Ask HN: What are some of your UX hacks?

by wushupork on 5/16/2011, 6:19 PM with 19 comments

I'm not a designer by training and have no formal education in art or cognitive psychology, human factors, usability, or ergonomics but I often find myself tasked with coming up with the user experience for an application.

What are some UX hacks that you have, especially for people who have no formal training like myself who want to create a great experience for their website or mobile app.

  • by stevenj on 5/16/2011, 6:46 PM

    Clarity of purpose. Focus on functionality.

    My favorite sites get this right: Hacker News, Facebook, Google, Craigslist, Techmeme, Berkshire Hathaway, Dropbox, Espn (though I can't stand its automatic video play function).

    Imo, many areas of design (e.g. graphic design) screw up functionality.

    "Design is how it works."

  • by chc on 5/16/2011, 8:56 PM

    If you have no training and want to create a great experience, the best advice is to get some training.

    Can you imagine somebody walking into a symphony hall and saying, "OK, guys, I don't really know much about music, but I want to create a masterpiece. How do I do it?" What do you think the answer would be?

    It's nice to imagine that areas outside your expertise can be conquered with just a few helpful tips and some elbow grease, but it's unlikely to yield anything above "mediocre." Whether a poor or uninspiring experience is good enough for you is a personal choice. But don't fool yourself about what you're creating. If you want to create something great, you need to get really good.

  • by pkamb on 5/18/2011, 8:27 PM

    Get the concrete stuff right:

    -Links should be underlined, and a different color. No exceptions.

    -Get button padding right. (make the entire button clickable, not just the text).

    -Pick the right verbs for buttons. ("Submit" "Delete" "Copy" etc... not "OK")

    -Web-form Usability: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/shopping_cart

    -Do simple, task-based usability testing on real users.

    -Etc.

  • by petervandijck on 5/16/2011, 8:39 PM

    1. Remove stuff until it hurts (links, words, buttons, ...). Designing mobile first helps with that.

    2. Don't make me think.

  • by enborra on 5/16/2011, 8:26 PM

    Make it predictable - don't surprise a user by making ui fancier than it needs to be. Buttons for psychological 'triggering' actions (submit a form, start a process, fire a missile) and links for navigation between sets of information, etc. Reeducating users on how standard widgets work differently in your app kills the mood.