![]() ![]() That number is always subjective, and ever-shifting, but one thing is true: the higher the cost, the greater the bounce. There is a point where the user will give up. Interaction cost is essentially defined by the amount of effort a user thinks is worth the result. +3 - repeat the above steps to return to the content.+1 - locate the tab from the card-stack,.+1 - tap the little square in the upper right hand corner,.My concern is that this scenario assumes a lot: namely that the tab is just a click a way, and not - as on Chrome on iOS. I think this a legit headscratcher, and maybe a valid argument for the former. +1 - the user command-clicks to open that same link in a new tab, for later.+1 - the user back-buttons their way to the content.+1 - the user clicks to the previous tab to continue reading …Īnd, objectively, this could be superior to.Here, we encounter one of many different scenarios that butterfly-effect from our linking decision: ![]() There is a cost to interaction, that we can analogize by - say - spending a point each time the user takes an action. In these cases, it seems to make sense in having a link open in a new tab or window.īut hijacking default behavior isn’t a light decision. There are links of interest and further reading peppered throughout the content, and choosing one - especially if you’re ten minutes into an article - that bounced you off page could definitely be distracting. Say you’re reading In the Library with the Lead Pipe where long-form articles can get pretty long. … I want to think about your content, not get confused and irritated by your inconsistent linking behaviour! Inconvenience is trumped by interaction costĪsk yourself: is the inconvenience of default behavior greater than the interaction cost? The absolute worst is when some links are target=_blank and others aren’t, all on the same website, usually because of multiple authors and lack of style guidelines. Ruth Collings said as much in a comment on the original appearance of this post, where she describes just how credibility-spiral begins: A link is a promise that if broken endangers the trust and credibility of the brand. Kara Pernice - the managing director at Nielsen Norman Group - wrote in December 2014 about the importance of confirming the person’s expectation of what a link is and where the link goes. The default behavior of hyperlinks is that they open within the same page. This is all to stress the point that violating conventions, such as the default behaviors of web browsers, is a dangerous play. Without proper beacons to home in on, users will quickly become disoriented. That is, if you put the proper markers in place. ![]() Users … may be search-navigators or link-clickers, but they all have additional mental systems in place that keep them aware of where they are on the site map. Users need to be able to rely on the consistency of the user interface and know that they won’t be distracted or disrupted during the interaction.Īnd interaction designer and animator Rachel Nabors makes the case that user-friendly and effective user interface places users in control of the application they are using. Vitaly Friedman summarizes a bunch of advice from usability-research powerhouses in this: The conventions set by the sites that users spend the most time on–Facebook, Google, Amazon, Yahoo, and so on–are conventions users expect to be adopted everywhere. The menu bar isn’t at the top of the website because that’s the most natural place for it it’s at the top because that is where every other website puts it. Users spend most of their time on other websites.ĭesign conventions are useful. Why? Jakob’s Law of the Internet User Experience: The benefit of the browser itself is that it frees users “from the whims of particular web page or content designers.” For as varied and unique as sites can be, browsers bake in consistency. Nielsen Norman Group write that “links that don’t behave as expected undermine users’ understanding of their own system,” wherein unexpected external linking is particularly hostile. It’s situated around the power of convention and smart defaults, and that subverting those - going against the grain - might involve more complexity, confusion, and cost than you might expect. users find new tabs or windows convenientīacked-up by gut feeling and deep-cut marketing hem-haw, but in the business of user experience design we learn fast - and painfully - that gut feelings tend to suck.we don’t want users to leave the website, or.There are two recurring themes in arguments favoring opening links in new windows: Ideas we have about what links should do are taken for granted, and “best practices” that favor links opening new windows aren’t often substantiated. Usually, this means that the link on a website will open in that same window or tab. The best practice is to leave the default link behavior alone. ![]()
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