CategoryUX

September 24, 2018 — The mobile web is a booming place right now, which means web designers are spending lots of time trying to figure out how to win over this particular class of users. One way not to do that? Dark patterns. While your company may get some superficial and short-term gains in the process, nothing good will come from it in the long-run. Read more…

September 19, 2018 — Collaborating on office documents is a solved problem. Collaborating on code is still a pretty difficult thing to do. That’s because sharing just code isn’t enough. In order to really collaborate, a developer needs to be able to share their whole environment. VS Live Share is a new service that lets you do exactly that, and you might be surprised at just how much sharing you can actually do. Read more…

September 12, 2018 — Automated accessibility testing is a process where you use a series of scripts to test for the presence, or lack of certain conditions in code. These conditions are dictated by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), a standard by the W3C that outlines how to make digital experiences accessible. Automated accessibility tests are a great resource to have, but they can’t automatically make your site accessible. Use them as one step of a larger testing process. Today, Eric Bailey will take a deep look into accessibility testing. Read more…

August 30, 2018 — In order for a product to succeed, designers should know their competition and collect as much data as possible. This data helps to create a solid product that users will actually want to use, rather than a product we want or imagine. Competitive analysis is one of the ways to get this data and to create a user-friendly product. No prior knowledge of the topic is needed because in this article, Mayur Kshirsagar will be explaining what the term means and how to perform a competitive analysis as you go. Read more…

August 28, 2018 — Users can be hesitant to fill out forms. That is why it is our goal as designers to make the process of filling out a form as easy as possible. The primary goal with every form is completion. Two factors have a major impact on completion rate: Perception of complexity and Interaction cost. In this article, Nick shares some techniques that can help you design effective forms. He will help you cover many aspects related to structure, input fields, labels, action buttons and validation. Read more…

August 27, 2018 — This is the second part in a series on enhancing mobile forms for users. In the first part, we saw some general guidelines on how to improve form readability for mobile users, label placement and size, interaction cost and dealing with errors. HTML5 has brought us a lot of really cool features to help users fill in mobile forms and format their data, so today, Stéphanie Walter will show you in detail how HTML5 attributes can help you with that. Read more…

August 22, 2018 — As designers, we have a real opportunity to provide valuable meaning to these assistants but we’re still trying to work out where the technology can add real benefits to the user. There are folks all over the globe who are unable to easily complete everyday tasks for themselves. Luckily, developers and designers can help by experimenting with voice technology that empowers them to complete tasks that others may take for granted. Read more…

August 21, 2018 — Onboarding is a real challenge as it can be complex, involving the user entering personal information. In this three-part series, Joe Leech outlines the three phases of the product lifecycle, the future for UX, and the skills and approach you’ll need to design modern digital products. Let’s take a closer look at how we can help users to sign up, onboard, and pay for your product. Read more…

August 20, 2018 — Do you test your forms on real users and real devices? If not, you should. Let’s take a look at some of the techniques that can help you take your forms to the next level and help users fill them in. In this first part of a series of two articles, Stéphanie Walter will sum up some essential best practices to improve your mobile forms, including scannability and readability. She will guide you through label and input placement, size and optimization. Read more…

August 17, 2018 — In Google’s never-ending journey to make the web a mobile-friendly place, we now have even greater insights into the four key reasons why consumers reach for their mobile devices. These are known as micro-moments, and this post aims to teach you how to design for micro-moments to increase website conversion rates. Read more…