Top new questions this week:

Synonym for 'GUI' for non-technical people?

Does anyone know a good synonym for 'GUI' that non-technical people will understand? Or a simple sentence explaining it that still won't scare them off? Edit: Thanks for the answers :-) But I meant …

terminology novice-users

asked by com. BOY 34 votes answered by MainMa 16 votes

Use old or new name for an update confirmation message when name itself has been updated?

I want to provide a user of a web application some confirmation message like: The task "foobar" has been successfully updated. Now, in term of usability, if the update consists in changing …

usability user-interaction copywriting feedback notification

asked by Etienne Rouxel 22 votes answered by JohnGB 51 votes

Is constantly updating the formatting of a numeric input box a good idea?

I have a numeric input box, as part of a form. I'm implementing delimited splitting, to make large numbers easier to read. ie, 1000000 would become 1,000,000. Would it be a good idea to automatically …

forms input-fields formatting

asked by John 16 votes answered by Koen Lageveen 24 votes

How to show progress towards goal?

On our intranet we display some numbers for our employees so they can keep track of their performance goals. Currently it's just a table. We'd like something more visual, and this was the first …

website-design info-visualisation progress-bar perception intranet

asked by longneck 15 votes answered by rk. 12 votes

Why do some sites use "If you are not <user>, click here" instead of "Log out"?

I've recently noticed that several websites, e.g. Amazon, Dockers, etc. use "If you are not -username-, [click here]" instead of an explicit logout button. Is this another example of hiding the logout …

copywriting logout

asked by John Bensin 14 votes answered by JohnGB 13 votes

Is shaking a device to refresh an accepted behavior?

I have an app that displays downloaded information that is cached. I could use valuable space to include a button that is used to re-download the information, or I could simply add a "shake the device …

user-interaction mobile touch-screen gestures refresh

asked by you786 14 votes answered by JohnGB 32 votes

Web app keyboard shorcuts

Is it a good practice to give keyboard shortcuts to web apps that allows a user to do tasks that are repeated often. In my personal experience, I've rarely used keyboard shortcuts offered by GMail to …

website-design keyboard-shortcuts

asked by edocetirwi 11 votes answered by Joshua Barron 12 votes

Greatest hits from previous weeks:

Is there a Windows 8 desktop UI Guideline or HIG anywhere in the world?

And I don't mean Win 7 / Metro UI guidelines, I have them up the wazoo, but I've changed jobs and need to start looking at the new Windows 8 DESKTOP design. I know it takes a lot of cues from Metro on …

guidelines desktop-application windows-os metro hig

asked by Robert Grant 18 votes answered by Jørn E. Angeltveit 15 votes

Which do users like more as of now, 'Flat Design' or 'Skeuomorphic'?

I have read multiple articles on-line that say that the era of Skeuomorphic design on the web is over, and that a new era of so-called 'flat design' is now the new thing for developers, but do users …

website-design user-interaction gui-design skeuomorphism flat-design

asked by cory ginsberg 26 votes answered by Charles Wesley 35 votes