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Buzzkill
Alternate dimensions
An Insurgency of Quality
Nothing is special
Numbers abound in interfaces, hopefully delivering a great deal of information. Bigger numbers usually indicate more activity (like when you're looking at comment threads), or more work to do (like when you're looking at your inbox); smaller numbers generally indicate low activity. However, when the number zero must be represented in an interface, it should be treated differently than other values. Why? As I'll show below, "zero" can actually imply a variety of things, depending on its context.
Search results
Zero results can mean either that the term isn’t represented in the searched data set, or that the user mis-keyed the term. Each possibility would suggest a different recourse.- Correct term, but no results? You need to find another term or look elsewhere.
- Bad term mis-keyed? You need to supply the correct term.
When the search results are zero, help the user notice the error with attention getting graphic design, and provide options about alternate terms or places to look.
Attention signals
Much of what we’re doing when we design software is directing the user’s attention. To help the user with her goals, we’ll add attention getting signals where they’re appropriate.
For example, in help desk software, outstanding trouble tickets often need to be called out, since these represent problems to which the user is waiting on a solution. To let the user know that “we haven’t forgotten you,” we’ll put a simple indicator in the global navigation that represents this status. Often it’s with a tiny piece of rich, visual, modeless feedback (RVMF), such as “Trouble Tickets (2)”.
But when there are no outstanding trouble tickets, it doesn’t serve the user very well to keep calling her attention to it. “Trouble Tickets (0)” just serves as an unnecessary speed bump when scanning the navigation options. Instead, we drop the RVMF in the navigation so all of the options feel at the same “attention level” and the user can get on with using the intranet for other reasons.
Community variables
Zero participation looks kind of sad. A “0 comments” label attached to a blog post looks like no one cares. “0 members” in a chat room looks lonely. These labels can adversely affect the user’s opinion of the object.
But with new posts, or at low-traffic times, it’s really just a matter of timing. The post might be spot-on, but not bear further discussion. Or it might be vitriol that needs a spanking, but which will come with time. Take the negative spin off the label by framing it as an opportunity.
For example, rather than showing “0 comments”, have it read “Add a comment.”
Participation variables
Sites like Yahoo! Answers award its users points for answering questions, but participation in this awards system is not vital to using the site. While “0 points” certainly provides some motivation to your more innately competitive users towards earning them, it might be that the user just doesn’t know what points are or how they can be used.
In this case you might want to change “Total points: 0” to "Total points: 0, Get started!", and add a well-labeled link to learn more. This “What are points?” link helps someone ramp up on the behaviors of your software.
It’s definitely a little extra work. The interaction designer has to specify it, the visual designer has to accommodate the changing sizes, and the coder has to catch the zero variables and change the display, but since the meaning is what your user is interested in, respect the differences in what zero could represent, and make "nothing" special.
Filed under: Interaction design, Interaction Patterns
Chris Noessel is a senior consultant at Cooper. His industry experience ranges from owning a small, museum-focused company in Houston to working with Microsoft's futures prototyping group in Seattle. For marchFIRST he was Director of Information Architecture, conducting research and design for notable web sites such as Apple, SEGA, and Harmon Kardon. He was one of the founding graduates of the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea. He teaches interaction design at the California College of the Arts.
More entries by Chris
Comments
Chris, love your article. Good points :)
@Cooper Journal: thanx for very interesting reads this year. Keep up the good work.
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IA Television
http://iatelevision.blogspot.com
Nice article, funny how the Cooper Journal posts have "Comments (0)" against them though!
@Anonymous: I was worried about running this article with the knowledge that we weren't following our own advice, but I sort of hoped that no one would notice. Turns out, people notice. So, thanks for the tip, and, with any luck, the cobbler's children will get around to wearing shoes at some point.
I'm the Lead Designer on Yahoo! Answers and just thought I'd point out a couple of things on our 0 case. When a visitor registers for Yahoo! Answers, we automatically give them 100 points for signing up and 1 point for their first visit. This action is triggered automatically, so it's very unlikely that people will see this 0 case when first joining. In order to get to 0 points, you would need to ask 20 questions, each of which cost 5 points to answer without answering any, which earns 2 points. I agree that a 0 case is not ideal even if it's unlikely that a visitor would see it so thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Great blog by the way :)
@Amanda: Thanks for the clarifications. It makes a lot of sense to get people started with a few points, allowing them to experiment with (and learn) the economy of the service.
@Chris: Busted! Please do tell: How did you run your Yahoo! Answers budget down to 0 points?
I wrote this some time back, but looking at my Yahoo! Answers history, I've only asked two questions. Maybe before the starting gift was implemented? Perhaps I should change the caption to read "You can bottom out your Yahoo! Answers"?
@Amanda: Thanks for the correction and glad you're digging the blog!
I don't recall where but I've seen a blog that uses "Be the first to comment" as a particularly positive way to say 0 Comments. It almost makes you want to do it just to say you did.