usability blog
Category | Design
We think the best way to explain that UX is more than graphic design is with a graphic (yes, that’s ironic). We think of [...]
Most sites don’t put their site maps on every page, and certainly not 100+ links. Doing so clutters each page and makes the content hard to scan and read. It also increases [...]
Avoid vague links such as “click here”. Our research shows that Web users typically scan text until they find content of real interest, at which point they switch [...]
Wizards are very useful in some circumstances, but can be very annoying to users in others. When deciding on whether wizards are the right approach, consider the experience and skill sets of the users who will be responsible for setup pages. If the users of the system [...]
Hierarchies are often abused, plagued by issues that can lead to a frustrating user experience. Hierarchies can become overloaded, creating an Alice in Wonderland-like experience down a never-ending rabbit hole. Besides being tedious to navigate, deep hierarchies can take up valuable horizontal screen real estate. They can cause [...]
We hear at least weekly of companies enforcing the “rule” that users must be able to get to any page in the site within 3 clicks. There are several problems with this rule. One problem is scalability. In very large or complex websites and web applications, the rule just doesn’t scale. [...]
It is almost never appropriate to design a page that includes horizontal scrolling. In several studies conducted by Expero staff, horizontal scrolling caused many serious usability issues. For example, in one study, users repeatedly failed to see important row actions within a page that scrolled horizontally””there was [...]
AJAX technology makes it easier to add drag and drop controls to a web application. This is great news. Many times we’ve tested complex web applications where the users asked for drag and drop controls that were not available at the time for the given technology platform. Download this file to see a [...]
Yes, if the user experience is completely different for logged-in users vs. users who may just be browsing for company or product information. One good example of when and how to do this is banking and finance sites. Often, the general user experience includes a large range of products and services organized by category [...]
Disabling a browser’s navigation bar can have serious consequences for your users. However, it may be the right answer in some cases. Opening a new window with disabled browser navigation takes control away from the user””usually a violation of a basic heuristic of designing usable systems. Multiple research studies have found that the “Back” button is one of the [...]
