User Experience Weekly Newsletter - Thursday, October 30, 2014

Top new questions this week: Alternative reward levels to "Gold, Silver, Bronze"? I am looking for an easily identifiable awarding scheme, but without using metals, specifically "Gold, Silver, Bronze". Does such a thing exist? gamification alternatives   asked by Jimmery 31 votes answered by Jamezrp 26 votes Is there any research on how users scan Pinterest or Trello style pages? I'm working on a web app that integrates a Pinterest-like layout. Question: Is there any research around how users scan Pinterest-style pages? Illustration: download bmml source – ... user-behavior   asked by Pdxd 8 votes answered by Eleonora Zucconi 2 votes Is an office-lobby monitor slideshow any more usable than a homepage carousel? I've got a real-world variant on the classic "Are Carousels Effective" question. My office, like many others, has a 40 inch LCD TV hanging on the wall in the lobby, and on it displays a looping ... physical status carousel office   asked by Mark D 6 votes answered by Jamezrp 6 votes What's wrong with +/- accordion controls? I have to implement an accordion control in a system I'm building. Looking around, most people are suggesting using arrows for the control. However, to me a plus and a minus seems far more intuitive. ... accordion   asked by the other one 6 votes answered by JonW 13 votes Single search box for different types of searched criteria I have a scenario where users can search for a particular hotel and add it to their private list. Up until now the search was performed on the hotel name, but now there is a request to also search ... search filtering search-results   asked by radu.luchian 4 votes answered by user353877 0 votes Where is the intersection between Information Architecture with Software Architecture? Where is the intersection between Information Architecture with Software Architecture? When you start a new project, usually the software architecture starts its development and UX designer begins ... information-architecture information software software-engineering architecture   asked by MPossel 4 votes answered by Evil Closet Monkey 7 votes Is it appropriate or wise to merge two similar search inputs together? I have an application team that is building a simple search component in which there are two fields. Both accept a number only value that represents primary keys in two different tables. Would it be ... forms search input component   asked by JeffH 3 votes answered by BrunoH 3 votes Greatest hits from previous weeks: Should a toggle button show its current state or the state to which it will change? I have a quick question about buttons that toggle between two states. (Think Play/Pause, or Shuffle/Regular Play.) As the title says, should the toggle show it's current state or the state to which it ... buttons toggle conventions   asked by Mike Brown 171 votes answered by jensgram 123 votes What explains the current shift from glossy UIs to matte UIs? I've noticed an interesting phenomenon in the user interfaces of many famous applications, they're moving away from the glossy complex to a more dull and bare minimum design. Why the sudden change? ... gui-design icons skeuomorphism trend cognitive-load   asked by Adnan 266 votes answered by Kit Grose 246 votes Can you answer these? When trying to stick to right aligned form label pattern, how do you handle multi-line labels? I'm using 2 column right-aligned labels/left aligned input fields. For 99% of my app, it's great. It follows one of Luke Wroblewski's quickest path to completion patterns. The problem is while trying ... forms labels   asked by haddnin 2 votes Do users find it hard to differentiate latest information from historic information when both are displayed at the same time? I have two panels - one contains current information for a subject, the other contains historic trend information for the subject in a graph. I can display them on the same page - one underneath the ... usability layout   asked by David Scott 1 vote Effectiveness of Dashboard in relation to time on site Is there any research/insight to dashboard effectiveness? In my personal experience I do not spend lot of time reading through different content on the website. Lot of things depends on the dynamic ... usability interaction-design dashboard   asked by Baski 2 votes

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