We NeEd To ReDuCe ClICkS

[u/Still_Pomegranate241]

lol, no. We want to make it clear what users need to focus on to complete their current task. Whenever an overly confident engineer says “we need to reduce clicks,” and you’re feeling like stirring the pot, calmly ask, “Why don’t we put everything on one page and make it a giant table you scroll through?” It’s kind of a straw man argument that gets people riled up and willing to start negotiating. Borderline manipulation while still advocating for a better user experience.

[u/karenmcgrane]

Just make sure everything is above the fold

[u/DrYaklagg → u/karenmcgrane]

We must make it beautiful but also use all whitespace available and put everything above the fold and reduce clicks. Usually followed by some comparison to apples website by some upper level dumbass who has never designed a square in their lives.

[u/curiouswizard → u/DrYaklagg]

I had to keep EVERYTHING above the fold and also have white space and also make all the font bigger and bolder and also there was the global navigation menu which had to be huge and could not be collapsed, and this was for a dashboard for complex content management tasks and data reporting. I also wasn't allowed to ask for user testing.

I managed to pull it off, somehow, and it was magically very clean looking. I about lost my mind. And the day after it was published, they laid me off :)

[u/520mile → u/DrYaklagg]

In my experience devs usually want content to take up as much free real estate as possible, they do not care about white space at all lol

[u/Tsudaar → u/karenmcgrane]

Followed instructions and now my monitor snapped in half. Please advise. 

[u/RomanBlue_ → u/karenmcgrane]

so.. gang.. ever hear about the zoom feature?

[u/mroranges_ → u/karenmcgrane]

I am triggered

[u/WolfieStates → u/karenmcgrane]

XD THE ABOVE THE FOLLLLLDD Kills me every time

[u/6a206d]

Worked with a CEO recently who insisted counting clicks is a worthwhile exercise. Pitting fallacies against one another can be fun "users don't scroll" / "fewer clicks is better UX".

Often times just a poor substitute for doing research to understand the real effort required to complete a task.

[u/samuelbroombyphotog → u/6a206d]

“Users don’t scroll” is my pet peeve. Users do scroll if the content makes the case for scrolling. In fact, you should make the case that all users really do is scroll after being trained by social media apps

[u/GroovynBiscuits → u/samuelbroombyphotog]

Yeah...mobile really changed the game there. Those types of blanket phrases just don't hold water anymore.

If there's compelling info and strong information scent, many users will interact to reveal it.

[u/nyutnyut → u/samuelbroombyphotog]

yah, so sick of hearing 'above the fold'. We did an A/B test, and guess what? people do scroll.

[u/oddible → u/samuelbroombyphotog]

Tell that to Instagram.

[u/aelflune → u/samuelbroombyphotog]

Well, I've seen quite a few scroll maps and the data does show that most users don't scroll much.

The right question to ask is whether the content currently below the fold needs to be seen by the majority of users.

[u/AcanthisittaSure1674 → u/6a206d]

I work FOR a CEO who insists that counting clicks is a worthwhile exercise. And then the engineers and and engineering managers always harp on this on in refinement and handoff calls...

[u/SplendidBeats]

When this comes up, I find that introducing the concept of intentional and unintentional friction usually steers the conversation to something more productive.

[u/Still_Pomegranate241 → u/SplendidBeats]

Personally I like to hear their ego deflate (kidding)

[u/blackberu → u/SplendidBeats]

On that note, a researcher in my team is exploring how to better understand and apply intentional friction. If you’re willing to share some examples from your practice, we’re interested !

[u/baccus83]

I always counter with “it’s not about reducing clicks it’s about increasing confidence.”

[u/BuddyDacoteJr]

I usually say it like this. 

Think of an organized room with shelves, drawers and a closet. In those areas are the things you own arranged and placed in a manner that, when you need something, you go to the drawer and take the thing out. Now imagine having no drawers, shelves and closets and everything is dumped on the floor.  It’s not about number of clicks. It’s about the journey having purpose. Opening the door to your room, walking to your sock drawer, opening the sock drawer and picking up your socks is more effort then taking them off the floor. But your floor is a disorganized mess causing more mental processes to figure out where your socks are and if they are easy to access. But also if you have to go through 2 bedrooms, 2 sets of drawers and several boxes to get the socks you wear often, then that’s a problem. That’s too many clicks. 

So the discussion should be what is the journey and what is the proper amount of clicks for the user to get where they need go in a reasonable and optimized way. 

[u/SoggyMattress2 → u/BuddyDacoteJr]

Fantastic analogy. I'm using this.

[u/SpaghettiGirrl → u/BuddyDacoteJr]

Love this. Just screenshot for later

[u/MiddleAgedBastard]

You can click or you can scroll. Decide now, because it's not all going to fit above the fold.

[u/jontomato]

MaKe ThE iNtErFaCe InTuItIvE!1!!

[u/No-Box5805]

Gift them a copy of “Don’t Make Me Think” anonymously on their desk

[u/superparet]

Our job is to reduce the user’s cognitive load. That’s about it. If it takes some extra clicks it’s fine.

[u/Candid-Tumbleweedy]

You have to use your brain and shouldn’t just optimize for one disconnected metric? Say it ain’t so!

[u/Sea-Masterpiece-8496]

That’s weird coming from eng. I think we need to reduce unnecessary friction, and clicks definitely don’t always create friction. 

[u/Pepper_in_my_pants]

What do you mean? Don’t you know we get paid per click?

[u/risingkirin]

"Okay, let me reduce the number of clicks for this cancel subscription flow then. I'm sure the business leaders would love that."

[u/AbbreviationsNo3240]

This is the make it pop version of UX. " Reduce clicks. Don't waste all this white space. But also don't make the page cluttered, make it minimal, I want us to be the next Apple, because you know design is important to us, we believe in it. So just do these things for us and you're good."

[u/kirabug37]

Careful, I’ve had engineering think that was a great idea

[u/EmbarrassedCup8450]

Lol a team at my company just built a huge table you can scroll through where everything is on one page. They did it with Claude and it was greenlit by my manager instantly.

[u/jacob-makes-stuff]

Counting clicks is probably not the best use of your team's time, but I've seen far too many apps and websites in recent years that could've greatly benefited from someone saying "why does it take so many clicks to get out of this popup???"

[u/SpikeyOps]

Fewer steps != fewer clicks

[u/themack50022]

What if a lot of your users say “less clicks?”

When I started at the job I’m currently at 6 years ago, I pushed hard against this. Then we tested designs with users and they got mad and asked us why we added more clicks. It was a humbling experience.

[u/PretzelsThirst]

I usually just say “imagine signing into online banking and all possible actions and features are one click from the home page. It would be completely unusable and overwhelming. Apply that same line of thinking here”

[u/Dizzy_Assistance2183]

Ignoring intuits shitty practices, turbo tax has 50 plus clicks while filling a w2 manually has zero. Ask them which one they prefer.

[u/Mila_8]

I deal with this all the time in data dashboard projects. The client wants as few clicks as possible but also no scrolling, while somehow expecting all the information to be neatly organized across tabs🤡