All Questions
3,215
questions
6
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Social Media Icons - show all visible, or group under "share"?
I continually run into this issue on sites that want to offer social media links to share content on Facebook, Twitter, etc., and often to share via email or text message as well. Showing all of these ...
- 1,209
4
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Best Way to Darken a Color Until it is Readable?
What's the best way to darken a color until it is readable?
I have a series of titles which have an associated color, but some of these colors are very light and any text drawn in them is unreadable. ...
- 143
392
votes
20
answers
37k
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? ...
- 3,446
360
votes
23
answers
89k
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. ...
- 5,258
241
votes
15
answers
56k
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, ...
- 4,271
175
votes
18
answers
233k
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 ...
- 2,665
122
votes
16
answers
29k
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 ...
- 5,928
116
votes
13
answers
49k
views
Why do door knobs still exist?
As far as I know, in US, grip-and-turn style door knobs are still the most popular, as opposed to lever-style handles, which dominate in the rest of the world.
Is there some UX advantage to door ...
- 1,299
113
votes
10
answers
9k
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 ...
- 10.8k
100
votes
6
answers
17k
views
Star vs Heart icon to represent save as a favourite
I am working on a mobile app that involves the user saving a favourite location. I wanted to use an icon to represent that feature, but I'm not sure which one is better – a star or a heart icon.
Some ...
- 933
99
votes
14
answers
44k
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 the "...
- 1,135
96
votes
8
answers
28k
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 ...
- 1,162
80
votes
14
answers
40k
views
Make people understand they can click on a button in a flat design
I'm creating a flat-ish responsive website, which basically is an online résumé.
I'm displaying skills (but it could be whatever) in a grid system. Each skill is clickable, to display some ...
- 903
75
votes
31
answers
7k
views
Common web app usability gotchas? [closed]
What are some common mistakes regarding usability for web applications?
70
votes
7
answers
20k
views
Why don't ATMs give you cash before your card?
I live in Australia, so this might not apply worldwide, but here, when withdrawing money, the ATM will give me back my bank card, then several seconds later the cash comes out.
This typically leads ...
- 811
62
votes
17
answers
10k
views
Adding USA at the top of dropdown list of countries. OK practice or not?
Some web sites have a country dropdownlist where USA and Canada are listed at the top of the list (as well in their normal positions). I read once that this was insulting to non US/Canada users. The ...
- 1,187
59
votes
10
answers
5k
views
Refusing a user permission to click a URL
I've been asked to work on a system message on an intranet where by there are various URLs (linking to lists of content) that have permission rights attached to them, so only certain users have access ...
- 2,154
58
votes
10
answers
29k
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 ( ...
- 1,102
57
votes
9
answers
22k
views
What is the best email username to use for a myname.com domain?
Let's say I have the domain johnsmith.com and I want people to reach me via email, what is the best email username to use?
Some examples:
john@johnsmith.com - redundant
john.smith@johnsmith.com - ...
- 697
56
votes
5
answers
104k
views
What is the difference between these 2 menu icons: 3-dots (kebab) and 3-lines (hamburger)
What is the difference (if there is any...) between these 2 menu icons?
3 lines (a.k.a burger icon)
3 dots (a.k.a kebab icon)
- 829
55
votes
4
answers
10k
views
How many users use browser's text search within a page?
Do any significant number of users Ctrl + f windows or ⌘ + f macOS to activate browsers' text search?
I'm trying to find some usage numbers, but I can't find anything.
Background
I'm working on a ...
- 661
54
votes
9
answers
3k
views
Do non-technical/non-web savvy users understand the concept of tags?
Here at Stack Exchange we're currently wrestling with weaknesses in our tags system. As we open up new verticals – some of which include very non-technical users like cooking – we suspect that the ...
- 2,315
50
votes
6
answers
5k
views
Should I provide feedback from a save button?
I'm currently in the process of developing a Windows Application which produces Word Documents.
In the program there is the ability to save your progress (different to the "Save as a Word ...
- 717
49
votes
16
answers
9k
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 up ...
- 11.2k
49
votes
8
answers
30k
views
Are "close" and "x" on a popup redundant?
I am working with a basic bootstrap modal popup which is a popular modal used on many sites. I noticed that the default template comes with both a close button on the bottom, as well as an x on the ...
- 5,705
45
votes
6
answers
57k
views
What is a Modal Dialog Window?
What exactly is a modal dialog window and when should you use it? Are there certain cases where you should refrain from using one?
- 13.5k
43
votes
9
answers
9k
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 ...
- 1,246
42
votes
7
answers
9k
views
How can I check if my user interface is suited for colorblind people? [closed]
I've made a visualization that consists of various colors. Now I would like to test, if also color-blind people can use my application in a meaningful way. Is there any tool etc that I can run to see ...
- 1,157
38
votes
4
answers
24k
views
Is Apple's or Google's meaning of the three-horizontal-bar icon more popular?
Apple and Google are going head-to-head to define meaning of the three-horizontal-bars icon:
In iOS this icon means "drag me to rearrange items in a list" while Google Chrome's version means "click ...
- 1,823
38
votes
12
answers
15k
views
Hover over a disabled item to know why it's disabled. What do you think?
How many times did you use a desktop app or an online page and you come across one or more menu items which are disabled and you have no idea why its disabled. Using help or documentation is of no use....
38
votes
5
answers
32k
views
What's the difference between cards, panels, and tiles?
It seems as if with some of the modern front-end development frameworks there is a blur between the different types of 'container' elements. Whether this is an attempt to abstract the design from ...
- 25.8k
36
votes
6
answers
3k
views
Should "dangerous" buttons be big and red or small and inconspicuous?
In a web app, some people think a "Delete" button should be obvious and bright red, signifying danger. The trouble is that this draws the eye to the button and may make accidental clicks more likely. ...
- 6,432
36
votes
6
answers
42k
views
Mobile website menu. Should hamburger menu be on left or the right?
Quite a while ago we decided to move our hamburger menu (I know they are evil but we got stupid amount of subcategories) to the right. Reasoning behind that was based on accessibility and in indoors ...
- 525
35
votes
8
answers
11k
views
Rate vs Like/Dislike
I'm writing a web page that will allow people to rate "objects". I was thinking of giving users the classical 5 star rating... but then I remembered the like/dislike approach and how YouTube changed ...
- 658
34
votes
4
answers
6k
views
Auto Advance to Next Field
When is it appropriate to 'auto advance' from one text field to the next, as in phone numbers and SSN?
- 343
33
votes
10
answers
7k
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.
However,...
- 1,214
33
votes
11
answers
8k
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 ...
- 1,245
32
votes
6
answers
17k
views
Video and audio autoplay - evidence that it's bad practice
Does anyone have any evidence or could point me in the direction of a web page that explains why video and audio autoplay is bad practice. I know it is but i'm struggling to find anything to back this ...
Lisa
31
votes
4
answers
118k
views
Is it acceptable to open a modal popup on top of another modal popup? [duplicate]
On the web, is it wise to allow a modal popup (B) to be opened from another modal popup (A)?
If modal popup B were to be closed, the user would again be viewing modal popup A.
I am asking as I can ...
- 6,095
31
votes
10
answers
28k
views
Which way should arrows point for a dropdown button?
In the following images I've animated a button dropdown where the arrow animates to the downward position when displaying the dropdown menu.
Wondering if there is any usability studies on this or if ...
- 662
30
votes
11
answers
3k
views
Are 'share this' buttons really effective?
On a lot of websites (especially blogs), we find 'share it' buttons like this --> .
Personally, I never used one. If I want to share something online, I copy the link and manually share it through ...
- 3,475
29
votes
7
answers
32k
views
How long should the delay be before a tooltip pops up?
I'm working on web site in which a "ribbon" submenu pops up as soon as the mouse touches one of the main menu items. I'm trying to explain to the designer that it should wait until the cursor has ...
- 14.1k
29
votes
9
answers
10k
views
How should I interview UI and IA job applicants?
I'm a programmer who knows enough about UI/IA to sound convincing and cares enough to want to hire someone who actually knows what they are doing. Interviewing programmers is easy - they go on and on ...
- 775
29
votes
6
answers
9k
views
Is it correct to sometimes capitalize words mid-sentence in computer user interfaces?
I've noticed that many sites and user interfaces tend to capitalize certain words or sentences like so:
Choose File
Select a File to Upload
Account Settings
How to Format
but in some other cases, ...
- 393
27
votes
5
answers
29k
views
Pagination Best Practice [closed]
I am not sure on the best way to handle some pagination I need to perform on a table that could potentially get very big (5,000 rows plus).
My first question is should the amount of rows shown per ...
- 913
26
votes
2
answers
15k
views
Inline editing vs Edit view
I've seen this question asked a few times, but none that relate to my particular scenario. I'm working on a large, complex UI that involves many user types. For this screen, there are 4 types of users:...
- 317
26
votes
6
answers
7k
views
Closing modal dialogs
I come across modal dialogs everyday and I see different implementations all the time.
Most modal dialogs have a [X] in the upper right hand corner of the dialog along with a Cancel/Close button. ...
- 4,705
26
votes
4
answers
8k
views
Building logical criteria (with AND , OR, etc)
I am looking for inspiration on this. We have a Dot.Net web application, where we are building pretty complicated criteria. It works, but I would like to change this, re-shape this, possibly from the ...
- 363
25
votes
15
answers
7k
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'
...
- 359
25
votes
10
answers
10k
views
External links: Whether & how to distinguishing them from internal links, and to open them
How do other IAs/UXD's treat external links & what are the perceived pros/cons of different options. Specifically looking for recommendations on:
whether & how to visually distinguish ...
- 1,707