Tag: usability

usability testing – How do you know what to test at the right time on a product?

Really good question! I used to have this conundrum for a while and then I found the solution in the Google Design Sprint.

You can find more information about it online but basically, the methodology answers your question exactly : “What is the the next step right now?”

It was created by Google Ventures (the company that acquires new startups for Google and helps them get on the right track) and now the methodology is open to use by anyone.

In a nutshell: In 4 days you bring in all your stakeholders and you run a series of exercises: Monday – Mapping and Sketching, Tuesday – Decisions and Storboarding, Wednesday – Prototyping and Thursday – Testing. In one week you can clarify the vision of your organization and know what the next step is.

You should try it! It works wonders and it saves so much time!

usability – Desktop Application Multiple Level Navigations on the page!

I am having 2 options as mock-ups wherein i am here to collect your opinion on the same.

The user will be clicking the global menu and he will land on the listing page. If the user needs to check the record details, he will click on view details against the record on the listing page.

When the user navigates to the View details page, he will have a lot of information that will be grouped and show it to the user. I am having a Page-level grouping and each group will have sub-level grouping on the page shown below.

Option 1:
In this screen, Page navigations are placed just below the page heading & it will be in a horizontal tab approach. Sub-navigation related to the active tab will come below in vertical tabbing below.

enter image description here

Option 2:
In this screen, Page navigations are placed just below the page heading & it will be in a vertical tab approach. Sub-navigation related to the active tab will come in the content area with horizontal tabbing.

enter image description here

If you see in those screens, There are Global Menus, Page Tabs & Inside Page tabs there are some more details which are sub-groups. Request you to drop your comments.. That will help me finalizing… Thank you..

usability – What do you think of this redesign of a resultpage card?

I am wondering about a redesign I have been doing. It is about a resultpage in which we have home insurance cards.. the current setup was not flexible enough to show a longer text for the usps.

enter image description here

My goal for the redesign is to have three clearly separated colomns of the card

First section is for the companys name and rating
The second section is for the USPS and product information
The third is all about pricing information

I am also hoping that the new card is better scanable

Home insurance

I have also another version in which i have placed the grey tablets below the product name.. this is perhaps easier to scan?

Car

Any suggestions are welcome!

usability – In a Desktop application, should the recent file list placed directly in the file menu

A desktop tool mostly offers recent files. I am used to press Alt+F and then 1 to open the first recent files. It seems that I learned it from Notepad++. I thought it was a “platform convention” (refs Usability Guidelines), but it doesn’t seem like that.

Here are some examples. What would you recommend why? Maybe I am a too old-school user wanting to have the list of recent files with one action (one hotkey), not with a combined action (two subsequent hotkeys).

Notepad++

grafik

vs.code

grafik

IntelliJ

grafik

JabRef

grafik

(I want to change that –> https://github.com/koppor/jabref/issues/313, but I am unsure)

usability – Time picker with blacklisted times

What would be a good design on an app for a time picker, incremented by 30 min with some blacklisted times?
So for ex. 9:00am, 9:30am, 10:30am 12pm, 12:30pm etc.

checked all over for inspiration, but couldn’t find a good answer…

I was thinking to do something like this:

enter image description here

but I think that will only work if there aren’t that many options. Since I will be having a lot of times (from 8am – 8pm), It’s just too much for the user and they will have a hard time finding the time they are looking for

usability – Appropriate use of and child-proof alternatives to screwed-down battery covers

On lots of electronic devices with replaceable batteries, the battery cover is secured by a screw.

I understand that it may be necessary to protect against child access to the battery bay, but using a screw necessitates the use of a screwdriver to open the battery cover, which can be inconvenient. It annoys me to no end that I need to open my toolbox, grab my screwdriver, and unscrew the darn thing to replace the batteries.

When is using a screw appropriate for securing a battery cover? Under what circumstances is a simple latch closure inadequate for a battery cover? Are there safety regulations that cover this?

It appears that there are legal requirements that specify that toys intended for young children must have secured battery covers. However, this question covers more than just toys, but pretty much any electronic device that has replaceable batteries. Aside from safety and regulatory requirements, when is it better to use a screw instead of a latch closure to secure the battery cover?

Also, what alternatives are there to a screwed-down battery cover that can prevent young children from accessing batteries while being more convenient than a screw closure?

Any such battery compartment must be “inaccessible” such that “it is not physically exposed by reason of a sealed casing and does not become exposed through reasonably foreseeable use and abuse of the product” (source). This may be very difficult to attain in a toolless manner, but any ideas are welcome.

usability – Interactive maps using d3?

I’m a freshman interaction design student in a Web Development I class. I have a pretty strong understanding of HTML& CSS already, but I have never used JavaScript. My professor asked me to lead a special web design project that will involve creating interactive maps to render economic related data.

Here are some requirements for the project:

•   The local map (comprised of 2 counties) will include a visualization of: foreign direct investments per county (per year), exports by industry per county (per year)

•   The world map will  1 map will provide a visualization of: export value to foriegn nations, import value from foriegn nations, service export value to foriegn nations , (all per year)

•   Each map will pull from a JSON database that will be compiled for me.

•   As the user mouses over each county or country, a popover including the $ value should appear.

•    I need create the SVG containers and properly position the data within the containers. 

•   I would like to add drop down or radio options for each map that will includethe ability to switch between the sets of data. such as: years, exports, foriegn direct investments, etc.  

•   I also believe I should create a drop down or some type of list allowing the user to choose the specific country or industry they wish to find without having to click on the map. 

•   I would like to color the areas of the map according to each value, for example: light blue for $100M - dark blue for $100B.

I have been reading about JQuery on W3 Schools, I have watched multiple YouTube videos on how to use D3, and I tried it myself using some examples on GitHub. I have not received the data yet, but I do want to understand what my limitations are before I start the design for the rest of the website, so I will be trying out a csv file from the census to start learning how to position the elements within the container.

My question is, does anyone have experience creating similar maps? I have read through other threads here, and it’s given me a better understanding. However, I still feel a little lost. Does anyone know of any resources I could use to learn more?

I know this question is a bit vague, so I understand if there isn’t much to say. But really, I am just relieved that there is a place for me to even ask it! So, thank you for your time!

usability – Work with a consequent mobile app

I’m not sure if there’s a best practice for this. If you look at WeChat, or even your phone’s browser: both support a large number of sub-applications (most of which aren’t even related, unlike your use case).

Having multiple apps has the advantage of being more flexible (e.g. using different frameworks for a couple of them, update them independently, using less storage if you only need very specific apps), but it will be harder to enforce a certain common style among them. Anyway, different apps can communicate with each other, sharing data (even login credentials) and hotlink to each other. So from an end-user perspective, having multiple apps doesn’t need to be a problem either.

usability – How important is it to eliminate clicks?

Number of clicks aren’t important, provided they are performing a useful purpose to the user.

For instance, if I want to read a user manual for the latest Acme Point and Click Camera called SureSnapz, then I will expect to select:

  • Camera
  • Point and Click
  • Sureznapz
  • Documentation
  • User Manual
  • PDF
  • English

Thats a lot of clicks just to get a manual, but I don’t care, because at all times I’ve felt totally in control and know exactly whats happening.

Compare that to when I want to track a package from Warble. I know they tried to deliver it, as they left two cards. I go onto their site, and all I have to do is enter the reference number on the card. I do that, and then I don’t know where I am. There are tabs all over the place. hundreds of links to click, but what is missing is a big fat button saying: click to reschedule delivery. Its a mess and I end up going around and around in circles.

Worse still are the sites that have ads pretending to be links to the information you want. Nothing makes me less likely to want to buy or support a product than when the person selling it either wants to use me as a cash cow or doesn’t care that their advertisers use unscrupulous means to get me to click their links.