All Questions
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 ...
248
votes
14answers
28k views
Should error messages apologize?
We are having a discussion on our team about an error message that says "Sorry, you do not have permission to access this feature. Please contact your administrator for assistance."
Is it ...
207
votes
12answers
36k views
Should I use Yes/No or Ok/Cancel on my message box?
Semantically, the Yes/No buttons are roughly equivalent to the Ok/Cancel buttons, but in general what would you recommend to use? Should I always use Yes/No or always use Ok/Cancel? Or does it depend ...
187
votes
16answers
8k views
What explains the current shift from glossy UIs to matte UIs?
I've noticed an interesting phenomenon in the user interfaces of many famous applications, they're moving away from the glossy complex to a more dull and bare minimum design.
Why the sudden change? ...
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 ...
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 ...
150
votes
16answers
26k views
Why do most public toilet doors open inwards?
Public restrooms design usually pay great attention to hand washing, providing facilities like wash basin (sink) - sometimes with touch free, IR operated taps - soap and hand drier or paper towels.
...
143
votes
18answers
33k views
Is this rotating cube interface user-friendly?
I'm working on a prototype for an innovative form interface, where different parts of the form are shown on different sides of a cube. The cube rotates, and the user can fill it out as the cube spins. ...
142
votes
42answers
14k views
Must-read User Interface Book? [closed]
I'm looking for a book that explains the basics of user interfaces and user experiences. I read Beautiful Visualization and Designing Interfaces from O'Reilly and I think they are very good. Can you ...
138
votes
10answers
6k views
Should a sentence ending with a URL terminate with a period?
Suppose my web service needs to send a password recovery e-mail message to the user. The message will contain a link (with some disposable token). Something like:
To reset your password please ...
133
votes
12answers
11k views
Are carousels effective?
Go to just about any eCommerce site and the homepage is nearly guaranteed to feature a carousel - an auto-rotating panel, usually with some sort of small navigation, usually highlighting new product ...
132
votes
11answers
18k views
Is there a point to paginating articles online?
Is it better to paginate a long article or show the entire article on one page?
The following is a side-by-side of the same article. On the left is page one with navigation and on the right is the ...
131
votes
14answers
16k views
Do people really want to look at multiple windows at once?
I'm referring to Jakob Nielsen's alertbox from November 19, 2012. He complains about the lack of windows in Windows 8:
Lack of Multiple Windows = Memory Overload for Complex Tasks
One of the ...
127
votes
11answers
32k 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 ...
124
votes
16answers
8k views
Save icon, is the floppy disk icon dead?
This Twitter post sparked me to ask the question:
totally! RT @damienguard: Dear UI
designers everywhere. Stop using
floppy disk icons for save. Too many
people have no idea what it is now.
...
121
votes
23answers
13k views
OK/Cancel on left/right?
Should OK button be on left of Cancel button or vice versa?
Are there any studies suggesting either of the solutions?
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 ...
108
votes
13answers
3k views
Language of language names in the language selector?
Imagine a site that's available in multiple languages. The language is detected automatically by looking at the IP or the browser header. But that's not bulletproof, so a few users might end up on a ...
104
votes
15answers
7k views
Who needs an external on/off Wi-Fi button?
It puzzles me that there are Laptops which are shipped with external physical Wi-Fi buttons. I see no real use of it, but it might have a historical explanation?! The only time one notice the external ...
98
votes
16answers
4k views
How to discover what users NEED and not what they WANT?
I have been thinking a lot about my favorite quote from Henry Ford:
If I asked people what they wanted, they would have said 'Faster Horses'. -Henry Ford
The trouble I have been having is that ...
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 ...
91
votes
17answers
7k views
How could one prevent drunk users from using a mobile application?
Consider a mobile application which for some reason needs to prevent drunk users from using it (e.g. to avoid dreaded "drunk dials" or "drunk texts"). How could "sober authentication" be executed from ...
86
votes
19answers
6k views
Which way should be “on” for a switch?
Most of us use switches every day in various forms. And although there are sometimes general norms in countries as to which direction is "on", there is variation between countries.
So when ...
86
votes
10answers
3k views
Should a toggle button show its current state or the state to which it will change?
I have a quick question about buttons that toggle between two states. (Think Play/Pause, or Shuffle/Regular Play.) As the title says, should the toggle show it's current state or the state to which it ...
80
votes
15answers
24k views
Is coffee a good excuse for a slow application start-up time?
I was dragged into a meeting with a client to consult on any usability issues as we watched a user performing day-to-day operations with a software application.
The first thing that happened was that ...
78
votes
16answers
7k views
Is Google Instant good or bad UX?
For power users, it clearly saves time in some circumstances. It also jumps around alot and does things that are very different than before. One person said it is like a guy who finishes your ...
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.
...
76
votes
2answers
3k views
Psychology behind $0.99 for paid apps, but $1.00 for donation apps?
I've noticed a trend (at least on the Google Play store) of application prices ending in x.99, while 'donation' apps usually end on the dollar. I see the reasoning behind the psychology that makes a ...
75
votes
7answers
5k views
What reason could Nintendo have had for putting the A and B buttons the wrong way round?
When Nintendo brought out it's first game system, the NES, it had a controller with four buttons:
Select
Start
A
B
However, somewhere, a designer, in their infinite wisdom, decided that the A and ...
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 ...
72
votes
14answers
6k views
Is it good practice to force users to give us their email address before showing them our site?
Our company has a website that sells wine. Our idea is that we will ask user to sign up using their email address before they can see any products.
The reasoning behind this is that if a user comes ...
72
votes
18answers
6k views
Are age verification banners effective?
I'm curious as to whether or not these Age Verification banners that appear on some sites are really "effective". That is to say, do these really help to deter/prevent users that are underage from ...
72
votes
21answers
13k views
How To Display Too Much Data
We're building a web-based platform where the main dashboard shows a table of data for users to view and analyze. As we're growing this tool, we seem to be adding more and more columns and are running ...
72
votes
10answers
998 views
Is Markdown Friendly Enough for Non-Technical Users?
The Problem
I love using markdown to write questions, answers, posts, comments etc. That being said, I am a very technical, detail oriented, programmer type. However, I am working on a CMS of sorts ...
71
votes
12answers
9k views
Removing placeholder text on focus
Chrome and Safari remove placeholder text after pressing first key in the text input.
Firefox and Opera remove placeholder text immediately after focusing the text input.
Which approach is better ...
69
votes
7answers
2k views
“Your” vs “My” in user interfaces
Some user interfaces feature titles such as:
My documents
My photos
My previous orders
While others opt for:
Your documents
Your photos
Your previous orders
Are their any guidelines addressing ...
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 ...
66
votes
4answers
3k views
Should users be able to zoom in a responsive webdesign?
When it comes to a responsive design: should users still be able to zoom in or out?
We are currently working on a responsive design and one of our testers found it awkward that he wasn't able to zoom ...
65
votes
8answers
4k views
Are round check boxes confusing or an accepted standard?
I was browsing dribbble.com today and came across a new post by one of the designers that I follow. He had posted a new modal form which was using rounded check boxes. I have never seen these before.
...
64
votes
10answers
5k views
What effect would a grayscale color scheme have on UX?
I am thinking of designing a website that will have no color other than black, gray, and white (including links).
Will the absence of colors such as blue, green, etc. affect the user experience of ...
64
votes
10answers
4k views
'My Account' or 'Your Account'?
I want to put a link to an account page in a toolbar. What person should I use to refer to the user's settings? Should I call it 'My Account' or 'Your Account'? I've seen both is use, and I'm not sure ...
63
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 ...
62
votes
6answers
4k views
Why are election results presented by a geographic map instead of a cartogram map?
This morning (in Sweden) I woke up early to watch the 2012 presidential election in United States. I watched different news sources but all of them presented a geographical map of the results instead ...
62
votes
7answers
5k views
To use or not to use “Zebra Stripes”, or Alternating Row Colors for Tables
Is there any research out there showing whether or not alternating the row colors for a table increases/impedes the time it takes to parse information? An example can be found at the following ...
61
votes
11answers
5k views
Why should we ask the password twice during registration?
It would be easier to ask for a user's password only once during registration.
The problem: The user could make a mistake while typing the password once because of hiding letters.
The solution: The ...
60
votes
20answers
11k views
Do we need good-looking design for a program internal only to our company?
Do we need to make the user-interface look good (adding images, animations, etc.) for a program internal only to the company?
Making the user-interface look good might slow the performance of the ...
59
votes
31answers
4k views
Common web app usability gotchas? [closed]
What are some common mistakes regarding usability for web applications?
58
votes
14answers
5k views
Is a “repeat password” field necessary in a signup page? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Why should we ask the password twice during registration?
When designing a new and simplified signup page I got into an argument with a colleague about the necessity of ...
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 ...
