All Questions
32,991
questions
808
votes
17
answers
162k
views
Should "Yes, delete it" be red, or green?
Designing an interface for a CMS (Content Management System), I stumbled upon a paradox and I'm a bit confused about what to do and why to do it..
Context
Before deleting an album, the user is asked ...
- 5,239
647
votes
13
answers
323k
views
Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?
Is this a legacy thing or does a tilted cursor serve a purpose? I can tell that the angle provides a totally vertical left edge which helps when highlighting text but what else apart from that?
EDIT: ...
- 4,469
566
votes
24
answers
142k
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 ...
- 7,606
552
votes
16
answers
96k
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 ...
- 4,740
497
votes
24
answers
46k
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 ...
- 5,807
449
votes
10
answers
190k
views
Why do credit card forms ask for Visa, MasterCard, etc.?
You can tell if it's a Visa or MasterCard based on the number it starts with, i.e. 4 for Visa, 5 for MasterCard. Why do most billing forms request the type of card?
It's not a barrier for bots (to my ...
- 4,013
412
votes
24
answers
193k
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?
- 4,523
395
votes
20
answers
38k
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? ...
- 3,476
365
votes
23
answers
91k
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. ...
- 5,308
345
votes
14
answers
92k
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 ...
- 3,502
333
votes
23
answers
183k
views
Using "Sign in" vs using "Log in"
Is there any research in this area, it seems "Sign in" is more common and hence more recommended.
- 3,439
307
votes
16
answers
54k
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 ...
- 3,311
299
votes
6
answers
30k
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 was ...
- 6,224
297
votes
5
answers
599k
views
Dark or white color theme is better for the eyes?
What is better for the eyes, a dark color theme or a white color theme?
- 3,149
281
votes
24
answers
45k
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 ...
- 5,917
281
votes
12
answers
23k
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 ...
- 6,284
267
votes
14
answers
63k
views
What's wrong with USB sticks that you need 3 tries to plug them in correctly?
You've all probably experienced this at least once: trying multiple times to plug in a USB stick correctly, because somehow it isn't intuitive what side goes up. This is especially the case when the ...
- 2,144
266
votes
26
answers
37k
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.
...
- 4,755
263
votes
16
answers
57k
views
Why do washing machines have windows?
I'm curious why every front-loaded washing machine I've seen so far comes with a window, while other household machines, like dishwashers, don't.
From a design or UI/UX perspective, why would one ...
- 2,498
257
votes
16
answers
104k
views
Why do people not notice our enormous, prominent, clear and contrasting purple banner?
I'm part of a MediaWiki site called D&D Wiki. Among others, one of our longstanding issues in the public eye was our failure to label clearly enough that certain pages are categorised 'Homebrew', ...
anon
249
votes
6
answers
32k
views
Is there a name for this drop-down anti-pattern?
Recently I have seen a small UI issue in mouse-over drop-downs. Here is an example of such a drop-down (although Bloomberg is not the only offender):
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-08-...
- 1,863
247
votes
41
answers
75k
views
The must-read User Interface Book? [closed]
I'm looking for the Book that explains the essentials of user interface and user experience design.
I read Beautiful Visualization and Designing Interfaces from O'Reilly. I think they are very good ...
243
votes
15
answers
57k
views
Why do most public toilet doors open inwards?
The design of most public restrooms greatly caters for the ability to wash hands after the use of the toilette, providing facilities like sinks - sometimes with touchless faucets - soap dispensers, ...
- 4,253
233
votes
23
answers
152k
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 ...
- 2,755
228
votes
10
answers
51k
views
Do we “exit”, “quit” or "close" an application?
Do we “exit” an application, do we “quit” an application, do we “close” an application?
This is in relation to a desktop app. What is the most meaningful term to use?
- 2,554
217
votes
11
answers
49k
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 ...
- 2,605
216
votes
13
answers
48k
views
Why do many sites leave half of each webpage empty?
Why do many sites leave half of each webpage empty? Isn't this a waste of screen space?
One nice example of this is the Stack Exchange Network sites:
As you can see, there is a ton of whitespace ...
- 5,955
210
votes
17
answers
60k
views
Why does Google still use paging instead of progressive loading?
As a designer I believe "Page system" is less efficient than progressive loading inside a single page.
However it is still widely used on many websites including Google’s search results.
Maybe there ...
- 7,613
207
votes
10
answers
42k
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 ...
- 5,917
201
votes
2
answers
80k
views
Why do movie posters use credit fonts that are hard to read?
Many contemporary movie posters typeset the credits in an extremely thin font:
Is this just out of convention or is there a particular reason for deliberately making the credits hard to read?
- 2,507
195
votes
13
answers
22k
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 ...
- 2,373
194
votes
13
answers
17k
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 ...
- 8,796
193
votes
9
answers
27k
views
Is the "hot network questions" element on Stack Overflow a dark pattern?
I asked a question on meta about hiding the "hot network questions" element on stackoverflow.com. One of the comment replies was that the "hot network questions" is basically a way for Stack Overflow ...
- 1,499
193
votes
12
answers
29k
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 ...
Philip Morton
190
votes
13
answers
28k
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 ...
- 2,356
185
votes
20
answers
28k
views
How would you have avoided the Miss Universe 2015 mistake?
In case you missed it, over a week ago Steve Harvey incorrectly announced Miss Colombia as winner of the Miss Universe 2015 pageant. He later apologized and corrected himself; Miss Philippines won.
...
- 3,336
184
votes
9
answers
61k
views
When to use icons vs. icons with text vs. just text links?
Are there any rules on when to use icons vs. icons with text vs. just text links in a web application?
For example:
vs.
save
vs.
save
Extra question: Is save -or- save preferable?
- 1,995
184
votes
18
answers
261k
views
Why is it impossible to deselect HTML "radio" inputs?
In HTML, there are currently two types of "checkbox" style controls:
Checkbox: Allows toggling on/off, multiple values can be selected
Radio: Only one value in a group may be selected, does ...
user4487
177
votes
7
answers
48k
views
Why is the 0 next to 9, not next to 1? [duplicate]
On almost all keyboard layouts I have ever seen, the 0 is to the right of the 9, rather than to the left of the 1 (the original Dvorak layout is the only exception I can think of; it has 0 between 9 ...
- 2,556
174
votes
8
answers
21k
views
At what point does a user lose trust in a Busy Spinner?
The first scenario is an action that could take roughly 2–5 seconds to execute once the user has pressed a button. A Busy Spinner will be displayed in the button until the process has been ...
- 1,573
173
votes
14
answers
29k
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 ...
- 2,996
173
votes
13
answers
23k
views
Why is this design considered cluttered or overwhelming?
I'm developing a web app for Desktop and Tablet browsers. All of my UX knowledge stems from personal experience and iteration - I've never been formally trained. I took great care in presenting the ...
- 1,873
171
votes
17
answers
17k
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 I ...
- 9,260
166
votes
12
answers
32k
views
Why do idle elevators close the doors?
If the elevator stops on a floor, opens the doors to let the passengers out, and hasn't received a command to go on another floor, why does it close its doors afterwards?
If the elevator is not on my ...
- 1,711
162
votes
9
answers
70k
views
What's the purpose of "This page is intentionally left blank" we see in books?
What's the purpose of "This page is intentionally left blank" we see in books? Why not just leave the page blank and write nothing on it?
- 1,613
160
votes
19
answers
67k
views
What is best practice for designing form error messages?
I've seen quite a lot of research on form design, but so far, I haven't come across any studies on error message design best practices. The only piece of advice seems to be that each error should ...
- 10.4k
159
votes
12
answers
12k
views
How Do I Avoid Users Becoming Numb to Warnings?
I've been thinking about this a lot lately because it's bitten me in the behind a few times.
Think of the Windows User Account Control in Windows Vista (and to a lesser extent Windows 7). The idea is ...
- 7,606
158
votes
20
answers
57k
views
Intuitive interface for Composing Boolean Logic?
I'm interested to know how people have, or would construct an interface which simplifies constructing logical boolean conditions? (Yes, it's a database query builder) In my mind a bad interface has ...
- 1,741
157
votes
16
answers
49k
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 ...
- 3,932
157
votes
5
answers
16k
views
Avoiding the Hermann grid illusion
I'm a UX newbie and I'm trying to design a page of image thumbnails. I came up with this:
The trouble is that this layout creates the Hermann Grid illusion. When looking at the grid, most people see ...
- 1,523