Avoiding UI Mistakes - D2WC

Avoiding UI Mistakes
Introduction to
User Experience Methods
1
Danielle Gobert Cooley
@dgcooley
01 October 2013 #D2W2013
01 October 2013 @dgcooley #D2WC

Danielle Gobert Cooley
2
danielle@dgcooley.com
@dgcooley
14 years as a UX Specialist
BE, Biomedical and Electrical Engineering – Vanderbilt University
MS, Human Factors in Information Design – Bentley University
Selected Work
http://linkedin.com/in/dgcooley

3

Good sites?
4

5

6

7

8http://www.theworldsworstwebsiteever.com/

9http://metatech.org/

10http://www.fgmarchitects.com/

Mistake #1: Keeping Secrets
11

Tell the user what’s going on.
12
The system should always keep users informed about what is going
on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.
Where
am I?
How do I
get Home?
Was my
data saved?
How much
longer will it
take?
How many
steps are
there?
Am I
done?
Am I logged
in?

13
How do I
get Home?

14
How do I
get Home?

15
How much
longer will it
take?

16
How many
steps are
there?

17
Was my
data saved?
Mailchimp.com, Kayak.com

18
Was my
data saved?
http://swagbucks.com

19
Was my
data saved?
HootSuite iPad app, April 2012

20
Am I
logged in?

21
Where am I?

22
Where am I?

Mistake #2: Poor Word Choice
23

Use words people will understand.
The system should speak the users’ language, with words, phrases and
concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow
real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical
order.
24

Use words people care about
25
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/user-centric-language/
Ortholite ® anatomical
footbed
Keep feet comfortable with
our Ortholite® washable foam
insole
Breathable mesh lining
treated with Aegis®
Fight odor with our Aegis®
antimicrobial-treated mesh
lining

Use words people can relate to
26
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/user-centric-language/
Customer must return item within 30 days for full refund.
We give you a 30-day, money-back guarantee on all of our products.

Mistake #3: Taking Over
27

User Control and Freedom
Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly
marked “emergency exit” to leave the unwanted state without having to
go through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo.
28

Mistake #4: Being Inconsistent
29

Consistency and Standards
Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or
actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions.
30

31

32
Recommendation: Both for
consistency and intuitiveness,
use the traditional calendar
picker tool throughout the
application.

33
The three-way toggle, though not unique to this tool, is
not an immediately-recognizable control.
Recommendation: Consider a more traditional
radio button control:
Exists: Yes No Either

Consistency and Standards
34

Mistake #5: Making Mistakes
Easy
35

Error Prevention
Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a
problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone
conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option
before they commit to the action.
36

37

38http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?571

39Microsoft Word, Unknown version; Microsoft Word for Mac 2011, Version 14.3.1

Mistake #6: Relying on People’s
Memories
40

Recognition > Recall
Minimize the user’s memory load by making objects, actions, and options
visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part
of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be
visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.
41http://online.epocrates.com/noFrame/

42Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 2011, Version 14.3.1

Mistake #7: Failing to Balance
Ease & Speed
43

Flexibility and Efficiency of Use
Accelerators – unseen by the novice user – may often speed up the
interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both
inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent
actions.
44

45American Giant, ThinkGeek

46Chrome’s right-click menu

47Microsoft Word and PowerPoint for Mac 2011, Version 14.3.1

48Twitter’s iOS app, November 2011

Mistake #8: Too Much Stuff
49

Aesthetic and Minimalist Design
Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely
needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the
relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.
50

51

Aesthetic and Minimalist Design
52Lane Furniture (2011)

53

54http://lesscontentmorestrategy.com

Mistake #9: Bad Error Messages
55

Help users recognize, diagnose,
and recover from errors
Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely
indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.
56

57

58

59Chrome, version 26.0.141065 – May 2013

60

61

62AmericanGiant.com

Mistake #10: No or Bad Help
63

Help and Documentation
Even though it is better if the system can be used without
documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation.
Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user’s
task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.
64

65

Help and Documentation
66Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 2011, Version 14.3.1

Bonus Mistake: Being Evil
67

Dark Patterns
68darkpatterns.org
A Dark Pattern is a type of user interface that appears to have been
carefully crafted to trick users into doing things, such as buying insurance
with their purchase or signing up for recurring bills.

Road Block
69

So, ask yourself:
• Am I keeping them informed about what’s going on?
• Will they understand this terminology?
• If I do X, will it take control away from my user?
• Am I being consistent with standards? With myself?
• How can I reduce the possibility that they will make this mistake?
• Am I asking them to remember something unnecessarily? If they get a phone
call in the middle of this, are they screwed?
• Am I accommodating both my novices and my experts? (How about repeat
novices?)
• Is there too much crap in here?
• Have I given them the information they need to recover from their errors?
• Can they find the help they need? Quickly and easily? When and where they
need it?
• Are we being evil?
70

10 Heuristics for User Interface Design
71

References
72

More from me?
73
Code: DCSPECIAL
12 December: How to Design Intuitive and Usable Products Through User Research
06 March: Don’t Guess: Test! The Why, What, and How of User Testing

74

Avoiding UI Mistakes - D2WC

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