Design
User Experience (UX) Terminology: 3 Click Rule or Myth
3 Click Rule
The three-click rule was made popular by Web designer Jeffrey Zeldman in his book, “Taking Your Talent to the Web.” The theory “3 click rule” website navigation became widely popular prevalent in the early 2000s. The three-click rule is an unofficial web design rule concerning the design of website navigation. It suggests that a user of a website should be able to find any information with no more than three mouse clicks.
It is based on the belief that users of a site will become frustrated and often leave if they cannot find the information within the three clicks. User Interface Engineering is a leading research, training, and consulting firm specializing in web site and product usability where research conducted by Jared M. Spool, Joshua Porter and their team explains that the scenario of 3 clicks is not always true. Usability studies disprove the theory’s link to user satisfaction or success rates and instead link these to ‘information scent’. There has been debate over this topic for a long time.
Porter’s study analyzed more than 8,000 clicks, determining if the user succeeded or failed in finding what they were looking for and how many clicks it took for them to give up. He found that some users visited as many as 25 and as few as two or three before stopping.
“If the Three-Click Rule came from data, we would certainly see it with this wide variation in the number of pages they visited,” says Porter. “If there is a scientific basis to the Three-Click Rule, we couldn’t find it in our data. Our analysis left us without any correlation between the number of times users clicked and their success in finding the content they sought.”
So there was no correlation between the numbers of clicks to user behavior in this case, nor was there to user clicks and customer satisfaction. As Porter points out, the three-click rule does have its place in forcing the design community to think more about users, but essentially it’s a flawed concept that has no real basis.
Users leave a website when they can’t find what they want or at least see signals — an information scent, if you will — to guide them to it. Information scent describes “the extent to which users can predict what they will find if they pursue a certain path through a website,” according to Jakob Nielsen, who points out that it’s also a larger part of information foraging theory [PDF].
“ In our study of the usability of e-commerce sites, for example, users were looking for a baby seat for their car, and quite logically looked in the automotive section of one of the sites we were testing. No baby seats there, so no sale,” writes Nielsen in his article. “Users assumed that the site didn’t sell the product they needed because it wasn’t in the category where they assumed they’d find it. (In fact, the product was in a different section of the site, without a cross-reference from the car area).”
Building a user interface on the ease of utility that’s easy and pleasurable to use but takes like 6 clicks to achieve a particular task rather 3 clicks rule than user might not find it annoying. Also the consideration can be not only on reducing the number of clicks to some magically arrived figure but rather on the simplicity and functionality of utility.
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Design
Development of Explainable AI (XAI)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly evolving field that has the potential to change the way we live and work. The latest research in AI is focused on developing more advanced and sophisticated AI systems that can perform a wide range of tasks with greater accuracy and efficiency.
One area of AI research that has gained a lot of attention in recent years is deep learning. This is a type of machine learning that uses neural networks to model complex patterns in data. Deep learning has been used to achieve breakthroughs in areas such as image recognition, natural language processing, and speech recognition. AI is also expected to have a significant impact on the field of robotics. Advancements in AI are making it possible to develop robots that can perform a wide range of tasks with greater autonomy and intelligence. This has the potential to revolutionize industries such as manufacturing, transportation, and healthcare.
Another area of AI research that is attracting a lot of attention is the development of generative models. These are AI systems that can generate new data, such as images or text, based on what they have learned. This has the potential to revolutionize fields such as art and design, music, and writing. Another area of research is the development of explainable AI (XAI), which aims to make AI systems more transparent and understandable. This is important for ensuring that AI systems can be trusted and used responsibly. XAI has been recognised by AI researchers as a crucial component of reliable AI, and explainability has recently attracted more attention. To address growing ethical and legal concerns Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) is a useful tool for as well as important How? and Why? questions about AI systems. However, despite the demand for explainability across several disciplines and the growing interest in XAI research, XAI still has a number of drawbacks.
The creation of AI systems that can clearly and transparently explain their decision-making processes is known as explainable AI (XAI). This is crucial in circumstances when an AI system’s decisions could have broad repercussions, such as in the legal, financial, and healthcare systems. Here are a few instances of XAI in action:
- Healthcare: An AI system that diagnoses medical issues must be able to justify its findings by referencing the patient’s medical history, test results, and other pertinent information.
- Finance: An AI system that evaluates loan applications must be able to clearly explain the reasons a loan was authorised or denied, taking into account elements like income and credit history.
- Legal: An AI system that helps judges make sentencing decisions must be able to provide a clear explanation of how it arrived at its recommendations, taking into account factors such as the defendant’s prior criminal history, the circumstances of the crime, and relevant laws.
In each of these examples, the ability to explain the decision-making process of an AI system is critical for building trust and ensuring accountability.
It is important to be aware of the potential of this technology and actively seek ways to harness its power for the benefit of society as a whole. The latest research in AI is focused on developing more advanced and sophisticated AI systems that can perform a wide range of tasks with greater accuracy and efficiency. From deep learning, generative models, explainable AI and robotics, the potential applications of AI are vast and it is expected to play an even greater role in the coming years, leading to new and exciting opportunities for innovation and progress.
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Design
Extended Reality (XR), an evolving technology
Extended Reality, or XR, is a catch-all phrase that refers to a variety of technologies, including Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR). These innovations enable the development of immersive and interactive experiences that converge the real and virtual worlds. In the world of entertainment and gaming, XR has several applications. Virtual worlds and games that can transport users to other locations and eras can be created using VR and MR. The fields of training and education are further applications for XR. Users can learn and hone new abilities in a secure environment by using VR and AR to create realistic simulations and scenarios.
The performance and responsiveness of XR applications have recently improved because to the utilisation of edge computing and 5G. Edge computing allows data processing to occur closer to the user, which reduces latency and increases responsiveness. The use of AI and machine learning to enhance the realism and interactivity of XR experiences is another breakthrough. For instance, MIT researchers have created a virtual reality (VR) system that uses AI to create realistic scenes and characters that react to the user’s input in real time.
A rapidly developing technology, XR has numerous potential uses across numerous industries. There will probably be more advancements and use cases in the near future since it enables the construction of immersive and interactive experiences that blur the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds.
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Design
Multi-material printing and innovation in hybrid manufacturing
A type of 3D printing called multi-material additive manufacturing allows for the simultaneous printing of numerous materials, each with a variety of unique features. This technology has a wide range of applications and the power to completely alter how goods are created. The production of intricate and personalised products is one use for multi-material printing. It can be used, for instance, to print items with various textures, colours, and even degrees of hardness or flexibility. This makes it possible to produce items that would be challenging or impossible to make using conventional manufacturing techniques.
Engineering and prototyping both use multi-material printing. It can be used, for instance, to make workable prototypes of things like gears and bearings, that have different properties in a single print. This can greatly speed up the prototyping process and reduce the costs associated with creating multiple prototypes. Multi-material printing also has applications in the field of medicine. For example, it can be used to create customized prosthetics and other medical devices that have different properties in a single print. This allows for the creation of prosthetics that are more comfortable and functional for the patient.
New printing methods and materials have been used recently in multi-material printing. As an illustration, MIT researchers have created a technique for printing with several materials using a single nozzle, enabling the production of things with various qualities in a single print. the practise of “multi-material jetting,” which enables the use of a single print head to print numerous materials simultaneously. For instance, the J750 3D printer, and J850, which aims to “push the boundaries of 3D printed realism” from Stratasys can print with up to six different materials simultaneously, such as transparent materials, rigid and flexible plastics, and even color-changing materials.
Innovation in “hybrid manufacturing,” which mixes various production techniques including 3D printing, CNC machining, and casting to produce items with distinctive features. For example, researchers at the Technical University of Munich have developed a hybrid manufacturing process that allows for the printing of high-strength aluminium parts with embedded electronics.
Multi-material printing is a rapidly evolving technology with many potential applications in a wide range of industries. It has the ability to produce complex and customized objects that would be difficult or impossible to create using traditional manufacturing methods, and it’s likely that we will see more developments in the near future.
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