41–50 of 93 posts
I've tried to abide by this rule for most of the 17 years I've done web development. There is, however, an exception to this rule: My mom. My mom (and my dad) belong to the group that - even after a decade of daily computer use - frequently fail to recognize distinct interface elements. They seem to have no general concept of the look / purpose of a link, a window, a modal box etc. Colors and chrome are meaningless t…
I've been a firm "eye-roller" at this idea for a long time. My boss often uses terms like "call to action" and has me change text because he feels it might "confuse" people. I do it, don't get me wrong, but I give an extra strong roll with my eyes as I'm doing it. I get that there really are dumb people out there, but if "submit" confuses you when you are "submitting an application" (of which the button is "submit yo…
I've tried to abide by this rule for most of the 17 years I've done web development. There is, however, an exception to this rule: My mom. My mom (and my dad) belong to the group that - even after a decade of daily computer use - frequently fail to recognize distinct interface elements. They seem to have no general concept of the look / purpose of a link, a window, a modal box etc. Colors and chrome are meaningless t…
I came here just to say this. UI is a learned behavior and if you're a beginner any explicit sign or help indicating what to do next is very much welcomed.
What's interesting is the the OP's parents have been using computers for a decade. They're not beginners per se, but they seem (I'm guessing) to have internalized some UI artifacts from the Web of 10 years ago.
If this is the case then the problem is not helping people who are beginners, but helping people who have possibly stopped reconsidering the UI they are actually seeing and who instead are locked into habits they built up earlier.
I've been a firm "eye-roller" at this idea for a long time. My boss often uses terms like "call to action" and has me change text because he feels it might "confuse" people. I do it, don't get me wrong, but I give an extra strong roll with my eyes as I'm doing it. I get that there really are dumb people out there, but if "submit" confuses you when you are "submitting an application" (of which the button is "submit yo…
Your statement 'there are some really dumb people out there' could also be phrased as 'there are some really smart people out there who have better things to do than surf the Web all day' and just want to get to the information they are looking for without having to decipher an interface.
edit: I guess I should state that I'm describing the submit button on an actual form, with the title "application" or some such and that the user is entering in data (a lot in this case) and that "submit" is pretty much industry standard for forms
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not convinced -- I find the Vista dialogs really confusing for that reason. First, I read the question, "Do you want to save this file?" Then I naturally expect "Yes", "No", "Cancel" -- effortless to understand. If I see "Save this file", "Don't save this file", "Return to application", it takes a lot longer, because I have to parse each button, which is redundant and annoying since I' already parsed the question…
There shouldn't be a question if it's only going to repeat what your dialog options say -- you don't ask "do you want to save?", you just put up "save file", "exit without saving", or "return to program" without any question at all. Also, yes/no/cancel are only "effortless" to understand if you read the question first (not everyone does that) and if the question is simple. An example of doing it wrong: my classroom h…
Example from a commercial site:
Are you sure you want to cancel the changes you made?
[ ] OK [ ] Cancel
If the dialog question were worded as:
Do you want to apply the changes you made?
[ ] OK [ ] Cancel
I view sites with issues like this as I would a corporate office with damaged or out-dated signage - a hint that the products or services offered inside are unlikely to be any better in quality.
I've tried to abide by this rule for most of the 17 years I've done web development. There is, however, an exception to this rule: My mom. My mom (and my dad) belong to the group that - even after a decade of daily computer use - frequently fail to recognize distinct interface elements. They seem to have no general concept of the look / purpose of a link, a window, a modal box etc. Colors and chrome are meaningless t…
This is a fantastic article, and the first time I've ever come across anything addressing these issues. The only thing I don't entirely agree with is: 1) Wrong: "first Falling Bear gets run over " 2) Right: "first Falling Bear gets run over" I think they're just different. In the first case, I expect a link to to a photo of Falling Bear as he's getting run over. In the second case, I expect a link to a page on Fallin…