#19283
Alternatives To User Requirement Gathering 
Of all the disciplines that go together to create a 'usability strategy', user requirement gathering is undoubtedly the most frequently misunderstood. Many product managers or webmasters will believe that they already know their users, perhaps because they have conducted some form of market research, or have a formal complaints and customer feedback programme in place. However, these techniques, discussed below, although similar in aspiration, should not be relied upon as a replacement for a full user-requirement gathering programme. That isn't to say that they do not have their uses of course, but rather that in terms of assisting in application or site design they can be unhelpful or even misleading.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Articles>Usability>User Centered Design
#19290
Usability testing is a powerful tool in identifying problems and issues that users may have with a website or software application. But for all its benefits, traditional testing does not necessarily give a complete picture at how effective a site or application is in terms of meeting business goals.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Articles>Usability>Testing>Methods
#19295
Why is usability such an important factor in the success of e-business developments? A key concept in understanding the value of usability is often called the 'conversion rate'. Simply put, it represents the percentage of unique visitors who go on to interact with the site in a pre-defined way. Usually this means make a purchase, but depending on the site in question it could mean registering for more information, placing a bet or opening an account. Conversion rates are usually low. That isn't particularly surprising - they are low in almost any industry, online or offline. What is particularly relevant in the context of usability is the huge benefits that a small change in the rate can offer.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Web Design>E Commerce
#19296
In an ideal world help text would be unnecessary - users would never get stuck in an application or site. It should be enough to provide clear design, carefully chosen titles and labels for the various functions, appropriate field prompts when user entry is required, helpful feedback, a glossary, and 'embedded' help such as default values, example input, on-screen step-by-step instructions and explanatory text next to fields or functions. Help features should certainly be a last resort. Anyone embarking on adding it to an application or site should be sure that they have already followed the best practise listed above. In most cases (certainly online) a help option should not be necessary.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Documentation>Help>Online
#19291
Obviously it isn’t true that download times don’t matter. Presumably the research methods used to arrive at such conclusions are flawed in some way – or alternatively Jared is so keen to convey the importance of other factors than simple speed of download (a noble aim in itself) that he is willing to inaccurately dismiss download speeds as completely irrelevant. Either way, this kind of statement is hardly a good advertisement for the usability industry.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Web Design>Usability>Bandwidth
#19333
Forms are often an essential element of an application or website. In fact they are the most popular way of gathering information or encouraging user feedback. Given the sort of information that forms are used to collect (such as registering for a service, or placing an order), the importance of ease-of-use hardly needs to be emphasised. These are tasks central to the success of many online businesses.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2000). Design>Web Design>Usability>Forms
#19284
The Future of the "Mobile Internet"
In the near future the number of mobile Internet access devices will surpass the number of PCs in the world. This obviously has a number of implications for the future of the Internet and what form it will take in this changed environment. A recent article in the Economist compares the transition to that from the telegraph to the ‘speaking telegraph’, or what we now call the telephone. In both instances a technology which had been the preserve of specialist operators was passed into the hands of the public. And in both cases, this transition caused huge changes despite the underlying technology remaining largely unchanged. New usage models emerged as the user base changed.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Articles>Usability>Wireless Web
#27476
Research indicates that most users never find the majority of the functionality in any given application. Learning tends to reach a plateau early on, and is rarely expanded upon. And what that means is that most customers consistently undervalue the software products they purchase and use.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2006). Design>Web Design>Usability>User Centered Design
#19298
The Internet hype may be dying down, but one area in which productivity gains can still be a reality is intranet development. Intranets could hardly be described as the sexy end of web development, but many companies around the world are experiencing real value from improved efficiency in terms of internal communications. Intranets can be big business. But unfortunately, Intranets often illustrate everything that is worst in web design. I imagine most readers of this article will be familiar with those corporate Intranets that become little more than a collection of department websites, each with its own navigational structure, look and feel, and content. Some organisations even pride themselves on this laissez faire approach to Intranet development, seeing the intranet as an opportunity for departments to express themselves online.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Web Design>Intranets>Usability
#19040
Is A Lab Essential For User Testing?
Once an organisation decides to go ahead with a user testing programme, the questions really begin. Is it really necessary to undertake testing in a 'usability lab'? And what exactly should a fully functioning lab consist of anyway? As one might imagine, opinion is divided on these issues. We take a quick look at what a typical lab might consist of and the pros and cons of lab-based testing.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Articles>Usability>Testing>Methods
#19048
At the heart of any good user-centred design process is the practice of prototyping. By creating and testing interfaces in rough format, designers are able to feed through improvements and feedback from users quickly and easily. This in turn helps to ensure a final product that is an evolved solution, in the sense that it has been through a number of iterations and emerged as fit for the job in question.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2002). Design>User Centered Design>Methods
#19332
Inappropriate use of language is one of the most common causes of usability issues in interface design. When using a product (either online or offline) the words used to label functions or buttons are of paramount importance to the user attempting to understand how the object works. After all, these labels are often the only differentiator within a row of identical buttons. If a user has difficulty understanding what these words or labels mean, there is a fundamental problem in mapping functions to their relevant buttons on the interface. If a term is vague, the user is unsure about the resulting action, and if it cannot be understood, it is likely to cause a 'critical' usability error - an inability to complete a simple task. And these difficulties arise surprisingly often - not because users have limited vocabularies, but because designers and developers insist on using terms unfamiliar to them. How does this happen? The one common factor behind every language difficulty is a failure to conduct a user test, or 'phrase audit', with real end-users.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2000). Design>Language>Web Design>Usability
#19041
Micropayments: Do Users Want Them?
It used to be a given (amongst those in the know at least) that ‘micropayments’ were the only sustainable business model for those providing content on the web. Micropayments work by charging a tiny amount for access to web content, and are touted as the alternative to giving content away for free (which doesn’t make any money) or charging for subscriptions (which is unlikely to appeal to Internet users now accustomed to freedom of movement online. The theory goes that small amounts to each individual consumer will add up to sufficient funds to keep online publishing firms in business. In recent times, however, any consensus there was surrounding micropayments as ‘the way forward’ has begun to dissolve. There is a growing feeling that the slow introduction of this method of payment is less to do with technical constraints than user requirements. Put simply – micropayments are not emerging as a ‘web standard’ because users dislike them. There are certainly a number of good arguments against their implementation.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2002). Design>Web Design>Pricing>Micropayments
#19316
Most 'usability' practitioners quite rightly put great emphasis on the ease with which sample users can complete pre-selected tasks. After all, it makes sense to ensure that common tasks, identified after research into user needs, should be completed as efficiently as possible. It is when this 'efficiency' is measured that problems can begin.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Articles>Usability>Statistics
#19319
Post-Implementation - Most Important
You would be forgiven for thinking that the lifespan of the typical usability project ends with final implementation and a product or website's release into the market. In one sense it does - the user-centred design process is over, and presumably the result is an easy-to-use product or site that is already yielding results. All well and good - but sometimes even the best interfaces cannot meet the changing requirements of the typical workplace. In this case, post-implementation user testing can pick up the difficulties that were not picked up first time around. At this point the client may quite rightly be wondering why these problems weren't spotted before deployment. The reason lies in the way in which the user has developed alongside the product. First impressions, whether favourable or not, may turn out to be misleading after an extended period of use.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2000). Design>Content Management>Web Design
#19311
Pros and Cons of Personalisation
If there is one subject guaranteed to get two web designers arguing, it is almost certainly personalisation. The promise is obvious - a website tailored to each individual who uses it, highlighting items that will be of interest to his or her particular profile, and consequently saving the users time and providing a superior user experience.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Web Design>Personalization
#19285
Search engine position is an important element of online marketing. Obviously your company is at a significant advantage if you come top of a search for ‘cheese’ (assuming you are a cheesemonger that is – if you aren’t you have a problem). Not only will this drive traffic to the site, but this traffic is also highly targeted, being people who have already expressed an interest in your product or service. Given that this is the case, a whole industry has developed around ‘optimising’ a site’s position on these search rankings. In the past, most search engines have referred to the HTML itself in order to judge how relevant a site is to any particular search. So our hypothetical cheesemonger would be advised to include the word ‘cheese’ in the Title, meta tags, content and header of his or her homepage, whilst avoiding elements such as frames and splash pages which may confuse the automatic 'spiders' which collect this information.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization
#19293
The Short-Term Benefits of a Usability Strategy
Usability, and professional interface design, is often presented as a long-term strategy for those involved in software development. There is a common perception that as effective as user-centred interface design can be in terms of creating satisfied end-users, brand loyalty, and repeat business, it lacks something of the ‘wow’ factor and will not affect the bottom line in the short term. In our experience, nothing could be further from the truth. Particularly in today’s software market, many of our customers report significant and immediate improvements in terms of product sales. It doesn’t take long to figure out why. The typical software sales process could almost have been designed to favour those products that present a clear, intuitive, attractive and easy-to-use interface to the user.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Articles>Usability>Methods
#19281
So What Is User Requirements Gathering?
More than one reader has pointed out that our recent article 'Alternatives To User Requirement Gathering' spent plenty of time illustrating why certain methods were inappropriate for the task of requirement gathering, without actually detailing the correct way to undertake this type of research. In way of compensation, this week we provide some (brief) advice on this absolutely crucial area to successful application or site development.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Articles>Usability>User Centered Design
#19303
Creating navigation systems, and the information structures that underlie them, is obviously a central aspect of the development of any product or web interface. Although some users may prefer not to use navigation systems, or even ignore them entirely, for many they will be an invaluable means of discovering content or functionality. Getting these structures right is an important element in designing a successful interface. Unfortunately, getting them right isn't particularly easy. In some instances it can be, but usually there is no simple way to short-circuit the process of categorisation and presentation that constitutes a navigational system. However, in this short article we do attempt to provide some brief pointers. Although we focus on web navigation, many of these suggestions are equally relevant in software interface design and indeed other technologies.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Web Design>User Interface
#19330
Structuring Content for Web Interface Usability
It's a well known fact that many users - both novice and expert - have difficulty finding information on websites even when they know it's there somewhere. What is less clearly understood is why - beyond the obvious fact that there is always a challenge involved in enabling access to a huge variety of information from a single entry point. When addressing this challenge, the initial focus often tends to be on the 'navigational' structures, and how the site is mapped and organised. But in reality, users tend to rely less on these navigational aids than some web designers might imagine. Most users are more concerned with achieving their goal than understanding the logical structure of the application they are using, and tend to gravitate towards the content they are looking for by following 'scent', which can best be thought of as a clear signpost to content 'below' through links and content 'above'.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2000). Design>Web Design>User Interface
#19325
There was a time when graphic design - or how things looked at least - was regarded as the most central part of the web experience. A 'good' website, in the eyes of management at least, involved little more than the company message accompanied by attractive pictures, ideally animated as often as possible. Nowadays, we are beginning to realise that whilst design remains a vital differentiator in terms of web experience, it is for very different reasons. Users are by now accustomed to the very highest levels of graphic design work online. This means that whilst a professional approach is essential for any organisation serious about their online presence, on it's own a 'good looking' site is not sufficient. It is in its impact on usability that graphic design is now particularly significant in the online environment. Graphic design, or visual communication, is about more than looks. The way site content is presented will have a significant effect on how easy-to-use it will be. This not only includes questions of appropriate images and styles, but also choice of colour schemes and the way different interface elements are represented.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2000). Design>Graphic Design>Web Design>Usability
#19287
Three Questions For Your Web Agency
There is no doubt about it – usability is now a mainstream concern of those charged with managing the development of a website. The benefits that accrue from taking a user-centred perspective, and involving those users in the design process itself, have convinced large sectors of the industry that ‘usability’ is something they want. Unsurprisingly, given the demand, usability is also something that on the surface is in plentiful supply. Any web development company who knows the market will be reassuring their customers that they ‘do’ usability – just as two years ago they did video streaming and flash animation. Many of these companies will do a good job, but others are merely jumping on the bandwagon.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Web Design>Management
#19282
Regular web users will almost certainly be aware of an increasing amount of ‘invasive’ advertising appearing online. A variety of methods are now being used to make online advertising almost unavoidable for the user.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Articles>Web Design>Marketing>Usability
#19326
The success of web retailing depends to a large extent on gaining and maintaining the trust of users. 'User experience' certainly includes elements of usability, but it goes beyond this to encompass the entire customer interaction process. When focusing on the online experience, there are certain key recommendations for organisations seeking to improve user experience.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2000). Design>Web Design>E Commerce
