Don't waste any more time! How to save user time in detail

Our users cherish the time and we should not waste it at will. In each project, I asked myself two questions: "Are we consuming user time to save our time ?" "How can we save user time here ?" What is the most valuable fortune in Western society? Money? Status? I think it should be time.

We have a good reason to cherish time and have many requirements. We have too many things to do and too much pressure to bear. People hate to waste their time, especially on the Internet. In this era, we spend too much time on the Internet. Every interaction requirement is a microcosm of this era. There may be no small errors on the website, but once the accumulation is too small, it will also be a loss.

Steve Jobs said reducing the start time of the Macintosh is saving lives. The 10-second savings saved a lot of life for millions of users to start up several times a day.

Steve Jobs is committed to saving user time, so should we.

Millions of users may not necessarily use your website, but millions of websites constitute this whole. So we use poorly designed interactions to steal people's lives. When I was making a website, the first and core problem in my mind was:

"Are we consuming user time to save our time ?"

This is the core of the problem. In order to catch up with the dead time and not overbudget, we often use user time to save our time. Here are some examples to illustrate what I mean.

Designers also need to learn to save time.

Spend time improving performance

The most obvious example of wasting user time is website performance. This is what Steve Jobs did during the startup time. If our website is slow, we will waste valuable time on our users and make them uncomfortable.

The problem is that it is very difficult to improve performance. We become lazy in the face of broadband. We cut corners on image optimization, HTTP requests, and JavaScript libraries. Now, users have to pay the price when using slow mobile devices to access our website through the cellular network.

Optimizing your website performance not only saves your user time, but also increases your search engine ranking.

It takes time and effort to make our website faster. But why do we need to let users bear our problems? Let's spend some time talking about the verification code in turning our problem into a user problem.

Verification Code: the ultimate time killer

Verification code is the best example for us to shirk our problems to users. Do users waste millions of hours filling in verification codes? These events are wasted because we failed to solve the robot problem.

The verification code forces the user to solve the problem that should have been ours.

To clarify one point, I am not just talking about traditional verification codes. I'm talking about any system that forces a user to prove that he is a human. Why do they want to prove it? A little more inconvenience is a waste of time.

If we spend some time solving this problem. The honeytrap technology can help. There are also server-side solutions to filter automatically submitted requests. The problem is that it is relatively simple to lose a verification code.

The Verification Code is not the only method that wastes user time when we fill out the form.

Do not ask users to correct "their" Errors

Sometimes we even waste their time trying to help users. For example, zip code. I once met a website that asked me to enter my zip code so that I could automatically fill in my address, as if I could save my time. This is really a great idea if it can work as it imagined.

The problem is that some search scripts need these zip codes without spaces. However, developers do not set it to remove spaces in the script, but only throw an error. Users must correct the "their" error. Why do users need to input data in a specific way? Why is it a waste of time for them to enter the zip code again? This not only happens in the zip code. The telephone number and e-mail address have similar problems.

We also need to provide better form interaction for mobile users. Forms are especially painful on the touch screen, so we need to look for other form controls, such as slide and square's credit card input system eapp.

Then there is a password.

Why is the password so complex?

Why do we waste so much time building passwords for users? Every website I recently encountered asked me to enter a more complex password. Security is very important, but cannot we come up with a better solution than a mix of upper and lower case numbers and symbols?

Why can't we allow users to enter a long phrase instead of a single word? Why can't my password be "this is my password and I defy anyone to guess it" (this is my password and I am not afraid of someone to guess )? This length can make it safe, easy to remember and easily typed out. If your system does not like those spaces, remove them. You can also provide an option for users to see the content they have entered.

A long password section is as safe as a short password with numbers and symbols, but it is easier to remember.

If you cannot do this, at least prompt when the user attempts to log on. Tell them whether your website needs to be capitalized or a specific number of characters. This at least helps them remember the password of your website.

The most important thing is that people always need to log on. This requires extra attention, so we should try to smooth it out.

Pay special attention to repetitive work

We should ask ourselves whether we should not only shirk our problems to users, but also how to save our time.

For example, the common operations that users repeatedly use on our website. How can we save a little time from repetitive operations? How to search? If you enter a search keyword on your website, will the request be submitted when you press "enter? They should not have to click the "Search" button.

The drop-down menu is another good example. Finding your own country in country selection is very painful. Can we display country information in other ways, or show only the most common countries for faster access? As a matter of fact, there are a lot of ways to improve the country's choice as long as you spend some time.

Simple things such as the country selector waste amazing time. Especially when you are British!

A more powerful solution to this problem is to "Remember Me". In fact, users really remember it!

I know this article seems like a complaint to developers. But it is not. It is only a problem for all network professionals. Designers need to pay close attention to the design details. The administrator needs to make sure there is budget to improve his user interface. Content editing needs to optimize their content for fast consumption.

Help Users process our content faster

The poor and intensive articles we use and write waste too much time on users, making it difficult for them to quickly find the information they need. What is really shameful is that we could have helped them a lot. For example, we can let users know how long it takes to read this page. I have provided this feature in my personal blog, which is the most comments function. Users like to know how much time they need.

We can also make our content easier to browse and make better use of titles, references, and lists. Finally, we can take advantage of Jakob Nielsen's website. At the beginning of the article, he provides a summary of the page.

Tip of iceberg

We still have a lot to do in all aspects of website design, so as to save user time. From information architecture to website analysis, we wasted too much. Sometimes we don't even know what we are doing! We need to always be vigilant and always ask ourselves:

"In this case, how do I save user time ?"

What do you want to say about this question? I hope you will share your experiences and choices with us and join us in the discussion below.

Don't waste any more time! How to save user time in detail