Uncertainty, image compression, familiarity
In the past, I’ve referred frequently to the idea of uncertainty. I wrote a book about uncertainty, and then I co-hosted a podcast about uncertainty. I refer explicitly to the current moment being uncertain in my pricing documents.
Are we really all that uncertain, though?
- We are structurally aware, in a public health sense, of what is about to happen with respect to the current pandemic, as well as future pandemics.
- We are societally aware of our likely responses in the collective.
- We are able to more-or-less reliably predict the various outcomes of this election, as well as near-future elections.
- We are aware of what is happening with respect to the supply chain, and we have experience in its attendant knock-on effects in the rest of ecommerce.
- We are aware of what is happening within social media, and recognize the complete unsuitability of reliance on paid ad revenue to drive customer acquisition.
None of this is unconditionally good or bad. It just is. The question is how you will react to it.
This week, for paid members
- Our latest paid teardown is for Tiny Fish Co. Want a teardown for your store? Get one today, cheap.
- Our design of the week covers [THING].
- And we just announced our monthly office hours, for Tuesday, November 15 at 1p CST. Come through!
Want in? Join us now – now named one of the best ecommerce communities going on the web.
Links & analysis
- We talk a lot about familiarity when it comes to value-based design, especially in terms of vetting new elements. Does the element fit common convention? Will people broadly understand it? This post asks if the rate at which unfamiliar elements become familiar is increasing. I think it is, too.
- NN/group’s latest twofer is excellent, covering both accessible visual treatments…
- …and how to write better error messages. Related: last week’s link from Wix’s UX department on better error messages. Mailchimp’s voice & tone guide.
- Most of design is about psychology, which most designers don’t learn out of the gate. NN/group has a bunch of resources to help.
- Today in accessibility: use roles to specify interface elements.
This month’s free lesson: How has image compression changed on Shopify over time?
One of the biggest drags on page weight for every store is its images. And it used to be that every image should be uploaded in JPEG, at the right resolution, and compressed to load better for customers. Apps were developed to auto-compress images. Formal recommendations were made to resize & compress everything.
Fast forward to now, though, and Shopify does most of the work for us. The apps, once known for doing something, now do nothing. The procedure used to look like this:
- Keep a separate folder of your full-res assets. Duplicate it for production.
- Convert production images to JPG.
- Resize images to fit as small of an element as you need.
- Run through ImageOptim.
- Install an app just to be sure.
Now, the procedure looks like this:
- Keep a separate folder of your full-res assets. Duplicate it for production.
- Convert production images to JPG.
- Upload them.
Not on Shopify? Follow the previous step-by-step – and don’t forget to check your store to isolate any stragglers.