Category Archives: Blog

My continued campaign against icon-only UI’s

Q: What happens when you opt for icons ONLY on an interface so you can save on translation costs? A: You get a completely unintelligible user interface. Case in point: European vs. American home appliances American: uses WORDS to say what happens European: uses these icons with NO words. What? I can personally attest to [...]
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What to NEVER do in a dropdown list

I was reminded by @jochenWolters yesterday of this screenshot I took a couple weeks ago of perhaps the WORST case of dropdown-related IA/UX ever.  Seriously - who thought it was a good idea to organize all the dropdown options by string-length?? Put this on your list of "Never Ever Do This. Ever. Ever!" Ouch.
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3 Steps to Good PowerPoint Presentations

I've given several presentations/webinars/speeches to groups and conferences lately, and they've all gone very well - it's something I really enjoy. I tend to get a lot of compliments on the content & presentation style which is humbling and welcome since I really put a lot of time in to each presentation. The thing that [...]
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The iTunes 10 Travesty

Come on, Apple. I was just lauding your "consistent UI" and "great grasp of UX" to some folks a couple of days ago, and you go and release iTunes 10. As my daughter would say, "That's icky!" Here are my few complaints, along with a few from folks around the interwebs: The "close / minimize [...]
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Conversions ‘R’ Us

I was recently asked to give a webinar (although I hate that word, just for the record) about how to increase conversions on your website. The organizers wanted to call it "Website Optimization: How to increase conversions & boost revenue", but that sounded kinda boring and dry. So I called it "Conversions 'R' Us" - [...]
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  • Bad news travels fast. A dissatisfied shopper tells around 10 other people about the shopper’s bad experience — Albrecht & Zembre, 1985