Harry’s 15 minute case-study presentation at UX London was excellent. He says the lesson is that we shouldn’t be afraid to make mistakes, but there’s another lesson here too: testing with users will save your ass.
Anna goes through some of her favourite pattern libraries. It’s really, really great to see this stuff getting documented.
A great article from David with some concrete proposals for media companies.
By the way, how nice is David’s new responsive design? Very nice. Very nice indeed.
Some interesting ideas on the commonalities and differences between native apps and the web.
Yes, yes, yes! This article does an excellent job of explaining what Captchas are attempting to do and why, therefore, they are so utterly shit.
Harry interviews Glenn about web intents (web actions). Glenn gives a good clear explanation of what they are.
This looks like it’s going to be a great event on February 25th right here in Brighton: a gathering of minds to brainstorm around web intents. Get there if you can.
Bill Buxton’s collection of input devices going back thirty years.
I think Rebecca is on to something here. Everyone has been so quick to self-identify as a UX designer while marginalising visual design as a purely surface-level layer …but it’s all part of the design process.
Glenn has written up the discussion that followed his UXCampBrighton talk on web actions.
Dana has put together an excellent grab-bag of data on people’s password habits.
Fictional logos.
Tantek’s braindump of research he and Erin have been doing on web actions—verbs for the web, specifically interactions across sites: sharing, liking, and so on. I agree with him that this terminology feels better than “web intents.”
Erin documents the next step after web intents.
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse than “webinar.”
Steph Hay takes a look at how websites can allow a narrative to unfold, with the Ben The Bodyguard site as a case study.
I agree with this. I like it. I plus one it. So to speak.
The dominance of the desktop browser is over – the web has become wider. After so long painting in a tiny corner of the canvas, it’s time to broaden our approach.
It’s understandable that the community is somewhat nervous about the changes ahead. So far, we’ve mostly responded by scratching around for device-specific tips, but this isn’t sustainable or scalable. We should transcend “platformism” and instead learn to design for diverse contexts, displays, connectivity, and inputs by breaking devices down into first principles. Instead of the defective dichotomy of the “desktop” and “mobile” web, designers should aim to create great user experiences using the truly fluid nature of the web.
All of the most irritating uses of JavaScript gathered together into one library.
This looks like a beautiful way to present information, although it seems a real shame that the information is locked to just one class of device.
Ben documents the improvements in Twitter’s OAuth flow. Maybe this will help to stop people blindly giving permission to dodgy third-party sites to update their Twitter stream.
A good analysis of many of the factors involved in web design, of which responsiveness is clearly an important part.
A browser-based tool for creating HTML prototypes.
James follows up on his previous excellent post on hashbangs by diving into the situations where client-side routing is desirable. Watch this space for a follow-up post on performance.
The Riegers are like emissaries from Planet Smart and we mere mortals are fortunate that they take the time to give us great articles like this.
Cennydd’s closing remarks from this year’s IA Summit. Huzzah!
A nice overview of the increasing importance of UX on the web, written by Bobbie with soundbites from Andy.
Superb in-depth analysis of Ryanair’s website dark patterns and nasty brand strategy.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Mark nails it: just because someone visits a site with a certain kind of device doesn’t mean you can make assumptions about their intentions.
I wish I could’ve attended James’s talk at Tools of Change. It sounds like it was great.
An excellent article from Bryan, hammering home the point that there is no sharp dividing line between desktop and mobile.
Remember as well that the most ubiquitous of technologies, the common thread throughout many connected devices, is the browser. Browser-based experiences may not always be as sexy, but they are often far more capable of adapting to different contexts. In times of rapid change, adaptability—rather than features—may be your product’s greatest ally.
One potential nightmare vision of the future …that looks kind of cool.
Luke points to the sweet spot between creating endpoints for classes of devices, and using responsive design to allow them to adapt.
Pitching Orwell against Huxley in an argument that is ironically shallow: it only holds up if you accept the premise that activities involving the web, television and video games are inherently “bad” and anti-social: a pathetically, narrow-minded and condescending worldview.
A fascinating look at the experience design of the 9h brand of capsule hotel. I like the consistent use of colour, light and iconography.
A fascinating explanation of why Instapaper is migrating away from its passwordless sign-up.
Watch this space. Glenn has a really interesting idea (and implementation) for exchanging structured data between browser windows using drag'n'drop.
Aza Raskin on the UI failings of kitchens.
An excellent overview of the evolution of the St. Paul's School website from David Smith, noting an increasing emphasis on mobile usage.
An excellent little rant by Cennydd that I agree with 100%: hovering does not demonstrate user intent.
Personality in software. Pieces of technology are people too.
A timely reminder: don't hide information behind mouseover events.
Brighton gets its own UX conference.
A comprehensive report of the excellent first day of UX London.
Another Huffduffer-style sign-up form, this time from the good folks at Automattic. Very cute.
A lesson from Google Buzz: a large sampling isn't always a representative sampling.
Joshua Porter and Joshua Brewer will write one post a week, kickstarting a discussion on user experience.
A very nice take on the to-do list app.
If you want to see this book published (and you should), why not pledge a little something to the cause?
Leah has some great ideas on combing "log in" and "sign up" forms into one.
A nice collection of design tools and methodologies.
Another interesting take on assigning a visual clue to password fields.
Nice Huffduffer-style contact form.
Here's an interesting idea: generating a sparkline when you input a password ...familiarity with the generated sparkline acts as a visual aid to the user.
Josh is writing another book. Part copywriting manifesto, part psychology handbook, part design manual.
Douglas is featured in The New York Times (and look: there's Dustin behind him).
A thoughtful piece by Cennydd on the state of UX in the UK.
The UX Brighton website is sporting a new lick of paint and looking rather lovely.
Small interactions that serve no useful purpose but are nonetheless satisfying. "Design this interaction such that: It's “free,” i.e. having no significance to the task or content, It's discoverable in ordinary use of the product, It's quick and repeatable (Less than half a second.), It's pleasant"
Eric Reiss takes a stab at defining User Experience.
A thoughtful post from Ben on how the flow of OAuth, OpenID and Facebook Connect can be improved.
A good list of interface guidelines based on real world experience with a mobile phone, an music player and an operating system.
This looks like it could be a fun simple little service: upload MP3s to make an online mix tape ...that's it.
Clean, businesslike icons by the icon artists behind Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux.
Search on Upcoming is borked. Here's my explanation why. I criticize because I care.
Happy Cog redesigns Dictionary.com and its siblings.
This is the plain vanilla look.
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