This is the perfect time for web entrepreneurs to start a business. There's a sizable market to interact with, and building a web app is only getting easier. However, even if you're lucky or well connected enough to kickstart the project, one of the things you may struggle with is user testing. It might seem impossible for micro-entrepreneurs to conventionally test their products when they have almost zero budget and a small team of developers and designers. The good news is - with a little creativity and a deeper understanding of the lean startup methodology, user testing can easily become a fun and painless part of turning ideas into products.

We will show you how to see user testing through a new set of eyes, how to put the lean startup philosophy to use and how to help make sure you've got the right tester in your team.

You are close to finishing up your project; your workflow has improved significantly since you started using that project management tool for developers: time is flying. Later that day your flight is delayed and you start reading the news and switch to playing a game: time goes slow; distraction keeps your eyes off the clock until departure.

Time perception is an interesting dimension of user experience that designers need to understand to improve the UI. When users engage with the interface, a slight change in their perception of time can affect their entire experience. In this article we discuss different types of time perception, user scenarios and optimization techniques recommended in each case.

Modern theater can be a surprising inspiration source for web designers. An interesting concept that UX design recently borrowed from theater is the fourth wall metaphor, referring to the invisible wall between the stage and the audience. When the performance put on stage is immersive, the fourth wall is broken and the spectators synchronize their experience with the entire play.

This article discusses the importance of theatrics in web design and a couple of examples of theatrical elements that can be used in websites to create more immersive experiences.

User experience in app design is like state-of-the art service in running a fancy restaurant. It's all about the quality of interaction, and perfectly tuning it to the identity of your brand. Some of the best designed apps mediate gratifying experiences, such as feeling empowered and in control, entertained and curious and feeling like the app is money well spent.

There are three basic levels of experience connected to app design that we are going to explore in this article. The reasons and emotions behind them, along with examples of some of the best apps you may be using on a daily basis, will reveal a more deeper and complex relation between app design and user psychology.

Our understanding of people is relative to the context we find ourselves in and often limited to it. It's a basic cognitive bias. In web design, the context is usually the interface and our understanding of the people interacting with it is described by usability metrics. Nonetheless, a UX designer's understanding of people needs to go beyond the context of user analytics and usability metrics.

In this article we are going to talk about 3 essential non-design principles that designers need to be aware of when creating interfaces that are meant to be compelling and accessible at the same time.