hyperlinks have the default colors: blue for links, purple for visited links. They turn red on hover.
I believe that always using blue for hyperlinks is a good thing, so ...
18
votes
5answers
4k views
What is this side menu called that can be found in many multi-touch apps, and where does it originate from?
It can be found for example in the YouTube and Facebook app.
17
votes
3answers
398 views
Does the average user understand the difference between “tagging” and “categories”?
Which is more user friendly for the "mass population" on the internet? Is it better to present the traditional "category" pattern when having them post something on your site, or is the "tagging" ...
15
votes
5answers
675 views
How can I deal with diverse gender identities in user profiles?
I'm trying to work out the wording for (preferably) a gender dropdown in a user profile of a site I'm working on. I want to be inclusive of people who don't gender orient to either male or female ( ...
12
votes
6answers
390 views
Minimalism, Maximalism(?) or whatever?
Tufte & Nielsen believe that screen real estate is one of the most important asset for a (UX) designer. Utilize available screen space - Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox: May 9, 2011 & The Visual ...
8
votes
2answers
846 views
What research methods can I use to create personas?
My experience with personas has been from creating personas with data that already exists usually provided by the marketing team based on their research.
How do you go about conducting research to ...
4
votes
5answers
557 views
Where do people get web design patterns/inspiration from?
I like to think I come up with original concepts as and when I can but I do find it really gives me a kick start when I can see examples of what other people have been doing to inspire my own design ...
36
votes
22answers
3k views
What would be a good non-religious icon to represent that a person has died? [closed]
I have an application that displays information about people in an organization and their accomplishments in the organization. It is non-religious in nature and members can be of any or no religion. ...
25
votes
3answers
533 views
What to do when a page's content doesn't fill up enough of a fixed area?
An application has a fixed size, i.e 800x600 px. However, a problem I often run in to is that the page's content isn't enough. It's simply too little content on a big area.
Consider the mockup below, ...
24
votes
6answers
525 views
How can I justify UX processes? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How do you persuade an organization to value UX?
Within the past year I have joined a large company as a 'one-man-user-experience-show' and am often called upon to ...
18
votes
9answers
2k views
Are radial contextual menus better than vertical list menus?
I've read suggestions that contextual menu items be arranged in a circle around the mouse cursor when the menu is activated, since Fitz's Law suggests that each target would be easier to hit.
...
15
votes
5answers
387 views
SUS Scores and Doubts
My team just started using the SUS to baseline our applications against each other. There are some doubts regarding the relation of the questions to web applications and web sites. At times study ...
17
votes
6answers
1k views
Has Fitts' Law been adapted to Touch screens?
The question Is there any difference in element minimal sizes on 10 and 24 inch touch screens? made me wonder; has Fitts' Law been successfully converted to Touch related events? There's 3D movement ...
14
votes
8answers
2k views
How to tell the user his login credentials are incorrect?
When a user has entered incorrect details into a login form, is it better to tell them:
The username or password you have entered is invalid.
or
The user name you have entered is invalid (for ...
13
votes
4answers
2k views
Is left-aligned text generally preferable over centered text?
I am currently reviewing the usability of some internal reports. One thing which strikes me as odd is that all the text is centered. I always prefer left-aligned text.
But apart from my personal ...
11
votes
6answers
6k views
iPad/iPhone alternative for hover states
I've recently updated my personal portfolio with some CSS3 and jQuery magic. I'm extremely pleased with the results and yes, it's fully responsive. But i have an issue. I've structured my portfolio ...
