All Questions
3,226
questions
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
24
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Should password fields have an unmask checkbox?
Is it a good idea to have an unmask checkbox for user selection when the users type their password to show them what they typed?
- 724
24
votes
5
answers
4k
views
Text Field Validation vs Prevention
I've been having a debate (mostly with myself) over the best approach to deal with invalid input in text fields -- validation versus prevention.
Taking a numeric text field as an example, is it ...
- 824
24
votes
5
answers
43k
views
Formative and Summative Usability Testing
I bumped into this document and it suggests the use of (a) Formative and (b) Summative Usability Testing.
To be honest, is the first time that I bumped into this kind of terminology, and I while ...
- 5,928
24
votes
7
answers
7k
views
Pros/Cons of PSD mockups vs. HTML mockups
I've read some articles (this one and this one) recently that are opening my eyes to HTML mockups as opposed to the usual PSD mockups.
In the article they cite certain pros:
Changes are a lot faster ...
- 1,845
23
votes
8
answers
9k
views
What are some reference works for capitalization in UI text?
I'm currently in the process of updating the language files for a large web portal. Over time, a lot of inconsistencies have crept in, and so in different places you might see contrasting:
Titles > ...
- 11.6k
23
votes
5
answers
4k
views
When is it appropriate to ask User confirmation?
A couple of times I archived some of my emails accidentally ( touch screen you know ) . They don't usually ask for confirmation while archiving messages or emails. But they do while deleting . So in ...
- 1,344
21
votes
4
answers
9k
views
Should the search box be on the left or the right side
In a web app with a search box in the header - where should the search go, on the left or the right side of the header? What considerations should be taken into account when making this decision?
In ...
- 30.6k
21
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Right-Click menu awareness on Web Application
The web application I am building has a custom right-click menu. I'm concerned that the user might not find this menu as normally right-clicking will only display the default browser's menu. Is there ...
- 243
21
votes
5
answers
24k
views
Check all / uncheck all checkboxes with regards to usability
I'm just wondering as to your thoughts on the best way of providing check/uncheck all functionality for an HTML table with multiple rows, that has a column of checkboxes.
Some possibilities:
Extra ...
- 313
20
votes
11
answers
9k
views
Scrollbar on the left
Is there a deep study that suggests to place a scrollbar on the right? Personally I move it to the left whenever possible (Firefox allow this, as well as xterm and emacs).
I know that placing a ...
20
votes
6
answers
7k
views
What is the ROI of UI or UX design?
I was trying to find out if there have been studies on how much a bad UI or UX design affects sales on websites? I couldn't really find anything in my searches.
Also, does anyone know about any ...
user9533
19
votes
1
answer
9k
views
Alphabetical lists - horizontal or vertical?
When listing a large set of data alphabetically Is it better to list them horizontally or vertically? Craiglist lists states in columns vertically. Another site I've been using http://www.rent-acoder....
- 193
19
votes
8
answers
8k
views
Are there any good resources about designing touch screen interfaces? [closed]
I am not talking about phones or iPads or other "gadgets". I am talking about applications like kiosk systems (POI - Point of Information/Info Terminals) or HMI (Human Machine Interface). All UI books ...
- 567
19
votes
5
answers
20k
views
how should the "select all" select when paginating elements
Suppose I have a list of 100+ pieces of data that I'm displaying in a table that's paginating 40 elements per page.
Each row has 'select' checkbox that enables the user to select/unselect an ...
- 499
18
votes
5
answers
6k
views
Pros and Cons for having same form for login, register and forgotten password
I have notice some sites have the same form for login, register and forgotten password.
Below the form you have 3 buttons
i forgot my password
register
log me in
What are the pros and cons on ...
- 626
17
votes
8
answers
11k
views
Is 10 search results per page the best?
When there are a lot of search results they often are paginated. Most search engines I know show 10 results per page. I guess this was born out of an easy technical solution or habit. But I don't know ...
- 2,098
17
votes
7
answers
5k
views
What makes a good form?
I've recently been given the challenge to create a preferably 'fun and engaging'-form, consisting of about 40-50 fields. The form consists of four parts, Employee-contact-info, Employment-description, ...
- 273
17
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Is "Read more" a good link text?
Excerpts of posts displayed on a blog index page usually end with a link saying "Read more", "Continue reading", or similar.
Now, it's very well understood why "click here" is not a good link text, ...
- 273
17
votes
8
answers
15k
views
Save/Cancel/Close button behavior question
The attached image shows a dialog with a save/cancel button bank and a "x" icon to close the dialog. The question I have is this. Should the cancel button even be on the modal if it does not clear/...
- 313
17
votes
7
answers
37k
views
How to display date and time
I want to present the date in a web page where users leave items that will be picked up by other users (the purpose of the site is not important).
I was thinking of representing the date in the ...
- 1,611
17
votes
3
answers
17k
views
Press-and-hold or Long-Press Gestures: Unintuitive?
Often, I find people struggle with the usage of press-and-hold gestures on mobile/web platforms. The mere thought of having a user press on a defined object and hold for an arbitrary amount of time ...
- 530
17
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What is Cross-Channel?
Cross-Channel is described in the following way by Mr Andrea Resmini, President of the Information Architecture Institute:
Cross-channel offers a different stance from both multi-channel and cross-...
- 54.7k
17
votes
4
answers
18k
views
What's the best way to make a user read terms and conditions before continuing a form?
What's the best way to make a user read terms and conditions before continuing a form?
Structure of Form:
Label1 [Textbox]
Label2 [Textbox]
Terms and Conditions [Textarea]
Checkbox ["I agree to the ...
- 173
16
votes
5
answers
21k
views
Truncating long text labels - Best Practices?
I was wondering whether there are any studies around truncated labels, in case if they ever get too long and layouts can't fix it? Does it confuse users if a label is truncated with an ellipsis ...
- 433
15
votes
5
answers
16k
views
Toggle button vs. check box and toggle switch
XAML for Windows 8 offers 3 controls for toggling: toggle button, check box and toggle switch.
The Windows 8 UX guidelines explain and compare the check box and the toggle switch, but make no mention ...
- 1,416
15
votes
4
answers
9k
views
How to structure Android app navigation with many levels?
The app I'm working on is a little like a set of sub-apps within one app, so the structure is basically as follows. Note that the subsections are a mix of tools and content (i.e. this isn't an app ...
- 535
15
votes
3
answers
5k
views
Tri-state checkbox: Which state should be selected after clicking?
There is a hierarchy of selectable items, let's say a parent and two children. All three items have checkboxes. When both children are checked, the parent's checkbox is also checked. When both ...
- 30.6k
14
votes
1
answer
2k
views
When to save data?
When should I save data in an business application?
We have a lot of applications and currently they have not all the same behavior. I am not very experienced with UX and would like to know when I ...
- 243
14
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Usability of hiding the submit button (and using the enter key to submit)
More and more commonly, I find that websites elect to hide or remove the submit button from forms. One obvious example is this site (along with other StackExchange sites), whose search field lacks a ...
- 243
14
votes
11
answers
2k
views
How to tell a client in a form that they can enter their email OR their tel # (but both are not necessary)?
In a contact form, I need either their number or email. I've thought of these ways:
Have field label be "Email or Tel #", or "Email / Tel #"
Have the above, but placeholder text in the input saying "...
- 505
13
votes
7
answers
2k
views
Are Mailing list popups bad usability
I had a client request that they wanted a mailing list popup like the example given below where the popup is presented to the user as soon as they land on the site
I am a little concerned about the ...
- 43.7k
13
votes
8
answers
2k
views
How to solicit feedback from customers
What can I do to get customers to contact me and give feedback on my application?
I sell a downloadable Windows desktop application, I also have a web application that is under development (so I'm ...
- 1,257
13
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Hierarchical comments usability issues
For blog, what are best practices to implement topic’s hierarchical comments?
How to help users to find yet unread comments when they may appear anywhere in the tree?
How to show what parent comment ...
- 2,749
12
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Fixed-position header and menu on a web page -- is that okay?
A client of mine is insisting on two things for a website I am designing:
That every single link is shown in the header – about 10 links or so with no sub-categories. ie. no drop-downs, rollovers, ...
- 285
12
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Original design choice of back and forward directions?
There are numerous of evidence around us where forward and backward directions are predetermined. As if they are a conscious choice we all know. At least this in true in left-to-right reading ...
- 54.7k
12
votes
3
answers
7k
views
Behavior of the Enter button in a form
What is a better experience for a user if they press enter when using a form?
Should it submit the form or move to the next field?
- 177
12
votes
3
answers
514
views
What are the best practices to design user interfaces that are going to be used under direct sunlight?
I'm designing an application that will be mostly used under direct sunlight, and I would like to know if there are some recommendations or best practices to improve usability under that conditions.
...
- 2,352
11
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Usernames vs. Real Names
I want to create a social network mainly geared towards user-to-user interactions such as commenting and discussion boards. From my observations, I've found that users are more likely to engage in ...
- 689
10
votes
13
answers
2k
views
When would you prefer a custom/skinned user interface in a desktop application?
I'm working on an application whose UI is skin-based, but it looks a little bit old (its graphics were designed more than 5 yeas ago). It's not clear to me whether we should consider a redesign or get ...
- 297
10
votes
5
answers
18k
views
What to do with too many columns in a table?
What if you have too many columns in a table?
Possible solutions:
Horizontal scroll bar
Re-sizable columns
Table settings to filter out some columns
What is good/bad practice? Is there any other, ...
- 3,433
10
votes
4
answers
3k
views
screen video capturing (usability test) on mobile
I'm trying to figure out how to conduct a usability test upon a handset device (smartphone).
it seems there aren't many methods for screen video capturing of a user making use of an app.
Do you know ...
- 982
10
votes
4
answers
4k
views
How to present heavy data tables on smartphones?
Problem: I've got a table with 10 columns and ~100 rows. What is the best way to present these on small screens? My idea: effective search + data displayed row-by-row. Is there any better solution?
- 1,032
10
votes
4
answers
5k
views
An icon indicating something has changed or been edited? [closed]
Any suggestions besides the obvious pencil or highlighting with colours? I am stumped, this was trickier than I thought. It is for a search function/filter if that helps but a universal symbol would ...
- 1,238
10
votes
4
answers
7k
views
How do we validate our persona?
When we pursue our goal of ease of use for our users we sometimes use personas to test or guide our designs. And that’s all good – because it gives us a feeling of how a user would interpret the ...
- 54.7k
9
votes
3
answers
2k
views
What makes a good tag separator?
I'm building an application to allow technical people to enter configuration changes. I'd like to add tags to each change.
Right now I'm using spaces, commas and semicolons. It appears SO uses ...
- 93
9
votes
3
answers
929
views
Design recommendation for a button
I have a form in which the user requests a report to the system by clicking the Send Report Request button. The system then produces scheduled reports according to the interval the user selected (...
- 233
9
votes
3
answers
5k
views
Why are most social networking sites in blue?
Why do most social media websites use blue as the main color? e.g., Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, foursquare, ...
I am only interested in answers based on some scientific research.
- 352
8
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Selection of items in a grid across pages
Would you expect when making selections across multiple "pages" in a grid or other list style control that it would remember your selections? Would you expect it to forget your selections the moment ...
- 3,881
8
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Is there any difference in element minimal sizes on 10 and 24 inch touch screens?
I am developing an application which is supposed to be used on a 24" touch monitor.
There are lots of guides on physical sizes of a touch screen UI elements. All of them are saying that every button/...
- 180