More from Jakob Nielsen on UX
Asking users to watch AI carefully is doomed to failure | Adaptive authoring of content that changes depending on the reader | A cluttered experience kills user focus | To predict patients’ treatment preferences, discussing medical dilemmas beat both survey responses and the patients’ own spouses | Measure outcomes, not vanity metrics | User satisfaction depends on expectations | Spotlight the main features and keep specialized options backstage | Allow users to paste passwords | Ambient AI works in the background to proactively surface relevant information during meetings | Writers don’t know what to ask, so AI should speak first, softly | Information pollution: cheap to publish, expensive to read | Give users bigger images when they want to zoom to see details | Past work must have a name so it can be found
Users parse a layout before they read its labels. Whitespace, borders, alignment, color, and motion determine what belongs together. When these cues fight the content, users attach the label, price, warning, status, or action to the wrong object. Proximity, similarity, enclosure, and the other Gestalt cues guide the eye, snapping visual chaos into clarity.
Summary: Halfway through 2026, AI is evolving faster than expected, but usability is struggling to keep pace.
Summary: The two most conversion-killing ecommerce usability fails | Social media use remains strong but the platforms are becoming less about connecting with other people | The usability of overseeing AI agents | Team-building image idea: design video game characters | Professor Ben Shneiderman was one of the greatest early pioneers of user experience | Seedance 2 as PC software concept
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“Side Two” LP in progress. At 14 songs, it is nearly complete. I expect to release it before the year’s end. The post Another Saturday, Another Song. appeared first on Jeffrey Zeldman Presents.
Asking users to watch AI carefully is doomed to failure | Adaptive authoring of content that changes depending on the reader | A cluttered experience kills user focus | To predict patients’ treatment preferences, discussing medical dilemmas beat both survey responses and the patients’ own spouses | Measure outcomes, not vanity metrics | User satisfaction depends on expectations | Spotlight the main features and keep specialized options backstage | Allow users to paste passwords | Ambient AI works in the background to proactively surface relevant information during meetings | Writers don’t know what to ask, so AI should speak first, softly | Information pollution: cheap to publish, expensive to read | Give users bigger images when they want to zoom to see details | Past work must have a name so it can be found
Back in the spring, we spent some time with the Buck Mason team in LA , working on a project but also learning about their design process, how their references work and the way those feed into finished products. This was important for me be... > Read more