Ning, the Web 2.0 social networking community site, has a terrific lightweight registration interaction. When the "Signup" link is clicked on most sites, a registration page is loaded. It can be a dramatic mode change for users. The user's primary tasks rarely include registering for a site... the registration process is simply an extra step they are forced to perform on the way to the content they want.

When "Signup" is clicked on the Ning toolbar, instead of having a registration page load, Ning has a DHTML layer appear on top of the currently loaded page. The layer allows the user to fill out the registration form without leaving the primary context of the page they were previously viewing. I think this is a great, low intrusive method for site registration.

I recently performed a usability study on a Web shop design prototype for a major apparel brand. One of the clear takeaways was that customers do not like being taken out of their task of browsing products. The study participants were using a hub and spoke model of browsing for products. When the customers clicked on a product link, a full product detail page was not loaded. Instead, a product detail layer appeared on top of the list of products being browsed. This made seeing product details less intrusive and allowed customers to quickly browse deeply into products and broadly across products. The response to this interaction from the participants was very positive.

I will be working with a startup next week to hone and polish the interactions of their yet to be launched site. I will definitely be recommending lightweight layered interactions..

Labels: lightweight, ue design, ue research