#20869
Tech-Support Tales: Internet Hard to Use for Novice Users
The Internet is still much too difficult to use for novice users. Specialized information appliances like WebTV reduce complexity but still involve considerable risk of user error.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1997). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Usability
#14679
Technical Communicators: Designing the User Experience 
Fisher argues that technical communicators should take the lead in developing software that satisfies user demands, and describes how to develop the new skills needed to do so.
Fisher, Lori H. Intercom (2001). Design>User Centered Design>Software
#23698
Technical Writing in Everyday Life: One User's Experience
The experience of setting up a new home theater system also sharply reminded me of what it is like to look at something as a new user: staring at a bunch of knobs and holes for the first time, holding a tassel of wire in one hand and a manual in the other, and really just wanting the darn piece of ?%^%! to do what it's supposed to do.
Vedrody, Sarah. MetroVoice (2002). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design>Technical Writing
#22901
If you're not using these technologies now, your thinking is already outdated.
Janisch, Troy. Icon Interactive. Articles>Technology>User Centered Design
#24948
Technology Would Be Great, If It Weren't for the Users
We are at a crucial point, where technology developments have achieved their peak, but have left users behind. Why? And what should we do about it?
Draheim, Andrew. LISA (2004). Articles>Technology>User Centered Design
#24111
Being sensitive to the fact that the user is in control, many sites simply present as many options as possible on their home pages. The thinking apparently being that the more choices you show on page one, the more likely you are to present something that connects with as many visitors as possible.
Usborne, Nick. ClickZ (2003). Design>Web Design>Usability>User Centered Design
#21767
Ten Steps for Cleaning Up Information Pollution
Better prioritization, fewer interruptions, and concentrated information that's easy to find and manage helps people become more productive and stop wasting their colleagues' time.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2004). Design>Web Design>Usability>User Centered Design
#27682
The most monotonous entities in the known universe, forms, are a staple of every web programmer's balanced diet. Whether we like them or not, forms are the gatekeepers to our site’s goodies and often their design alone determines whether a user will try what you’re selling or simply walk away. Without pomp or circumstance, here are ten tips to transform your plain vanilla into double chocolate chunk with marshmallows.
Campbell, Chris. Particletree (2005). Design>Web Design>Forms>User Centered Design
#26369
Text Alternatives to Inaccessible Web Pages
This document details an XML-based method of providing end-user control over the format of an online document, Web page or entire Web site. This functionality is useful in situations where users, due to preference or physical ability, require a way to personalize their view of the content. Content managers, editors, and developers are also able to work with one set of documents, eliminating the need for multiple files that contain the same information with different formatting, therefore reducing redundancy, version inconsistencies, and workload.
Bridge, Karl. Microsoft (2005). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>XML
#20871
Website text should be clear, links should stand out, and all text should scale according to user preferences.
Baker, Adam. Merges.net (2001). Design>Web Design>User Interface>User Centered Design
#30791
This Is What Happens When You Let Developers Create UI
If you let your developers create your UI, hilarity ensues.
Atwood, Jeff. Coding Horror (2006). Design>User Interface>Usability>User Centered Design
#24136
Three Ways To Find Out What Your Customers Want
The Web is interactive, whether you like it or not. And your customers are live participants in the marketing process, whether you like it or not. And as participants, they want something that most companies find hard to deliver. Your customers want you to listen. They want you to tune in and hear what is on their minds.
Usborne, Nick. ClickZ (2001). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Usability
#24737
Tools and Programming Languages for Creating Interactive Prototypes
This the first in a series of articles exploring the ways practioners go about making effective prototypes. This article presents just one method - the use of HTML and JavaScript. Amanda has posted requests on several usability lists requesting information about different approaches, and would be keen to hear how you do it.
Nance, Amanda. Usability Professionals Association (2004). Design>User Interface>User Centered Design
#18818
Tools and Trade-Offs: Making Wise Choices for User-Centered Design
How can we choose among customer data collection methods when limited staff and financial resources must be spread across the whole development cycle? This tutorial helps participants understand the tradeoffs, so they can make effective choices among methods at different points during product design and development. It focuses on early user-centered intervention to gain cost-effective, reusable end-user information.
Rosenbaum, Stephanie L., Judee Humburg, Judith A. Ramey and Anne Seeley. ACM SIGCHI (1995). Design>User Centered Design>Human Computer Interaction>Usability
#26394
The Top 10 Myths and Truths about Design in China
Are you worried as a designer in the U.S. that design jobs will migrate to China? Are you concerned about the increasingly competitive pricing on design jobs and its resultant outsourcing? Are you curious about the quality of design work over there?
Ann, Elaine. uiGarden (2005). Design>User Centered Design>Regional>China
#18930
Top Ten Mistakes of Web Management
Web design and development involves three levels: web management; interaction design (navigation support, homepage layout, templates, search, etc.); content design (the actual writing on the pages, as well as the design of any other media types used to communicate content as opposed to site interaction). Just as in a hamburger, the middle layer is the most tasty and attracts the most attention, including much of my own work on Web usability. I have come to realize that the outer two layers are more important in many ways: users only care about content (in other words, no, the medium is not the message; the message is the message) and the usability of a website is more a function of how it is managed than of how good its designers are. Content will be the topic of many other columns; here I address some classic mistakes in managing the design of a website.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1997). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Interaction Design
#24570
Toward Integrating Our Research Scope: A Sociocultural Field Methodology 
Technical communicators have recently become interested in user-centered design (UCD) for designing and evaluating technical genres. Yet, a critical examination of the field methods of UCD suggests that they suffer from unintegrated scope: an undesirably limiting focus on a particular level of scope (either the macroscopic level of human activity or the mesoscopic level of goal-directed action) in their theoretical underpinnings and data collection and analysis. This focus is often paired with the assumption that this particular level of scope causally affects what happens at the other levels. Both the focus and the assumption are at odds with sociocultural theories of human activity. This article lays out the problem of unintegrated scope and examines it through critical analyses of two field methods used in UCD research. It concludes by proposing an integrated-scope research methodology for UCD research, with roots in both sociocultural theory and the central issues of technical communication.
Spinuzzi, Clay. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2001). Articles>Usability>Methods>User Centered Design
#30878
Trinity: A Mindset and Strategic Approach
The goal of the Trinity mindset is to power the generation of actionable insights. Its goal is not to do reporting. Its goal is not to figure out how to spam decision makers with data. Actionable Insights and Metrics are the uber-goal simply because they drive strategic differentiation and a sustainable competitive advantage.
Kaushik, Avinash. Occam's Razor (2006). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Log Analysis
#26679
Trouble Free Computing: Leveraging Published Information to Assist with Computing Errors
As computers become more complex and pervasive in modern society, humans also become more dependent on the systems and services supporting the computer. The ability to efficiently deal with problems when there is a break in the technical system will be more critical as society heads down this technological path.
Bennett, Benford A. Orange Journal, The (2004). Articles>Computing>User Centered Design
#23978
Turning Requirements into Product Definition
How do you get from understanding your users to a vision for an innovative product which will appeal to them?
Korman, Jonathan. Cooper Interaction Design (2002). Design>Project Management>User Centered Design
#26469
Twenty Ways to Make Lectures More Participatory
Lectures play a vital role in teaching. There will always be a place for lectures in the curriculum -- to give technical material or factual information, to provide structure to material or an argument, to display a method or example of how one thinks in a given field, or even to inspire and motivate students to explore further. At the same time, it often enhances both your presentation of the material and students’ learning when students are able to participate in some way. When students engage actively with material, they generally understand it better and remember it longer.
Harvard University (2002). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>User Centered Design
#13795
Two Tracks to a User-Centered Design Solution
One commonly held objection to developing a superior user experience, is that it takes too long. The argument goes that, if you wait to get it right then you'll be late to market and the opportunity will be lost. The objective isn't to say 'Ready! Aim! Aim! Aim! Aim! Aim!, Fire', but 'Ready! Fire! Now adjust your aim for effect...' In this short white paper, we present an approach which allows you to do both in a controlled and reasoned fashion - move quickly to respond to market demands, whilst developing a superior user experience.
UIdesign (2001). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design
#20587
Welcome to the UCD Decision Matrix Website. This is a tool that provides information about how user-centered design practitioners around the world have had success and failure integrating their processes into the product development lifecycle.
Gunther, Rich, Jeff Janis and Scott Butler. OVO Studios (2001). Resources>Usability>User Centered Design
#31469
#25075
uiGarden is a bilingual on-line magazine that provides an opportunity for researchers and practitioners who work in the user interface design (including user experience, information architecture, GUI, and usability) field in the Chinese and the English speaking worlds to publish their thinking and exchange views with each other.
