#18936
If you’re using the eenie meenie method to select users for your research, perhaps it’s time you tried something a little more scientific. There is no such thing as sound user research without an airtight user-selection process behind it. No matter how good the observation and analysis, it’s all for naught if you’ve studied the wrong people. Too much “user research” is conducted, analyzed, and applied without anyone ever having spoken to users. Researchers then offer guidelines based on the needs and preferences of people who would never use the product in question. Relevant user research results depend on two factors: First, obviously, you’ll need to find people who are likely to use the product. Second, you’ll need to interview enough of them so that trends emerge from their collective behavior. These trends will indicate your primary design targets.
Merholz, Peter. Adaptive Path (2003). Articles>User Centered Design>Usability
#10570
Prototyping is a quick way to incorporate direct feedback from real users into a design. Paper-based prototyping bypasses the time and effort required to create a working, coded user interface. Instead, it relies on very simple tools like paper, scissors, and stickies. Even in applications where new technologies are deployed, paper provides maximum speed and flexibility.
Klee, Matthew. User Interface Engineering (2000). Design>Usability>Prototyping
#18572
Five Steps to Unlocking a Web Site's Potential 
A systematic approach to the application of human factors principles to ensure customer satisfaction.
Israelski, Ed. Human Factors International (2000). Design>Web Design>Usability
#29813
Five Survival Techniques for Creating Usable Products
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.
Perfetti, Christine. User Interface Engineering (2007). Design>Usability>User Interface>Methods
#22559
Five Usability Principles for Web Design
Guidelines to keep in mind when designing a site.
Benun, Ilise. Publish (2004). Design>Web Design>Usability
#22083
Five Ways to Identify Intranet Usability Issues
Many intranets are under-used. Intranet managers lament the low use and discuss how to get staff to 'use the intranet more', resulting in marketing and promotions activities to increase use.
Maurer, Donna. Step Two (2004). Design>Web Design>Intranets>Usability
#31802
Five Ways to Improve Online Cross- & Up-selling
Find out how to increase cross-selling and up-selling on your website. Doing so will help you sell more items and keep customers coming back to your site again and again.
Wong, Cyprian. Webcredible (2008). Design>Web Design>Usability
#27678
Five Ways To Make Sure That Users Abandon Your Forms
Completing a form is rarely (if ever) the goal in and of itself. The goal is to entice the user into a deeper relationship (of some sort) with your web site. Notice that I didn't say that the goal was to complete a transaction or make a sale.
Improving Customer Experience (2006). Design>Web Design>Forms>Usability
#29810
Five-Second Tests: Measuring Your Site's Content Pages
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?
Perfetti, Christine. User Interface Engineering (2005). Articles>Web Design>Usability>User Centered Design
#26049
Fixing the Back Button and Enabling Bookmarking for AJAX Apps
With AJAX-based applications still in their infancy there has been a tendency to disgard basic web behaviour in favour of slick functionality. In this article I am trying to rescue two of those ‘lost’ behaviours – bookmarking and the back button, using Javascript.
Stenhouse, Mike. Content With Style (2005). Design>Web Design>Usability>Ajax
#29994
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?
HyperWrite (2003). Design>Web Design>Usability>Flash
#27105
Focus groups are fundamental as an input into any web design decisions - find out how to plan and successfully run them.
Fidgeon, Tim. Webcredible (2006). Design>Web Design>Usability
#21152
What do you really want your users to do once you get them to your site? What information do you want to get to them? How do you want to them to use your site? What responses do you want from your users?
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (1999). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Usability
#20785
Formal Definition of User-Centered Design
UCD is a highly structured, comprehensive product development methodology driven by: (1) clearly specified, task-oriented business objectives, and (2) recognition of user needs, limitations and preferences. Information collected using UCD analysis isscientifically applied in the design, testing, and implementation of products and services. When rigorously applied, a UCD approach meets both user needs and the business objectives of the sponsoring organization.
#26634
Once an online form goes beyond two screenfulls, it's often a sign that the underlying functionality is better supported by an application, which offers a more interactive user experience.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2005). Articles>Web Design>Forms>Usability
#18730
Formularios: Identificación de los Campos Opcionales
Completar formularios en los sitios web es uno de los procesos que requiere normalmente mayor esfuerzo por parte del usuario. No disponer de formularios 'usables' puede ser una de las causas de abandono más frecuente de un sitio web. Para conseguir formularios usables se deben tener en cuenta muchos aspectos. Uno de ellos, es diferenciar de forma fácil y clara los campos obligatorios de los opcionales[1]. En este artículo se muestran y valoran lo diferentes métodos que utilizan para ello las webs de banca de particulares españolas. El trabajo de campo realizado ha consistido en revisar los procesos de ejecución de transferencias y de registro de nuevos clientes (si lo hubiera) de los sitios web de los siguientes trece bancos: Patagon, Cajamadrid, Cam, Uno-e, eBankinter, CaixaCatalunya, BancoPopular-e, Santander Central Hispano, BBVA, La Caixa, El Monte, Ing-direct, Banesto.
Nosolousabilidad.com (2002). (Spanish) Design>User Interface>Usability
#13655
forUse: the Newsletter of Usage-Centered Design
forUse is an electronic newsletter published by e-mail approximately 9 times a year. forUse covers new developments in usage-centered design. Regularly features include: tips and techniques on design, modeling, and management, questions and answers on technical issues in usage-centered design, plus news and upcoming events. Subscribers get early notice of new papers and publications, and the newsletter features complement material on the Web site.
Foruse.com. Journals>Usability>User Centered Design>Newsletters
#31912
Bad content, bad links, bad navigation, bad category pages... which is worst for business? In these examples, bad content takes the prize for costing the company the most money.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2008). Design>Web Design>Usability>User Centered Design
#21107
The Four Horsemen of Usability
As of June 2001, four web properties control more than 50% of all the time spent online by U.S. surfers. This means that you can throw away your usability guidelines and follow these companies. They spend millions on usability testing and they are driving standards by sheer market force. You have no choice but to follow their lead.
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2001). Design>Web Design>Usability
#28594
The Fourteen Biggest E-Book Design Mistakes
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.
Parker, Roger C. Design, Typography and Graphics (2006). Design>Document Design>eBooks>Usability
#21155
Everyone loves free stuff. Capitalize on this and you can make your site more user-centered. It can also drive up sales, profits, and user satisfaction.
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (1999). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Usability
#29816
The Freedom of Fast Iterations: How Netflix Designs a Winning Web Site
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.
Porter, Joshua. User Interface Engineering (2006). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Workflow
#24206
From Data Drought to Factoid Flood: Reinforcing the Banks of the River of Communication 
Information, once rare and valuable, is now as plentiful as it is meaningless. The constant accessibility rendered by various 'networking' technologies has led to a veritable glut of information. Deluged with data and flooded with facts, we are drowning in a river of communication with no clear direction or purpose. Media-mesmerized and stimuli-saturated, we are caught up in the murky current, making it increasingly more difficult to keep our heads above water. Whether we sink or swim will depend on how effective we are at controlling and managing the flow, how efficient we are at fishing for essence and meaning, and how adept we are at preserving the ecology between man and this digital morass.
Dahm, Rea Etta M. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Information Design>Usability
#14866
As e-business grows rapidly, interests in design principles for e-business web sites are increasing. A few studies have suggested design principles with concrete design features, but failed to link the features to the performance of an e-business site, such as attitudes of its customers or financial performance of the e-business company. This paper proposes a comprehensive framework that covers from concrete design features to financial performance for online stock trading, which is one of the most important domains of e-business. The proposed model for online stock trading sites consists of three design principles: functional convenience, representational delight, and structural firmness. Through empirical studies, this research found that the convenience, delight and firmness principles were closely related to the level of customer satisfaction, and, consequently, to the level of customer loyalty to the sites. We also identified important design features such as presentation of stock quotes in the homepage for each of the three design principles. Finally, the study results showed that customer loyalty would affect the financial performance of online stock trading companies. This paper concludes with the implications and limitations of the results.
Lee, Youngsu and Jinwoo Kim. Yonsei University (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability
#29814
Galleries: The Hardest Working Page on Your Site
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.
Spool, Jared M. User Interface Engineering (2005). Design>Web Design>Usability
