Usability
10 Tips For Designing A Usable Interface
Designing a usable interface is about the skills of the designer as well as how they are able to teach the user how to interact with the site. Here are ten tips we have used to design user interfaces: Know your target audience – This is the first question to ask and answer before any…
6 Ways To Make Forms Less Painful For Users
When it comes to forms, many customers don’t like them and in some cases, that’s putting it mildly. Their reasons range from fear of being spammed to inability to get the form to work to resenting the company’s attempt to start a relationship when all they want to do is click the ‘buy’ button and…
5 Lessons That Super Mario Bros. Teaches Designers About Inclusive Design
One aspect of making any design great is making it inclusive. Inclusive Design embraces the notion that one doesn’t size fits all and it doesn’t have to; there’s plenty of room for everyone at the table. But the question is, how do we design the table? Over the years, the technology available has grown by…
A Few Hints On Amazon's Next-Gen E-Ink Kindle
While the world is anticipating Apple’s next step, Amazon is (quietly) improving its Kindle. One of the major complaints is that users need ambient light to read the devices. Now, while I don’t doubt that users who love Kindle will do anything for their Kindle, there is something to be said about having to make…
Use of Static Elements in Dynamic Interaction
Visual design that creates a dialog with the user is more than just responding to search queries and leaving breadcrumbs. It’s about using static elements to interact with the user based on their needs/behavior. In order for designers to really “hit the spot,” they need to employ the following principles: 1. Start with the basics…
3 Myths Web Designers Tell Themselves About Sophisticated Users
In his article The Myth of the Sophisticated User, Robert Hoekman Jr made it clear that “It doesn’t matter how savvy your users are, better design benefits everyone.” Designers use their expertise to create the user experience but what are the myths and assumptions about savvy users they use when designing a site or application?…
What Is Usability?
“The term “usable” means more than just easy to learn. Ease of learning is an important component of usability, but it is the least important of the three components. To be usable, the product also has to be quick to use and relatively error-free. Most importantly, you must do what the user wants… Usability refers…
What Annoys Users Most?
One sure way for software to annoy its users is to ask them for data the software obviously doesn’t need. The form of this blooper that annoys users the most is asking them to reenter data they already entered… Make it a high priority not to require users to enter data repeatedly. Here are several…
Will PC be replaced by mobile devices?
Well, first we need to agree what the PC is. Let’s say for the sake of argument that it’s desktop and laptop computers. Then all other devices – ipad, phones, etc., are mobile devices. Steve Jobs said something like this about a year ago: Long time ago there were mostly trucks. But when population moved…
5 Reasons Why Users Can't Complete Their Tasks
Average users can’t always complete what they started and leave websites in frustration, never returning again. Why is it happening and what are the main offenders in the UI of those websites? Here are the top 5 usability problems that caused incomplete or wrongly done tasks: 1. Information Architecture – the user doesn’t know where…