Hot answers tagged usability
223
The floppy disk icon is an idiom, not a metaphor. It doesn't matter that we're no longer writing files on 1.44MB 3.5" disks. It doesn't matter that many users don't even know what a floppy disk is. What matters is that users associate the icon with saving.
117
Option 2 is the best option, because you'll recognize your own language regardless of your knowledge of other languages (be sure to also provide charactersets if you support for example japanese)
Problems with options 1 and 3
Option 1. If you don't speak / understand the current language you may not recognize your own language. In the example germans would ...
80
Option 2 is the way to go as you should always show languages listed by the way they are written in that language. It is the way both Wikipedia and most companies that deal in many languages do it. Here is how Apple handle it:
Problems with the other options
Option 1 is a headache to maintain as you need to have the name of every language in every other ...
73
A better modification of such a statment which I see being used is:
'A company_name employee will never ask for your password'
This message alerts the user that if the person is asking for a password, there is something fishy and he should alert the concerned authorities immediately. With all the live chat functionalities that most industries are ...
57
Let them know what has happened. Here are some situations with longer, clear example notifications that use proper English grammar:
Only the name changed
The task "foobar" has been successfully renamed to "dummy".
Only the data changed
The task "foobar" has been successfully updated.
The name and the data changed
The task "foobar" has been ...
50
This question gets brought up every so often. I've found two separate threads (several years apart) on the IxDA list:
http://www.ixda.org/node/19443
http://www.ixda.org/node/23688
I thought it was discussed on UXExchange as well, but I couldn't find it.
In my opinion (and it seems to be the general consensus), the icon is ubiquitous with saving. Changing ...
45
Some phone numbers are tailored to use a mnemonic "lettered" version to be more easily remembered.
Think of an insurance company running a commercial on TV and its goal is that you call their number.
If they use 1-800-INSUR-ME, it'll probably be more easily remembered than 1-800-4678763.
42
Etsy spent quite some time developing and testing infinite scroll in their search listings. They noticed fewer clicks on results and fewer items favourited from the infinite results page, and users stopped using the search interface to find products. They reverted back to traditional pagination. There's a good article about it here: ...
41
...would the shop designer want shoppers to enter and walk as quickly as
possible between shelves, or rather design the route so that shoppers
are encouraged to stop, look, turn, discover... etc?
Your analogy is flawed. Even if I walk slowly through a grocery store, my eyes are taking in thousands of pieces of information at a time.
I have a ...
39
Most security breaches are from social engineering, and so telling someone that they should never under any circumstances give anyone their password is an attempt to increase security. I would suggest a statement more like:
If anyone asks you for your password, you should assume they are a criminal and report it immediately!
Idea provided by @Kaz
As ...
35
I think your own analysis matches Microsoft's own from the link I provided in my comment.
To quote from Why do you have to click the Start button to shut down?:
People booted up the computer and just sat there, unsure what to do next.
That's when we decided to label the System button "Start".
It says, "You dummy. Click here." And it sent our ...
30
Get as much of the content before designing as you can.
LukeW has something to say on this:
I've long believed that real data delivers really effective
design. Using actual content, information, and activity throughout
the design process to inform and guide decisions results in product
designs that scale well and communicate effectively.
...
25
Alternatively, you can add semi-transparent black background behind the letters.
Example taken from: http://css-tricks.com/examples/TypeOverImage/
24
Some arguments against maps would be:
Many countries are too small to be selectable on a world map. It would require zooming and panning or some form of drill-down selection.
Selection would require a mouse. While it's possible to allow keyboard navigation, it would be a tremendous ordeal.
It assumes users will be geographically-aware. Many will not be.
...
24
You should allways follow the style guide of the platform you're targeting. That way it'll be much easier for your users to understand how the app works. If you do the opposite you'll end up with unnecessary cognitive load on your Android users trying to figure out how your iOS-like app works.
23
It currently accounts for about 20% of the activity on the site.
The fact that 20% of the activity on your site is private messaging indicates that your users consider private messaging to be of high value. So, you should be hesitant to remove it. Even if private messaging is not directly of benefit to your community, it still provides increased ...
23
Because kids still have a sense of exploring their world and will try things because they aren't sure how things work. So when something doesn't work, they will try a different way. Children tend to be more creative than adults as they are less constrained my experience.
Older adults have years of life confirming that things should be done in a particular ...
23
You have a lot of information in that form - it isn't organized very well. Consider subdividing the form fields into logical groups that will help orient and guide the user (the HTML fieldset and legend tags work well here). Also, present a uniform visual style - right now your inputs are all over the place. Line up your form fields so that the user's eye ...
22
Offical Google Android Design Guidelines
10 Tips For Android UI Design
Android UI Design Tips
Designing For Android
Android User Interface Design
Android App Developers GUI Kits, Icons, Fonts and Tools
Trending Android UI anti-patterns
Google I/O 2010 - Android UI design patterns - In this session, the Android User Experience team will show the types of ...
22
A resounding “yes” from my direction.
Often, UX/usability is worsened because people want to make things "pretty" (animations, distracting graphics etc.)
Another example many will agree with: Blender. Highly usable, when you're used to it.
22
I like JohnGB's answer. It's less fiddly and more visible than the slider.
For the sake of offering an alternative, if you do want to retain the slider, I would consider taking the 'never' option out. It doesn't really fit within the concept of a fixed range that the slider implies. In this version, you would only show the duration slider if "Delete ...
22
You should use an empty alt attribute for images that are purely decorative. I'd argue that in the example you gave it is worth supplying an alt attribute that describes the image e.g. alt="Portrait of Jane Doe". @KitGrose mentions that including this text will also make the image searchable to image search engines such as Google Image.
I reserve empty alt ...
20
I would like to address this issue from two different perspectives: User experience and ethics.
User Experience - From a UX point of view, slow load times = bad user experience. Users get irritated if they have to wait more than they think necessary. More than 10 secs, and the user will most probably lose all patience and leave. Jakob Nielsen studied this ...
20
The big three gestures are tap, swipe/flick and pinch/reverse pinch.
These are the rudimentary motions that are inherent to the end-user for mobile devices. This is due to the early adopters of mobile technology incorporating these gestures in their proprietary software, conditioning consumers to use these motions throughout their devices. Thus, many ...
20
Stephen P. Anderson does a good job of explaining why uptime is needed in his book Seductive Interaction Design. He presents a pyramid based upon Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs where you have to fulfill the requirements at the base before greater requirements can be fulfilled. Aarron Walter presents a similar pyramid in his book Designing for Emotion:
At ...
20
To "star" something is a very abstract concept hardly familiar outside Gmail. While people save things for later all the time, they hardly ever "star" something. While the star as an icon is fine, it doesn't translate well to a verb or action.
Marking things for later reference is commonly offered through either "bookmarks" or "favorites". Here, favorite is ...
19
Usability is a subset of the whole User Experience.
I would argue a product can not have a good UX without good usability; see Simon J. Hill's piece on Usability Vs. Experience. He frames the problem in a "problem solution ladder," where usability is a low level (but vital) rung, and too often it's considered the only important element by some companies. ...
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