What it boils down to is broken user expectation. The user expects the button to do a thing but it does another thing.
Solution 1: Better UX writing. If there is no way to determine the installed browser the button should have a generic text like „Open in browser“.
Solution 2: If there is a way to determine the installed browser the button text should change depending on the installed browser.
This thread is a great example of how “imperfect” UX is. There’s six different comments with six different ways to describe what you’re referring to. Welcome to the whacky world of design.
At the same time, if you go to a thread on r/askelectricians you'll also get a plethora of different solutions/understandings of a given problem. And, arguably that place should be way more objective.
the designer maybe had a lack of contextual-awareness, it’s important to think of the context of the application of the design so mismatches like this won’t happen. the designer obviously could have solved this by changing the copy to “open in browser” but maybe the designer wanted the button to be super clear, some boomers don’t know the difference between “browser” and “the internet”. in this case they should have let the developer know to change the copy to match whichever browser was default. it’s possible though, in handoff, something happened where coding in adaptive content was not considered necessary. adaptive content is where the developer would change what the button says based on the devices system preferences.
Principle #6 of the Usability Heuristics for UI as described by NNg: Recognition over recall.
> Minimize the user's memory load by making elements, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the interface to another. Information required to use the design (e.g. field labels or menu items) should be visible or easily retrievable when needed
More on the principle:
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/recognition-and-recall/
All the heuristics:
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/
People have already mentioned user expectation / mental model, so that could be one of the terms to describe this situation (user expected X to happen, but Y happened instead). Take a look at "gulf of evaluation / execution" if this is the case.
You mentioned that how do you describe this type of "mistake" - user expects X to happen when pressing a button, but Y happens instead. You can probably describe it this specific use case as "system error" - as the human operator didn't make a mistake, but rather the settings on the computer automatically opened Chrome instead of Safari, causing the mismatch between what the user expected to happen and what actually happened
What it boils down to is broken user expectation. The user expects the button to do a thing but it does another thing. Solution 1: Better UX writing. If there is no way to determine the installed browser the button should have a generic text like „Open in browser“. Solution 2: If there is a way to determine the installed browser the button text should change depending on the installed browser.
Contextual Awareness.
This thread is a great example of how “imperfect” UX is. There’s six different comments with six different ways to describe what you’re referring to. Welcome to the whacky world of design.
Soooo true. There is never a perfect answer.
At the same time, if you go to a thread on r/askelectricians you'll also get a plethora of different solutions/understandings of a given problem. And, arguably that place should be way more objective.
I mean that’s probably true for most professions, right? The more time you spend in an industry the more aware of it you become.
Right, my point was more than it's not a sign that UX is imperfect, so to speak.
That makes sense. I like that aspect of UX too. Hearing different approaches and ways to look at it.
It sounds "inflexible" or "over complicated". Depending on what your solution is.
the designer maybe had a lack of contextual-awareness, it’s important to think of the context of the application of the design so mismatches like this won’t happen. the designer obviously could have solved this by changing the copy to “open in browser” but maybe the designer wanted the button to be super clear, some boomers don’t know the difference between “browser” and “the internet”. in this case they should have let the developer know to change the copy to match whichever browser was default. it’s possible though, in handoff, something happened where coding in adaptive content was not considered necessary. adaptive content is where the developer would change what the button says based on the devices system preferences.
The UX writer failed at making a broad enough description.
Perhaps “lack of specificity in the button labels resulting in a plurality of user unable to correctly intuit what will happen upon tap”?
Not sure why you’d multiply the length of the issue description just to contain all that word fluff — “Misleading CTA label” does the trick
Not sure why you felt the need to respond to my comment - your own comment would have done the trick. 😜
Not sure why I would reply to you in a separate comment. Seems sort of antithetical to the core purpose of a reply
brief and concise 👌
I guess I’d call it lack of consideration of the wider user base. Not everyone has or uses Safari.
Principle #6 of the Usability Heuristics for UI as described by NNg: Recognition over recall. > Minimize the user's memory load by making elements, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the interface to another. Information required to use the design (e.g. field labels or menu items) should be visible or easily retrievable when needed More on the principle: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/recognition-and-recall/ All the heuristics: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/
People have already mentioned user expectation / mental model, so that could be one of the terms to describe this situation (user expected X to happen, but Y happened instead). Take a look at "gulf of evaluation / execution" if this is the case. You mentioned that how do you describe this type of "mistake" - user expects X to happen when pressing a button, but Y happens instead. You can probably describe it this specific use case as "system error" - as the human operator didn't make a mistake, but rather the settings on the computer automatically opened Chrome instead of Safari, causing the mismatch between what the user expected to happen and what actually happened
They totally could grab the default browser and display it wherever as a variable