Category — Rapid Paper Prototyping

In what ways does Bing have a better interface design?

Where I found Bing to be better was in displaying related searches on the left side whereas Google displayed them at the bottom. Another neat feature of Bing was when hovering over search results and having the option of activating a pop-up box on the right of the link with more information from the website without leaving Bing. Clicking on an image in Bing revealed a better interface design. In Google a frame of the interface design reveals metadata about the image but only that image. Bing allows you to view the information contained within the website where the image comes from right within Bing but also shows all the image results on the left with a scrollbar. The start page of Bing offers a more compact setup for entering a search, while in Google the user has to move his mouse quite a distance to search for images, videos and others. The background image serves to unify the main parts of the page, while all peripheral options are faded back into the grey frame. Tooltips for search categories in Bing also enhance its usability. Finally, Bing does not distract the user by offering an equivalent to Google’s famous “I’m Feeling Lucky” button.

What strategy is Bing adopting in order to one-up Google?

Bing has also added a new ‘Entertainment’ section dedicated to music, movies, TV and games. What this essentially means is that Bing once more incorporates a lot more into its interface design even allowing users to play videos, songs and online flash games right within Bing. Where Google seeks to be your transit point connecting you to your destination, Bing seems intent on being the destination.

So why did such a seemingly good idea backfire?  Interface designers are often looking for new ways to improve their websites.  Yet, before implementing changes to an interface design, interface designers should think about the user’s reactions first.  The Google background flop is an excellent example of how to understand users and what they want.  And what users (especially search engine users) want is familiarity and universality within the interface design:

1.    Familiarity.  A web site as popular and (dare I say) archetypal as Google needs to be familiar to the user.  The plain white screen background is one of the hallmarks of the Google interface design.  It makes the user experience simple and is in no way distracting.  Over the years people have gotten used to Google’s basic design, and changing this learned pattern decreases the user’s comfort and familiarity with the site, a big usability no no.

2.    Universality. A site with such a diverse range of users needs to be equally accessible to all.  There were likely many users who enjoyed the artwork that graced the screen of Google’s homepage.  But many were probably confused, maybe even annoyed by it.  Lack of contrast or not knowing how much else besides the obvious background design had changed may have made users insecure.  The brilliance of Google’s homepage design is that it is so simple and uncontroversial that it makes the site attractive to everyone. Thus, the more universal the interface design, the more popular it will be among users.

There are many more factors that contribute to website usability, but Google’s new background image feature struck at the heart of the user’s expectations formed by two principles: universality and familiarity. Having a universal interface design that users are familiar and comfortable with is a great asset for a website that should not be put at risk.  As redundant as it is to say, interface designers must keep user needs and experience at the forefront of the interface design process.  However, this interface design platitude is worth eternally repeating because as Google’s background images faux pas shows us, even the big boys make mistakes.

A few weeks ago, Google decided to make a daring change to its interface design, one that was meant to make the site more aesthetically pleasing to its millions of users.  Google rolled out a set of backgrounds by well-known contemporary artists as a promotion of a new feature which was to allow users to choose and upload personal photos as a backdrop for the infamously plain, white search engine screen.  At the drawing table, this must have seemed like a fabulous idea to Google designers, a way to refresh their interface design and permit users to have more control of its settings.  However, like the plethora of ideas that are great in theory (but not in practice), Google’s new feature backfired.  On the day the new backgrounds were introduced, the number 2 trending search on Google’s trending pages was “Remove Google Background.”  Search engine searches speak volumes about what users want and are looking for.  Clearly, Google users were not looking for works of art to replace the white screen.  Within two days Google was back to its old design and users were happy to have the unadorned consistency back.

Increased storage

It is rumored that the new iPhone 4G will have up to 64 GB of storage capacity—almost the same amount as the iPod touch.  This will allow users of the new iPhone to store more for entertainment purposes: photos, films, tv programs etc.

Ebooks

Apple has launched a literary equivalent of iTunes: the iBookstore, which is currently available via the iPad. The new iPhone 4G interface design will likely include this new application, giving users the capacity to download and read books from the comfort of their own phone.

New Design

According to rumors coupled with the viewing of leaked images, the new iPhone 4G will likely be smaller and lighter than the older model, with a smaller yet higher resolution screen.  Since the iPhone supposedly is vamping up its storage and camera abilities, it is likely that a higher resolution screen is more than just a myth.

The expected release of the iPhone 4G at The Worldwide Developers Conference 2010 promises to vamp up the public’s interest in the event. If the rumors surrounding the new iPhone 4G are true, then customers have much to be happy about and competitors better get back to the prototyping board!

The Worldwide Developers Conference 2010 promises to be full of surprises when it kicks off on June 7 in San Francisco.  Apple’s chief executive officer, Steve Jobs, guarantees that the customers „won’t be disappointed“ by Apple’s newest developments. The focal point of the WWD will be the new iPhone 4G.  Apple was furious over leaked images of the iPhone a few months ago, but since the images did nothing but stir the public’s interest in the new device, the expected release of the iPhone 4G at the WWD will likely double the event’s publicity and excitement.  Here are a few things to expect from the new iPhone 4G interface design (these features are still firmly rooted in the world of speculation):

New Operating System

The iPhone 4G interface design will likely be powered by the new iPhone OS 4. The key new feature for this system is the facilitation of multitasking—users will be able to run apps simultaneously and switch between them with fluidity.  For example, users will be able to instant message a friend, look at photos and listen to their playlist all at once.

A quick example: Say your presentation is centered around 3 keywords or themes. These can be displayed as really huge items with further information on those themes much tinier and clustered around the keywords. As you go through your presentation you could zoom further down in which ever direction and angle. Prezi’s interface design for creating presentations is a breeze to learn and use thanks to very little noise and a few but powerful options (to adjust size for example). Prezi is also optimized for editing. Say you were going to perform your trusty presentation to an audience but wanted to leave something out: simply change the path to exclude the parts you wish to exclude rather than deleting slides. Just drag and drop all you may want to work with onto the canvas and the world is your oyster! Google wave users can look forward to embedding Prezi presentations allowing for non-locking, realtime collaborative editing between multiple parties on multiple devices. Considering that Prezi is similar in functionality to the Microsoft Office Labs pptPlex concept project, a look into my crystal ball tells me that the next iteration after Office 2010 will also include a zooming user interface design of some sort. But for now Prezi seems the leader of the new school.

Real-time collaboration capabilities

One of the main benefits of cloud computing is its facilitation of real-time collaboration among users. Cloud app mobility allows people to work and access their material from anywhere.  When designing your cloud app, think about ways to facilitate communication among users. For example, provide users with chat features or the ability to simultaneously access and edit documents (features already provided by Microsoft’s competitor, Google Docs, or by other more specialized tools like the wireframe tool Pidoco).  If your cloud app is related to gaming, make sure that players can easily communicate with each other.  The beauty of the internet is its capacity to provide the world with instantaneous forms of communication.  Don’t forget to make your cloud app a shining example of why real-time collaboration is one of cloud computing’s main benefits.

Interface design

It is important to have a cogent and executable concept behind your cloud app, but it is even more important to have an interface design that supports your app’s usability.  Cloud apps are completely dependent on internet access.  Many of them are accessed through a web browser. Think about internet connections. It’s great to have a high fidelity interface design, but is it usable for those with slow internet connections?  Think about the simple things like browser bars, the back button, page linking, even a possible search engine.  Do all of these seemingly simple features assist your user or do they detract from your interface design’s usability by making the user experience convoluted? Do they integrate well with your applications navigation flow and processes or are they misleading? Your interface design should be so simple to use and seamlessly integrated with the browser navigation options that your users don’t have to think about or notice it (well, maybe you can add some flair—it should look nice).  If you want users to appreciate the substantive value of your cloud app and what it potentially offers them, you have to make sure that the structure is clean and usable.

Google seems to have done pretty well on these points. Now it remains to be seen how the new Microsoft Office Web Apps will fare.

The editing toolbar has also been revamped with the Article & Discussion tabs now on the far left of the main pane and the editing tab on the right side. The editing page has also been simplified to reduce noise and clutter employing collapsible menu items. A link and a table wizard have also been introduced to simplify the editing process. The revamp has been finished off with improvements in search suggestions among other refinements. All these changes to Wikipedia’s interface design work together to boost the ease of learning for new users, the efficiency of use for repeat users and the subjective satisfaction users feel when using the website. Other usability advantages that are brought about through the new interface design are the memorability of the system (is the new interface design like a bicycle that – once learned – users will be able to remember sufficiently well, even after a long period of time, to effectively use) and a lowering of error frequency and severity. It is often said that less is more, and Wikipedia confirms this view with its new website design. But the new interface design of Wikipedia doesn’t just do away with options but instead also repackages them in a more manageable and presentable format that offers much more, but with less noise, clutter, alienation and frustration.

Importance of usability

The manifold improvements undertaken by Wikipedia show how important usability and its impact on the users of a website – even such a well-known one as Wikipedia – are, especially when the users come from a wide range of backgrounds. The new interface design certainly is a step forward, but it remains to be seen how active the older Wikipedia users will become in editing pages and contributing their fading knowledge to the “collective memory”. This is a great case to prove that there is also a social or societal aspect of usability.

The world’s most popular encyclopedia just got a makeover. After months of beta testing by 500,000 account holders the new interface design theme, called Vector, went live replacing the old Monobook skin. The redesign follows a usability study conducted in April 2009 by the Wikimedia Usability Initiative Team along with a user experience consulting firm mainly focusing on the editing experience and process, drawing the following conclusion among others: that three quarters of updates are made by men of an average age of 25. Although 80% of users would like to edit pages found the editing process under the previous skin too intimidating. The usability studies found that young people were more willing to experiment with editing while older users were afraid to destroy the site.

A sleeker interface design improves usability

The result is a much sleeker interface design that scores big on usability providing users with “so much more less”. The new interface design looks less dated than monobook. For starters there is much less noise around the interface design and the menu items interaction, toolbox and languages are now expandable/collapsible, instantly clearing Wikipedia of unnecessary clutter that often goes unclicked. Navigation on the page has been improved with the use of much bigger tabs. The search bar has been moved from the middle of the left sidebar (where it was previously hidden between menu options) to the top right hand side of the website under the ‘log in/create account’ area. A discernibly big space between the two is there to make sure that users, particularly those with jittery hands, don’t accidentally click on log in and vice versa.

•    One-way linking:  A one-way link is a hyperlink that directs the user of your website to a different website, but only in one direction.  There is no reciprocal link, meaning that the website you link to is not connected with your own website. One-way links can be beneficial for your interface design because they bolster your link directory, but they can often be more advantageous for the websites you establish links to since you are basically providing these sites with advertising in your link directory, thus increasing their popularity.

•    Reciprocal linking: A reciprocal link is a joint link between two websites to guarantee mutual traffic.  You can submit your website to reciprocal link directories in order to network with other websites and increase your search engine popularity. With one way linking you provide your users only with links away from your website, but if you utilize reciprocal linking, various websites can provide their users with links to your website.  This increases the visibility and marketability of your own website.This method is valuable because Google, for example, uses link popularity algorithms as part of their ranking process.  The more your website appears in the link directories of other websites, the more popular your website will be.

•    Resource linking: Resource links are categories of links.  They can either be one-way or reciprocal.  In essence, they are hyperlinks to or from your website to another website deemed to be relevant or beneficial to users of your website.  Since you are posting links that are helpful to your users, i.e. links that correspond to the relevant content of your website, this method is extremely useful for increasing your website’s search engine ranking.  Search engines have recently made it clear that the quality and relevance of links that you post on your website are major factors in your website’s search engine rating.

Link building will increase the visibility and popularity of your website, but you should make sure that the link directories do not clutter your interface design. It is important that you establish well-organized link directories on your website, and it is vital that you find ways to have your website included in the link directories of others as this increases your search engine ranking.  You want your website to be seen as a common building block used in the continuous construction of the internet.