20 April 2010 •0 notes • Comments
Worst Alert Box Ever? File this as an unintended consequence of the pop-up blocking age. Confirm navigation windows are lifesavers for web mail clients and web-based collaborative document editors. But they’re also of the last remaining ways to ensure your pop-up message gets seen by the user. This shot, from Chrome running on OS X, is pretty bad. There’s no actual “close” button, and it’s entirely ambiguous whether “Stay on this Page” or “Leave this Page” takes you to the survey—which turns out not to be such a problem because both of them do just that. The language on IE/Windows XP is arguably more confusing, but for me, is less horrific in practice. The “X” closes and takes you to the survey, OK takes you to where you had intended to go, and “cancel” takes you to the survey. While none of the links in the IE rendering allow you to cancel accidental navigation away from the page, at least strict adherence to the written instructions and standard workflow of “confirm navigation” windows allows you to negotiate this pop-up more or less without incident. I should add that I am not entirely blameless in this. This pop-up appears on a site that I am affiliated with, though I hasten to add that it was a) conceived of above my pay grade and b) implemented by a contractor. Still, sabotaging it is a near-daily contemplation.

Worst Alert Box Ever?

File this as an unintended consequence of the pop-up blocking age. Confirm navigation windows are lifesavers for web mail clients and web-based collaborative document editors. But they’re also of the last remaining ways to ensure your pop-up message gets seen by the user.

This shot, from Chrome running on OS X, is pretty bad. There’s no actual “close” button, and it’s entirely ambiguous whether “Stay on this Page” or “Leave this Page” takes you to the survey—which turns out not to be such a problem because both of them do just that.

The language on IE/Windows XP is arguably more confusing, but for me, is less horrific in practice. The “X” closes and takes you to the survey, OK takes you to where you had intended to go, and “cancel” takes you to the survey.

While none of the links in the IE rendering allow you to cancel accidental navigation away from the page, at least strict adherence to the written instructions and standard workflow of “confirm navigation” windows allows you to negotiate this pop-up more or less without incident.

I should add that I am not entirely blameless in this. This pop-up appears on a site that I am affiliated with, though I hasten to add that it was a) conceived of above my pay grade and b) implemented by a contractor. Still, sabotaging it is a near-daily contemplation.

Filed under \ alert \ pop-up \ ui \ ux \ web \

14 April 2010 •2 notes • Comments
“There is one big difference between a Promoted Tweet and a regular Tweet. Promoted Tweets must meet a higher bar—they must resonate with users.”

Boy, this sounds familiar. It’s like “friendly” ads are the new thing online these days. I can almost see the focus groups shaping this messaging. “So you guys don’t like ads, eh? What about resonant ads?”

I hate online ads. They gobble up screen space, are irritating, distracting, and ugly, and undermine integrity. But conventional wisdom is that users won’t pay for anything on the internet, thus making advertisers a necessary evil for online success.

This may have been true at some point—I’m not really sure. But 10 billion songs later, I think we can put that myth to rest. I’m more than willing to pay $25 a year for an elegant, intelligent, and above all else, ad- free photo sharing site, despite the fact that I just don’t take that many pictures.

Now let’s compare some of these bold, user-driven sites to their ad-rich counterparts. Upload a video to YouTube and you’ll get a gross, gray interface with moronic commenters and ads that literally roll up over your work—if ContentID doesn’t take it down automatically.

Put it on Vimeo and you get a clean interface, no ads, a functional HTML 5 beta, and easy user downloads. Comments are occasional, supportive, and thought-provoking. Put up a little money and you get even more stuff, including some great-looking stats.

Say you’re looking for a job. Craigslist delivers fast, light, searchable listings. The site shreds, even over dialup, and allows you to safely and anonymously contact potential employers without even the baggage of a login.  

Try Monster, CareerBuilder or another “real” job search site and you’ll be buried in corporate ad dollars, with excessively rich content, nonsense data, and go-nowhere “apply online” links.  

While Craigslist is supported by fees on job listings in some cities, it doesn’t invite the bottomless, pay-for-placement spending, and has no intention of seeking it. If job-seekers weren’t so desperate, I like to imagine (in a fantasy world where users aren’t too stupid to figure out how to enter their own URLs) that Craigslist would have put the others out of business by now.

It’s not that I’m entirely rejecting the idea that advertisements and user interest can co-exist—beer commercials, for example, have been a welcome distraction from various sporting events for years.  But online ads have yet to be implemented in such a symbiotic fashion.

For me, and I think most other people, the web is a personally-driven experience. There are no time-outs or inning changes to wait through, and I think this difference really renders traditional advertising—even interactive, emotional, resonant traditional advertising—far less effective. 

That said, I’m curious to see what Twitter and Apple can come up with.

Filed under \ advertising \ UX \ users \ business models \

12 April 2010 •0 notes • Comments
“Cancel” to send a message? I’m kind of a snob when it comes to alert windows. They’re extremely important—the “last exit before toll” signs on the information superhighway. They’re tiny, but have to convey very specific—and sometimes very complex—information. Most of all, they have to transmit their general idea and importance to users quickly and accurately; if not, people tend to get frustrated and just mosh “yes”.  This alert, from a webmail client I’ve had to use the in the past, displays one of my biggest pet peeves—the hidden outcome. The alert window comes up as you hit “Send” and asks whether you’d like to add your signature. “OK” adds the sig and sends the message, while “Cancel” doesn’t add the sig…and still sends the message.  How hard would it have been to have buttons for “Add signature”, “Send as is” and “Cancel”? My heart goes out to anyone who’s come across this message and then realized there’s a mistake in the message or recipients. Hint—hitting the little red “x” in the window bar returns you to the “Compose Message” screen.

“Cancel” to send a message?

I’m kind of a snob when it comes to alert windows. They’re extremely important—the “last exit before toll” signs on the information superhighway. They’re tiny, but have to convey very specific—and sometimes very complex—information.

Most of all, they have to transmit their general idea and importance to users quickly and accurately; if not, people tend to get frustrated and just mosh “yes”. 

This alert, from a webmail client I’ve had to use the in the past, displays one of my biggest pet peeves—the hidden outcome. The alert window comes up as you hit “Send” and asks whether you’d like to add your signature. “OK” adds the sig and sends the message, while “Cancel” doesn’t add the sig…and still sends the message. 

How hard would it have been to have buttons for “Add signature”, “Send as is” and “Cancel”? My heart goes out to anyone who’s come across this message and then realized there’s a mistake in the message or recipients. Hint—hitting the little red “x” in the window bar returns you to the “Compose Message” screen.

Filed under \ ui \ ux \ alert \ webmail \ options \

7 April 2010 •0 notes • Comments
“Under certain conditions, iPad may not automatically rejoin a known Wi-Fi network after restart or waking from sleep.”

-Apple

Now, on a normal computer, this is nothing. A minor annoyance at worst:

  • Click the Airport menu item
  • Select network
  • Done

But on the iPad, assuming it works like my iPhone:

  • Quit your current app
  • Hit home button
  • Type “Settings”
  • Tap Settings app
  • Tap “Wifi”
  • Wait for network detection
  • Select a network
  • Quit “Settings”
  • Hit home button
  • Start typing the name of whatever app you were in
  • Tap that app
  • Pray whatever you were doing was preserved
  • Done

Totally sweet workflow, Steve. Hope you’ve got multitasking, or at least in-app access to system settings coming this June.

Filed under \ ipad \ wifi \ UX \ workflow \ OS \ touch interface \ iphone \

2 April 2010 •0 notes • Comments
“And the techies are right about another thing: the iPad is not a laptop. It’s not nearly as good for creating stuff. On the other hand, it’s infinitely more convenient for consuming it — books, music, video, photos, Web, e-mail and so on. For most people, manipulating these digital materials directly by touching them is a completely new experience — and a deeply satisfying one.”

So, basically, this more or less echoes my feelings on the the iPad.

If you’re a low-watt zombie with more cash than creativity and giant hole where you sense of self-worth should be, welcome to the Pleasure Dome.

If you get high off something other than ennui and the scent of flaming hundos, you’ll find better things to do. 

Filed under \ ipad \ consumer \ creator \ read-write culture \ ux \ functionality \

1 April 2010 •43 notes • Comments
sillyrabbit: (via hungryfreaksdaddy) A classic example of how limiting user options can increase user engagement. 

sillyrabbit:

(via hungryfreaksdaddy)

A classic example of how limiting user options can increase user engagement. 

Filed under \ zelda \ nintendo \ ux \ user engagement \ video games \

29 March 2010 •0 notes • Comments

Vimeo rolls out 'stats' feature for paying users - CNET News

vimeobuzz:

“Stats is probably the most important feature in helping Vimeo’s video creators know more about how well their content has been received, as well as who’s watching it.”

Gah! So freakin’ tempting. I would totally pay for Vimeo if I actually took any of my own footage.

Filed under \ vimeo \ video \ UX \ paid service \ internet \