1.12.2009

UX: it's the little things

I was just reading an article in the NYT and inadvertently selected a word. A little icon of a question mark popped up and when I clicked it, it launched a new window with search results for the selected term.

It's little human-centered things like this that make for a great user experience. There were no instructions telling me about this, but it was discoverable, it was intuitive and it was helpful. The term 'design thinking' has been latched onto lately and you're sure to see loads of articles in marketing publications featuring it. Here's a great example of it.

1 comment:

  1. Actually, I can't stand this feature. I use clicking and highlighting to mark my place on the page when I'm reading. So when I read NYT, I am forced to modify my behavior, lest I be constantly confronted with searches for things like "e rockets and mortars.
    During a three-hour lull in fighting on Monday, the military said 165 truckloads of aid had been allowed into Gaza." ... which of course produce no results.

    I guess it would be neat if the user could turn in off.

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