Participatory design is an approach to design that attempts to actively involve end users in the design process to help ensure that the product designed meets their needs and is usable. This approach is focused on process and is not a design style. For some, this approach has a political dimension of user empowerment and democratisation. For others, it is seen as a way of abrogating design responsibility and innovation by designers.
#20179
Jakob Nielsen has published 200 Alertbox columns on the Web since 1995; in addition to promoting usability, the column's readership statistics validate the practice of archiving content.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2003). Articles>Usability>Web Design
#21755
Many of the principles that the print typographer has learned and holds sacred, are no longer true when the medium is a neon sign, a television title sequence or a Web page. Text that is not printed on paper takes them into alien territory.
Gillespie, Joe. Digital Web Magazine (2001). Design>Typography>Online
#28400
Alignment is another way of creating associations between visual elements, which help users quickly understand the relationships of objects on a page.
Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2006). Design>Web Design>Document Design
#27523
The title tag is one of the most important factors in achieving high search engine rankings.
Whalen, Jill. High Rankings Advisor (2004). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization
#25145
A blog from Bangalore based on everything related to the user experience and interaction.
Monteiro, Percy. Blogspot. Resources>Usability>User Centered Design>Blogs
#26885
All Hail Shale: Shale Isn't Struts
What Shale isn't is a shrink-wrapped, well-documented, well-tested product complete with an automated installer and a polished management interface. Now find out what it is, as Brett McLaughlin unveils this mighty -- and rightful-- heir to the legacy of Struts. In this first of a five-part series, Brett explains what Shale is, how it's different from the Struts framework, and how to install and set it up in your development environment.
McLaughlin, Brett D. IBM (2006). Articles>Web Design>Programming
#13228
Just when you think online multimedia will never be truly accessible, someone proves you wrong. In BMW Films, Clark sees a tantalizing glimpse of a better web.
Clark, Joe. List Apart, A (2000). Design>Accessibility>Web Design>Multimedia
#28063
Ever forget the exact location of a menu command in InDesign? You can use this tip to make your menu commands easier to locate.
Cole, Tim. Adobe Evangelists (2006). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe InDesign
#22950
Alt and Beyond: Making Web Graphics Accessible
Many developers still view graphics and accessibility as being on opposing ends of the web development scale. The truth is that including graphics in your documents does not mean your page has to be any less accessible. In fact, as we will see later in this article, graphics can be used to enhance the accessibility of a page. There are, however, a few key techniques that you can employ to ensure that you don't have to construct alternative 'Text-Only' documents. The web truly is the last frontier where we can treat all people equally with 'one size fits all' web documents. There is just a little bit extra we need to do to achieve this.
Roberts, Tim. evolt (2002). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
#27623
Alter Table Row Background Colors Using JavaScript
Many sites that present tabular data use alternating background colors to increase the readability of that data. And as I developed a site, I realised I wanted to do that, too. The problem? In my case the table was not generated by a server side application or script of which you can find numerous examples on the Web.
Svanberg, Kennet. SitePoint (2005). Design>Web Design>CSS>DHTML
#25168
Kenn Munk designs wonderfully different fonts and dingbats that allow the user to 'build' words, or in the case of dingbats - images. This obsesion is probably due to the hours and hours spent playing with LEGO bricks in his childhood. Shhhhh... be quiet!
Munk, Kenn. Design, Typography and Graphics (2004). Design>Typography
#28319
The Alternative Guide to Technical Communication 
This guide summarizes alternative resources relevant to people in Technical Communication. 'Alternative' refers to the unconventional types of resources on this list as well the diversity of topics that are covered -- none of these resources talk about 'technical communication.'
Wei, Carolyn. University of Washington-Seattle. Resources>TC>User Centered Design
#21010
Alternative Interfaces for Accessibility
The key difference between user interfaces for sighted users and blind users is not that between graphics and text; it's the difference between 2-D and 1-D. Optimal usability for users with disabilities requires new approaches and new user interfaces.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2003). Design>Accessibility>Usability>Universal Usability
#13369
Alternative Style: Working With Alternate Style Sheets
So you have an XML document. You’ve also been a good little web developer and used style sheets to control what your document looks like. You’ve even gone the extra mile and created several alternative style sheets to show how hardcore you are. Great. But now you need a cross–browser way to dynamically switch between the style sheets.
Sowden, Paul. List Apart, A (2002). Design>Web Design>HTML
#20899
Banner ads are not a particularly useful way of getting people to 'click', but inserting a plain vanilla link just might be.
Baker, Adam. Merges.net (2001). Design>Web Design>Marketing>Usability
#31409
Alternative ways to Measure the Effectiveness of Your Intranet Sites
When you measure hits on inter/intranet sites, you are measuring overall volume of usage -- how many times parts of your site have been opened. However, hits don't distinguish between the opening of an entire page or a single illustration. There are many additional ways of measuring usage. However, measuring the "userability" of a site is just as important in order to improve usage numbers. But the first place any communicator should start when measuring the effectiveness of electronic communications is to identify the original objectives for putting something on-line. Conducting some baseline audience research upfront to make sure your electronic solutions will be as effective as possible and then measuring afterward to see if the intended objectives are being met.
Sinickas, Angela D. Sinickas Communications (2000). Articles>Web Design>Intranets>Log Analysis
#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
#24875
Altova Authentic: Tip of the Iceberg 
Reviews Altova Authentic, a free, WYSIWYG, Windows-based, forms-based XML editor.
Wersan, Fred. Intercom (2004). Design>Information Design>Software>XML
#24524
Altruistic vs. Narcissistic Web Sites
Users are repulsed by web sites that are narcissistic, egotistic, corporate-speak, hard to understand, and difficult to use. Users are attracted to and enjoy web sites that are altruistic, user-prioritized, user-focused, easy to understand, easy to use, and full of fresh, relevant content.
Streight, Steven. Blogger.com (2004). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Usability
#23993
By anticipating failures, and designing backup plans, you can minimize the impact of unexpected problems on the user.
Anderson, Gretchen. Cooper Interaction Design (2001). Design>Project Management>Planning
#29980
Amazing DHTML: But is it Useful?
Dynamic HTML is not another HTML standard, but is a term used to describe techniques by which Web pages can be made dynamic using JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and the Document Object Model (DOM). It works on the more recent versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape.
HyperWrite (2005). Design>Web Design>DHTML
#21106
The purpose of this article is to openly display my disgust with Amazon and to discuss the implications. On Monday, 11-June-2000, I ordered a gift certificate from Amazon.com. I was going to use the certificate for Father's Day, however Amazon failed to send the certificate in time. So, I drove to Barnes and Noble, bought some books, and bought a gift certificate. Amazon just lost $82.62.
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2001). Design>Web Design>Usability>E Commerce
#26640
Amazon: No Longer the Role Model for E-Commerce Design
Many design elements work for Amazon.com mainly because of its status as the world's largest and most established e-commerce site. Normal sites should not copy Amazon's design.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2005). Design>Web Design>E Commerce>Usability
#23041
For an information architect with library roots, what's next is obvious: ambient findability. I want to be able to find anything, anywhere, anytime.
Morville, Peter. Semantic Studios (2002). Articles>Information Design>Search
#26362
Ambient Findability: Findability Hacks
Findability is one of the most thorny problems in web design. This is due in part to the inherent ambiguity of semantics and structure. We label and categorize things in so many ways that retrieval is difficult at best. But that’s only the half of it. The most formidable challenges stem from its cross-functional, interdisciplinary nature. Findability defies classification. It flows across the borders between design, engineering, and marketing. Everybody is responsible, and so we run the risk that nobody is accountable.
Morville, Peter. List Apart, A (2005). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Search
