Web Design Flashcards
What is clickability?
For users on the web, the mouse click is perhaps the most fundamental human-computer interaction. The web became the web partially through the power of hypertext, or text in one document that links to other documents or resources. To this day, users navigate the web largely through mouse clicks (and finger taps on mobile and tablet devices).
What are affordances?
Objects afford the ability of users to interact with them in various ways. For instance, a bench affords a person the ability to sit on it, but if it is not affixed to the ground, it also affords the user the ability to turn it over, throw (if the user is physically able), or perform any number of other actions. Even though the designer was probably not designing the bench with throwing in mind as the primary user behavior, the object still affords this action. Potentials for interaction are collectively called the affordances of an object.
What are signifiers?
Signifiers are aspects of an object that a designer uses to indicate potential and intended affordances of an object. For example, a teacup with no handle affords the ability to lift it and drink out of it. But designers and potters often add handles to signify that users can and should lift up the object and take a sip. The handle is an example of a common user experience pattern.
What are UX patterns?
User experience (UX) patterns establish reusable solutions to common problems. Handles are ubiquitous—they are used on objects of all shapes, sizes, and purposes to indicate that users can initiate an action by grabbing the handle with their hand(s).
