Posts Tagged ‘Usability’
We are pleased to present below all posts tagged with ‘Usability‘.
The History Of Usability: From Simplicity To Complexity
- May 23rd, 2012
- 6 Comments
The story of usability is a perverse journey from simplicity to complexity. That’s right, from simplicity to complexity—not the other way around. If you expect a “user-friendly” introduction to usability and that the history of usability is full of well-defined concepts and lean methods, you’re in for a surprise. Usability is ...
Read more...Removing Stumbling Blocks In Mobile Forms
- May 3rd, 2012
- 11 Comments
A few weeks ago, I was quite surprised when I saw the pavement quickly approaching while I was out for a walk. Laying there stunned, I soon realized what had happened: I fell. Ouch. B-minus. I normally try to be as attentive as possible, but this time a big crack in ...
Read more...UI Patterns For Mobile Apps: Search, Sort And Filter
- April 10th, 2012
- 12 Comments
As I was waiting for a table at a local restaurant the other day, I flipped through a couple of the free classified papers. I was shocked to realize how dependent I’ve grown on three simple features that just aren’t available in the analog world: search, sort and filter. AutoDirect and ...
Read more...The Elements Of Navigation
- March 20th, 2012
- 27 Comments
When users look for information, they have a goal and are on a mission. Even before you started to read this article, chances are you did because you either had the implicit goal of checking what’s new on Smashing Magazine, or had the explicit goal of finding information about “Navigation ...
Read more...A Dad’s Plea To Developers Of iPad Apps For Children
- March 12th, 2012
- 122 Comments
I spend a lot of time buying and testing iPad apps for kids. To be more specific, I lovingly do this for a certain two-year-old girl who is currently on a very successful #OccupyiPad mission in my house. Through extensive observational research, I’ve discovered what works and doesn’t work for ...
Read more...Redefining Hick’s Law
- February 23rd, 2012
- 30 Comments
Hick’s Law has always been a popular reference point for designers. You’ll find it cited in the endless lists of basic laws and principles that all designers should be familiar with. Given our assumed comfort level with this design cornerstone, I am surprised to see so many people getting it ...
Read more...Finger-Friendly Design: Ideal Mobile Touchscreen Target Sizes
- February 21st, 2012
- 34 Comments
In darts, hitting the bulls-eye is harder to do than hitting any other part of the dartboard. This is because the bullseye is the smallest target. This same principle can also apply to touch targets on mobile devices. Smaller touch targets are harder for users to hit than larger ones. When you’re designing ...
Read more...Designer Myopia: How To Stop Designing For Ourselves
- February 14th, 2012
- 26 Comments
Have you ever looked at a bizarre building design and wondered, “What were the architects thinking?” Or have you simply felt frustrated by a building that made you uncomfortable, or felt anger when a beautiful old building was razed and replaced with a contemporary eyesore? You might be forgiven for thinking ...
Read more...Ten Things To Think About When Designing Your iPad App
- January 31st, 2012
- 22 Comments
Like most well-designed things, the magic of an iPad app comes from a union of usefulness, usability and meaning. Games aside, the app must be useful by solving a problem that people actually have through the right set of functionality at the right time. It must be easy to use ...
Read more...A Guide To Heuristic Website Reviews
- December 16th, 2011
- 31 Comments
In this article, we’ll explore a scoring system for rating and comparing websites, we’ll visualize those ratings using infographics, and we’ll see what data and structure this method provides for reviewing websites. We are all reviewers. We review many websites every day without even realizing it. In fact, many of ...
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