Archive: UX

“Doh! %&^%&^%&!”

Another forehead-smack-worthy curse-laden moment: I’ve filled out a lengthy online form and hit the submit button only to find myself staring back at an empty form peppered with red errors. Has this happened to you? Of course it has.

While considering how much I really need to complete this form, I start making notes on how I’d design it to be a better experience. Seriously, how many date formats am I going to have to try before I get this sucker right? Do I need to phone a friend?

The lack of strong error messaging is a regular issue I encounter as both a user and UX designer. As the bearer of bad news to users, error messaging can be the element that determines whether your app gets a “Sale” or “FAIL.”

Editor’s Note: We’ll be covering UX tips and strategies at The Future of Web Design NYC on Nov 16th – 17th.

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Personas are a powerful tool for helping you to better understand the needs of your users. In this comic, drawn exclusively for Think Vitamin, you’ll learn more about Personas and how they’ll revolutionize the way you design and build web sites.

Come hear Dan Cederholm, Jason Santa Maria, Joshua Davis, Bill Buxton, Daniel Burka, Elliot Jay Stocks and more speak at The Future of Web Design NYC on Nov 16 – 17th.

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Al Gore invented the Internet. Drinking alcohol keeps your body warm. You won’t get pregnant if you stand on your head after … well, you get the idea. Myths are those hard-and-fast rules that often start as a plausible idea or once-off observation that grow and distill into ‘common knowledge’ as they virtually spread. I know I’ve believed a few of these. I’ve also asked my UX expert Twitter friends for their UX Myths – and they have many!

So, let me entertain you with a list I compiled of my favorite ‘User Experience myths’. Then perhaps you, like many UX folks, will have some myths of your own to share …

Note from the Editor: Doug Bowman, Dan Cederholm, Jason Santa Maria and more, will be talking about UX at The Future of Web Design NYC.

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