All Questions
31,969
questions
25
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Does ISO 9241 really matter?
I've been using ISO 9241 (Ergonomics of Human System Interaction) over the years to provide some structure and rigour to my UX process. It suits the (standards driven) industry I'm currently working ...
- 711
50
votes
9
answers
15k
views
The Usability of "Lightbox UIs"
Lightbox UIs are becoming a lot more prevalent in mainstream web-design. You know the drill -- click on a link, the background fades darker, and up pops a UI for interacting with an object, making a ...
Alastair J
23
votes
9
answers
2k
views
How can you make a user experience addictive? [closed]
What factors and techniques contribute to making a user experience addictive?
I ask this in the context of websites, games and other software. What makes people want to keep coming back for more?
Philip Morton
7
votes
3
answers
167
views
Accessing secure content
Which of the permutations for accessing secure content do folks prefer? In this instance I'm referring to a saved quote and have usernames, email addresses and quote reference numbers available.
E.g:...
Ali
12
votes
2
answers
5k
views
iFrame accessibility and usability issues
Aside from confused scrolling and screen reader problems (and I'm not downplaying these issues, it's just that I've already discussed them at length), are there any concrete accessibility and ...
Ali
7
votes
9
answers
654
views
Has anyone been to Jakob Nielsen or Steve Krug's day-long seminars? [closed]
Both these gentlemen are offering day-long seminars in London this spring:
Jakob Nielsen - Fundamental Guidelines for Web Usability for £458
Steve Krug - Do-It-Yourself Usability Testing: The ...
Alistair Henry
8
votes
3
answers
264
views
Am I an Interactive Designer yet?
What kind of portfolio do I need before I can start calling myself an "Interactive Designer"? I currently design websites, and I've been redesigning our company's flagship sites to improve User ...
- 1,644
16
votes
9
answers
2k
views
Positive / Negative impacts of physical address verification systems on online form UX
Address verification systems validate a user provided address against a database of known addresses, usually provided by Postal services. An example can be seen at http://www.qas.com/address-search/...
Marcus Coghlan
22
votes
10
answers
16k
views
Tooltips with infinite timeout?
I'm thinking of setting the timeout on all my tooltips in a WinForms application to infinity (or an extremely large value). The motivation is that it's annoying for the user if the tooltip disappears ...
- 549
16
votes
12
answers
2k
views
How do you take notes at speed?
One of the things that I've quickly found out when doing usability testing and field studies is that it's hard to keep up with the pace of what's going on and take sufficient notes.
How do you cope ...
Philip Morton
4
votes
4
answers
223
views
Your experiences with call centre wallboard UX [closed]
As I'll be getting started on a project involving displaying dashboard data on call centre wallboards I thought I'd solicit your experience as part of my preparatory research.
If you've been involved ...
Rob
15
votes
6
answers
2k
views
When you have to fill up the rest of the page
I've noticed that I often run into the same problem in many projects I work on: It seems like I always end up having that extra space that I have nothing to fill up with.
It usually ends up with an ...
Mashhoor
6
votes
4
answers
865
views
Tips for ethnography
I'm doing my first ethnographic study next week and I was wondering if anyone had any tips, specifically for studying how people use things in their homes.
Are there any common pitfalls? Any good ...
Philip Morton
14
votes
8
answers
4k
views
eLearning: Courses on Usability, UI, UX, or XD? [closed]
Considering User Experience Stack Exchange is in itself an educational tool, creating infomation hubs geared to different personas and users is no longer a tedious task. What are the applications, ...
ilker yoldas
9
votes
7
answers
784
views
Is there any resource for UI examples? [closed]
I run a Usability/UX blog, and my biggest hurdle right now is finding examples to illustrate the topics I write about (bad error messages, good implementation of tabs, bad interactions...etc)
So is ...
Mashhoor
32
votes
12
answers
21k
views
Big list of UX techniques
Can anyone point to a big list of UX techniques?
I'd like to build a matrix of those I use, those I don't, along with relative cost estimates.
10
votes
3
answers
364
views
Graphic design resources [closed]
What resources would you suggest to start learning visual design from for someone well established in UX and interaction design up to the black-and-white wireframes level?
- 2,007
7
votes
5
answers
1k
views
When should you use task-based navigation over topic-based navigation?
What are the pros and cons of each?
Lewis
14
votes
6
answers
3k
views
Do people like/hate popups, even if they're useful?
My company's product is a popup modal widget that shows information
about different terms mentioned in blogs, when hovering over a term
As lead designer, I find myself wondering if that's the best ...
Vsync
12
votes
5
answers
497
views
Tips for A/B testing?
There seems to an increasing number of A/B testing services (such as Google Website Optimiser) and people using them. Have you got any tips on using and analysing the results from them?
Philip Morton
3
votes
6
answers
129
views
How do you convince people that social software applications are good for business? [closed]
We're trying to introduce social software applications into our organisation but attempts thus far are meeting resistance because:
we're a large, conservative organisation that will always be a late ...
- 711
31
votes
9
answers
3k
views
Are "print" links needed on a website?
What do you think, does a website for a general audience need a "print" link or will the users know how to print the page for themselves (using the browser controls)?
Some background:
It's not a ...
- 2,007
58
votes
11
answers
27k
views
Is a confirm email address field still considered a best practice?
Having an input field to confirm an email address is pretty standard. However, I would like to know if using a confirm email address field still considered a best practice.
The Email and Confirm ...
- 2,606
4
votes
3
answers
458
views
Standardized free survey besides SUS [closed]
Do you know of any standardized surveys freely available such as the System Usability Scale (SUS)? If it is only free for academic purpuses it's also good (I want to use it during a practical course ...
- 428
17
votes
4
answers
6k
views
Save vs Save & Exit
We're designing an application for creating personalized photo books through a Flash-based interface. When the application first opens, we display a dialog encouraging the user to give their project a ...
Chris Braunsdorf
99
votes
19
answers
73k
views
Search Vs. Filter- what is the difference
From the view of the user (not from a technical view)- What are the main differences between searching and filtering data, in order to get specific results?
i.e.- in both cases the user is looking ...
Ido
10
votes
3
answers
216
views
What good mentoring programmes are there? [closed]
For people looking to get into UX, what mentoring programmes are out there? Have you tried any and if so, what were/are they like?
Philip Morton
19
votes
8
answers
960
views
What 5 things must I do to become a well-rounded, progressive UX Designer in my career? [closed]
I am a fledgling Web Designer, seeking to make myself into a UX / Interaction Designer. I am working on a degree (at my local University, Utah Valley University) in Digital Media (I don't believe they ...
- 1,644
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
12
votes
5
answers
1k
views
Production Reaction Cards - too many words?
Microsoft Production Reaction Cards (doc)
The set includes 118 words which presumably you would reorganise, format and print off as individual "cards". I've never used them but I do see how the tool ...
Nathanael Boehm
36
votes
19
answers
2k
views
Advanced books on UX [closed]
What books would you recommend to someone who's been doing UX for several years (and read the intro books)?
The subject can be UX or anything that makes you a better user experience/interface ...
- 2,007
54
votes
7
answers
13k
views
When should you use a modal dialog box?
There seems to be an increasing use of modal dialog boxes on the web, but when should you use them? Why would you choose to use them instead of inline controls or another page, and when should you ...
Philip Morton
30
votes
12
answers
6k
views
Usability/UX elevator pitch?
Whenever I try to introduce someone to usability/ux, I always find myself having to explain the following:
The definition of usability/ux.
The fact that I make web site easier and more pleasant to ...
Mashhoor
16
votes
8
answers
3k
views
Getting into UX as a CS graduate [closed]
I'm graduating from university next summer and I'd like to go into a UX/usability/interaction design job, but my degree is a straight BSc Computer Science. What can I do to convince people that I'm ...
Philip Morton
24
votes
7
answers
1k
views
Thoughts on creating a portfolio?
I would like to put together an online portfolio for my UX work. However given that I work in-house on a single project, rather than for an agency, I'm wondering what I ought to include.
Are videos ...
- 1,090
18
votes
4
answers
183
views
Usability or Content: Knowing which is the cause of the problem?
I've been spending time looking at pages and page flows trying to reduce bail rates and increase completion rates on large ecomm site when a brand manager asked a very intriguing question, "How do you ...
Craig Kistler
14
votes
11
answers
265
views
Recommended UX events and event news sources? [closed]
As ux professionals:
what events do you make a point of attending? (whether for education, networking, etc)
why? (what benefits do you feel you gain)
what is your go-to source for finding out about ...
- 1,707
11
votes
4
answers
260
views
A/B Testing. How should it be done?
I just stumbled upon Google Website Optimizer. Is this the way to go?
How do you normaly do A/B tests with your website?
tamimat
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
16
votes
7
answers
8k
views
What should be included in a standard web UX/usability audit and recommendation?
UXers here probably audit existing websites or pieces of software that are already established. Sometimes, we are involved in designing them from the start, but for times when we are not, we just have ...
- 3,475
21
votes
8
answers
2k
views
What are the best IxD/UI Pattern libraries? [closed]
Quite a few question as about design patterns for x or y interface. Where are the best design pattern libraries?
- 2,606
14
votes
9
answers
188
views
How do you ensure that you've covered the whole site in your work?
I'm a relatively recent practitioner, and although my work's quality is pretty good, I still have one big back-draw (in my opinion): I always miss something or two when making or fixing a web site.
...
Mashhoor
12
votes
8
answers
344
views
What's the definition of "Usability"?
I'm looking for a clear, single-sentence definition of usability.
A short definition of usability would make it much easier to convince people that usability is worth investing in. For example, a ...
- 6,432
11
votes
4
answers
151
views
Rookie or Experienced Pro [closed]
I am about to start interviewing for an open UX position. I have a resume of a rookie and a pro. Just wondering your experiences. Go with the rookie? or the Pro?
A rookie I can mold and don't have ...
- 11.7k
11
votes
4
answers
123
views
UX, IXD audio podcasts to follow [closed]
What audio podcasts would you recommend on usabilty, information architecture, iteraction design?
I listen to these:
Boxes and arrows podcasts
UIE podcasts
Adaptive Path
- 2,007
10
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Example video of a think-aloud protocol
I'm planning to use the think-aloud protocol for an upcoming usability test. A book chapter on think-aloud suggested that you show the participant an example video of someone thinking aloud. I think ...
Evan Carroll
4
votes
3
answers
121
views
Career building: mentoring, volunteering, and/or networking? [closed]
Since there are lots of questions on UXExchange about career choices, I thought I'd pass along this article, Developing a usable career path, by UPA board member, Robert Skrobe. In it, he writes: "...
- 6,386
14
votes
5
answers
637
views
Should the UI (or backend) be fixed width or fluid? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
For websites, is it better to have a variable width layout or a fixed width layout?
We are about to rebuild a web based application and currently the UI is fixed width, we've ...
el baby yeh
18
votes
13
answers
989
views
Ideal number of candidates for user-testing
I'm creating a draft proposal for some user testing involving several quite basic wireframe prototypes. How many participants would people recommend for this type of exercise?
The intention would be ...
Damian
17
votes
5
answers
4k
views
How do you persuade an organization to value UX?
UX is such an underrated field in a lot of industries. I wonder how companies consider employing UX designers and even heavily valuing their suggestions. Some big companies happen to see the light and ...
- 3,475