Today’s mobile experiences are shaped not only by mobile providers, but application designers and developers. Jan le Roux questions our role as we push the boundaries of mobile user experience.

: Sometimes good UX is about being clever. Sometimes it’s to make the user happy or smile. However, when the success of your product depends on new, possibly inexperienced users successfully downloading and installing it, good UX is the difference between success and failure. : http://www.hanselman.com/blog/GoodUXInTheWildDropboxsAttentionToDetailOnTheirDownloadPage.aspx

: Microsoft Research will unveil OmniTouch, a touch screen for any surface, at UIST 2012. Chris Harrison wrote about the research he did on the project. It is uncanny how simular this work is to MIT’s SixthSense which I have written about back in 2009. : http://www.nickfinck.com/blog/entry/omnitouch_-_touch_screen_for_any_surface/

: Being a Sydney-based UX company we do heaps of work in finance, particularly with online forms. Typically an online form, usually comprising multiple screens, will present some design challenges. : http://blog.objectivedigital.com/fake-form-fields-for-a-better-user-experience

: We don’t often write about products that we didn’t work on, but I came across Path last night and felt it was worth talking about. Path has been around since November of last year. I only vaguely remember looking at it when it first launched, and I don’t even recall what it did – [...]

: It is time for another installment of Gifts for User Experience Geeks! Just in time for the 2011 holiday season. : http://www.nickfinck.com/blog/entry/gifts_for_user_experience_geeks_2011/

By reducing or removing the noise from our experiences, we can help users get things done in a focused, efficient way. UX Booth Editor in Chief Andrew Maier tells us why this matters, and how we can facilitate a more peaceful, frictionless user experience.

Great design starts with a set of clearly defined parameters, and adhering to them throughout the design process. The trouble is, how does one go from a ton of ideas to the perfect product? Fetch! Creative Marketing’s Director of Strategy Stuart Silverstein tells us how.

: I was skeptical. ‘Design’ is not a word I’m entirely comfortable around. Almost entirely because I’m not naturally very good at it. And yet I found myself signed up – by my doing, too – to spend a summery Cape Town Saturday at a workshop. The workshop in question is part of Ogilvy’s Digital [...]

: This is an amazing (intentional) portrait of the world’s worst website. Every UXer and designer should see it. An oldie but goodie. : http://www.angelfire.com/super/badwebs/