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

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

An Alternative to Banner Ads

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

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

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

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

Always Have a Backup Plan

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

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

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

Amazon, You Just Lost $82.62

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

Ambient Findability

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

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

Ambient Findability: Talking with Peter Morville

Can we reasonably judge authority? How can we make good decisions in the information age? How do we know enough to ask the right questions? Peter Morville takes a moment to talk with us about these and other potential answers, his most recent book, the death of data, and our fascination with the future.

Danzico, Liz. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Articles>Interviews>Information Design

American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA)

The purpose of AIGA is to further excellence in communication design as a broadly defined discipline, strategic tool for business and cultural force. AIGA is the place design professionals turn to first to exchange ideas and information, participate in critical analysis and research and advance education and ethical practice.

AIGA (2001). Organizations>Graphic Design

The American Society for Information Science and Technology

ASIST provides the people, programs and publications that keep your career moving forward. Whether you need to improve your productivity through better information retrieval, satisfy the information needs of your clients and constiuents, or need to understand or affect information policies, ASIST can help you address all of these diverse needs.

ASIST. Organizations>Information Design

An Agreement With a Web Designer: What Should it Look Like?

Whether you're spending a few hundred dollars, or thousands of dollars, on your website, you should have a written agreement with your web designer. Here's what to include.

Bennaco (2004). Articles>Web Design>Contracts

Analysing Everyday Interaction

Inspired by Don Norman's classic book, 'The Design of Everyday Things', I started to collect my own examples of bad designs to analyse according to interaction design principles. Here are just a few.

Poole, Alex. Alex Poole (2004). Articles>Usability>Interaction Design>User Experience

Analyzing an Organizational Web Site  

The Web is still so new that there is very little consensus about what an organizational Web page should be and what purpose(s) it should serve. You will start this exercise by examining some organizational Web sites (preferably organizations in your field). You will develop criteria by which to judge organizational sites, and then use those criteria to evaluate a single Web site, with the site’s creator as your audience. Your criteria will doubtless include elements like the elegance of the design and should certainly include the navigational system and other Web page practicalities. They should also include the fundamentals that are important in all technical documents: suitability to purpose(s) and audience(s), content, organization, and tone.

Burnett, Rebecca E. Thomson (2001). Academic>Course Materials>Web Design>Evaluation

Analyzing Documents to Understand Tags  

SGML is a language for describing the structure of a document. The language involves using a system of tags for elements of a document. Document analysis is the process of discovering the elements of a document and understanding how the parts work together to form the document.

Coggin, William O. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Information Design>SGML

Analyzing Usability of a Beta-Version Web Site Through Server Logs, User Profile Data, and Online Questionnaire Responses  

This paper discusses the use of automated data collection to learn from hundreds of beta-test users of a web-based industrial product database how successfully the product met their needs. The collected data consisted of web server log data, opinion data from online questionnaires and follow-up interviews, and user profile data from telerecruiting and online registration was also collected. In the Proceedings of the 1998 Usability Professionals' Association Conference.

Kantner, Laurie and Larry Rusinsky. Tec-Ed, Inc. (1998). Articles>Web Design>Usability

Anatomy of a Character

How do you tell one typeface from another? If you’re trying to distinguish Helvetica from Times Roman, the difference is obvious. In other cases, however–especially between text designs having similar characteristics–the differences can be subtle and difficult for the less–experienced eye to see. One important step in training your eye to notice the details that set one design apart from another is to examine the anatomy of the characters that make up our alphabet.

Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2001). Design>Typography

Anatomy of a Corporate Intranet Project  

Today more and more companies use intranets to communicate with employees and to help them perform their jobs. An intranet is an internal network that operates like the Internet.

Rhines, Becky. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Web Design>Intranets

Anatomy of a Weblog

In some sense, weblogs sum up what's so great about the Internet. Like fanzine editors before them, weblog editors embrace a topic or theme and run with it. Weblogs are a great indicator of what's happening on the Internet and within the web community.

Barrett, Cameron. Camworld (2005). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Blogging

Anatomy of HTML Tags

This tutorial describes some of the main attributes that HTML tags can feature.

Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2006). Design>Web Design>HTML

And Then There Were Adwords... An Introduction

If you have been looking into Internet marketing, you have probably seen Adwords mentioned now and again. Why don’t we cover the basics of the program. Adwords is the name of the pay-per-click system offered by Google on its search engine.

Pires, Halstatt. Ezine Articles (2006). Articles>Web Design>E Commerce>Search