“http://”, thou shalt be required no more!
August 2, 2010 at 6:41 pm Filed in:Design | code | geek | user experience No Comments
Over the past few weeks, I’ve discovered that most web forms that contain a field for a url have a major usability failure when it comes to validating the content of the field… the validation fails if you neglect to enter “http://” preceeding the variable portion of the url.
Sure, sure, I get it. Perhaps the form is anticipating that a user may be linking to a site using https://, and thusly requires the user to specify the protocol… but for users linking to blogs, corporate websites, and the other most common use cases for these types of fields, the likelihood of linking to a secure server is (or should be) inversely proportional to the number of users on the site… or in other words, as the number of users increases, the probability of a user’s url requiring https:// approaches 1/∞ (remember algebra? it gets close to zero).
So, a note to all my fellow developers out there… chances are, if someone is linking to something on your site, it’s far more likely that it will require http:// rather than https://… Browsers don’t require that you type http:// before your URL anymore… neither should our forms. Adhering to the same conventions users are used to elsewhere in their travels throughout the internet will create a much more satisfying user experience. Here are a couple of recommendations:
- Write up your validations accordingly. Don’t require a prefix, but allow users to add one, on the off chance that they *are* referring to a secure server.
- If, for some reason, you deem it necessary to require users to specify the appropriate prefix, gosh darn it, specify the format for a valid url below the field, or at least display the required format as a tooltip/popup when the user is focused on the field, and draw attention to the required prefix. Novice – and even seasoned users – may otherwise gloss over it – and be forced to endure the frustration of a failed attempt at submission.
- When the field loses focus, alert the user to the fact that their url is not formatted properly. In big Red letters, and all caps if necessary… preferably somewhere near the field (if it’s still visible in the user’s frame of vision) or near the submit button to remind them to fix their error before continuing
Sure, chances are if they submitted the field once, they’ll fix their error and submit it again… but they’ll be mumbling and grumbling under their breath at you, and I know that some of you out there wouldn’t want to hear the names I’ve called you after a failed form submission. So be good to your users, and build your forms and validations with an eye towards the most common use cases, and make those who subvert convention be the ones who do the work.
For the less geeky, in case you’re wondering why http vs. https matters at all, take a look after the cut for the random facts.
Back to the top: navigation and design failure.
November 22, 2009 at 12:03 pm Filed in:Design | Technology No Comments
One of my pet peeves that I consistently see with businesses who traditionally relied on the sunday advertisement insert is a reluctance (or perhaps overt refusal) to format their weekly ad in a manner more appropriate for the web.
Case in point: I was looking for a new backup hard drive today, and after becoming frustrated with the lack of usability on the ShopLocal.com, I reverted to switching back to viewing the weekly ads of individual retailers, where I happened to stumble across this perfect example – a weekly ad from Best Buy.
We’ll leave aside the fact that this opened in a pop-up, cosmetic issues and the use of flash for the time being…. What’s key here is that the majority of advertisement content that is of interest to the consumer is below the fold, requiring that the user scrolls down the page to see the content that is of interest to them. And if you look at the next image, you’ll see why.
The layout of the ad is intended to reflects the dimensions of a page in those the traditional weekly newspaper advertisments… the ones that were so unwieldy, where you had to either clear a 3′x5′ space to read on, or make a real effort to keep the paper from flopping over on itself… the ones that have been largely replaced in print by a more manageable tabloid format.
Perhaps the old-style ad layout was selected by the designer to reinforce metaphor of a print ad by as a way to make users comfortable with the notion of viewing an ad online. Or perhaps they are simply unwilling to put their ads in a more usable format in order to force more user interaction with their content in hopes of increasing conversions.
Regardless, this format, utilized by grocery stores and other big-box retailers on their sites might be palatable, were it not for one key problem that always appears to be found in near proximity:
Random thought…
May 7, 2009 at 3:16 pm Filed in:Design No Comments
How drastically would the world change were comic sans to disappear from the face of the earth tomorrow?
Bringing science to the world, and the world to science
April 27, 2009 at 10:12 pm Filed in:Design | Science No Comments
A note to those developing websites based on databases of scientific information aimed at engaging the public: enough with the acronyms.
Unless the acronym spells out something easily recalled AND directly related to the topic at hand – even if the acronym spells a commonly-used (but unrelated) word – it will likely be viewed as jargon.
Fireworks won’t start anymore? It probably doesn’t like your fonts.
April 13, 2009 at 10:04 am Filed in:Design 1 Comment
The other day I was going to create a new mockup, but when I launched Adobe Fireworks, it kept crashing after 30 seconds of the ‘loading’ pane. Would a reboot fix it? No such luck. Uninstall, reinstall? No dice.
What had I done since the last time I’d used Fireworks? Put together a few flash demos, wrote some code, installed 600+ new fonts….
A-ha! I opened Font Book, selected the User font group from the left column, selected all fonts contained within, and disabled them by right-clicking in the list of fonts and selecting “Disable” (or something of that sort). Launched Fireworks again, and it loaded – no problem.
So, if you’re having trouble getting Fireworks to launch when all other Adobe apps seem to be playing nice, try disabling any fonts you’ve installed. If that works, re-enable them as you see necessary.
And Adobe peoples – bugs that actually prevent an application from loading are kinda bad. You might want to set it as P1… ’cause that whole designer target market might actually have non-standard fonts on their systems.
Me Do My Myself: renegade baking, creativity, and Fashioning Technology
February 6, 2009 at 9:31 am Filed in:Craft | Design | Technology | food&drink 1 Comment
I had my first renegade baking experience was when I was 4. My mom was outside working in the garden, and my friend and I decided that we wanted to ‘bake’ for the first time. Unfortunately, we couldn’t reach the recipes, so we just threw everything in our reach that looked like ingredients in the bowl. But (luckily) we couldn’t reach the stove or the oven, and when she came back inside, she found us with a big bowl full of a green mess.
About 45 minutes after enquiring as to what we had put in the bowl, our green monster cake came out of the oven. She had magically turned it into a verdant, yet quite tasty spice cake (a miracle, quite possibly, as the two items I recall within reaching distance from our fridge in those days were anchovy paste and Aquavit).
Why is that memorable? It taught me creativity and ingenuity in the kitchen can sometimes lead to fantastic, although slightly bizzare results. Thanks to that fantastic experience, to this day I’m hard pressed to follow a recipe to the letter. I have an appreciation for all types of cuisine, and I’m open to the bizzare.
And I really like green food.
But now I have a problem. I’m addicted to books full of fantastic diy projects – various forms of knitting, electronics, sewing, glasswork, cookbooks… but I never seem to actually MAKE anything from those shelves full of books, taking up so much valuable space and collecting dust in my tiny San Francisco apartment. Continue Reading
Powered by Microsoft? Ford must really be in trouble.
October 23, 2008 at 6:57 am Filed in:Design | Technology 1 Comment
Yup, there are all of the old jokes:
If Microsoft built your car, your car would crash randomly three times a day while you were driving down the road… and every time you made a left turn.
or
If Microsoft built your car, every few months you’d have to reinstall a new transmission, but you wouldn’t be able to figure out why.
or
If Microsoft built your car, all the warning lights are replaced with a single dashboard indicator which lights up to read ‘Your car has experienced an unexpected error” - but it is only after the engine is ‘unable to recover.’
Microsoft doesn’t immediately bring to mind stability, reliability, or even functionality. If Ford’s main marketing pitch for the Focus is letting people know that they’re integrating Microsoft technology, they must really be in trouble. Continue Reading