Placeholder Text, such as Lorem Ipsum, is something every web designer or developer uses. And for good reason. It’s not meant to confuse clients and provoke comments such as, “what is this funky writing? I can’t read Spanish”. But, to fill in content areas for web design in a way that simulates real written text.
MoreA great user interface acts as a teacher. It should bring new users up to an intermediate level of experience quickly. Anyone can appreciate a video game that lets them dive in and play without ever needing to pick up the manual. Many games offer help text that appears at key moments to teach the player how the game works.
The web has a lot to learn from video game interfaces. Adding tooltips is an effective way to quickly bring users up to speed so that they never feel the need to find the help manual.
Here is an example of one.
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Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach to Web Application Design
Author: Robert Hoekman Jr.
Helvetica
Director: Gary Hustwit
