• Mentions, Reviews & Other Writing

THIS PAGE IS NO LONGER UPDATED.

PLEASE VISIT 4ourth.com/writing instead.

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Writing

Steven writes occasional articles, writes a regular column for UX Matters, and edits books and other articles. If you like what I say at a conference, you might like some of these also.

Books

Written in whole or in part, contributed to, or just edited.

• Designing by Drawing - Basically all my design process and artifact-management methods in one place. Some is now a bit out of date (2009), and it doesn't have a lot of current, mobile-specific methods. But I still refer to it weekly. Also available, cheap via iTunes but I am really not sure I get money if you buy it from there. It's crazy old now, so you can also just grab the PDF for free.

• Designing Mobile Interfaces with Eric Berkman. O'Reilly, November 2011.

• Smashing Webkit - I totally did not write this, but was a particularly-annoying and detailed note-giving technical editor. Jon Raasch did a good job gathering all the info so give him vastly more credit. And get it if you are a web developer. Good book.

• 158 Tips on mLearning: From Planning to Implementation. I only did a dozen of them or so, edited by Karen Forni. eLearning guild, August 2013.

• Mobile Design Pattern Library, 2nd Edition Also did not write this, just technical editing.

• Learning Responsive Web Design And editing again.

Popular Old Blog Posts

• Working Agilely... With Agile? Whatever...

• Why don't we use italics online, anyway?

Articles

• Greatness and danger in police car computers written for the Little Spring Design blog, but reprinted in Police Professional and others, and quoted in the Atlantic as Attention Must be Paid (though they got my name wrong). September 2008.

• Eyes on the Road or Mind on the Road? - UXmatters, April 2012.

• Responsive Principles: More Than Designing for Size - UXmatters, 11 June 2012.

• Mobile Inline Form Validation UXmatters, September 2012.

• Designing for Users and Their Devices UX Matters, December 2012.

• Idea Amplifiers, Activity Streams, and the Distributed Supercomputer: A Conversation Around Hypervoice UXmatters, January 2013.

• How do Users Really Hold Mobile Devices? UXmatters, February 2013.

• Common Misconceptions About Touch UXmatters, March 2013.

  • Ecrans tactiles: mort aux mythes, same article translated into French.

• I lost my laptop... and it didn't really matter UX Motel, May 2013.

• Following Patterns & Innovating UXmatters, April 2013.

• Tools for Mobile UX Design UX Matters, June 2013.

• An Introduction to Designing for Imperfection UX Magazine, July 2013.

• The Future Merchants UX Motel, August 2013.

• Tools for Mobile UX Design: Adobe InDesign UXmatters, September 2013.

• Designing for Imperfection in Action UX Magazine, October 2013.

• Improving user experience is as easy as cleaning your room Guest post on KC Startup Village blog, October 7 2013.

• Designing for Fingers and Thumbs Instead of Touch UXmatters, 11 November 2013.

  • A worksheet I used to teach this at a workshop Design by Zones worksheet

• People, Ubiquity, and the Internet of Things: The New Mobile Context with Mudassir Azzemi, UXmatters, 13 January 2014.

• Teens as Digital Users UXmatters, 10 March 2014

• Making mLearning Usable: How We Use Mobile Devices eLearning Guild research report, April 2014.

  • Read for free most of it on my blog.

  • Mobile usability: Top tips to help you plan for adaptability infographic from WorkLearnMobile based entirely on this report.

• The Role of User Experience in the Product Development Process UXmatters, 5 May 2014

• Nine Lies We Tell Ourselves About Mobile UX Magazine, 3 June 2014

• The Social History of the Smartphone UXmatters, 7 July 2014

• Insights on Switching, Centering, and Gestures for Touchscreens UXmatters, 2 September 2014

• The Rise of the Phablet: Designing for Larger Phones UXmatters, 3 November 2014

• Phones Aren’t Flat: Designing for Real People in Diverse Contexts UXmatters, 5 January 2015

• Tools for Mobile UX Design: Task Flows UXmatters, 9 March 2015

• Fingers, Thumbs, and People ACM Interactions, 1 May 2015

• Why It’s Totally Okay to Use a Hamburger Icon UXmatters, 5 May 2015

• Back, the Stack, and Authentic Design UXmatters, 6 July 2015

• What I do: A plea for Human Factors and Usability Medium, 9 August 2015

• More Agile, More Problems Medium, 18 August 2015

• Type Sizes for Every Device UXmatters, 7 September 2015

• 44 px: Why Apple is Wrong Medium, 15 September 2015

• Error Messages Are an Anti-Pattern UXmatters, 9 November 2015

• Practical Empathy for the Rest of the World UXmatters, 4 January 2016

• When Your Project is Done, It’s Not Dead: A Guide to the After Action Review Process Medium, 4 February 2016

• Session Expiry and Coke Machines UXmatters, 11 March 2016

• Beyond Airplane Mode UXmatters, 25 April 2016

• Flatly Authentic UXmatters, 11 July 2016

• Mobile UX Design Approaches: Workshops UXmatters, 8 September 2016.

• Succeeding with Field Usability Testing and Lean Ethnography UXmatters, 7 November 2016.

• Build a Mobile-Device Lab! UXmatters, 9 January 2017

• Design for Fingers, Touch, and People, Part 1 UXmatters, 6 March 2017

• We Are Not Masters of Our Design Destinies Medium, 5 April 2017

• Design for Fingers, Touch, and People, Part 2 UXmatters, 8 May 2017

• Onboarding Class for Your New Job Medium, May 16, 2017 (but derived from older work)

• Design for Fingers, Touch, and People, Part 3 UXmatters, 18 July 2017

• Principles for Mobile Design UXmatters, 7 August 2017

• Avoiding Stupid, Rude, Destructive, and Deadly Design UXmatters, 11 September 2017

• Design, Craft, and Manufacturing for Digital Products UXmatters, 6 November September 2017

• Cascading UX Specifications UXmatters, 8 January 2018

• Understanding Location UXmatters, 5 March 2018

• How to Create Good Error Messages UXmatters, 15 May 2018

• Handling Delays UXmatters, 9 July 2018

• Mobile Apps: Native, Hybrid, and WebViews UXmatters, 6 August 2018

• Signon, Signoff, and Registration UXmatters, 10 September 2018

• Paging, Scrolling, and Infinite Scroll UXmatters, 5 November, 2018

• Adaptive Information Design and the Box Diagram UXmatters, 7 January, 2019

• Designing for Intrinsic Understanding UXmatters, 4 March, 2019

• A Design Language for Touch, Gesture, and Motion UXmatters, 6 May, 2019

• Creating Effective Carousels UXmatters, 15 July, 2019

• Organic Product Development and Authentic Design UXmatters, 9 September, 2019

• Mobile Dark Patterns UXmatters, 4 November, 2019

Articles I Contributed to

• Agile User Experience Design (Contributor) UXmatters, April 2012.

• 1 Of Every 8 SIM Cards Can Be Hacked: Will Mobile Technology Ever Be Completely Secure? (Contributor) Zintro Blog, August 2013

• UX Concepts and Practices That We Wish Would Just Go Away (Contributor) UXmatters, August 2013

• Responsive Web Design for Corporate UX Design (Contributor) UXmatters, September 2013

• The Importance of Collaborative UX Design (Contributor) UXmatters, October 2013

• Doing User Research at an eCommerce Startup (Contributor), UXmatters, November 2013

• Top UX Trends of 2013 (Contributor) UX Magazine, December 2013

• The Top UX Predictions for 2014 (Contributor) UX Magazine, December 2013

• Conducting Expert Reviews: What Works Best? (Contributor) UXmatters, 27 January 2014.

• Achieving Alignment: Collaboration Versus Wireframes? (Contributor) UXmatters, 24 February 2014.

• Wear Are We? A medical device that can interface with brainwaves finds us pondering the trajectory of wearable technology. (Contributor) UX Magazine, December 2013.

• User Experience and Accessibility: Working with Visual Designers (Contributor) UXmatters, September 22, 2014.

• Persuading Clients That the Need for User Research and Usability Testing Is Real (Contributor) UXmatters, October 20, 2014.

• 50+ Designers Share Their Top 3 Design Trends For 2015 (Contributor) FoundersGrid, December 9, 2014

• The Top UX Predictions for 2015 (Contributor) UX Magazine, December 22, 2014

• Responsive Web Design for eCommerce Web Sites (Contributor) UXmatters, 16 Feb 2015

• Inspiration for UX Design from the Arts and Sciences (Contributor) UXmatters, 20 July 2015

• Is Technical Writing Part of UX? (Contributor) UXmatters, 24 August 2015

• 4 leading mobile UX experts talk key trends TechBeacon, 29 September 2015

• Identifying and Validating Assumptions and Mitigating Biases in User Research (Contributor) UXmatters, 19 October 2015

• The Top UX Predictions for 2016 (Contributor) UX Magazine, 30 December 2015

• The Purpose of Site Maps and Other Design Deliverables (Contributor) UX Magazine, 27 January 2016

• Book Review: The Smarter Screen (Quoted for article) UXmatters, 5 December 2016

• Five Questions with Steven Hoober (Interview with me) Pointworks Academy, 9 February 2016

• Books That Have Influenced Our UX Careers, Part 1: Design (Contributor) UXmatters, 20 Feb 2017

• Books That Have Influenced Our UX Careers, Part 2: Applied UX Research UXmatters, 27 March 2017

• The Most and Least Valuable Contributions of UX Designers (Contributor) UXmatters, 20 June 2017

• What to Do When You’re the Only UX Designer on a Project? (Contributor) UXmatters, 25 July 2017

• Testing Products People Will Use in a Variety of Environments (Contributor) UXmatters, 25 September 2017

• Tools for Remote, Collaborative UX Design (Contributor) UXmatters, 20 November 2017

• Becoming an Agile Company (Contributor) UXmatters, 2 May 2017

• Testing Low-Fidelity Versus High-Fidelity Mockups (Contributor) UXmatters, 25 June 2017

Blogging

• Donttouchme my personal blog. Which over the years goes from nerdy general designer, to fairly personal (not embarassing, just stuff like travelogues) to UX nerd, to unused and back.

• Little Springs Design. I wrote a huge percentage of the articles for my old agency. Some good stuff here, but some are hard to read as the company died and what's left of this blog is a text-only record. So, no images. A few were ported over to my personal one above, or dual-published on both so look around.

• http://ericberkman.com/blog/

Extremely Not-Comprehensive List of Interviews, Referencing, or Talking About me

• http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1721

• http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/01/mobile-interfaces-mistakes-to.html

• http://readwrite.com/2013/05/22/polar-input-types-multiplatform-app-design

• http://blog.zintro.com/2012/09/28/the-samsung-and-apple-verdict/

• http://www.guardian.co.uk/media-network/2013/may/24/mobile-design-real-world-use

• http://blog.utest.com/how-mobile-users-hold-devices/2013/03/

• http://torsionmobile.com/2013/05/02/mobile-design-tips-building-for-touch/

• How to Adjust Controls for Touch by Luke W, in which most of the first minute talks about my findings on how people hold phones.

• http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2013/12/05/cyd-harrell-the-challenges-of-usability-testing-mobile-apps/

• http://blogs.developerforce.com/developer-relations/2013/12/43091.html

• http://www.worklearnmobile.org/articles/mobile-usability-top-tips-to-help-you-plan-for-adaptability/

• http://www.slideshare.net/PersonaeUserLab/smartphone-streetobserver-english-version

• http://www.zilliondesigns.com/blog/infographic-mobile-app-design-thumb-friendly/

• https://mowens.com/articles/2014/09/22/1/designing-for-fingers-and-thumbs

• http://qz.com/268433/how-to-design-for-thumbs-in-the-era-of-huge-screens/

• http://www.core77.com/blog/ux/mobile_interface_design_thumb_zones_for_the_new_iphones_27656.asp

• https://medium.com/@mibosc/mobile-ui-ergonomics-how-hard-is-it-really-to-tap-different-areas-of-your-phone-interface-bb043d409af8

• http://www.usertesting.com/blog/2014/10/10/mobile-app-usability-resources/

• http://ajisoftware.com/Media/Blog/07-5TouchscreenDesignTips-UXPAKC

• http://interactivemedia.org/insights-on-switching-centering-and-gestures-for-touchscreens-uxmatters/

• http://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/digital-media/making-mobile-users-experience-better

• http://mobilepaymentux.com/meet-apple-pay/

• http://www.slideshare.net/PamelaPavliscak/left-to-their-own-devices-the-real-mobile-experience-38770720

• http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2556288.2557312&coll=DL&dl=GUIDE&CFID=443566964&CFTOKEN=62659977

• http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2541016.2541063&coll=DL&dl=GUIDE&CFID=443566964&CFTOKEN=62659977

• http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2628363.2628382&coll=DL&dl=GUIDE&CFID=443566964&CFTOKEN=62659977

• http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2556288.2557354&coll=DL&dl=GUIDE&CFID=443566964&CFTOKEN=62659977

• http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2541016.2541024&coll=DL&dl=GUIDE&CFID=443566964&CFTOKEN=62659977

• http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2254556.2254591&coll=DL&dl=GUIDE&CFID=443566964&CFTOKEN=62659977

• http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2389836.2389869&coll=DL&dl=GUIDE&CFID=443566964&CFTOKEN=62659977

• http://wordpress.tv/2014/11/05/luke-wroblewski-from-the-front-lines-of-multi-device-web-design/ 7 minutes in

• http://www.cocoachina.com/design/20141110/10173.html

• http://www.codal.com/mobile-ux-design-the-rule-of-thumbs/

• Hands On Design Thinking, Saying No, and Ecosystem Design at UX15: Day 1

• A Bigger iPhone May Not Be Better, But It Makes Sense for Apple

• REPORT: Apple plans to supersize next generation iPhone, iPad

• iPhone 6 Problems: Not Safe For Your Pants Pocket—Or Your Microwave

• We're Designing Apps Wrong For Huge Smartphones

• UX Podcast #99 James & Per hide their hamburgers

• 5 Common UX Mistakes to Avoid on Your Mobile Site

• Delivering Better Mobile Email Messages with Mobile-First, Responsive Design

• How People’s Bodies Affect Design

• How We Hold Our Gadgets

• Designing for Touch: How We Hold Our Gadgets

• UX Predictions for 2016 from yours truly and 6 UX gurus

• FLASHBACK FRIDAY (JAN 25-29): BEST ARTICLES IN UX, DESIGN & ECOMMERCE THIS WEEK

• Design for the thumb

• Top 5 Mistakes In Making Mobile Websites

• One Big Reason Why iOS8 Sucks

• Daniel Fisher: JB HiFiNOW Music

• Fee Fie Foe Thumb: 5 Tips for Mobile Web Design

• How to Conduct Icon Usability Testing (and Do Icons Even Improve Usability?)

• The importance of bottom navigation in mobile UX design

• The Durable Human Manifesto

• People Adapt: Talking UX Design with Steven Hoober (1/3) Interview with me in three parts.

• 你有没有想过为何要隐藏密码或显示密码 Rehash of why it's best practice to show passwords, or avoid them entirely. Original URL: dy. 163 .com/wemedia/article/detail/BQDDL5OO0511805E.html but the wiki software here is banning using that domain. Weirdly.

• The UX Secret That Will Ruin Apps For You

• 開發者為什麼要刻意讓應用程式的介面變慢？ (Why should developers deliberately slow down the app's interface?)

• 与用户对话，移动应用的底部导航如何设计 (Dialogue with the user, the bottom of the navigation mobile applications how to design?)

• Should the hamburger icon be on your mobile menu?

• #realIT. Ce spune despre tine felul în care ții telefonul mobil Very weird popsci thing about how you hold characterizing the way you think or learn. I guess.

• Weekly reading list #36, from Johannes Dornisch

• The Thumb Zone: Designing For Mobile Users See my response to it as well.

• The Ultimate Guide To User-Friendly Manuals

• The Golden Rules Of Bottom Navigation Design

• 移动端用户体验:底部导航 (Mobile end user experience: bottom navigation)

• アプリを作る時に必ず押さえるべきデザインのポイント7つ (Design Best Practices Mobile)

• Bottom Navigation Interface

• 你滑手機的姿勢 透露了你的性格和感情觀 Something about how the way you hold the phone reflects your character?

• 设计总结：对常见tab样式做的一个分析 (Design Summary: An analysis of the common tab styles) Another that largely misrepresents my research findings, but has enough good points that it's better than nothing.

• You’ll Have to Pry My Tiny Smartphone From My Cold, Dead, Very Small Hands Quotes my data, and me from an email interview.

Reviews and Mentions of Designing Mobile Interfaces

I keep hoping for reviews, but haven't noticed a serious one outside of Amazon yet. Meanwhile, there are a few sites giving a lot of traffic. Both to be nice to them with in-kind links, and because the mentions mean you might like the articles, here they are:

• A closer look at patterns of mobile interfaces In Russian. Search for the URL to get a totally-readable Google Translate version.

• http://www.paulolyslager.com/free-ebooks-about-user-experience-interface-design/15 Free Ebooks about User Experience and Interface Design though it means this website, not the "e-book" per se.

• 20 FREE eBooks you need to design an outstanding user experience / ux Again, linking here. Which I don't mind.

• A Look Inside Mobile Design Patterns Teresa Neil, author of another mobile patterns book for O'Reilly, mentions us.

• 15 books on UX and UI for free. Worth reading! I think a different list of 15, though there are many overlaps. In Hebrew, but English words are un-translated, so you can get the gist anyway, or use Google Translate.

• REVIEW OF "DESIGNING MOBILE INTERFACES" by Doron Katz. Brief.

• At last, an up-to-date visual guide to designing mobile interfaces by Inerdtia.

• http://ux.walkme.com/the-ultimate-ux-library-75-resources-from-the-best-publications/#.UYac1SviSq4 2 of the 75 links here!

• "Seriously, the knowledge bomb being dropped by @shoobe01 at www.4ourth.com/wiki is like nuclear-grade awesome."

• "Don't go in expecting to come out any time soon: a superb resource for insight into mobile design"

• http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2012/12/19/boost-your-mobile-e-commerce-sales-with-mobile-design-patterns/