This is a call-out for all designers, developers, information architects, project managers, writers, editors, marketers, and everyone else who makes websites. Now is your chance to get to know the web a lot better by helping sketching a true picture of how UI patterns are used today.
I would like to introduce The UI pattern survey
When writing about how user interface design patterns are used and should be used, there is no real empirical evidence for what is written other than personal observations, professional experience about what works, and pure common sense. At no point has any of the pattern libraries that exist on the web today tried to conduct a thorough investigation about the state of UI patterns.
The UI Pattern survey initiative has its motive to do just that. I’ve build an survey application in order to learn more about how design patterns are used on the web today.
The real value of the new User interface pattern survey is the ability for everybody to add questions and websites to be investigated. Consider this as an opportunity to finally get an answer to many of the questions you might have about how websites are built today!
Target: Large websites with a community
This is the first survey of its kind – many more will hopefully follow in the future. To begin with, only websites with account functionality will be investigated.
Open for all
This initiative is about obtaining knowledge. Do you have a question you want to ask? Well, then submit it to the system, and the survey will include your question! If you have a site that you think should be included in the investigation, then simply submit the site! The results of the survey and questions added at a later stage will be published once a sufficient number of replies have been obtained.
But I don’t understand…
…well, it gets interesting when you from the results can draw that in X percent of the cases, the login link is located to the left of the sign up link or that it is more common that a search button is decorated with an icon than without.
The extend of the possibilities of what answers are possible is extremely big and new questions can quickly be asked and answered within short amounts of time, as new questions will be favored over questions with lots of replies. You’ll get an answer quickly!
Spread the word
For this project to be of real value, it needs to gain momentum. So please do whatever you can to help UI-patterns.com spread the word!
Get started!
I can’t keep going on… and it’s certainly more fun to take the survey than reading this. So…
- Anders Toxboe
PS. For now, the survey is only available to Firefox and Safari users. IE and iFrames do not go well together!
