Making User Interface Elements Difficult to Use By Intent
In modern web interface design, no other principle has been heralded and pushed onto us as much as the concept of user-centered design. User-centered design tells us that we should do everything we can to make our user interfaces as easy to use and as intuitive as possible.
However, a big part of designing user interfaces that are easy to use also involves figuring out what things should be a bit more difficult to to use. It’s a counter-intuitive notion that’s central to effective user interface design.
Sleek Interface Designs from DeviantART
We encounter user interfaces everywhere in our daily lives. When I look at interfaces, they always inspire me and I hope that they will inspire you too. Here are 40 creative interface designs from DeviantART for your inspiration.
Will This Be The New Google Web Design?
Google — it seems — is testing a new design today, demonstrating it to certain visitors of the site. This type of live testing is common (the process known as split testing) to evaluate the efficacy of a new design.
Could this be how Google will look soon? Check out some images comparing the new design versus the current design.
Best Practices for Hints and Validation in Web Forms
Our instinctive dislike for forms originates from having to fill out seemingly endless paper forms, many of which require a Master’s degree in Form Content Filling to understand and fill out correctly the first time.
Unfortunately, in the offline world, getting some answer wrong would mean having to fill out the form in full and sending it again, usually days apart.
The Future of User Interfaces
User interfaces—the way we interact with our technologies—have evolved a lot over the years.
From the original punch cards and printouts to monitors, mouses, and keyboards, all the way to the track pad, voice recognition, and interfaces designed to make it easier for the disabled to use computers, interfaces have progressed rapidly within the last few decades.
But there’s still a long way to go and there are many possible directions that future interface designs could take. We’re already seeing some start to crop up and its exciting to think about how they’ll change our lives.
A Quick Look at Mobile Web Designs
If there’s anything web designers learned from the past year, it’s that mobile web usage will continue to soar.
Thanks to smartphones and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook that promote on-the-go interaction with web applications, the amount of people using mobile devices to access the web has grown exponentially.
Rich-Text Editors for 2010 and Beyond
Rich-Text Editors, inline content editors, WYSIWYG editors – or whatever you want to call them – are web applications that enable users to enter, edit and manipulate alphanumeric characters while visiting your website. Wherever you have a <textarea> form input on your site, chances are good that its usability could be improved with a Rich-Text Editor.
For example, your comment form is a great place to provide users with the ability to customize their responses with a few clicks of the mouse. RTEs help your visitors format and edit their web-based content by transforming an ordinary input field into a fully functional HTML editor.
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