"About Us" -- Presenting Information About an Organization on Its Website

Study participants searched websites for background information ranging from company history to management biographies and contact details. Their success rate was 70%, leaving much room for usability improvements in the 'About Us' designs.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2003). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Writing

Audience Matters    

By incorporating usability techniques--more commonly used in product design--writers can better understand their audiences and the ways they use (or have problems using) the content. Read on for tips on how to incorporate usability techniques into your work.

Stott, Susan. Intercom (2008). Articles>Writing>Usability>Audience Analysis

Blah-Blah Text: Keep, Cut, or Kill?

Introductory text on Web pages is usually too long, so users skip it. But short intros can increase usability by explaining the remaining content's purpose.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2007). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Usability

Designing and Writing to Reduce User Errors

A vast majority of documents (I consider print and online as documentation) often works to define the optimized error-free method of performing a task and provides a user with a straightforward solution. However, the user expects documentation to help solve problems and address errors. Thus, attention must be paid to potential problems users can have and how to correct them. Errors have different causes; the information designer should understand the potential types of errors since properly addressing each type requires a different approach in the design and documentation.

Albers, Michael J. WritersUA (2004). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Usability

From Writing Documents to Meeting User Information Needs  

As professional Technical Communicators, we constantly struggle with the question 'Is what we produce being used and is it making a difference?' Too often, we base our measures of success on our own views of what makes a good document, Help system, or other information product. Through broader and more detailed analysis, and by measuring success based on how our information products affect others, we can increase the effectiveness of our information products and increase our value to our users and companies.

Hurst, Bob, Cindy Line and Kerry Newberry. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Writing>Usability>Assessment

Heading Frequency and Comprehension: Studies of Print Versus Online Media  

This paper describes a study that examined the effect of heading frequency on comprehension and perceptions of information presented in print versus online text. Results indicated that heading frequency did not differentially affect the comprehension of readers of print text while it did differentially affect the comprehension of readers of online texts who had considerably lower comprehension scores with text that had high frequency versus medium frequency headings.

Spyridakis, Jan H., Laura D. Schultz and Alexandra L. Bartell. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Document Design>Writing>Usability

How to Write a Report Without Getting Lynched

You put forth your best effort to explain to the stupid sods exactly how and where they screwed up, then they have the temerity to not appreciate your fine efforts. Here's how to write a report that will cause change, instead of uproar.

Tognazzini, Bruce. Nielsen Norman Group (2001). Articles>Usability>Reports>Technical Writing

Just Say No to Dead Fragments

A dead fragment of text is what's left after a usability expert has had his or her way with some perfectly good copy. The process works a little like this... First, take some great text that engages the reader on a number of levels. Here are a few words from Martin Luther King, Jr.: 'I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.' Now cut that back to make it more 'usable': 'Have sons judged by character and not color.' What are you left with? A brief, but dead, fragment. The substance of the communication remains, but the soul has been ripped out of it.

Usborne, Nick. ClickZ (2001). Articles>Writing>Usability>Web Design

Know Your Audience and Their Needs

When putting together a web document, understand who your audience will be and what their needs and motivations are. Use this information to decide how to organize and present the information. You need to answer questions such as: How much time will they spend with this document? Will they read all of it? Do they want to be amused? What questions will they be asking of the document? Will they read different parts at different times? Will they use the document as reference material?

Bricklin, Dan. Good Documents (1998). Articles>Writing>Usability

Language and Usability

If usability is part of technical communication, language – the building block of technical communication – is an important part of the usability of a web site or software application. The better a product communicates, the more helpful it is, the easier it is to use.

Quesenbery, Whitney. IEEE PCS (2005). Articles>Usability>Writing

Long vs. Short Articles as Content Strategy

Information foraging shows how to calculate your content strategy's costs and benefits. A mixed diet that combines brief overviews and comprehensive coverage is often best.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2007). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Writing

Microsoft Word 2000 and Readability

A discussion of th Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formula, as implemented in Microsoft Word.

Nafde, Yamini. Indus (2005). Articles>Writing>Usability>Microsoft Word

Putting Service and Support Documentation Online—Avoiding the Perils and Pitfalls  

Customer satisfaction studies are valuable tools for developing documentation strategies. Information developers at Compaq Computer Corporation used a satisfaction study to develop a comprehensive strategy for producing online service and support documentation.

Siemers, Linda K., Michael R. Cloud and JoAnn T. Hackos. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Writing>Usability

Readability and Computer Documentation    

Traditional readability concerns are alive and well, but subsumed within several more recent documentation quality efforts. For example, concerns with interestingness and translatability for global markets, with audience analysis and task sufficiency, and with reader appropriateness of technical text all involve readability, but often in ways not easily measured by any formula.

Hargis, Gretchen. Journal of Computer Documentation (2000). Articles>Writing>Usability

Regulatory Usability

Regulatory requirements often reduce the usability of Web content and end up damaging the exact goals they were trying to promote. Regulatory agencies usually base their rules and regulations on design criteria that are appropriate for paper-based documents but which don't work in the online medium.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2000). Articles>Usability>Writing

Revising Letters to Veterans    

A discussion of the process of making letters for veterans easier to understand.

Daniel, Reva. Technical Communication Online (1995). Articles>Writing>User Centered Design>Usability

A Structured Process for Transforming Usability Data into Usability Information  

Much research has been devoted to developing usability evaluation methods that are used in evaluating interaction designs. More recently, however, research has shifted away from evaluation methods and comparisons of evaluation methods to issues of how to use the raw usability data generated by these methods. Associated with this focus is the assumption that the transformation of the raw usability data into usability information is relatively straightforward. We would argue that this assumption is incorrect, especially for novice usability practitioners. In this article, we present a structured process for transforming raw usability data into usability information that is based on a new way of thinking about usability problem data. The results of a study of this structured process indicate that it helps improve the effectiveness of novice usability practitioners.

Howarth, Jonathan, Terence S. Andre and Rex Hartson. Journal of Usability Studies (2007). Articles>Usability>Reports>Technical Writing

Technisch Schrijvers Schuwen Onderzoek: Toch Kunnen Onderzoeksresultaten Praktisch Toepasbaar Zijn  

This article, which appeared in the Dutch journal Tekst[blad], describes four recent studies that are relevant to help developers, and suggests how help developers can use the knowledge gained from those studies to improve the performance support systems they build.

Hayhoe, George F. Tekst[blad] (2000). (Dutch) Articles>Documentation>Usability>Technical Writing

Transitioning from Technical Writing into Usability

In this podcast, I talk with Theresa Putkey, a usability consultant in Vancouver, about how she transitioned from technical writing into usability.

Johnson, Tom H. and Theresa Putkey. Tech Writer Voices (2008). Articles>Usability>Technical Writing>Podcasts

Using a Survey to Help Plan and Develop Your Document  

Surveys can be valuable tools for developing your document. We used our survey to answer many of our user and task analysis questions before planning content for different service manuals. When creating and using a survey, identify what information you need to know about your users, consider your options for mailing the surveys, plan a smooth processor gathering, tallying, and analyzing the data, and then remember to report back to your respondents. Ultimately, your findings can be incorporated into a recommendation report for your clients, as well as help you plan the content and layout for your document.

Lester, Susan M.J. and Lauren Y. Hansen. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Usability>Methods>Writing

What I Learned as a Writer from Doing Usability and Interface Testing

Usability testing was an important success factor in a recent project on designing an online interactive help system. As a group of graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University, we had widely ranging backgrounds, but none of us had experience with usability testing or user observations. Involvement with our users provided a great deal of expected and unexpected feedback to the group, and helped us tremendously to learn more about our users, and ourselves as writers and information designers. As a writer, I hadn’t had any experience with usability testing. When I recently returned to graduate school at Carnegie Mellon University, however, I worked with a team of other writers to create a prototype of an interactive online interactive help system. Part of our work included user interviews and observations, and usability testing for our prototype. Although this was a rich learning environment overall, our team felt strongly that we learned the most from our experiences working directly with our users. Maybe the reason is because we thought that we knew our users and what they wanted.

Jackson, Anne F. Usability Interface (2002). Articles>Usability>Writing

Writing Style for Print vs. Web

Linear vs. non-linear. Author-driven vs. reader-driven. Storytelling vs. ruthless pursuit of actionable content. Anecdotal examples vs. comprehensive data. Sentences vs. fragments.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2008). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Usability

You Talking to Me?: Usability for Global Audiences on a Shoestring Budget  

For inexpensive usability, plan for content adaptation, presentation, access and feedback.

Bailie, Rahel Anne. STC Region 7 Proceedings (2003). Articles>Usability>Technical Writing>Localization

Don't Let Your Product's Features Become Expensive Flaws

Your product's unexplained features can turn into costly flaws. This article describes three real-world products with just such "features." It presents ways you can prevent these feature-to-flaw conversions by improving the User Documentation for your products.

Great Technical Writing (2008). Articles>Documentation>Usability>Technical Writing