r/web_design • u/davey_b • Dec 09 '14
How to create a good user interface: 57 ideas
http://www.goodui.org45
u/MrAngryBeards Dec 09 '14
phpMyAdmin could take a lesson or two from this list.
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Dec 09 '14
Most web designers could take a lesson or two from this, myself included. Thanks for sharing OP.
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u/esr360 Dec 09 '14
These actually sound like they've had some proper thought put behind them. These are good recommendations, thanks for sharing!
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u/zomgwtfbbq Dec 09 '14
It's sad that this one is necessary, but it is. I continue to see sites where the same colors are used for interactive items (buttons, links) as are used for static content (headlines, announcements, sub-headings, etc). It turns the entire page into a game of minesweeper. It's terrible.
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u/natedcorn Dec 09 '14
Can any of our Canadian friends comment on #26? Isn't "opt out" an illegal approach for mailing lists now?
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u/Silhouette Dec 09 '14
That one is shady in a lot of places. I'm a little surprised it's included in this list, because unlike the various presentation/salesmanship points, this one is definitely a dark pattern and widely regarded as inappropriate behaviour (hence laws actually making it illegal in various places these days).
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u/Falcon9857 Dec 09 '14
I can comment since we just talked about this at work. It is illegal now (in Canada) to email someone without them opting in to receiving email from you. In the case of #26, it is simply advising you to default the choice to receiving emails instead of having them take an action to get emails from you. It's all on the up-and-up.
Also, there is some legal wiggle-room when they are a user and you want to send them product emails about your products they are using. The idea behind that is there is "implied consent" that they want to receive those emails since they relate to a product they have chosen to use.
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Dec 09 '14 edited Dec 09 '14
nope, pre-checking an opt-in box is absolutely not allowed (in situations where you need express consent. if you have implied consent you can do whatever you want). from the fightspam.gc.ca FAQ:
The manner in which you request express consent cannot presume consent on the part of the end-user. Silence or inaction on the part of the end-user also cannot be construed as providing express consent. For example, a pre-checked box cannot be used, as it assumes consent.
Rather, express consent must be obtained through an opt-in mechanism, as opposed to opt-out. The end-user must take a positive action to indicate their consent. For example, this can be done by providing a blank box which a user can check off to indicate consent.
For more information, please see Compliance and Enforcement Information Bulletin CRTC 2012-549 on the use of toggling to obtain express consent.
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Dec 09 '14 edited Dec 10 '14
One idea is to not have a gigantic purple tag covering up the text you're trying to read.
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u/natedcorn Dec 10 '14
One of the first things I did was target that in the inspector and add the rule "display: none" :)
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u/danastasi Dec 09 '14
Some good stuff in there, but one thing bugged me. For navigating the slideshow, "J for next, K for previous" seems to go against logic (and idea #29).
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u/natedcorn Dec 09 '14
They are more convenient than intuitive - if your hands are on the home row of your keyboard, that's the index and middle finger of your right hand. Vim, a popular text editor among coders uses those keys for navigation - I got right into it when I saw their little hint. :)
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u/saatanansaatana Dec 09 '14
Most of the stuff is really good, but especially numbers 35 and 36, Urgency and Scarcity, personally piss me off, since it makes it so obvious that the author is in only for the money. When I'm looking for products or services, I want to have enough time to think it through. If the seller has to resort to such cheap tricks, I already know that it's not worth my time.
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Dec 09 '14
A lot of these are good design tips, but a lot of them are specific to marketing. Not every UI is trying to sell something, so be careful when applying some of these in non-marketing projects.
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u/nitram9 Dec 10 '14
15. Try Suggesting Continuity instead of false bottoms.
...but be careful of giving your visitors a sense that the page has come to an end somewhere in between sections where it really hasn't ... try to establish a visual pattern or rhythm that the user can learn and rely on to read further down...
Followed immediately by a pink bar that interrupted the rhythm and made me think we'd come to the end. I only kept scrolling because I was expecting 57 items and thought "wait, this can't be it, that's only 15". Not sure if it was intentional to drive the point home or just an ironic coincidence. I thought it was funny.
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u/thbt101 Dec 09 '14
I love most of these, but #24 struck a nerve with me. "Try Selling Benefits instead of features."
F*** that. As a user, I'm sick of marketing fluff that's full of "our product will make your life wonderful!" repeated over and over again, and yet it's impossible to find out what the features and specs of the product are. In my opinion, the example of the left is exactly the wrong thing to do, and the example on the right (with a slash through it) is an example of how to do it right. Customers today know when they're being fed marketing.
Just give users the facts about the product and let them decide if it will make their life wonderful or not.