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Articles by Nathan Rabe
Controlling movement direction in isometic view
The oldest game to use absolute isometric controls I can think of is Q Bert: This was usually played on the joystick - which had 8 directions, not just the 4 arrow keys. Interestingly, though, instead of using diagonal movement on the joystick. you were supposed to tilt the whole joystick, enabling a far more comfortable control experience. Up, left, etc. mapped well to the screen this way.
What is the best way to show my users that buttons in the same line have different functionality?
I have four buttons on my interface that all look the same but don't all act the same. They are laid out like the example below. Button 1 and Button 2 are a modified toggle switch of sorts. If the user clicks Button 1, then it will become selected. The user then has two options. If they click on Button 2, Button 1 will be deselected and Button 2 will become selected. If they click on Button 1 again when it's selected, it will turn off. The same behavior happens for Button 2.
Does case matters when reading and sorting a list of items?
I want to make it easier for a user to read and be able to insert an item into a list of sorted items that can start with a capital letter or a lowercase letter. Does the case matters in this case? Imagine that I want to add the word to the following list of fruits: Note that the user needs to be sure that the word is not already in the list before adding it so, in the first case, the user just have to add it after and before ; while, in the second, the user will have to add it after and before .
How to style table headers?
Headers are essentially metadata and you need some way to indicate that they are separate from your content, but related to it. I would recommend against lowercase and normal weight text as it will make that row visually similar to the rest of the content. Title case is the most common, though you might be able to use small caps or uppercase headers. However, these are often less aesthetically pleasing.
Why is important to focus on user needs as opposed to requests?
I am a software designer and run into this problem all the time. The problem with many non technical people is they don't get abstraction. They truly cannot step back and articulate the functional requirement. Their perception is I have a problem I need this button. When they are asked to describe the problem they either can't or won't. The people least capable of design are inserting themselves in the design role. A button and an output are design decisions.
Why is it important to focus on user needs as opposed to requests?
I am a software designer and run into this problem all the time. The problem with many non technical people is they don't get abstraction. They truly cannot step back and articulate the functional requirement. Their perception is I have a problem I need this button. When they are asked to describe the problem they either can't or won't. The people least capable of design are inserting themselves in the design role. A button and an output are design decisions.
What are some good examples of why it is important to focus on user needs as opposed to requests?
Users are bad at asking for what they need and great at asking for what they want. Anecdotal evidence from my own recent experience: We have a department that asked for a button that would generate a PDF report about some data. A few months later they asked for the report in the form of a spreadsheet. A few months after that they asked for additional columns to be added. And most recently they asked for a full hierarchy to be shown in this report.
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