What is the best strategy for playing a video embedded on a webpage to provide the optimal user experience?
Many websites that embed videos now seem to follow the trend of automatically playing them. I believe that facebook is one of these types of websites, but it is probably the exception rather than the norm. There have been other questions a…
Is Axure RP the best tool for UX out there?
No. Axure is buggy and difficult to learn.
UX Pin is now the best tool out there, even if less capable for programming complexe interactions.
The “Create new iteration” feature alone makes it superior to Axure. (picture bellow).
One button for two actions
I have a comparison site. On the landing page there are two text boxes which are used for products to be compared, and a button to trigger “compare”.
If a visitor fills these two boxes, products are compared according to the…
The design and implementation of the purely theoretical "self destruct" button
I had an Adobe Flash instructor in college who told me a story about getting bored at work. He had some downtime and was looking for a way to pass the time. While looking at some Flash code, he discovered that if you created an executable file with a couple of lines of code you could create a program that would perpetually reboot the users computer. So, armed with his new found knowledge, that’s exactly what he did and promptly asked one of his friends to try out this new program he created. My response was, “You created a self destruct button.”
Now, he did this just for fun. Just like I’m asking this question just for fun.
Ever since, and quite often, when I’m working with developers I ask them if they included a self destruct button. I will then get one of two responses, either a blank stare or a simple “No”. So I’m convinced the only people I can turn to are UX professionals. Which brings me to my question, which I’ll phrase from a UX standpoint.
What user scenario(s) could prompt the inclusion of self destruct button? How would you as a UX professional go about designing/implementing the self destruct button? Finally, and most importantly, what would it do? If you wanted to take it a step farther, how would you calculate conversions/success?
Remember this is purely theoretical and just for fun, so the answers can follow suit, but they should still have some basis in reality (just a little is good).
If we use the story as an example, the scenario that prompted the self destruct button was a developer with too much time on his hands. The design process was simple: create an executable with a line of code. We all know by this point what the executable file did. If you’re curious, according to the story the implementation was a complete success and rebooted the machine over a 100 times before being unplugged and summoning IT. So, the 100 reboots would be the conversions and the calling of IT would be the success metric.
Form Label – disabled or enabled?
What is the best practice when it comes to a form having disabled fields? Should we show the associated labels disabled as well?
1) If labels are also disabled then it’ll give a stronger clue to the user wherein just by look…
Is "Chicken Box" an appropriate term for a Yes/No dialogue with a warning?
We have a mixin so named, and since my project requires more of these types of dialogue boxes, I created a lot of tickets for myself with the term “Chicken Box” in the titles.
It’s basically just a Yes/No dialogue with as ominous a war…
How to make registration/login for premium account purchase as painless as possible?
I am currently working on a fundraiser to gain several thousand premium accounts subscribers for my site.
Because these are premium accounts (like Reddit Gold), a user must have an account so the payment can be linked to the…
Omiting label element on self-explanatory form
I have a form that consists of an input box and a button. The button says “Search”. For sighted users, it seems that no label element is required for the input box as it is obvious that you enter search terms into the box and submit the fo…
Should we allow special characters or numbers in name field?
I need a generic validation for first and last name field that will be used everywhere.
Currently I’m using:
/^[A-Za-z]?[A-Za-z ]*$/
What are some good online resources for learning UI-UX?
Along with those listed here, I’ve included several more you should take some time to explore.
1. Learn the fundamentals
Before doing anything, learn the basics. Get a solid foundation of knowledge to understand what user experience design is, and how UI design fits within it. Become familiar with the terminology, the theories and best practices. Learn how to put them to use. There are many parts to the overall UX design process, but understanding them all will make you a better designer.
Here’s a few online resources/articles I would recommend:
- The Hipper Element by Joel Marsh (UX Crash Course: 31 Fundamentals)
- Lynda.com (http://www.lynda.com/Web
-User-Ex…) - Team Treehouse Blog (http://blog.teamtreehous
e.com/10…) - Smashing Magazine (http://www.smashingmagaz
ine.com/…)
2. Get to know the tools
As a UX/UI designer, you will most likely use a variety of tools throughout your career. Learn as much as you can about them so you can execute on deliverables as a UI/UX designer. From wireframing to mockups to prototypes, you will need to understand how to complete a variety of items which requires several different tools.
- Wireframing Tools
- Balsamiq: http://support.balsamiq.c
om/cust… - Omnigraffle: https://www.omnigroup.com
/video/… - Illustrator: 10 Tips for Building Wireframes With Illustrator – Tuts+ Design & Illustration Article
- UXPin: http://blog.uxpin.com/cat
egory/t… - UI Design Tools
- Sketch: Learn iOS design and Xcode
- Photoshop: https://www.google.com/we
bhp?sou…
3. Find a mentor
The best advice I received when beginning my career was to find someone who’s great at doing what I wanted to do. Find a mentor. Find someone who’s got the experience and is willing to share it with you. Network with other designers to talk to and learn from. You can read a blog I posted about the importance of finding a mentor (https://medium.com/@joey
This will be a person you’ll rely on throughout your career for advice, critiques and help. So choose carefully. If you are serious about learning and becoming a designer, I’d recommend our program at Bloc (Learn Web Design with a Mentor | Bloc). We do one-on-one mentorship with experienced professionals who will help you become a better designer.
4. Hone your craft
The best way to learn is to put your knowledge and skills to action, and continue learning. Learn by doing. Find a project and begin working on it. Once you complete that one, find another and build it. Build something for yourself. Build something for a friend. Build something for fun. Build something just to build something.
Disclaimer: I am the UX Design Director at Bloc (http://www.bloc.io), where we offer one-on-one mentorship for people wanting to learn how to develop for the web, create mobile applications or become a designer.