Questions tagged [usability]
The extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use.
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What color should the "Add new" button be?
I am uncertain if the "add new" button is a "positive" action and should be colored green. Or a neutral action and colored blue.
What is the best practice for this?
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Dropdown vs radio button
User have to choose type of food (from 3 or 4 choices) in our application. Default selection is used in 60 - 70% of cases. What will be better: dropdown or radio buttons?
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Setting a giant grid of numbers on a mobile touchscreen device?
I'm trying to figure out a good way to present 96 configurable percentage values to mobile users.
These percentages represent percents of a max lift (weightlifting), and they can be broken down by ...
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Is it ok to use drop-down menus in Mobile Website?
Is it ok to use drop-down menus in a Mobile Website which opens on clicking? Like http://ux.stackexchange.com
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Difference between android and ipad application
What are the key factors which makes an app more of android or iPad specific. Would like to hear about usability part of it also.
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Let tester directly click on web site to report bugs, similar to bugherd? [closed]
I'm doing website User Testing and want them to report issues by clicking on web site and type text into a comment box. Similar to www.Diigo.com or www.bugherd.com
Bugherd is designed for this but it ...
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Does "ink is expensive" apply in a user interface context?
Edward Tufte in the book The Visual Display of Quantitative Information states, more or less, that ink is expensive. Any ink which is not used to actually convey information is chartjunk and it will ...
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If two ways of signing up are possible, should it be stressed that there are two atlernatives?
If you have two ways of creating an account, for example via facebook or by filling a form, should it be stressed that there are two options or not necessary? Here is an example form:
Is it clear ...
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Does changing behaviour of a link depending on which mouse button is clicked affects usability?
I have a link in my webpage that opens up a dialog that contains some content. Besides showing the content in the dialog. I am also planning to allow that if the user wants to open this content in a ...
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What's wrong with C-style syntax from a usability perspective?
Precursor: this a question about ux, not technical implementation.
Context. I'm looking at designing a small language with a textual syntax. It will be used by Business Analysts to define system ...
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Best practices for website front page slideshow?
We are r&d on front page slideshow, if you look to the following slideshow there is next and previous and at right corner slideshow numbers, so some one place number on right corner while others ...
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How do I improve the readability of body text?
I always find it hard to judge the readability of my site and there is so much conflicting information out there. So I thought I would ask for some options here. Could you please take a quick look at ...
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Inputs for difficult form
We have a difficult form in our application.
There are all sorts of inputs: start date, end date, full name, phone and e-mail address, and a section for count of people in rooms (adult/child...).
...
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Advice on layout/presentation of information to user in web page
I'm developing a website that helps connect nightlife promotion companies with consumers. Each night life company hosts events and various venues and on various nights. I want to give users/consumers ...
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When to use Pull Down to Refresh and when to use a Refresh Button?
I'm building an iPhone app but I'm torn which type of refresh UI to use.
I understand that pull down to refresh makes sense when you have things being added to the top of a list like twitter feeds. A ...
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Is there any research on mitigating the effects of using a non-representative user group on measuring perceived usability?
My client is running a series of vendor demonstration where they want the staff to measure the perceived usability of the system (SUS and SEQ).
Originally we asked for a consistent group of ...
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Recommend UI modifications [closed]
I am looking to modify the "faceted filter" on our schedule page and would like some input on what kind of UI elements I could use to enhance the experience. The current one is woefully bad and the ...
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Design pattern or best practices for top notification bars?
The top notification bar on SE pops up to show messages like 'badge x earned'. What are the best practices for this type of UI?
Specific details:
On showing - Displace content downward (like on SE) ...
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How to explain to a client that User Experience and web/graphic design is different?
My client is absolutely sure that there is no difference between these topics. How do you explain that making a UX adjustment plan is not the same as a web design task?
You have to write a contract ...
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How exactly does good usability cut development time?
I've been reading Return on Investment for Usable UserInterface Design: Examples and Statistics; it quotes:
"...usability techniques helped cut development time by 33-50%” (Bosert,
1991)
...
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Field Highlighting
How to represent a data that is good/acceptable, and data that is not acceptable? Currently I am using green for good data and red for bad data with bold font. Please suggest.
Let me tell you the ...
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What do you wish you had known before your first ever user evaluation workshop?
What have you learned from the process of testing prototypes / products with users that you wish you had known before you went into your first workshop? Pitfalls, freak-out moments etc?
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Android application for London Transport (usability ?) [closed]
I'm developing the Android application for London Transport which includes Journey Planner, Tube status, Live Departures Boards, Maps, Finding a taxi function and so on.
I'd like to get some ...
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Methodology difference between UX and Usability
What methodologies do user experience professionals adopt that differentiate them from usability professionals.
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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 ...
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What are some best practices to follow when designing for users completely unfamiliar with computers?
In User Testing in the Wild: Joe’s First Computer Encounter, a researcher for Mozilla encounters a 60 year old man who has never used a computer and describes what it was like to have him use a ...
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Task-based navigation: Find a document vs Search for a document
Our web application has a task-based secondary nav bar which, for the "Documents" primary nav item, offers...
Documents
Find a document | Add a document
The "Find a document" item links to a page ...
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4
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Optimum number of choices for menus/navigation
Anyone know any usability or cognitive psychology research done on the optimum number of choices for menus/navigation?
I need some evidence to argue a case against a top level category menu of ...
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Recommended books for enterprise application interface design [closed]
I've been reading a lot on UX lately with the intention of improving the user experience on the custom applications we develop. Most of the resources I used are targeting informational websites. I ...
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Best way to show a form field group with multiple values?
Something like these:
The button below adds a new group where the user can fill each of the fields. I think that isn't best way to show because the list could be one-to-infinite and the usability ...
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Why is everybody using Facebook, is it good marketing or good usability? [closed]
Why is everybody using Facebook? Is it good marketing or good usability? If it's usability, what specifically do they offer that is different from others? I was happily doing social networking on ...
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What should we ask from a Usability Trainer to identify if he is right for Training us?
This looks a bit odd but we have been identified to get training on Usability and we have to talk with some of the Usability trainers who could provide us training. On the basis of meeting up with ...
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In a desktop application, what are best practise methods to provide a menu of functions
I have a .NET Winforms application that hosts controls to provide different areas of functionality.
My normal method in providing a menu to switch between these controls has been a TreeView or a List ...
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5
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How can we design for unsophisticated computer users?
There's a thread on redit about computer users doing things in very unproductive ways. The first example:
My office mate is 62 and overdue to
retire. If she has a website address,
this is how ...
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2
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XML editor design indents XML without tabs/spaces - disadvantages?
I've developed an XML text editor that indents XML using a 'floating' left-margin rather than the more common tab or space characters. Indentation is updated continuously and only relies on the XML ...
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2
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Mapping navigation to content in a CMS backend
I'm trying (desperately) to collect good ideas for a backend form to manually map various types of content to navigation items.
The problem is apparently very common, but since there are gazillion ...
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Should we prioritize use or linguistic?
I've been working on a project, and I found an interesting dilemma.
The application I'm working on has this filter, let's say something like this:
By default, none of the "options" are selected, ...
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6
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Help with expert reviews
I am reviewing a client website. Usually I will find plenty wrong and will be able to highlight issues and recommend solutions. The problem with this particular project is that the website is actually ...
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Pros/Cons of customized/reproduced HTML elements
I have a very specific case where the <select/> elements in a browser interface are replaced with a custom HTML structure while styling is added via CSS and functionality is added via JavaScript....
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3
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Inline review and confirmation while you type
I love the way that as I am typing this question, I am seeing what I am typing appear below, and it makes errors much easier to spot. Can anyone enlighten me to the science or technique behind this - ...
19
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12
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Certified Usability Professional? [closed]
I've searched the web for a Usability certification, which is widely accepted by practitioners, employers and customers without any luck. Either they are company specific, or a part of a association ...
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Disabling the browser's back button in multi-page forms
We're having this internal debate where some people think that the user shouldn't use the browser's "back" button when filling a multi-page form (for security reasons), and that the whoever hits the "...
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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.
...
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Recommended button sizes on web pages
What are the current usability guidelines for the size of buttons (or anything clickable) on web pages?
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Middle Eastern usability considerations
I have been given a task of researching usability of Middle Eastern websites so the considerations can help shape the functional specification and wire-frame diagrams.
What is noticeable from the ...
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When is automated remote usability testing useful?
There seem to be a fair few services these days offering automated remote usability testing, so I'm assuming there are a fair few people using those services, which implies that they ARE useful - ...
Andrew Merryweather
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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 ...
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Is Microsoft's Ribbon UI really that great, from a usability perspective?
The first time I ever used it was at my current job. Among my co-workers, the feelings towards it for usability are mixed.
The other developer doesn't really care one way or the other, as long as the ...
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