Part I: The Creepy Signal Going online initiates information exchanges. We go to a website, open an email, or check on someone’s status update—we receive information. Usually, we also give up some. The website tracks our activity on the site, and may leave something called a “cookie” in our browser that allows it to track […]

WordPress, once a simple blogging tool, long ago stepped up to become the world’s most popular open source content management system. But within the development community, it does not have the same cachet as some of the popular modern development frameworks such as Ruby on Rails or Node.js. Most web developers, including Mobility Labs are […]

The discipline of User Experience consists of focusing on the needs of the user, instead of those of the web designer or website owner. The thing that makes it difficult is that we imagine that we’re already doing that. We believe, as we put together the layout, functionality, and information architecture, that we’ve done so […]

We are redesigning our website using modern web development tools and a focus on mobile. Read more about how and why.

Google just rolled out a new feature, one that favors long-form original content. If you Google a broad topic, you may see–at the bottom of the page, a block of results labelled “In-Depth Articles.” According to the Google post introducing the feature: “To understand a broad topic, sometimes you need more than a quick answer. […]

Let’s say a friend of yours self-publishes a book on Amazon. She asks you to buy it, rate, maybe even gives you a copy. Naturally, she also hopes you’ll read it. Which you totally plan to do, as soon as you have a little time. Meanwhile, though, she needs a few good reviews on Amazon […]

Two recent Facebook innovations are intended to make Facebook status updates more independent of both the networks and the platform. One is the hashtag, introduced on June 12th. The word hashtag describes this symbol “#,” but it also means the letters or word following that symbol on a social media post. For instance, if I […]

Until recently, the process of searching for information on the web meant you entered some kind of search phrase into a search engine. The search engine pulled up a list of possible results, usually ten per page, and you browsed through to find the one that had the best answer. Given how much better this […]

When you go to a personal trainer, you don’t expect her to just do something to make you more fit. You are asking for her to challenge you, lead you in the right direction, and to instruct you in the proper techniques. But you have to do what she says. This is how the core […]

A recent article by usability expert Harry Brignull got us thinking about all the ways website owners trick their users. Brignull does not believe people start of thinking “how can I trick people,” but shows how several forces in the marketplace combine in a recipe that produces this behavior. The one that caught our eye […]