UI/UX Articles And Interesting Tidbits Of The Week
March//6//2020
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
1.
Foldable Web. Another great article hailing from Smashing Magazine on the topic of foldable Interactive Experiences. With the popular unveiling and eventual selling of foldable devices, it’s important to consider the ramifications that such hardware has on Design strategy and Product implementation. This means of course, considerations of above and below the fold, alongside dual screen experiences to contemplate. Well worth a read. Highlight of the article includes:
“On the more ambitious end of the spectrum, foldable devices effectively mean a mini dual-screen setup, in which the two halves of the display can be used for different things. Indeed, when you boil down the foldable web it bears an uncanny resemblance to devices like the Nintendo DS — a single device with two screens working together. Tech has advanced massively since then, to the point where the two displays can be seamlessly connected, but the core experience is very similar.”
2.
Writing Accessibly. Spot on article on how to write for UX, with considerations pertaining to Accessibility standards. The article explains thoroughly the average reading speed of screen readers (35 syllables per second), and of sighted readers of course (two to five words per second), just to highlight a very important piece of information. It also sheds light on topics such as clarity and brevity in the writing (in the past I’ve highlighted articles where the focus was primarily on the quality of writing in hyperlinks, which applies adequately here: succinct, substantial, specific and sincere). Great read! Highlight of the article includes:
“Writing chronologically is about describing the order of things, rather than where they appear spatially in the interface. There are so many good reasons to do this (devices and browsers will render interfaces differently), but screen readers show you the most valuable reason. You’ll often be faced with writing tooltips or onboarding elements that say something like, “Click the OK button below to continue.” Or “See the instructions above to save your document.””
3.
Writing E-mails. I usually highlight quite a few articles on the subject of e-mails. E-mails are such a fundamental part of everyone’s daily usage, and therefore, for organizations, product experiences, it’s crucial to make sure these are focused on, with a proper strategy, which obviously includes writing that is pertinent, substantial and supporting of the experience being created. Fast Company and author Stephanie Vozza give some extra insight in how to shape written content that is relevant for users/consumers. Highlight of the article includes:
“If your email has a large amount of information, it can be a good idea to reflect that in your closing, suggests Panté. “For these more complicated emails, I typically will write something in closing like ‘I hope this makes sense to you and I’m explaining myself appropriately. If you have any questions or feel a phone call would be better, please let me know,’” she says. “In closing an email, don’t forget to convey your appreciation for the person and the help they provided. It’s always nice to get to an end of an email to see that the person writing it took the time to acknowledge your hard work.””
