#20923
Dimensions of Usability: Defining the Conversation, Driving the Process 
Have you ever wondered if your colleagues or clients really understand usability? Too often, standards or guidelines substitute for really engaging our business, technical and design colleagues in a discussion of what usability means. By looking at usability from five dimensions, we can create a consensus around usability goals and use that definition to provide the basis for planning user centered design activities.
Quesenbery, Whitney. WQusability (2003). Articles>Usability>Consulting>User Centered Design
#27485
Setting legal standards for making websites 'accessible' to all won't help web designers, or users.
Perks, Martyn. Spiked Online (2004). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Usability
#21822
Disciplinary Boundaries: Where (and How) Should Usability Testing Be Taught? 
With the rapid rise of interest in usability testing, especially with the demise of a daily increasing number of dotcom companies (and the headlines resulting from the 'butterfly ballot'), the question arises as to where (and how) a course in usability testing should be taught. When I first started teaching a graduate course in technical and professional communication, I created it to focus on documentation issues and to educate future technical communicators about the role they could play in testing and inadvocating usability testing for their products. The argument went something like this: who better than the technical communicators--the user advocates–to initiate usability testing within organizations. What better place to start than with the documentation?
Barnum, Carol M. CPTSC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Education>Usability
#19606
Discount Usability: Time To Push Back the Clock?
Discount usability techniques are a great way to eradicate usability problems. But they can never answer the question, 'How usable is this system?' We blow the dust off some techniques commonly used in the early days of usability testing to see if they can provide an answer.
#11919
Discovering User-Generated Metaphors Through Usability Testing
A post-hoc analysis of data collected from a usability test on the Fluke ScopeMeter 97â (a diagnostic instrument for analyzing electrical signals) revealed that subjects miss-hit certain interface keys significantly more than other keys. Comments that subjects made during the usability test through the thinking-aloud protocol led us to the hypothesis that miss-hits were caused by subjects' internal metaphors (user-generated) that were unsupported by the design of the keys. A review of literature revealed a lack of research in the area of user-generated metaphor and its effects on user performance. With further analysis we found aspects of the ScopeMeter keys and subject characteristics that provide a strong foundation for this hypothesis. We conclude that formal experiments should be set up to test this and other hypotheses that address the role user-generated metaphors play in building mental models and influencing user behavior.
Schulz, Erin Leanne, Judith A. Ramey, Maarten van Alphen and William Rasnake. City University of Hong Kong (1995). Articles>Usability>Testing>Tropes
#14882
Do people learn more when they read material, only observe graphics, hear the material, or when they read, see graphics and read the material?
Bailey, Robert. Human Factors International (2002). Articles>Usability
#28699
Do Government Agencies and Non-Profits Get ROI From Usability?
Although the gains don't fall into traditional profit columns, there are clear arguments for improving usability of non-commercial websites and intranets. In one example, a state agency could get an ROI of 22,000% by fixing a basic usability problem.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2007). Articles>Web Design>Usability
#18565
Do Productivity Increases Generate Economic Gains?
Usability improvements can save time-on-task, but critics argue that this is not the same as saving money. Others worry that productivity gains cause unemployment. Neither is correct: usable design saves money and saves jobs.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2003). Articles>Usability
#29751
Do Staff Make Use of Personalisation Features?
Organisations around the world have already made their first forays into personalisation, however many more organisations are questioning what to personalise and how to go about it. So who is using personalisation and how effective is it?
Grenfell, Catherine. Step Two (2007). Articles>Content Management>Personalization>Usability
#28020
Do Usability Expert Evaluation and Testing Provide Novel and Useful Data for Game Development?
A case study was done to study whether usability expert evaluation and testing are suitable for game development. In the study, a computer game under development was first evaluated and then tested. Game developers were then asked to rate the findings and give other feedback about the methods used and the results gained. It was found that the usability expert evaluation and testing provided both novel and useful data for game development. Based on these and the other results it is argued that the usability expert evaluation and testing have considerable face validity in game development. In addition to the usefulness and face validity of the methods it was studied whether the usability experts participating in the game usability expert evaluation should be double experts. It was found that there was no significant difference in the number or the rated relevancy of the problem the gamer and non-gamer usability specialists found.
Laitinen, Sauli. Journal of Usability Studies (2006). Articles>Usability>Testing>Methods
#10571
In two recent consulting projects, we worked with online documentation developers who wanted to understand the problems users encountered and how their documentation helped solve those problems. To find out, we went and observed users in their own work environments. Although the clients and their software differ significantly, we found similar issues.
User Interface Engineering (1998). Articles>Usability>Documentation
#23303
Does Background Music Impact Computer Task Performance?
The effects of music on performance on a computer-mediated problem-solving task were examined. Participants completed the task in anonymous dyads as they were exposed to either Classical music, Punk music, or No Music. Results indicate that those in the Classical music condition performed better on the problem solving-task than those in the Punk music or No Music conditions. However, those listening to the Classical music offered more off-task comments during the task than those listening to No Music. Implications for website designers are discussed.
Phillips, Christine. Usability News (2004). Articles>Usability>Human Computer Interaction>Audio
#13346
Does Computer-Mediated Collaboration Really Improve Group Communication? Our General Findings 
As companies continue to expand world-wide, effective communication among project teams and employees becomes a serious challenge. This has not only made it a necessity for businesses to share information electronically, but has also made it essential for organizations to promote team learning and innovation through group collaboration. In fact, as we all know, it is common for business to interact and conduct group seminars in several countries, all at once, via the Internet. For example, several years ago Hewlett Packard conducted collaborative seminars in traditional classrooms. Now however they focus almost exclusively on instructions via an interactive electronic network. As Susan Burnett, of Hewlett Packard points out, 'we are constantly pushing to blur the lines between learning and doing the job' by using information technology (Perelman, 1994, p. 88).
Bernard, Michael, Ta-Tao Chuang and Shahid Ali. Usability News (2000). Articles>Usability>Collaboration
#25239
The study reported here assessed the effects of isolation on attention. Is it true, in other words, that isolating an element in a visual display—moving an element away from other elements and surrounding it with white space—will inspire a greater allocation of attentional resources to the isolated element than to other elements on a page or screen?
Williams, Thomas R., Christopher Mulligan, Kent Koprowicz, Jamie Miller, Christy Reimann and Da-Shin Wang. Technical Communication Online (2005). Articles>Usability>Human Computer Interaction
#21874
Does UPA Need a Code of Conduct?
Many professional societies have developed their own Code of Conduct. Given the high profile lapses in professional conduct and the evolving of the usability profession is it time for us to adopt a code?
Usability Professionals Association (2004). Articles>Usability>Professionalism
#11746
Does Usability Have a Role in Telecommunication?
The theme of this year’s annual conference is 'Global Communication Odyssey.' Wireless phones, the Internet, and e-commerce rely on telecommunication to deliver service to the customer. Our own Alice Preston and David Dick describe the role of usability in telecommunication.
Preston, Alice and David J. Dick. Usability Interface (2001). Articles>Usability>Technology
#28696
Making users suffer a drop-down menu to enter state abbreviations is one of many small annoyances that add up to a less efficient, less pleasant user experience. It's worth fixing as many of these usability irritants as you can.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2007). Articles>Web Design>Usability
#11819
Most usability studies focus on ease-of-learning rather than on long-run efficiency. Ease-of-learning is an appropriate goal for products that are used infrequently, like many commercial Web sites, automatic teller machines (ATMs), or Microsoft PowerPoint. However, ease-of-learning should not be the primary goal for products like corporate accounting and purchasing software or CAD software that are used many times a day, often by 'power users'. For products where most users soon become experts and use the products daily, efficiency should be the primary usability attribute, with ease-of-learning a secondary attribute.
Wilson, Chauncey E. Usability Interface (1997). Articles>Usability>Personalization
#11818
An article in the Washington Post, June 7, 1999, called Terminal Tantrums; 'Computer Rage' Is Widespread, a Study of Users Concludes describes research out of Britain, that we were among the victims of Technology Related Anxiety (TRA), specifically, 'computer rage.' The study reported high levels of PC-related abuse by colleagues 'as a result of frustration' with information technology. The abuses included 'swearing at their PC,' kicking it, and 'bullying the IT department'.
Dick, David J. Usability Interface (1999). Articles>Technology>Usability
#20894
Don't Test Users, Test Hypotheses
User testing typically consists of a sort of fishing trip. We lower a lure (the user) into the water (the application or site) and see what critters (defects) bite. This is a valuable and time-tested approach. But when we start fishing for defects, we are left with some tough questions. For instance: When are we finished? How many defects do we need to find before we have fully tested the site or application? If we find a defect, how do we know how severe it is, and by what measure? In iterative testing, how do we compare results from the test of the current version with results from testing earlier versions?
Soudack, Avi. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Usability>Methods>Testing
#14208
Driving Innovation and Creativity through Customer Data
This article explores the foundations of designing for innovation. Karen Holtzblatt has created contextual inquiry, a practical, customer-centered approach that helps designers develop creative solutions that dominate the competition.
Perfetti, Christine. User Interface Engineering (2002). Articles>Usability>Methods>Contextual Inquiry
#21084
This article discusses turn signals and how they are used. Turn signals improve safety because they give people time to react and they reduce driving ambiguity. However, they are only effective when people actually use them. Several lessons are applied to web usability.
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2001). Articles>Usability>User Interface
#25082
Durability of Usability Guidelines
About 90% of usability guidelines from 1986 are still valid, though several guidelines are less important because they relate to design elements that are rarely used today.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2004). Articles>Usability>History
#24552
Prevent major user annoyance by checking all your web forms: feedback, comment posting, product orders, newsletter sign-up, newsletter opt-in, unsubscribe option, site registration, etc. When a form won't submit, or otherwise fails, after user inputs lots of data, it causes extreme ill will toward your web site, and may be legal violation (UCE laws).
Streight, Steven. Blogger.com (2004). Articles>Web Design>Forms>Usability
#24734
People are increasingly relying on web channels to check on their billing relationship with companies. The problem: Not all billing applications present information that’s easy to navigate and action.
Szuc, Daniel and Gerry Gaffney. Usability Professionals Association (2004). Articles>Usability>Web Design
