#19756
Gateway Pages Prevent PDF Shock
Spare your users the misery of being dumped into PDF files without warning. Create special gateway pages that summarize the contents of big documents and guide users gently into the PDF morass.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2003). Design>Web Design>Usability>Adobe Acrobat
#14346
Gathering Input for the Best Possible Prototype 
Prototyping has long been a part of the sofiware development process, but is still an underutilized aspect of documentation design, particularly for online design. Developing a detailed approach to prototyping lets writers design and confirm document usability early in the development cycle. Implementing detailed prototyping in an iterative design cycle ultimately leads to the best possible document for the audience.
Mobley, Karen L. STC Proceedings (1997). Presentations>User Centered Design>Usability
#18598
General Concepts, Universal Design Principles and Guidelines
People who could benefit from more universal designs include many both with and without disabilities. In some cases, people may experience difficulty in using products purely as a result of the environment or an unusual circumstance. Beneficiaries of universal design include: * People in a noisy shopping mall who cannot hear a kiosk * People who are driving their car who must operate their radio or phone without looking at it * People who left their glasses in their room * People who are getting older * People with disabilities * Almost anyone In order to design for the general population, it is important to understand the diversity, problems, tools, and abilities of its members.
University of Wisconsin. Design>Usability>Accessibility>Universal Usability
#25512
Every page on your website needs a call-to-action, a what can I do next. Learn how you can do this simply by listening to infomercials.
Claiborne, Scottie. Webcredible (2005). Design>Web Design>Usability
#18584
Some Web sites intended to help users actually hamper them. Here's how to design sites that keep your users happy.
Shank, Patti. TrainingMag.com (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability
#21886
Explains that specific, measurable objectives and post-launch measurements are crucial for successfully achieving ROI (return on investment) goals. He also provides several examples aligning business and design initiatives, and prioritizing design projects relative to their ROI.
Souza, Randy. Forrester Research (2001). Design>Information Design>Usability
#23977
Getting from Research to Personas: Harnessing the Power of Data
The usefulness of personas in defining and designing interactive products has become more widely accepted in the last few years, but a lack of published information has, unfortunately, left room for a lot of misconceptions about how personas are created, and about what information actually comprises a persona. Although space does not permit a full treatment of persona creation in this article, I hope to highlight a few essential points.
Goodwin, Kim. Cooper Interaction Design (2002). Articles>Usability>User Centered Design>Personas
#19315
Globalisation: The Challenges to Usability 
English is the official language of approximately eight percent of the worlds population - a significant number, but still a small minority. Yet the majority of online content is presented in English. Naturally, many organisations will want to reach as many prospective worldwide clients and suppliers as possible, but the reality is that a user will always prefer an application that suits their own language and cultural environment. Globalisation refers to everything an organisation should do to ensure that its web presence meets the requirements of users in different countries. Successful globalisation requires tackling a host of both technical and content issues. Back-end systems that interact with your web presence must be reengineered so they can identify and process any language. The web interface and its content must also be translated and culturally modified for a specific language or target environment (a locale). Its a huge topic - here we highlight only some of the key challenges presented to usability by going global.
Gaine, Frank. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Web Design>International>Usability
#11911
Goal Composition: Extending Task Analysis to Predict Things People May Want to Do
One of the basic questions during the development of a computer system and its user interface is what the users will want to do with the system. Unfortunately, a task analysis of users' current activities is not sufficient to predict what they will do in the future. It is well known that people's use of computers change over time and that new and unexpected uses are found for most new systems.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1994). Articles>Web Design>Usability
#19125
A Good Installation Guide Increases User Satisfaction and Reduces Support Costs 
In its first endeavor, the new Customer Documentation Group at SABRE Travel Information Network has shown that it adds value.
Blackwell, C. Al. Technical Communication Online (1995). Design>Documentation>Usability
#19124
A Good User's Guide Means Fewer Support Calls and Lower Support Costs
Good user documentation means fewer client support calls and lower support costs at GE Information Services in Rockville, Maryland.
Spencer, Cathy J. and Diana Kilbourn Yates. Technical Communication Online (1995). Design>Documentation>Usability
#21087
People using Microsoft's Internet Explorer are now being redirected to Microsoft's MSN when they make certain kinds of mistakes. This means that Microsoft is taking control of another part of the user experience. This article discusses how Google might be able to help users and solve a few other problems others along the way.
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2001). Design>Web Design>Usability>Search
#21271
Got Usability? Talking with Jakob Nielsen
Jakob Nielsen has brought usability to the attention of the general public, but within the user experience community he's been criticized by those who say he emphasizes a view that excludes other dimensions of user experience. So is he the defender of ease-of-use or the enemy of creativity?
Thornton, Chad. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Articles>Usability>User Centered Design
#27442
When the philosophy of the 'skin interface' is applied to other applications, it becomes problematic. There is nothing wrong with that concept as long as it is clear that it only works with highly specialized applications such as Winamp. It is even culturally expected in the Winamp community that skins will be created and made available.
Spillers, Frank. Demystifying Usability (2004). Articles>Usability>Graphic Design
#22900
Great Service. Full Service. Self Service.
Great customer service used to mean providing a memorable, high-touch, face-to-face experience for customers. Now, it's the opposite.
Janisch, Troy. Icon Interactive. Design>Web Design>Usability
#25115
The Greatest Design of all Time
After a while one of my dining companions asked me what I regarded as the greatest design of all time.
Jordan, Pat. uiGarden (2005). Design>Usability>User Interface
#27942
Growing a Business Website: Fix the Basics First
Clear content, simple navigation, and answers to customer questions have the biggest impact on business value. Advanced technology matters much less.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Usability
#18444
A Guide for Website Developers About How to Accommodate Users with Low Education, Low Motivation
Users with low education are users who have obtained limited level of education. These educationally disadvantaged people acquired and applied complex reasoning, but the lack of basic reading comprehension and communications skills hinder their success in education and skilled occupations. Low level of education effectively equals to functional illiteracy. Even though there is a significant increase in Internet use for individuals with elementary education (129%) from 1998 to 2000, only 9.1% of those with elementary education versus 75.5% with Bachelor's Degree or more uses the Internet [2]. More than one out of five adult Americans are functionally illiterate, and their ranks are swelling by about 2.3 million persons each year. Nearly 40 percent of minority youth and 30 percent of semiskilled and unskilled workers are illiterate [1]. It is hence necessary to address website accessibility issues pertaining to this group of users.
Lim, Ser Nam. Universal Usability (2001). Design>Usability>Accessibility
#18610
A Guide to Making Documents Accessible to People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired
This document contains a comprehensive discussion about how to make print and electronic information available to people with visual impairments in a variety of accessible formats. Consumers who have limited vision or are totally blind have unique access needs. These needs depend on the amount of vision each person has for reading. Some people have usable vision, allowing them to read large print. Others choose to read braille on paper, while a third group prefers to use a computer with synthetic speech, or refreshable braille display, to read electronic documents.
Sutton, Jennifer. American Council of the Blind (2002). Design>Usability>Accessibility>Visual
#25403
Although the World Wide Web has great potential as an educational tool, and many educational practitioners have begun utilizing the Web in many ways (e.g., Dodge, 1995; Logan, 1996; Mounts, 1996; Weiler, 1996), as yet, there has not been much systematic, theory based, research aimed at examining these methods. The principal purpose of this experiment was to begin to address the issue of how best to structure an interface between learners and the vast jumble of resources at their disposal on the Web. The need for the development and investigation of such an interface is indicated by research, which has found that some degree of learner guidance is particularly important in effective web learning (Anderson & Joerg, 1996).
Hall, Richard H. University of Missouri-Rolla (1997). Articles>Web Design>Education>Usability
#10410
Guidelines for Authoring Comprehensible Web Pages and Evaluating Their Success
The guidelines presented in this article should enable authors to create Web pages that their readers can understand. They should also enable evaluators to judge the comprehensibility of Web pages. The guidelines are explained and supported by an examination of relevant research and usability studies.
Spyridakis, Jan H. Technical Communication Online (2000). Design>Web Design>Writing>Usability
#23112
Guidelines for Visualizing Links
Textual links should be colored and underlined to achieve the best perceived affordance of clickability, though there are a few exceptions to these guidelines.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2004). Design>Web Design>Usability>Color
#22783
Guidelines for Visualizing Links
Textual links should be colored and underlined to achieve the best perceived affordance of clickability, though there are a few exceptions to these guidelines.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2004). Design>Web Design>Usability>Color
#19274
A collection of links to Turkish-language online resources in web design and web usability.
Ersoy, Halil. Orta Dogu Teknik Üniversitesi. (Turkish) Resources>Web Design>Usability
#29651
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
