Ninety Percent of All Usability Testing is Useless

Ninety percent of all usability testing performed on Web sites is useless. This is not to say that it doesn’t have a significant role to play in user experience design. When done right, usability testing will improve your Web site and your development process, but the current culture surrounding Web site usability testing is such that it rarely benefits the design. Worse, this misapplication can undermine the acceptance of this important technique throughout an organization.

Becker, Lane. Adaptive Path (2004). Articles>Usability>Testing

Self-Service Web Applications: Less Cost, More Value

Lost in the Internet backlash of the last few years, as numerous high-profile ventures bemoaned their failure to cash out online, was some very good news about the real value that the Web holds for many companies: saving money. Smart businesses realize that they can take advantage of the Web to run certain distributed aspects of their operations much more efficiently.

Becker, Lane. Adaptive Path (2003). Design>Web Design

Taxonomic Distress: The Challenge of Developing Effective Taxonomies for Web-facing Businesses

Any time you've got a big pile of stuff that you want to put out into the world — a list of your company's products, a document archive for your intranet, or almost any set of content that goes into or comes out of a CMS — a sensible taxonomy will be crucial to your success, assuming you define success as 'when people can actually find what they're looking for.' A good taxonomy is a win for both a company and its customers. It’s easy to see why taxonomy development is good for your users: The whole reason for creating a taxonomy for your site is to make information retrieval quick and easy by putting the information into a sensible structure that’s consistently applied. Well-designed taxonomies map out the base structure for your content, providing a navigation scheme that makes sense to your users.

Becker, Lane. Adaptive Path (2002). Design>Web Design>Information Design

Taxonomic Distress: The Challenge of Developing Effective Taxonomies for Web-Facing Businesses

A good taxonomy is a win for both a company and its customers. It’s easy to see why taxonomy development is good for your users: The whole reason for creating a taxonomy for your site is to make information retrieval quick and easy by putting the information into a sensible structure that’s consistently applied. Well-designed taxonomies map out the base structure for your content, providing a navigation scheme that makes sense to your users.

Becker, Lane. Adaptive Path (2002). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Taxonomy