categoryallspace2-Design Usability http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Design/Usability A directory of resources about design and usability in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Design/Usability http://tc.eserver.org/31418.html http://tc.eserver.org/31418.html The user of a table would be looking for one or more data points. Therefore, if we set a task that uses a table, and zebra striping does make things easier, then we would expect to see improvements in accuracy and speed. http://tc.eserver.org/31266.html http://tc.eserver.org/31266.html The idea of rapid prototyping as it applies to instructional design, is to develop learning experiences in a continual design-evaluation cycle that continues throughout the life of the project. This cycle, known as the spiral cycle or layered approach, is considered to be iterative, meaning that products are continually improved as they cycle continues. http://tc.eserver.org/31267.html http://tc.eserver.org/31267.html This site is designed to provide information about instructional design principles and how they relate to teaching and learning. Instructional design, also know as instructional systems design, is the is the analysis of learning needs and systematic development of instruction. Instructional designers often use instructional technology or educational technology as tools for developing instruction http://tc.eserver.org/31191.html http://tc.eserver.org/31191.html This study investigated the effect of website typeface appropriateness on the perception of the site's company. Results indicate that typefaces that are high in appropriateness should be used for websites. Neutral and low appropriate typefaces significantly decreased the perception of the company as judged by professionalism, believability, trust, and intent to act on the site. http://tc.eserver.org/31192.html http://tc.eserver.org/31192.html This study investigated the legibility of onscreen typefaces and the influence of individual character features on correct identification. Specific attributes of alphanumeric characters and symbols shown to be the least legible were measured and analyzed using a statistical method called classification tree analysis. Results from this analysis for the letter "e" and the number zero are discussed. http://tc.eserver.org/31193.html http://tc.eserver.org/31193.html A list of common mistakes with e-commerce shopping cart design were identified in a previous issue of Usability News. This article revisits that list and reviews how 500 of the top Internet retail sites of today implemented their shopping cart design. http://tc.eserver.org/31197.html http://tc.eserver.org/31197.html This study evaluated the usability of three websites for Spanish-English Dual Language K-8 schools. Twelve participants (6 parents, 6 teachers) reviewed and performed tasks on the three public school websites. Site usability was determined through both objective and subjective measures, including task completion time, first-click, total number of pages visited, task success, perceived task difficulty, user satisfaction, and overall ranked preference. Results indicated that one site was preferred more than the others by both user groups and resulted in more efficient search behavior. Clear navigation, link terminology, and proper use of both languages were found to be critical factors contributing to the sites’ usability. http://tc.eserver.org/31126.html http://tc.eserver.org/31126.html Just because a website looks good, doesn't mean that it's easy to use. http://tc.eserver.org/31128.html http://tc.eserver.org/31128.html What bugs me is not the results of the major search engines, but the results of internal web site searches. http://tc.eserver.org/31092.html http://tc.eserver.org/31092.html What is the biggest problem I face almost every time a client hires me to do something about a web project going awry? They don't know a thing about their users. They don't have a clue, whatsoever. Unbelievable but true! http://tc.eserver.org/31071.html http://tc.eserver.org/31071.html Findability is to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as 'web standards' is to 'table layouts.' In a web whose vastness exceeds comprehension, sites with findable content win. The good news is that everyone on your team can help make your site findable. http://tc.eserver.org/31056.html http://tc.eserver.org/31056.html Customisable websites have recently become more and more popular - get the lowdown on when and why you should and shouldn't allow users to change pages on your website. http://tc.eserver.org/31019.html http://tc.eserver.org/31019.html Geo-redirecting -- redirecting users to different parts of your website depending on their own geographical location -- is a neat trick. It is handy when your website has different messages or product offers for users from different countries or regions. But many website owners mistakenly assume that their geolocation software works every time. It doesn't! http://tc.eserver.org/30873.html http://tc.eserver.org/30873.html Few usability professionals are as well-rounded as Avi Parush. Avi has worked in industry and academia, testing and design, the Old World and the New, with web applications and airplane cockpits, in operating rooms and on the bridges of ships. http://tc.eserver.org/30827.html http://tc.eserver.org/30827.html Users now do basic operations with confidence and perform with skill on sites they use often. But when users try new sites, well-known usability problems still cause failures. http://tc.eserver.org/30822.html http://tc.eserver.org/30822.html Findable. Scannable. Readable. Concise. Layered. We know much these days about how to make Web content usable--thanks to experts such as Robert Horn, Jakob Nielsen, Ginny Redish, and Gerry McGovern. What we don't understand as well, however, is how to make content win users over to take the actions we want them to take or have the perceptions we want them to have. We don't understand how to make Web content both usable and persuasive. I, by no means, intend to imply that we should sacrifice the usability of content to make it more persuasive. Truly winning content must be both. http://tc.eserver.org/30801.html http://tc.eserver.org/30801.html It's not that people resist change whole-scale. They just hate losing control and feeling stupid. When we make critical changes, we risk putting our users in that position. We must take care to ensure that we've considered the process of change as much as we've considered the technology changes themselves. Only then will we end up with changes that our users embrace. http://tc.eserver.org/30791.html http://tc.eserver.org/30791.html If you let your developers create your UI, hilarity ensues. http://tc.eserver.org/30771.html http://tc.eserver.org/30771.html Every web site is conceived and designed keeping in view a particular purpose to serve. The aim of web site may vary: some web site intends to showcase products or services of the company it belongs to, some provides information to its target audience, or some just exposes its company on the web in a brand building exercise. This is to note that whatever be the nature of web site, web copy plays it own crucial role in furthering the interest of the site. It is imperative that web content is easy-to-read, easy-to-find, and easy-to-understand. http://tc.eserver.org/30765.html http://tc.eserver.org/30765.html Visually impaired people suffer from no faults of their own. This is quite worthy of consideration that a little more efforts toward adoption of certain features in your web site can help them retrieve information in the desired manner. Their ease of accessibility to your web site will not go unrewarded; they can well augment your business interests by turning into your most valuable customers. http://tc.eserver.org/30718.html http://tc.eserver.org/30718.html dConstruct is an affordable, one-day conference aimed at those building the latest generation of web-based applications. The theme for this year's conference is Designing the User Experience. The 2007 conference was held in September. This page aggregates recordings of all of the speakers or you can visit the link to download the podcasts. http://tc.eserver.org/30641.html http://tc.eserver.org/30641.html Over the past ten years, there has been an ever-increasing amount of usability recommendations for improving website design. Much of the data has focused on navigation of single-language websites. But few studies have tackled the problems of bilingual sites, and virtually no information has been gathered about usability of bilingual or multilingual sites where the languages are not written in the same direction (for example, English, which is read from left-to-right, and Hebrew, which is read from right-to-left). http://tc.eserver.org/30626.html http://tc.eserver.org/30626.html Presents a strategic roadmap for user experience design. Combining usability with the science of persuasion, learn how you can: impact online decision-making and user motivation; create a dashboard-based framework to measure and track user experience; integrate your customer channels and internal-facing systems; and help executives appreciate and understand the value of user-centered thinking and design. http://tc.eserver.org/30551.html http://tc.eserver.org/30551.html Examines the phases of document development and describes how to incorporate them with usability techniques to ensure that your information products remain continually useful and valuable. http://tc.eserver.org/30541.html http://tc.eserver.org/30541.html Writers of performance- and response-oriented documents, such as instructions, procedures, proposals, and grant applications, need to consider the interaction of human factors with conventional document design factors such as accessibility, readability, legibility, consistency, style, language, and suitability to audience. This session explores that relationship, based upon a summation and synthesis of previous Annual Conference presentations as modulated by this presenter's extensive technical communication experience. It will be of particular interest to newcomers to the profession who seek to broaden their grasp of its intricacies. http://tc.eserver.org/30442.html http://tc.eserver.org/30442.html Featuritis or creeping featurism is the tendency for the number of features in a product (usually software product) to rise with each release of the product. What may have been a cohesive and consistent design in the early versions may end up as a patchwork of added features. And with extra features comes extra complexity. http://tc.eserver.org/30414.html http://tc.eserver.org/30414.html In this progression we will examine ways that technical communicators can improve both information usability and product usability. The presentation will center around two major points. http://tc.eserver.org/30315.html http://tc.eserver.org/30315.html People who follow the right trends will someday lead them. Such an opportunity now lies in the hands of technical writers, as the computer field moves toward standardized, graphical, easy-to-use interfaces. http://tc.eserver.org/30218.html http://tc.eserver.org/30218.html Converting visitors to buyers can be easily achieved by following some basic rules of conversion. http://tc.eserver.org/30221.html http://tc.eserver.org/30221.html The use of effective images to sell online is crucial. Read through these essential guidelines and find out how to use images to increase conversion rates. http://tc.eserver.org/30219.html http://tc.eserver.org/30219.html Integrating usability into any organisation can be a difficult and isolating experience. Get the lowdown on how to achieve this within your organisation. http://tc.eserver.org/30220.html http://tc.eserver.org/30220.html Usability and page design for websites on mobile phones is very different to that of PCs. These essential mobile usability guidelines will help ensure your site works well for mobile visitors. http://tc.eserver.org/30194.html http://tc.eserver.org/30194.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/30191.html http://tc.eserver.org/30191.html Das kennt man: ein ahnungsloser Klick und plötzlich öffnet sich eine mega-lange PDF-Datei. Seitengestalter sind deshalb angehalten Links auf PDF-Dateien zu kennzeichnen. Selbstverständlich macht das inzwischen auch (fast) jeder. http://tc.eserver.org/30190.html http://tc.eserver.org/30190.html This article examines the claims of those PDF critics and argues that usability complaints about PDF documents are misdirected, and further, highlights some of the key reasons why PDF is the preferred electronic document format. http://tc.eserver.org/30055.html http://tc.eserver.org/30055.html Few of us know the details of the original research that produced the concept of this magical number. And still fewer of us choose to question its applicability to information design--it's far too convenient a rule of thumb to risk invalidating it! http://tc.eserver.org/30029.html http://tc.eserver.org/30029.html A chain of five errors led to Scott Adams losing his work. Not one of those errors was his. They had been made months and even years before Scott Adams ever started work on his blog. His was an accident waiting to happen, an accident that has almost certainly befallen a large number of other individuals who have had the misfortune to use the same software. http://tc.eserver.org/30032.html http://tc.eserver.org/30032.html Hype about Web 2.0 is making web firms neglect the basics of good design, web usability guru Jakob Nielsen has said. http://tc.eserver.org/30022.html http://tc.eserver.org/30022.html The design of a special-purpose selection list is reviewed. As part of a performance-support application for classroom teachers, a means was needed for rapid selection from a large number of alternative words. By taking into account the inherent structure of the terms in the list, instead of treating it as a simple list of unspecified objects, a more efficient and more easily used design was achieved. By incorporating the structure of the alternatives, the design was also able to reflect and support best practices in classroom lesson planning. http://tc.eserver.org/29998.html http://tc.eserver.org/29998.html A good User Document includes sections on how to set up, use, and care for the product. However, to create a great User Document, the technical writer should use the Persona, generated in the analysis of the User/Reader, to create the topics for the most useful section of the User Document. This article describes this procedure. http://tc.eserver.org/29994.html http://tc.eserver.org/29994.html Flash animations have become popular on the Web. But popularity is not often a good measure of useability or effectiveness. So what are the pros and cons of using Flash on a Web site? http://tc.eserver.org/29941.html http://tc.eserver.org/29941.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/29821.html http://tc.eserver.org/29821.html Rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) represents a mechanism for exhibiting temporal information instead of spatial information to overcome the limitations of small-screen devices. Previous studies examining this area focused only on information presented by RSVP displays and disregarded changes in the performance of accompanying tasks associated with such displays. Therefore, this investigation performed a dual-task experiment (a search task for static information and a reading task for RSVP display information) to examine the effects of presentation mode (character-by-character, word-by-word, and one-line format), speed (171, 260, 350, and 430 characters per minute, or cpm), and text-flow orientation (vertical and horizontal orientation) of RSVP display information on the visual performance of users during different stages of usage (whether current usage is the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or eighth day of usage) for a small screen. http://tc.eserver.org/29819.html http://tc.eserver.org/29819.html Due to limitations on screen size and resolution, the usability of web maps relies heavily on their interface design. The main goal of this research is to find better interface designs for web maps and to facilitate their usage by the public. The research consists of two stages of investigation: (a) a survey on the operation interfaces of popular web maps; and (b) a usability evaluation of simulated interfaces by measuring task performance and conducting subjective evaluations. http://tc.eserver.org/29813.html http://tc.eserver.org/29813.html When we ask designers what stage they spend the bulk of their time in when launching a product, the majority of designers answer, the Implementation Stage. However, our research shows that the teams launching the most usable products on schedule and on budget spend the bulk of their time in the Measure and Learn stage. http://tc.eserver.org/29810.html http://tc.eserver.org/29810.html On your site, the content page is the user's most frequent final destination. This page contains the information the user came to the site to find. Sites often have hundreds, if not thousands (and in some cases, millions) of these critical pages. How can design teams be confident their content pages are understandable to users? How does a team ensure they've designed content pages that communicate the essential information effectively? http://tc.eserver.org/29816.html http://tc.eserver.org/29816.html The designers of Netflix.com have a smashing success on their hands, but we didn't find them resting on their laurels. They want to get even better, and for them that means iterate, iterate, iterate. Netflix isn't the only company using a fast iterative design approach. Google has also gained attention for their unorthodox design methods, with many people complaining that they have a huge stable of products, but only a few they've designed well. http://tc.eserver.org/29814.html http://tc.eserver.org/29814.html Galleries -- the list of links to content -- are your site's hardest working pages. They are the final page that separates those users who find the content they are seeking from the users who won't. A well-designed gallery page will drive users to success every time. A poorly-designed site will only serve to drive users away. http://tc.eserver.org/29757.html http://tc.eserver.org/29757.html Beautiful Evidence is Edward Tufte's fourth and latest book and both follows and diverges from the directions established with The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (Tufte, 1983), Envisioning Information (Tufte, 1990), and Visual Explanations (Tufte, 1997). Visual Display examined pictures of numbers, Envisioning explored pictures of nouns, and Visual Explanations addressed pictures of verbs. Beautiful Evidence foregoes the 'pictures of' approach and instead establishes the role of evidence as the foundation of reasoning. In some ways, this latest book might have been better positioned as the first book because of its efforts to explain interplays of understanding and reasoning. http://tc.eserver.org/29631.html http://tc.eserver.org/29631.html In this day and age, getting closer to your user base is imperative for creating user-centric documentation. This paper discusses how the Technical Publications group at Mentor Graphics tapped into their annual User Group meeting (MUG) to conduct usability studies. We cover: Convincing management of the ROI of participating in the User Group meeting; establishing relationships with meeting organizers; defining proper "protocol" for interacting with users and other meeting attendees; planning for and dealing with equipment setup; recruiting users to the usability lab; considering and acquiring incentives for usability lab participants. http://tc.eserver.org/29651.html http://tc.eserver.org/29651.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/29664.html http://tc.eserver.org/29664.html Internet forms can be found on all kinds of sites that enable visitors to interact with companies, such as order forms in online shops or application forms on job boards. These forms ask visitors to fill out their name and address, which in many cases results in user errors as a consequence of design failures. In this article we report on a research project using event logs to analyze user errors and optimize the design of name and address forms. Two factors are identified as crucial for usability: the sequence of elements in the name field and the spatial orientation in the address field. http://tc.eserver.org/29592.html http://tc.eserver.org/29592.html Proceedings of a paper about how readers interact with designed documents. http://tc.eserver.org/29874.html http://tc.eserver.org/29874.html As Technical Communicators, many of us were initiated into this industry with the oft-cited cliche, 'know thy audience.' But what does this really mean? To what extent must we 'know' our audience in order to deliver effective information products? The critical questions are, 'what tools and means can I use to sufficiently understand the needs of my audience? Rather than relying on the directives of Engineering and Marketing, how can I discover the true needs of my audience and develop a user-centered design? And how do I hone my skills at gathering and applying this crucial data?' One of the emerging trends in Technical Communications is to develop user 'personas' as a design tool. This paper presents 'real-world' advice and 'best practices' on using the persona methodology to design information products. http://tc.eserver.org/29551.html http://tc.eserver.org/29551.html One site did most things right, but still had a miserable 14% success rate for its most important task. The reason? Users ignored a key area because it resembled a promotion. http://tc.eserver.org/29553.html http://tc.eserver.org/29553.html The more engaged users are, the more features an application can sustain. But most users have low commitment--especially to websites, which must focus on simplicity, rather than features. http://tc.eserver.org/29534.html http://tc.eserver.org/29534.html A look at how to quantify or measure the benefits of a better user interface built with Ajax. http://tc.eserver.org/29533.html http://tc.eserver.org/29533.html Web developers, designers and community managers have a more challenging role than ever before. They are designing for and facilitating important online activities like communication, collaboration, sharing and socializing. However, it's hard to know how users are really interacting with websites. They can't easily observe users in their natural environments interacting with these systems. How many web developers actually get a focus group of target users in a room and watch them navigate their websites? We're obsessed with helping developers build better user experiences on the web, and we knew there had to be a better, cheaper and faster way than traditional usability testing. http://tc.eserver.org/29449.html http://tc.eserver.org/29449.html I have judged a fair number of national and international product design competitions (five in the past three years alone) and each has made the same procedural mistake: products are assembled and categorized, judging criterion are devised, reputable judges are assembled, and yet we judges never see or touch the products in person. Instead, we receive a set of written documents describing each product, its intended function, and its design process. Imagine an art contest conducted by email and you get the gist of what's going on out there. http://tc.eserver.org/29387.html http://tc.eserver.org/29387.html Split A/B testing is ideal for testing two web page designs to find out which is the best. Find out how A/B testing works and when to use it. http://tc.eserver.org/29386.html http://tc.eserver.org/29386.html Follow these top tips and make sure site visitors know where they are on your site at all times. http://tc.eserver.org/29388.html http://tc.eserver.org/29388.html You have just 5 seconds to persuade new visitors to stay on your website. Find out how to use website design aesthetics to keep users on your site. http://tc.eserver.org/29358.html http://tc.eserver.org/29358.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/29355.html http://tc.eserver.org/29355.html Describes the effect of bookmark naming on bookmark recognition. The purpose is to provide empirically-determined guidelines for web producers on how to title pages in order to optimise the recognition of bookmarks by users, and increase the rate of revisitation to their websites. http://tc.eserver.org/29357.html http://tc.eserver.org/29357.html Describes the effect of bookmark naming on bookmark recognition. The purpose was to provide empirically-determined guidelines for web producers on how to title pages in order to optimise the recognition of bookmarks by users, and to increase the rate of revisitation as a result. http://tc.eserver.org/29353.html http://tc.eserver.org/29353.html In 1998 when Times New Roman was still widely used on the web, my then boss made sure we always designed our medical web sites with Arial, as she hated the look of serif fonts on the web. Was it the case that sans serif fonts were more legible, or was it just a matter of taste? In an effort to get at the truth, I reviewed over 50 empirical studies in typography and found a definitive answer. http://tc.eserver.org/29277.html http://tc.eserver.org/29277.html Eye tracking is definitely not a magic bullet or 'the closest thing to mind reading'. It does however serve as both a great piece of eye candy for senior executives with little time and is very powerful in helping come up with the most effective page design. http://tc.eserver.org/29276.html http://tc.eserver.org/29276.html The unique requirements for motor impaired web users can often be overlooked or poorly implemented. Motor impairments can be caused by a stroke, Parkinson's disease, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a physical disability or even a broken arm. This group of users essentially have limited or no ability to use a mouse. http://tc.eserver.org/29168.html http://tc.eserver.org/29168.html A weblog to help create usability awareness in India. http://tc.eserver.org/29156.html http://tc.eserver.org/29156.html In this article, we present a usability experiment in which participants were asked to make intensive use of information on an intranet in order to execute job-related tasks. Participants had to work with one of two versions of an intranet: one with an organization-based hyperlink structure, and one with a task-based hyperlink structure. Efficiency and effectiveness were measured in terms of execution time and task accuracy, respectively. After the task execution, participants were asked to evaluate the task as well as the intranet. The results show that participants perform more efficiently with the organization-based structure, which is probably due to their familiarity with this structure. A post hoc analysis revealed, however, a learning effect in the task condition, which suggests that once users are acquainted with it, a task structure is at least as efficient. http://tc.eserver.org/28975.html http://tc.eserver.org/28975.html Having a specialized usability person is best, but smaller design teams can still benefit when designers do their own user testing and other usability work. http://tc.eserver.org/28951.html http://tc.eserver.org/28951.html A remarkable 80% of findings from the Web usability studies in the 1990s continue to hold today. http://tc.eserver.org/28952.html http://tc.eserver.org/28952.html Having a good designer doesn't eliminate the need for a systematic usability process. Risk reduction and quality improvement both require user testing and other usability methods. http://tc.eserver.org/28910.html http://tc.eserver.org/28910.html These guidelines include most factors to consider during a usability evaluation of a web site. Not all factors apply to every site. http://tc.eserver.org/28824.html http://tc.eserver.org/28824.html How do you review a product for usability, but make that review user-centered? http://tc.eserver.org/28816.html http://tc.eserver.org/28816.html Usable Web sites are those which help users to accomplish a goal (e.g. to obtain some information) easily, quickly, and pleasantly. http://tc.eserver.org/28812.html http://tc.eserver.org/28812.html Instead of becoming computer users, like the cheery protagonists of Star Trek, we've become the computer used, like the gloomy inhabitants of Dilbert. http://tc.eserver.org/28817.html http://tc.eserver.org/28817.html Every page on the Web should ensure that users can understand its purpose. Even users not in the target audience should be able to figure out enough about the site to know whether it has content they are interested in or not. http://tc.eserver.org/28818.html http://tc.eserver.org/28818.html Once a site has been developed (or partially developed), you can test it to ensure that it is usable and spot any potential problems. http://tc.eserver.org/28809.html http://tc.eserver.org/28809.html What are hazards and why do we need them? Best practices for key elements of hazards. http://tc.eserver.org/28797.html http://tc.eserver.org/28797.html In this podcast, Karen Bachmann, manager of the Usability and User Experience SIG, provides an overview of the user-centered design process. This is part one of a two part series. http://tc.eserver.org/28715.html http://tc.eserver.org/28715.html I was struck by the similarities in the challenges of getting software engineers to consider usability during design, and getting mechanical product designers to consider life cycle issues during design. It occurred to me designers may resist adopting these two design processes for very similar reasons, and that possible solutions may be almost identical. http://tc.eserver.org/28727.html http://tc.eserver.org/28727.html The changing physical, cognitive and social requirements of customers demand the changes of user interfaces. Universal design is a solution. Let's look at what Fidelity has done to incorporate accessibility into their system and in return how Fidelity benefits from it. Though there are no formulas and figures to calculate ROI in this article, the ROI of the universal design adoption is obvious. http://tc.eserver.org/28699.html http://tc.eserver.org/28699.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/28696.html http://tc.eserver.org/28696.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/28693.html http://tc.eserver.org/28693.html Other design disciplines use raw materials. Communication designers use basic visual elements such as the line. Industrial designers work with simple 3D shapes such as the cube, the sphere, and the cylinder. For interaction designers, who create products and services that can be digital (software) or analog (a karaoke machine) or both (a mobile phone), the design elements are more conceptual. And yet they offer a powerful set of components for interaction designers to bring to bear on their projects. http://tc.eserver.org/28689.html http://tc.eserver.org/28689.html Placing a label above an input field works better in most cases, because users aren't forced to look separately at the label and the input field. Be careful to visually separate the label for the next input field from the previous input field. http://tc.eserver.org/28697.html http://tc.eserver.org/28697.html Several usability findings lead directly to higher sales and increased customer loyalty. These design tactics should be your first priority when updating your website. http://tc.eserver.org/28671.html http://tc.eserver.org/28671.html Though many business strategies and publications continue to trumpet the power of simplicity in the design of digital products, for lots of companies and product teams, simplicity doesn't come easy. http://tc.eserver.org/28668.html http://tc.eserver.org/28668.html Of all the objects that occupy our digital spaces, there are none that capture the imagination so much as icons. As symbols, icons can communicate powerfully, be delightful, add to the aesthetic value of software, engage people's curiosity and playfulness, and encourage experimentation. These symbols are key components of a graphic user interface--mediators between our thoughts and actions, our intentions and accomplishments. http://tc.eserver.org/28651.html http://tc.eserver.org/28651.html Wikiasari's new search engine could change the way search rankings are formulated - find out what this means for your website. http://tc.eserver.org/28650.html http://tc.eserver.org/28650.html Issues of online trust have evolved as web 2.0 is becoming more widespread - find out what implications this has for your website. http://tc.eserver.org/28641.html http://tc.eserver.org/28641.html A design pattern is a proven design solution to a common design problem documented in a standard format. http://tc.eserver.org/28645.html http://tc.eserver.org/28645.html Sizing UCD projects presents special challenges to usability practitioners and consultants. Each project and UCD methodology comes with its own set of variables that makes it difficult to accurately estimate resource requirements and completion times. http://tc.eserver.org/28643.html http://tc.eserver.org/28643.html Users take photos to highlight important aspects of their lives and context. The photos are assembled into collages and studied to highlight opportunities for new technologies and barriers to their acceptance. http://tc.eserver.org/28639.html http://tc.eserver.org/28639.html Design involves finding solutions that fit the user, task, and context of use. Properly designed objects -- including software, tools, and web sites -- fit their context so well that they are easy to use and beneficial to the user. http://tc.eserver.org/28594.html http://tc.eserver.org/28594.html Roger C. Parker returns with this tutorial to help make your electronic publications attention-getting, attractive, and easy to read... all part of his recent book Design to Sell. http://tc.eserver.org/28583.html http://tc.eserver.org/28583.html I recently made a career transition from technical writing to usability engineering. In my new position, I have been conducting site visits with customers in the area. During a recent visit, I found an opportunity to query a user, 'Mike,' about using online Help. Join Molly on her first experience watching a user try to work with documentation, an experience both illuminating and alarming. http://tc.eserver.org/28554.html http://tc.eserver.org/28554.html To evaluate Web sites, usability experts often use methods that were originally employed for the evaluation of software applications. In doing so, they assume that these methods will work exactly the same for both types of test objects. However, there is a major difference between transactional software applications and informational Web sites, a difference that could have an effect on the workings of various usability methods. As such, we felt that it was valuable to repeat one of our previous studies in which we compared concurrent think-aloud protocols, retrospective think-aloud protocols, and constructive interaction to evaluate a Web application, this time using a Web site. The results of our study showed that in some respects, the methods did work differently depending on the test object they were applied to. However, we conclude that the three methods are largely interchangeable and that the decision to choose one variant of the think-aloud method over the other should be based on practical considerations. http://tc.eserver.org/28535.html http://tc.eserver.org/28535.html The most effective companies realize that they can't succeed on advertising alone; the customer matters. http://tc.eserver.org/28533.html http://tc.eserver.org/28533.html Tom Kelly's latest book 'The 10 Faces of Innovation' internal personas are used to help illustrate traits critical in building an innovation culture.The Experience Archtect is included. http://tc.eserver.org/28518.html http://tc.eserver.org/28518.html Five years ago, Robert Reimann wrote a seminal article for the Cooper Newsletter called 'So You Want To Be an Interaction Designer.' Like many people, I read the article and said, yep, that's what I want to be. I took Reimann's (good) advice and found both work and training as an interaction designer. http://tc.eserver.org/28471.html http://tc.eserver.org/28471.html Article outlining the difference between the two usability evaluation methods: The expert usability review and usability testing. http://tc.eserver.org/28462.html http://tc.eserver.org/28462.html Progressive disclosure defers advanced or rarely used features to a secondary screen, making applications easier to learn and less error-prone. http://tc.eserver.org/28431.html http://tc.eserver.org/28431.html Personas are an extremely powerful design tool, which help you to visualise an end-product that you can be confident will suit your users' needs by helping them achieve their goals, and help you test your success. http://tc.eserver.org/28429.html http://tc.eserver.org/28429.html Once you've got a statement of purpose you're halfway to being ready to design. The next step is to understand who'll be looking at the page, and why. http://tc.eserver.org/28409.html http://tc.eserver.org/28409.html Simple web design delivers huge benefits to designer, client and user. When a design doesn't seem to work, ask what should be taken away before asking what's missing. http://tc.eserver.org/28397.html http://tc.eserver.org/28397.html Attention mapping is a tool to help you start to plan a visual layout around realistic communication between user and site. It can also be a helpful analysis tool, helping you work out what's wrong about a layout. http://tc.eserver.org/28387.html http://tc.eserver.org/28387.html Using web sites should be easy and pleasant, just like a great experience in a shop, hotel, or library. I believe that the all Web sites can be made lovable - easy, rewarding and pleasurable to use. http://tc.eserver.org/28394.html http://tc.eserver.org/28394.html Everyone benefits from clear, readable text content. People with visual impairments benefit particularly. http://tc.eserver.org/28374.html http://tc.eserver.org/28374.html 初期の頃の爆発的な成長も徐々にそのスピードを緩め、成熟に達しつつあるWebではあるが、その歩みは留まることなく、最近、ウェブサイトの数が1億を突破した。 http://tc.eserver.org/28376.html http://tc.eserver.org/28376.html 多くのオンライン・システムでは、ユーザの90%は読むだけで自ら書き込むことは決してしない。9%は、ほんの少し書き込みをする。システム上にみられるアクションのほとんどは、残る1%のユーザによるものである。 http://tc.eserver.org/28379.html http://tc.eserver.org/28379.html 検索を行うとき、ユーザの頭に浮かぶのは、慣れ親しんだ言葉だ。もし使い古された言葉よりも、造語や新語を使っているならば、ユーザは貴方のサイトをみつけることはない。 http://tc.eserver.org/28352.html http://tc.eserver.org/28352.html Even where the application of ubiquitous technology would clearly be useful, I know enough about how informatic systems are built and brought to market to be very skeptical about its chances of bringing wholesale improvement to the quality of my life. http://tc.eserver.org/28345.html http://tc.eserver.org/28345.html There are several usability-related issues, methods, and procedures that require careful consideration when designing and developing Web sites. The most important of these are presented in this chapter, including 'up-front' issues such as setting clear and concise goals for a Web site, determining a correct and exhaustive set of user requirements, ensuring that the Web site meets user's expectations, setting usability goals, and providing useful content. http://tc.eserver.org/28343.html http://tc.eserver.org/28343.html Many Web sites allow users to search for information contained in the site. Users access the search capability by entering one or more keywords into an entry field--usually termed a 'search box.' When there are words in the Web site that match the words entered by users, users are shown where in the Web site those words can be found. Each page of a Web site should allow users to conduct a search. Usually it is adequate to allow simple searches without providing for the use of more advanced features. Users should be able to assume that both upper- and lowercase letters will be considered as equivalent when searching. The site's search capability should be designed to respond to terms typically entered by users. Users should be notified when multiple search capabilities exist. http://tc.eserver.org/28344.html http://tc.eserver.org/28344.html There are two major considerations when conducting usability testing. The first is to ensure that the best possible method for testing is used. Generally, the best method is to conduct a test where representative participants interact with representative scenarios. The tester collects data on the participant's success, speed of performance, and satisfaction. The findings, including both quantitative data and qualitative observations information, are provided to designers in a test report. Using 'inspection evaluations,' in place of well-controlled usability tests, must be done with caution. Inspection methods, such as heuristic evaluations or expert reviews, tend to generate large numbers of potential usability 'problems' that never turn out to be actual usability problems. http://tc.eserver.org/28346.html http://tc.eserver.org/28346.html A bibliography of books and articles about usability and user-centered design in the web design process. http://tc.eserver.org/28321.html http://tc.eserver.org/28321.html When good AJAX web apps go bad, these guidelines and techniques can help you and your users stay informed and productive. http://tc.eserver.org/28299.html http://tc.eserver.org/28299.html Filtering and sorting are essential for helping users find the products they're looking for. Find out how to make best use of this essential functionality. http://tc.eserver.org/28267.html http://tc.eserver.org/28267.html Learn practical ways to influence members of your company’s product engineering group with usability testing data. Putting the authors’ tips into practice will help you improve the design of your company’s products. http://tc.eserver.org/28257.html http://tc.eserver.org/28257.html The early Web's explosive growth rate has slowed, but even the mature Web is still expanding and recently crossed the 100 million websites mark. http://tc.eserver.org/28261.html http://tc.eserver.org/28261.html Users get lost inside PDF files, which are typically big, linear text blobs that are optimized for print and unpleasant to read and navigate online. PDF is good for printing, but that's it. Don't use it for online presentation. http://tc.eserver.org/28217.html http://tc.eserver.org/28217.html Information design is supposed to be done from the very beginning, as it's not a cosmetic but a substantial discipline. You are much faster if you hire an information designer in the beginning. http://tc.eserver.org/28218.html http://tc.eserver.org/28218.html As corporate websites are often the initial and most frequented brand touch points, usability and online branding have become a central to any business. http://tc.eserver.org/28215.html http://tc.eserver.org/28215.html Since I've started developing websites I've been looking for the ideal layout. Today I got another hint on the direction to take. Jacob Nielsen calls it the 'F-Pattern.' http://tc.eserver.org/28219.html http://tc.eserver.org/28219.html As an information designer the interfaces we currently work on - no matter whether Apple or Windows, bother me. Yes, OS X looks a lot better than its predecessors, and Windows' upcoming rip off of OS X looks better than the previous rip off. But however pretty, glossy and lickable those Interfaces may look, no matter how many twist and turn effects they build in - the problem they have is not one of special effects. If a good interface were a matter of special effects, George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic might do a very good job. http://tc.eserver.org/28095.html http://tc.eserver.org/28095.html 'Use a Search Box instead of a link to a Search page.' This is one guideline from the plethora of recently created usability guidelines to help designers produce more usable web sites. It makes sense. After all, there are more than 42 million web sites on the Internet. It should be simple to study these sites and put together a list of 'do's' and 'don'ts' that, when followed, will produce easy-to-use sites. But...