best practices

A Good User Interface has high conversion rates and is easy to use . In other words, it’s nice to both the business side as well as the people using it. Here is a running list of practical ideas to try out. (via GoodUI )

**Dieter Rams: ten principles for good design ** (via Vitsœ | Good design ) Good design… … is innovative … makes a product useful … is aesthetic … makes a product understandable … is unobtrusive … is honest … is long-lasting … is thorough down to the last detail … is environmentally-friendly … is as little design as possible Born in 1932, Dieter Rams is one of the foremost industrial designers of the 20th century. ...

Dieter Rams: Design by Vitsœ Speech delivered in December 1976 to an audience at Jack Lenor Larsen’s New York showroom: The designer must be the gestaltingenieur or creative engineer. They synthesise the completed product from the various elements that make up its design. Their work is largely rational, meaning that aesthetic decisions are justified by an understanding of the product’s purpose.

Seth’s Blog: Naming a business First, (…) The LESS it has to do with your category, the better. Second, please pick a real english word, or a string of them. (…) Third, be sure it’s easy to spell AND pronounce. (…) Fourth, don’t obsess about getting a short web name. (…)

Design Principles | Android Developers These design principles were developed by and for the Android User Experience Team to keep users’ best interests in mind. Consider them as you apply your own creativity and design thinking. Deviate with purpose. Enchant Me Delight me in surprising ways Real objects are more fun than buttons and menus Let me make it mine Get to know me Simplify My Life Keep it brief Pictures are faster than words Decide for me but let me have the final say Only show what I need when I need it I should always know where I am Never lose my stuff If it looks the same, it should act the same Only interrupt me if it’s important Make Me Amazing ...

Starters Guide to iOS Design (…) I find that many designers struggle with the transition to UI work, or with the different processes involved in iPhone and iPad app design. In this guide I’ll describe the deliverables you’ll be expected to produce, outline the constraints of the medium and introduce fundamental iOS and UI design concepts.

First and foremost, all we really did was our best implementation of what Chris Phin asked all App Makers to do in his talk at NSConference 5 . Our “perfect press release,” was literally just a point for point copy of the ideal press release from his talk, which I hope nobody will mind me sharing here. (via Launch Thanks | mur.mu.rs )

73.6% of all Statistics are Made Up — How to Interpret Analysts Reports The problem of skewing results: (…) How is it skewed? There are so many ways to present data to tell the story you want that I can’t even list every way data is skewed. Here are some examples: You ask a small sample set so that data isn’t statistically significant . This is often naiveté rather than malicious You ask a group that is not unbiased. (…) This type of statistical error is known as " selective bias ." Also common, you look at a large data set of questions asked about consumer preferences. You pick out the answers that support your findings and leave out the ones that don’t support it from your report. This is an " error of omission ." You change the specific words asked in the survey such that you subtly change the meaning for the person reading your conclusions. But subtle changes in words can totally change the way that the reader interprets the results. Also common is that the survey itself asks questions in a way that leads the responder to a specific answer. There are malicious data such as on Yelp where you might have a competitor that types in bad results on your survey to bring you down (…) (…) As my MBA statistics professor used to say, “seek disconfirming evidence.” That always stuck with me. ...

Three useful one-liner anchors to use on e-mail | Ricardo Clerigo I also find that starting text with a “> [Keyword]” combination works great, as in: Agreed: text Follow-up: text Action: text

(via Memorizing a programming language using spaced repetition software | Derek Sivers ) I’ve been doing this for a year, and it’s the most helpful learning technique I’ve found in 14 years of computer programming. See also: Janki Method – Using spaced repetition systems to learn and retain technical knowledge. Effective learning: Twenty rules of formulating knowledge Software: Anki – friendly, intelligent flashcards

Writing Email Subject Lines: 6 Ways to Improve Your Open Rate – Copywriting by Copy Hackers So, what can you do to improve your open rate so you stand a better chance of converting your list? Get Permission – Clean Lists Are Worth the Work Only Send Emails Where There Is More Value for the Recipient Than for You Use Words the “Lizard Brain” Hears Make Sure They’re Expecting Your Email Remind Them That They Know + Trust You Keep It Short and Casual, Like a Friend’s Subject Line

Email on Mobile Devices | MailChimp Right now, people strongly view mobile email as a filter, and we’re all trying to avoid getting deleted too fast, because our emails are awesome. Follow these best practices regarding engaging content and building trust with your audience, and take into consideration the design tips we’ve unearthed through our research. Your audience will thank you with its increased engagement.

Cal Newport speaks at World Domination Summit 2012 (by Chris Guillebeau) At minute 30:41 If something is interesting to you, and if it looks like it will give interesting options if you start to do well and you start to become valuable, that’s good enough! That’s all you need for that particular job, that field, or that major, to be the foundation of a remarkable life.

An email from someone that has been through this « X-Plane How to react to a patent troll: (…) the initial response needs to be focused and correct (and aggressive, might have mentioned that). You need to react like a rattle snake.

Film Crit Hulk Smash: HULK VS. TOM HOOPER AND ART OF CINEMATIC AFFECTATION | Badass Digest CINEMATIC AFFECTATION 101 A wonderful lesson/essay in cinematography and camera placement.

PHP: The Right Way There’s a lot of outdated information on the Web that leads new PHP users astray, propagating bad practices and bad code. This must stop. PHP: The Right Way is an easy-to-read, quick reference for PHP best practices, accepted coding standards, and links to authoritative tutorials around the Web.

The Science Behind Those Obama Campaign E-Mails – Businessweek “We did extensive A-B testing not just on the subject lines and the amount of money we would ask people for,” says Amelia Showalter, director of digital analytics, “but on the messages themselves and even the formatting.” The campaign would test multiple drafts and subject lines—often as many as 18 variations—before picking a winner to blast out to tens of millions of subscribers. ...

HOW TO: Use Game Mechanics to Power Your Business So how can you use game mechanics the right way and supercharge your business? We’ve distilled the process down to four steps.

Get Your FAQs Straight: Convert Your Curious Customers You can improve your FAQ pages by… Streamlining navigation through questions Prioritizing clarity over precision in language Connecting the answers in FAQs to other steps in the sales funnel so that no visitor goes uncaptured

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