#35105
Card Sorting: Pushing Users Beyond Terminology Matches
It's easy to bias study participants, whether in user testing or in card sorting, if they focus on matching stimulus words instead of working on the underlying problem.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2009). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods>Card Sorting
#35106
Customization of UIs and Products
Websites that let users customize the UI have the same measured usability as regular sites. Sites for customizing products, however, score substantially worse due to complex workflow.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2009). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Personalization
#35305
Fresh vs. Familiar: How Aggressively to Redesign
Users hate change, so it's usually best to stay with a familiar design and evolve it gradually. In the long run, however, incrementalism eventually destroys cohesiveness, calling for a new UI architecture.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2009). Articles>Web Design>Redesign>Usability
#35306
Streams, Walls, and Feeds: Distributing Content Through Social Networks and RSS
Users like the simplicity of messages that pass into oblivion over time, but were frequently frustrated by unscannable writing, overly frequent postings, and their inability to locate companies on social networks.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2009). Articles>Web Design>Social Networking>Usability
#35307
Powers of 10: Time Scales in User Experience
From 0.1 seconds to 10 years or more, user interface design has many different timeframes, and each has its own particular usability issues.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2009). Articles>Usability>User Experience>User Interface
#35308
#35715
Agile User Experience Projects 
Agile projects aren't yet fully user-driven, but new research shows that developers are actually more bullish on key user experience issues than UX people themselves.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2009). Articles>Project Management>User Experience>Agile
