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

Tell Me What You Do!

Explaining what you actually do is the first thing your website should do, but many sites forget this most basic of information. Find out how to do this effectively and avoid leaving your site visitors in the dark.

Moss, Trenton. Webcredible (2005). Design>Web Design>Usability

Tell Site Visitors What To Do

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

Ten Best Intranets of 2003

This year's winning intranet designs emphasized workflow support, self-service content management, and offloading tasks from email to collaboration tools. On average, companies spent three years between redesigns, and one year on the redesign itself.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2003). Design>Web Design>Intranets>Usability

Ten Design-less Rules for Successful Web Design

Ten guidelines for effective web design.

Ragouzis, Nick. Enosis.com (1997). Design>Web Design>Usability

Ten Guidelines for User-Centered Web Design

In UCD, your development cycle includes stages for both usability design and testing. Be sure to get user feedback throughout development and don’t settle on a final direction or design too soon. Usability testing is the only way you can know if your particular site meets these users’ needs.

Truchard, Aimee and Raissa Katz-Haas. Usability Interface (1998). Articles>Usability>Web Design

Ten High-Profit Redesign Priorities

Several usability findings lead directly to higher sales and increased customer loyalty. These design tactics should be your first priority when updating your website.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2007). Articles>Web Design>Usability

The Ten Most Violated Homepage Design Guidelines

There are ten usability mistakes that about two-thirds of corporate websites make. The prevalence of these errors alone warrants attention, especially since they appear on sites with significant investment in usable design.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2003). Articles>Web Design>Usability

Ten Reasons People Don't Visit Your Website

Would you like to increase the number of visitors to your site? Read through these 10 reasons why web users might not be coming and make sure you don't do any of them!

Geld, Scott F. Webcredible (2004). Design>Web Design>Usability

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

Ten Usability Blunders of the Big Players

Big companies with big sites, big userbases, and big wallets should lead the way in terms of accessibility. But major sites - from Amazon to Google – can and do make usability blunders. Learn from their mistakes with this quick round-up of prime offenders!

Moss, Trenton. Webcredible (2004). Design>Web Design>Usability

Ten Ways to Improve the Usability of Your Ecommerce Site

Increase ecommerce usability and you can maximise your website's conversion rate, reduce drop-out rates and convert users' shopping baskets into orders.

Turner, Neil. Webcredible (2005). Design>Web Design>Usability

Ten Ways to Orientate Users on Your Site

Follow these top tips and make sure site visitors know where they are on your site at all times.

Webb, Jonathan. Webcredible (2007). Design>Web Design>Usability

Ten Ways to Speed Up the Download Time of Your Web Pages

Do you like to wait for pages to download? Neither do your site users.

Moss, Trenton. Webcredible (2004). Design>Web Design>Usability>Bandwidth

Test It!

Test your site on actual users. Testing is the heart and soul of usability research. If you want your tests to be accurate, find test subjects who are part of your intended audience--not coworkers, others who have worked on the design, or anyone with a vested interest. Observe them as they use your site. Take notes. Keep your mouth shut. That big blue button may be an obvious link to you but if they don't click it, don't ask them why, at least not until the test is over.

Nielsen, Jakob. Builder.com (2001). Articles>Usability>Web Design

Testing Web Sites with Eye-Tracking

Thanks to some recent usability studies we conducted using an eye-tracking system, we now have real evidence of where users actually look when they view a web page. It’s clear that users quickly learn to look where they expect to find content. They also quickly learn to avoid areas where they don’t see—or expect—what they’re looking for, including banner ads and parts of the page outside the central area.

Schroeder, Will. User Interface Engineering (1998). Articles>Usability>Web Design>Eye Tracking

Testing Your Web Application: A Quick 10-Step Guide

Interested in a quick checklist for testing a web application? The following 10 steps cover the most critical items that I have found important in making sure a web application is ready to be deployed. Depending on size, complexity, and corporate policies, modify the following steps to meet your specific testing needs.

Kota, Krishen. Write Thinking (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability

Text-Only is not Accessible

Text-only websites are not suited to all users with impairments. Although they are often ideal for users who are blind and use a screen reader, accessibility goes far beyond this user group.

Magennis, Mark. Frontend Infocentre (2002). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Universal Usability

Thinking About Graphic Design

There was a time when graphic design - or how things looked at least - was regarded as the most central part of the web experience. A 'good' website, in the eyes of management at least, involved little more than the company message accompanied by attractive pictures, ideally animated as often as possible. Nowadays, we are beginning to realise that whilst design remains a vital differentiator in terms of web experience, it is for very different reasons. Users are by now accustomed to the very highest levels of graphic design work online. This means that whilst a professional approach is essential for any organisation serious about their online presence, on it's own a 'good looking' site is not sufficient. It is in its impact on usability that graphic design is now particularly significant in the online environment. Graphic design, or visual communication, is about more than looks. The way site content is presented will have a significant effect on how easy-to-use it will be. This not only includes questions of appropriate images and styles, but also choice of colour schemes and the way different interface elements are represented.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2000). Design>Graphic Design>Web Design>Usability

The Three C's of Critical Web Use: Collect, Compare, Choose

Traditionally, critical incident analysis has been a great tool for collecting user feedback about existing user interfaces. To do it, you basically ask the user to recall a prominent case where the interface was uncommonly helpful or particularly disappointing. I usually ask users for both positive and negative examples, and the responses always help me understand how they're using the system and how I can improve it by making certain aspects more or less prominent.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2001). Articles>Web Design>Usability

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

Three Ways to Improve External Search Engine Usability

In web log analysis, two things are often missed. First, how the link to your site is presented in the results is critical. Next, what are visitors experiencing once they select that link? Many sites spend significant resources ensuring high placement in search engines, but usually little effort is spent on designing how those results are displayed and whether the pages they point to will help the visitor achieve their goal. With on-site search engines, it is easy to control the way results are presented to visitors, provide similar search suggestions, and ensure that the results are relevant and helpful. This is more difficult with external search engines, but not impossible. Here are some thoughts as to how to evaluate the usability of results on search engines and improve their effectiveness and relevance.

Lash, Jeff. Digital Web Magazine (2002). Design>Web Design>Search>Usability

To Flash or Not To Flash? - Usability and User Engagement of HTML vs. Flash

Of the many challenges facing developers of museum Web sites, usability and engagement rank high. Many developers have adopted Macromedia Flash as a useful tool that allows greater interactivity and multimedia compared to HTML pages. This paper reports on a comparative evaluation of Flash and HTML versions of a single site, focusing on user information-seeking goals, behavior, and responses to each version of the site. We then compare the two versions based on holding power, time on task, user satisfaction, and qualitative interviews. Testing found notable differences between the two versions of the site, and between youth and adult tester groups. The results provide valuable insights into the relative strengths and weaknesses of Flash and HTML. While we cannot draw broad conclusions from a single case study, these data can help us begin the discussion around developing preliminary standards and basic frameworks for suggesting rationales for choosing Flash or HTML in a number of typical situations facing museum Web developers.

Schaller, David T., Steven Allison-Bunnell, Anthony Chow, Paul Marty and Misook Heo. uiGarden (2005). Design>Web Design>Usability>Flash

Top Seven Usability Blunders Of The Big Players

I'm an avid surfer, and have been for several years. However, after all this time, I'm still astonished to see the same old usability blunders repeated in large, brand new sites. Though the use of technology may have changed, the issues with user interface and functionality design persist.

Randour, Philippe. SitePoint (2003). Design>Web Design>Usability

Top Ten Do's and Don'ts

No matter how attractive a site's design, if it isn't practical, it's not doing its job. Design for the screen involves a new set of requirements to deal with and pitfalls to avoid.

Will-Harris, Toni. EFuse (2004). Design>Web Design>Usability