http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justification_%28typesetting%29 “Definition” bubbles should be “Flush left, ragged right with a hanging bullet” –and not centered. Centered text is most appropriate on invitations and wedding announcements. Centered justification is hard to read and I should explain why. The link above is pretty good. But left off one detail: In English-speaking countries and countries using Latin…
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94: How users really judge websites
Two studies were published showing an unexpected gap between how people say they judge Web sites and the criteria they actually use: From Stanford University and Consumer Web Watch: “How Do People Evaluate A Web Site’s Credibility? Results from a Large Study.” From Sliced Bread Design, LLC and Consumer Web Watch: PDF download “Experts vs.…
93: Improving User Satisfaction and Reducing Site Bounce Rate
I made a big advance in clarifying the barriers or hurdles preventing user satisfaction. The previous blog entry #92 describes some of that brain work. It’s a work in progress. When these hurdles are removed or addressed, users have decreased bailout or bad bounce rate metrics. The first hurdle isOBSTRUCTION This is load speed and…
92: Prevent Toxic UX Poisonings
Reduce user disappointment, effort, and frustration with UX satisfaction. UX Hurdles Reduce Web Toxicity Build a user safe website with improved quality, efficiency, and economic longevity by monitoring three states for successful user experience. State 1 Obstruction If a website loads slower than 2 seconds, the speed biases users from that moment towards goodness-or-badness judgments.…
91: Responsive letter-spacing
http://pxtoem.com/ According to this link above 0.063em = 1 px. letter-spacing: -0.063em; This is good kerning for larger headline text. “Style sheets become easier to maintain because all text set in EMs scale to the body font-size.”
90: Grayscale testing
Touching colors must have a minimum 30% grayscale differential (contrast) or the human eye struggles to find the edges. This retinal error can cause an optical effect known as popping. This color “secret” is not generally taught in design schools. There is a so-so online grayscale test site: toptal.com https://pinetools.com/grayscale-image Try it. It doesn’t always…
89: Mobile Web vs Apps
http://seekingalpha.com/article/227332-mobile-apps-the-wave-of-the-past QUOTATION / SUMMARY:“Just like the PC, I expect the rise of a good mobile Web to topple the walled gardens while creating a platform agnostic environment that levels the playing field. In this scenario, the one with the biggest garden has the most to lose – Apple. The diminished importance of apps will reduce…
88: Placement of mobile UI components
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds http://www.colorzilla.com/gradient-editor/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio#Aesthetics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headroom_%28photographic_framing%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_room http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_spiral http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_angle
87: Web typography and PDFs
There are a couple of special characters: the “en dash” and“apostrophe”. Small obsessive typography details I can’t let go of. :) Imention them only because most people never notice those consciously. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_case While you have serif links underlined and blue (default), this is unnecessary Spartan design –even primitive. People know what looks like a text…
86: Dropdown CSS menus
I preach 7 to 9 links is the best-case requirement on a home page. So I choke on “link clutter”. That is frequently beyond a designers control since it’s probably edict from a committee. I have low-expectations of dropdown and flyout navigation. I am prejudiced about dropdowns for various reasons. It is mostly a matter…