How to make selecting a timezone more user-friendly?
The list of time zones is rather long, lots of duplication, and not very friendly to programmers let alone end-users.
Is there a way to shorten the list to something friendlier and sufficient for 80%+ of users? But then how shall one decide which are the popular Tz?
The list in Windows seems pretty good, but I’m not sure if that’s a good list to model after. It is interesting because DST is optional, is that why the list can be that short? Someone worked out the tz equivalents here.
I’m in Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). JS’s getTimezoneOffset() returns 420 ==> offset -7. If I use the time zones list above, how would one tell its US/Pacific (-8)?
Furthermore, what are the popular names for time zones? US/Pacific or Canada/Pacific sure sounds friendlier then America/Los_Angeles or America/Vancouver.
Lastly, how are the 2 timezones above different? Can they be safely grouped together and just use America/Los_Angeles in the app? How shall one group time zones together?
Should I manually hyperlink phone numbers using "tel:" on my websites?
In code, you have the ability to make a phone number on a website into a link by prepending the phone number in the href with a “tel:”
So, for example, you can create a link to 800-867-5309 with the following:
<a href=”t…
Should I manually hyperlink phone numbers using "tel:" on my websites?
In code, you have the ability to make a phone number on a website into a link by prepending the phone number in the href with a “tel:”
So, for example, you can create a link to 800-867-5309 with the following:
<a href=”t…
How to find examples of "mobile (usecases, user-stories, flowcharts, etc)"
My experience has been that paper prototypes are the fastest way to get mobile apps built.
That said, I’m interested in getting more exposure to the thought process other UX professionals went through at a high-level to defi…
How to deal with graphic designers who thinks UX is boring
Working as a interaction designer together with graphic designers (or marketing people in general) I sometimes get the strong feeling that we sound too boring when we try to implement usability best practices.
Like: – Great…
How to deal with graphic designers who thinks UX is boring
Working as a interaction designer together with graphic designers (or marketing people in general) I sometimes get the strong feeling that we sound too boring when we try to implement usability best practices.
Like: – Great…
How do UI Designers work with engineers to ensure their vision is achieved?
The design is what ships. Therefore, working with engineers is critical. Here are some of my top techniques for this:
1. Figure out which type of engineer you’re working with
Some are not very interested in design and would just like you to spec out everything in great detail so they can focus on their thing. Others have a lot of good design ideas. Get them involved in the process early so you get their ideas and buy in.
2. Skim all bugs and code reviews for the product
That way you know what’s actually going on with the code and find out about issues that affect the design but engineers might not realize you’d care about.
3. Do some front-end coding (but not too much)
Doing a little coding helps you get the details right in the design and also earns you a lot of respect from engineers. However, it can take too much time away from design so use sparingly.
4. Sit by engineers
When your desk is by the engineers you’ll be involved in the hallway conversations and will build genuine friendships. You’re also more likely to see working versions of the code every step of the way so you find out about problems early.
5. Show the vision
Designers are really good at imagining interfaces from a simple description or wireframes so we tend to underestimate the power of making the vision concrete with a prototype or video. If you show a compelling vision at the right time engineers will often get inspired and put in the extra effort to dial in the implementation.
6. Involve engineers in user research
When they see a user using the product directly or hear about a pain point first hand on a field study, it’s a thousand times more compelling than the report afterwards.
7. Choose your battles
Unfortunately It’s almost never possible to get every pixel and flow just right. Cut stuff you don’t absolutely need so the essentials get more polish. Give in sometimes and save your capital for the things that matter most.
8. Don’t whine
UX people sometimes get into a habit of complaining about how no one will listen to their ideas. This can be a self fulfilling prophecy as then you start to sound weak and unauthoritative. Without being arrogant or closed minded, try to carry yourself with a demeanor that you are confident that your ideas and viewpoint are essential for the team to succeed.
Why do light switch buttons have up/down direction when it’s really a toggle function?
If you do a quick image search on your favorite search engine on “light switch” you get a large number of images. Most of them have up and down direction, to represent state. Up for on in the US, and down for off. This varies…
How to structure Android app navigation with many levels?
The app I’m working on is a little like a set of sub-apps within one app, so the structure is basically as follows. Note that the subsections are a mix of tools and content (i.e. this isn’t an app full of content like Google …
Formatting Web Pages for Printing
I’ve been wondering for a while about the correct way that web pages should be formatted for printing:
In my view they should be WYSISWYG.
Otherwise you get the situation demonstrated on this page from the BBC’s webpage – that by pressing print you lose the interesting diagram:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17365934
And I also seem to see an increasing amount of paper wasting non formatting: as demonstrated by this page:
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/gettinghere.aspx
So the question is: How should web pages be formatted for printing ?