Comparing the Usability of Three Dual-Language School Websites

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.

Naidu, Shivashankar, Veronica D. Hinkle and Sav Shrestha. Usability News (2007). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Localization

Comparison of Flash and Director

Only six years ago the web did not support graphics and CD-ROM based games asked users if they had 4Mb of memory on their computer with possible hard drive space of 20Mb to play any games. Today, oh heck, that seems archaic.

David, Matthew. School for Champions (2002). Design>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash

Compelling Headlines to Improve Your Search Engine Ranking

Write compelling headings that attract both search engines and your desired kind of site visitor.

Jackson, Steve. Webcredible (2005). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Competitive Analysis: Understanding the Market Context

Effective web design, from the simplest brochure website to the most complex web application, needs to involve an understanding of context. While user-centered design focuses on user needs/tasks, and information architecture focuses on content, these two aspects alone offer an incomplete picture. What is missing is the context: the environment in which the website or web application is used as well as the market in which it exists.

Withrow, Jason. Boxes and Arrows (2006). Articles>Web Design>Audience Analysis>Rhetoric

Competitive Usability

Many online services on the Internet are about to enter the third stage of market maturity, where the key competitive differentiator will be usability. While many existing services are going to face costly re-designs if they what to meet the demands of the third stage, new Web projects have the opportunity to overtake competitors by making usability top priority.

Olsen, Henrik. GUUUI (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability

Complex Dynamic Lists: Your Order Please

Help your site’s visitors reach their goals quickly with a dynamic menu that takes its cue from the Mac OS X Finder.

Heilmann, Christian. List Apart, A (2005). Design>Web Design>User Interface>DHTML

Complexity Theory as a Way of Understanding our Role in the World-Wide Web

Complexity theory offers a way of understanding our role within the World Wide Web. Postulating a rhetorical object based on object-oriented analysis and design, we can harness a number of ideas from complexity theory to gain a new perspective on the Web. This paper reviews a number of complexity ideas that may help technical communicators grapple with the exponential growth in the volume of inter-related and interacting rhetorical objects on the Web, viewing the rhetorical situation as the result of the law of increasing returns, which has brought us through a phase transition to a new environment, with its own emergent properties, creating new roles for writers, and new work for managers.

Price, Jonathan R. Communication Circle, The (1999). Articles>Information Design>Theory>Web Design

Complexity Theory as a Way of Understanding our Role in the World-Wide Web  

Complexity theory offers a way of understanding our role within the World-Wide Web. Postulating a rhetorical object based on object-oriented analysis and design, we can harness a number of ideas from complexity theory to gain a new perspective on the Web. This paper reviews a number of complexity ideas that may help technical communicators grapple with the exponential growth in the volume of inter-related and interacting rhetorical objects on the Web, viewing the rhetorical situation as the result of the law of increasing returns, which has brought us through a phase transition to a new environment, with its own emergent properties, creating new roles for writers, and new work for managers.

Price, Jonathan R. STC Proceedings (1998). Presentations>Web Design>Theory

Complicate Your Web Site

When you're designing a transactional web site, you need to complicate it with extra steps and customization. Anticipate the most likely problems, provide clear error handling, and build informative confirmation messages to keep your users happy.

Ledwell, Joshua. WebWord (2001). Design>Web Design

Componentes Problemáticos de Interacción Web

A continuación se exponen los que, desde mi punto de vista, considero componentes problemáticos a la hora de hacer uso de ellos en nuestras webs.

Hassan Montero, Yusef. Nosolousabilidad.com (2002). (Spanish) Design>Web Design>Interactive>Usability

Components of E-Commerce    

This article explains what you need to setup an ecommerce business starting with the basics of business and leading to the new technology of e-commerce. Even though there has been many e-businesses that have failed recently, e-commerce is growing at a record pace. Many businesses are trying to setup store fronts in cyberspace, and many more are creating businesses for the sole purpose of selling stuff on the web.

Wokosin, Linda. STC Proceedings (2002). Design>Web Design>E Commerce

Composing Good HTML

This document attempts to address stylistic points of HTML composition, both at the document and the web level. This is not a beginner's guide; check the 'For More Information' section for pointers to more basic works, as well as for more advanced references and tutorials. It is designed for the HTML author who has learned the basics, and is ready to start thinking about the more advanced aspects of Web document design.

Tilton, Eric. Tashian.com. Design>Web Design>HTML

Composition and Usability

Since the advent of the Web, we've seen a myriad of design schemas evolve--from the simple navigation/content style of site to the cluttered portal. And as this evolution has progressed, so did the war between UI designers and usability experts. On one side, there are usability experts who want to make every website look exactly like Yahoo because users know Yahoo and so they will automatically know how to use the site. On the other side, there are UI designers who want to design entire sites in Flash and Shockwave just because it's cool. Overly dramatic? Well, yes, maybe a little--but it's not entirely a false analysis. Many UI designers that work with usability folk complain that their creativity is hampered, whereas many usability gurus complain that designers are confusing a site's user with their visual semantics. But are the goals of UI designers and the usability folk that far apart?

Cecil, Richard F. Digital Web Magazine (2000). Articles>Usability>Web Design

Comprehending the Google Dance to Stay Updated

The updating of massive indexes by Google is not a smooth affair by any means. Notably, as a result of updating process, old indexes do not simply yield to new indexes, but there is quite an haphazard movement in transition. It takes a couple of days for Google to complete its update. Especially during this period, both old and new indexes get their place on www.google.com, albeit alternatively or even in unpredictable ways before new indexes stabilize there for all to see. The fluctuations witnessed on Google between transition from old indexes to new indexes seem as if Google were dancing. Hence, in SEO parlance comes the word Google Dance. Varying indexes have a say in the final rankings just when PageRank calculation sets in action. So, the fluctuating indexes of your site should not be a cause of concern when Google is dancing. Wait for Google to come to a halt and you will see all the things stabilize.

Azam, Rahbre and Tabassum Naz. Amateur Writerz (2008). Articles>Web Design>Business Communication>Search Engine Optimization

Comprendiendo la Accesibilidad

una completa guía para crear sitios Web, que consigan la conformidad con las normas federales de Estados Unidos para la accesibilidad del contenido Web

Yonaitis, Robert B. HiSoftware (2002). (Spanish) Design>Accessibility>Web Design

Compromise and Compress  

What to keep and what to cut when making Web movies in Premiere.

Waggoner, Ben. Adobe Magazine (2000). Design>Multimedia>Web Design>Video

Computer-Mediated Communication and Disability Support: Addressing Barriers to Study

The case study reported here formed part of a linear series of studies undertaken as doctoral research at the Institute of Educational Technology of the Open University between 1994 and 1999. It explored ways in which computer-mediated conferencing (one type of computer-mediated communication [CMC]), could address barriers to study encountered by undergraduate distance learners with long-term health problems, identified by a large scale postal survey of volunteers. These problem areas include: difficulty with handwriting, academic and social isolation and fatigue, together with a need for better interactive communication with support agencies. The approach taken was designed to maximise student autonomy in relation to their studies. Thirteen participants were provided with access to the services of an on-line educational counsellor, both by e-mail and in a confidential peer group conference in the environment of a 'Virtual Campus'. The findings suggest that informal contact with the counsellor in the group environment helped to build rapport and develop confidence for these students to approach her by e-mail when more private advice or help was needed.

Debenham, Margaret. TechDis (2002). Design>Web Design>Accessibility

Computers and Writing

The goal of this course is to foster a sophisticated understanding of rhetorical situation, style and arrangement. Writing for the electronic medium with its specific demands should reveal by contrast material aspects of the practice of conventionalwriting that may have been taken for granted. Technologies encourage certain kinds of thinking and behavior and discourage others. Writing has always been one such technology. The World Wide Web is not the introduction of, but a shift in, technology. Students will analyze, conceptualize and create websites with HTML and graphics without the use of WYSIWYG helpers. WYSIWYG programs can make website development easy; however, we will stay close to the actual code in order to get a better understanding of the medium.

Levy, Matthew A. University of Texas. Academic>Courses>Computers and Writing>Web Design

Concise, Scannable, and Objective: How to Write for the Web

Studies of how users read on the Web found that they do not actually read: instead, they scan the text. A study of five different writing styles found that a sample Web site scored 58% higher in measured usability when it was written concisely, 47% higher when the text was scannable, and 27% higher when it was written in an objective style instead of the promotional style used in the control condition and many current Web pages. Combining these three changes into a single site that was concise, scannable, and objective at the same time resulted in 124% higher measured usability.

Morkes, John and Jakob Nielsen. Alertbox (1997). Design>Web Design>Writing>Usability

Conducting Usability Tests to Upgrade Your Web Sites  

Usability testing can be planned and executed at various levels of complexity to enhance your Web site throughout stages of development. Include usability testing in the front-end planning and set Web site usability goals. Test early prototypes and then test again to quantify improvements. Assemble a team to plan the testing even if it is just two people. If you follow a planning and testing checklist, you should be rewarded with valuable data to analyze and upgrade your Web site. The process and outcome can enhance your company¶s reputation or improve your credibility as an information designer or developer.

Lester, Susan M.J. STC Proceedings (1999). Presentations>Web Design>Usability

Configure Web Logs in Apache

Traffic statistics have a huge impact on a Website's success, and Apache provides one of the most powerful and flexible logging features available today. Blane explains the nitty-gritty of configuring Apache Weblogs in this handy how-to.

Warrene, Blane. SitePoint (2004). Design>Web Design>Audience Analysis>Log Analysis

Connecting Macromedia Flash and PHP

Many web developers rely heavily on a popular combination of open source software to develop and deploy their websites and applications. This combination is often known as LAMP—an acronym for Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. In this article, you will use a LAMP environment to create a PHP-based Rich Internet Application.

Hall, Robert M. Adobe (2004). Design>Web Design>Server Side Includes>Flash

Connectors for Dashboards and Portals

The building block system includes several types of Connectors that make it possible for designers and architects to link the different areas of a Dashboard together via a consistent, easily understandable navigation model. The system also ensures the resulting information architecture can grow in response to changing needs and content. There's no special stacking hierarchy for the Connectors. However, they do have an official stacking size (most are size 3) in order to keep Dashboards constructed with the building blocks internally consistent.

Lamantia, Joe. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Articles>Web Design>Information Design

Considering the Color-Blind

Recently, I was surprised to learn that about 8 percent of men and 0.5 percent of women have some form of color blindness. For some Web sites that could translate to 1 in 12 visitors. That's a larger proportion of visitors than some other groups I consider when designing Web sites. The ratio of visitors viewing the Web with only 256 colors or a 640x480 pixel screen is usually less than 5 percent these days. Now include cross-browser support, older browsers, style sheets, and JavaScript in the mix. If you consider those issues when you design Web sites, you should consider your color-blind visitors, as well.

Newman, Chuck. New Architect (2000). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Color

Considering the User Perspective: A Summary of Design Issues

A table which indicates some accomodations web designers may choose to build into accessible websites.

Bohman, Paul. WebAIM (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility