Monthly Archives: September 2011

Keyboard accelerators for web sites

A common refrain in usability is to support expert users. This often boils down to giving users shortcuts for common tasks: one of my personal favourites on the web is Amazon’s ‘One Click’ button that allows you to purchase a book with just, well, one click. Within desktop applications, expert users are much better supported with tools like keyboard accelerators. Curiously, very few web sites appear to support keyboard shortcuts, but I came across this excellent example at flickr recently. When you want to scan through lots of photos, these shortcuts are a real boon.

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Black hat usability taken a little too literally

I get lots of spam mail. I’m sure you do too. Lately, I’ve found myself looking for the ‘unsubscribe’ link in the emails that I’m sent.

I received this today. Where would you click if you wanted to unsubscribe?

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If you check the footer, you’ll see that the unsubscribe link is written in black. Yes, a black link on a black background.

 

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I truly hope there is a special place in hell for designers who do this kind of thing.