Excise
Definition
Excise: work users have to do that is not directly related to accomplishing their goals; the “tax” users pay to the machine by doing work for the machine rather than for themselves.
~ anything that makes users think (increases cognitive load)
~ movement (clicking, scrolling, dragging, zooming, panning) - how can you save users one click?
Example 1
BAD: In some pre-populated fields, the field doesn’t clear as soon as you place your cursor in it - the user has to delete existing characters.
Example 2
GOOD:
In forms, cursor should be already in the first field, saving the user one click.
Example 3
GOOD: Remember and reuse information, don’t make users re-enter it.
Example 4
GOOD: After form validation when user is prompted to correct errors, previously entered info is still there.
Some forms lose it :(
Example 5
Making users fill out forms.
Want to ease the pain?
Read: Wrobleski, L. (2008). Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks
Do’s and Don’ts
Your example?
(not forms :)
Jackson Tibbett
Good:
The users don’t have to type in their login information twice
Jordan Cain- Good Example
After you search something on youtube and you go back it keeps entered information there, instead of deleting it.
More Excise (from theCN)
Doesn’t default to most relevant date and makes you do all of the searching yourself.�-Seige Harris
Max Moffat Good Example
Pitchfork.com utilizes a search bar, and saves the user time by offering possible search options based on what letters they have already typed. It also offers a decent amount of options, so the odds are good that you will see what you were planning to search for!
P.S. This is my favorite website and has the best music reviews I’ve found on the web. Check it out!
John Sylvain
Once you sign into one google website(Gmail, google drive, etc) you don’t have to sign in when visiting other google sites (youtube, google analytics)
MS
Good: Allows users to input their credentials and automatically retrieves the old layout and settings the user had. Doesn’t make the user download all of the apps/settings again every time they get a new computer/chrome/etc
Why does this always pop up when I try and copy something in Google Docs
Mitch Coffman
Reddit is boss
Reddit saves all of the subreddits that you are subscribed to so that you can easily reference them at the top of the page. This allows you to get to where you want to go very quickly and without much effort. There are also many dank memes.
-Klay Simmons
Patrick Teall - MyMail
Remember me usually never actually remembers you
Jacob Loesch - Bad Excise
We all love seeing the food on the main page of The CN, but when I only have one class, why do I need to click into that class every time? Even with multiple classes, maybe start on your most visited one!
The Marketing Collective
BAD: When you hover over one of the menu options of this website, it disappears. The user can’t tell what they are hovering over or what they are about to click on.
Here it is!
And now it’s gone
Maddie Schenck
Inconsistency - Click Away to Close
On some pages of Google Docs, clicking
elsewhere on the page will close any pop-up information. However, other pages (mainly Google+ info) will not close with this technique, forcing users to skip through the dialogues or hit the X. The inconsistency in the mental model causes confusion and wasted time.
BAD
Brantly McCord
Sometimes clicking here will close the dialogue...
But on this page, I have to use the X, disrupting the mental model.
3dank5u
.tiff
Jonathan Porte
Press that button to go back to the top of the page instead of having to scroll back up
Internet Explorer Annoyances
Brittany Flamik
Reddit Without the Enhancement Suite
Stop it. I’ll tell you when I want your silly add-ons. Now I have to click the X on this box.
I always have multiple tabs. To open IE with many tabs, you have to click on this first and then choose the tab you want. Rude
<- this
Brittany Flamik
Snapchat/Instagram Login
SNAPCHAT LOGIN:
The field doesn’t clear as soon as I click on my user name and I have to delete existing characters.
INSTAGRAM LOGIN:
The field CLEARS when I click the x!
sophie
The CN’s weird scrolling feature
Levi Schrumpf
When you are down the page and click on any link in the header bar, the page scrolls up to the top, taking extra time and confusing the user as to why the link they just clicked is moving them to the top of the page.
BAD
Google Drive
Good: Automatically saves your work once any changes is made so users don’t have to risk losing any work.
Varanya Upatising
TheCN
If you enjoy your privacy, TheCN makes you changes your new post’s visibility to “this course only,” adding an extra click.
Reflections
This evil thing on the CN and similar on other websites are Excise. It lies. You click on it, and it only gives you 5 or so new posts. There’s no way to sort the posts/find certain posts. If there’s a lot of comments, you won’t be able to find anything.
Shaun O’Malley
Deactivate Facebook Account
Facebook puts a lot of excise to make difficult the process of deactivating an account.
Google Docs
When you google “Google Docs” it takes you to this page, which then allows you to go further in to actually get to google docs.
Keith Cercone
Updating Flash - Ben
https://www.thecn.com/content/view/5510d92aa21f46be268b4643
Updating Flash is a horrible PITA. A thing pops up on my desktop, takes me to a website where I click a button to download another executable I then have to run. Not to mention paying special attention to make sure I uncheck every “special offer”.
Other progams just download and install updates on their own. Flash must die.
YouTube lets you click through your subscriptions, and on a YouTuber’s channel, you can then choose whether to watch a video or click through their channel page.
Also there is a search bar that lets you go straight to a video if you want.
Mackenzie McGarry
Kyle Messner
Posts set to “New Posts”, but it shows a post from March 12th. I took my longer than it should have to find the link to this document because it was buried under older posts.
Kayla Gaskins-Forgetting Password
Although I understand it’s a security feature, I hate
having to jump through a lot of hoops just because
I forgot my password for HungryBoiler.
Caryssa Perez
Steam
Popup on hover that describes what the game is so I don’t have to click on the game to find out more info
Brandon Chafin
Good Example: When user hovers over list of all options drops down, doesn’t disappear and all options are visible and save users a click.
SAM ENSIGN
One of the most useful features of Google is placing
the cursor in the search bar automatically. Many people
appreciate not needing to click on the homepage at all
(unless they are feeling lucky). If a user wants to gain
information for a topic, they can quickly do that with
Google.
when you want to quickly view a user’s profile and summary of their stats (followers, tweets) and the last few things they tweeted about, you can just click on their twitter display picture to bring up a small pop up box instead of having to redirect to their page.
This could also work against the user though, since if they want to redirect to the user’s specific page it means more clicking to get there since they’ll have to click again on the link that says “go to full profile”
Alethia Jong