usability

While this is more of a written language issue than a coding one, it is something that programmers must do in circumstances where copy is not provided by a client or someone else. Any examples of error messages, good or bad, are welcome to make the point. I briefly searched and could not find a dupe thread. Ok, have at it. Thanks, all. Apologise. Say what went wrong. Say how to resolve it. Be polite. The message should be worded so that the application accepts responsibility for the problem. Never blame or criticize the user or make them think it's their fault. Example: "Sorry, the file could

What are some key UI design tips that every developer should know? While there are a number of UI resources for developers (for example, Joel Spolsky's User Interface Design for Programmers ), I'm interested in more of a bullet list that can be communicated in 1 to 2 pages. I'm interested in more tactical, day-to-day UI tips , as opposed to overarching UI design goals that would be covered in a UI design meeting (presumably attended by at least one person with a good UI sense). A collection of these tips might cover about 80% of the cases that an everyday programmer would come across. use a

Some fancy websites show an error dialog when it is detected that an untrained shopper has entered a credit/debit card number as it is printed on their card with spaces. Is it possible in some way to write a Java web app that handles these numbers with spaces as if they were correct? My view is that any Web app that rejects a credit card number with spaces isn't doing its job. When you receive a credit card number, it's easy enough to do: String ccNumber = ccNumber.replaceAll("[\\s-]+", ""); to remove spaces and dashes (some use those too). Then validate the result. You'll simply annoy your

Is there any reason to avoid using text-align: justify; ? Does it reduce readability or cause problems? Firstly, this is purely a design-related problem and solution. The design of your grid specifies if justifying text is needed. I think justify align alone has no major effect on usability. Bad typography that makes text illegible is what decreases usability. That said, make sure you have solid contrasts and a good balance of spacing in your type. Font-size matters too. This site is a successful attempt at justifying text online. Since you can't control the spaces between letters and words

I recently discovered that the :invalid pseudo-class applies to required form elements as soon as the page loads. For example, if you have this code: <style> input:invalid { background-color: pink; color: white; } input:valid { background-color: white; color: black; } </style> … <input name="foo" required /> Then your page will load with an empty pink input element on it. Having validation built in to HTML5 is great, but I don't think most users expect the form to validate before they've had a chance to enter any values at all. Is there any way to delay the application of the pseudo-class