comparison Articles & Videos

  • Semantic Differential Scales: Measure User Attitudes with Nuance

    In UX surveys, semantic differential scales help measure user attitudes with nuance. This video covers what they are, their pros and cons, and how to write clear, balanced adjective pairs for UX research studies.

  • Designing Scroll Behavior: When to Save a User’s Place

    Save scroll position when users are likely to compare content in a long static list.

  • Comparison Tables: 5 Scenarios When Not to Use Them

    Comparison tables are most effective when they’re used in the right context. Prevent unnecessary confusion by making sure a comparison table will help decision-making on your site.

  • A/B Testing 101

    A/B tests incrementally improve the user experience of a product while effectively reaching business goals.

  • Clean the Sludge from Decision-Making Workflows

    Help users make choices they’ll be satisfied with to boost satisfaction and retention by simplifying decision-making workflows.

  • 12 Design Recommendations for Calculator and Quiz Tools

    Calculators and quizzes are useful and trustworthy when they are easy to use.

  • 3 Types of Online Calculator and Quiz Tools

    Most calculator and quiz tools provide at least one or more of the following services: converting inputs, predicting the future, or providing recommendations.

  • Calculators and Quizzes: User Expectations

    Calculators and quizzes provide personalized information. Users approach these tools with an exploratory mindset and appreciate them while making decisions.

  • Comparison Tables for Products, Services, and Features

    Use this versatile GUI tool to support users when they need to make a decision that involves considering multiple attributes of a small number of items.

  • UX & Marketing: Balancing Business Goals and Supporting Users

    There are inevitable tensions that form between UX and marketing teams because of their differing approaches to users and differing priorities. Regardless, both teams can still work together to find effective solutions that address those tensions.

  • The System Usability Scale (SUS)

    The SUS is a well-established 10-question survey administered at the end of a user test; it gives you a measure of the perceived usability of your product and enables you to compare it with others.

  • Infinite Scrolling: When to Use It, When to Avoid It

    Infinite scrolling through long lists of homogeneous items can lower interaction costs, but is less suited to support specific tasks such as finding a particular item.

  • Show Me the Data (UX Slogan #15)

    Members of a design team will often argue for different solutions to a UI problem. That's when to say "show me the data" to resolve the debate by empirical insights, rather than who argues the best.

  • Working Memory and External Memory

    People have very limited ability to keep information in their working memory while performing tasks, so user interfaces should be designed accordingly: to minimize memory load. One way of doing so is to offload items to external memory by showing them on the screen.

  • Love at First Sight in Eyetracking

    When users search for information, they don't always keep looking for the best solution. In our eyetracking studies 20% of the time, users make do with the first result and don't look any further.

  • Compensatory vs Noncompensatory: 2 Decision-Making Strategies

    Ease users’ purchase decisions by designing interfaces that support both compensatory and noncompensatory decision-making strategies.

  • The Pinball Pattern of Scanning Search Results Pages

    Today, a SERP (search engine results page) contains so many design elements that users don't have a simple way of picking out their preferred link. Eyetracking studies show that users' eyes bounce around the page between items in a scan pattern that resembles a pinball machine game.

  • Incorporating UX Work into Your Agile Backlog

    Three different backlog models enable teams to keep track of UX work in their Agile processes. Each model comes with pros and cons.

  • Formative vs. Summative Evaluations

    Formative evaluations are used in an iterative process to make improvements before production. Summative evaluations are used to evaluate a shipped product in comparison to a benchmark.

  • Statistical Significance in UX

    If you’re working on digital products, you should be familiar with what statistical significance means in the context of UX research. Otherwise, your decisions may be based on meaningless numbers that could be due to pure chance and not a reliable difference between design options.