Users Continue After Category Links

Over the last year, we've been looking at how to get users to find valuable content that they aren't aware of when they first come to the site.

User Interface Engineering (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability

Users Don't Learn to Search Better

When we watched 30 users trying to search various sites for content they were interested in, we noticed a peculiar phenomenon: The more times the users searched, the less likely they were to find what they wanted.

User Interface Engineering (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability>Search

Users Interleave Sites and Genres

When working on business problems, users flitter among sites, alternating visits to different service genres. No single website defines the user experience on its own.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Usability

Users' Goals

Once you've got a statement of purpose you're halfway to being ready to design. The next step is to understand who'll be looking at the page, and why.

Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2005). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Usability

Using Categories to Improve Search  

The authors explore ways in which categories can be leveraged to improve search. An interface named SWISH is presented, in which search results are automatically categorized, and pages in the same category are grouped together.

Cutrell, Edward and Susan Dumais. Earthlink (2003). Design>Web Design>Search>Usability

Using Eye Tracking to Compare Web Page Designs: A Case Study    

A proposed design for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Web site was evaluated against the original design in terms of the ease with which the right starting points for key tasks were located and processed. This report focuses on the eye tracking methodology that accompanied other conventional usability practices used in the evaluation. Twelve ASCO members were asked to complete several search tasks using each design. Performance measures such as click accuracy and time on task were supplemented with eye movements which allowed for an assessment of the processes that led to both the failures and the successes. The report details three task examples in which eye tracking helped diagnose errors and identify the better of the two designs (and the reasons for its superiority) when both were equally highly successful. Advantages and limitations of the application of eye tracking to design comparison are also discussed.

Bojko, Agnieszka. Journal of Usability Studies (2006). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Eye Tracking

Using Eye-Tracking Data to Understand First Impressions of a Website

This study discusses the contributions of eye-tracking data to traditional usability test measures for first-time usage of websites. Participants viewed the homepages of three different websites. Results showed that eye-movement data supplemented what users verbally reported in their reactions to a site. In particular, the eye-tracking data revealed which aspects of the website received more visual attention and in what order they were viewed.

Russell, Mark C. Usability News (2005). Design>Web Design>Usability>Eye Tracking

Using Participative Inquiry in Usability Analysis to Align a Development Team’s Mental Model with its Users' Needs  

In this web site usability case study, two methods of participative inquiry are used to align a development team’s objectives with their users’ needs and to promote the team’s awareness of the benefit of qualitative usability analysis. Findings reveal a web site that lacks integration between its components and differences between the team and its users’ definitions of a “customer-focused” web site. The study produced an implementation blueprint based on a cognitive-oriented instead of an information-oriented taxonomy. This blueprint guide conveys intangible concepts that the team intuited or observed during contextual interviews and redefines its new web site usability strategies.

Kneifel, Alix A. and Carol Guerrero. STC Proceedings (2003). Design>Web Design>Usability>Case Studies

Using the Web Accessibility Toolbar

The Web Accessibility Toolbar will help you test any website for basic accessibility in just a few minutes - find out where you can get it from and how to use it.

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

The Value of Usability

'Value' is like 'quality' -- no one seems to be able to define it, and yet everyone knows it when they see it. This ATW feature explores the concept of 'value' in a Web site and looks at how creating usable Webspace is an integral part of creating valuable Webspace.

Sullivan, Terry. All Things Web (1996). Design>Web Design>Usability

Variability in User Performance

When doing website tasks, the slowest 25% of users take 2.4 times as long as the fastest 25% of users. This difference is much higher than for other types of computer use; only programming shows a greater disparity.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Testing

The "Vision Thing"

It's important for Web designers to have a basic understanding of the mechanics of human visual perception. To the extent that your pages are 'easy on the eyes,' readers will find your site more inviting and more readable. Conversely, pages that visually overstimulate a reader are not only more difficult to read, but much more likely to result in eyestrain, fatigue, even headaches (none of which is particularly popular among readers).

Sullivan, Terry. All Things Web (1996). Design>Usability>Accessibility>Web Design

Visual vs. Cognitive Disabilities

Graphics are not directly accessible to people who are blind, yet graphics can be beneficial (in some cases necessary) to individuals with cognitive disabilities. Are these two disability types at odds with each other? How can Web developers reconcile the needs of these two very different audiences? Read more about the apparent conflicting interests in our feature article.

Bohman, Paul, Shane Anderson and Sachin Pavithran. WebAIM (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Universal Usability

Visually Challenged Users and Need for a Universally Accessible Web Site

Visually impaired people suffer from no faults of their own. This is quite worthy of consideration that a little more efforts toward adoption of certain features in your web site can help them retrieve information in the desired manner. Their ease of accessibility to your web site will not go unrewarded; they can well augment your business interests by turning into your most valuable customers.

Azam, Rahbre. Amateur Writerz (2008). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Universal Usability

W3Compliant Sites

W3 Compliant Sites is a collection of web sites that were created by designers that conform with the W3C standards. It provides the opportunity for them to display their work and ideas in a community that shares common interests.

Ho, Sean. W3Compliant. Resources>Web Design>Standards>Usability

WAP Usability

WAP technology, which brings text-based online services to the mobile phone, is already causing considerable excitement in European markets. With the focus on 'the mobile Internet' and 'm-commerce', WAP is already being touted as central to the future of 'online' business. Perhaps as a reaction to the hype, some commentators (among them usability 'guru' Jakob Nielsen) are already lining up to burst the WAP bubble.

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

Was ist Usability?

Der im Zusammenhang mit der Gestaltung von Internet-Präsenzen häufig genutzte Begriff 'Usability' lässt sich mit 'Gebrauchstauglichkeit' oder aber auch 'Brauchbarkeit' übersetzen. Doch wie definiert man die Brauchbarkeit eines Informationsangebots im Internet? Der wohl profilierteste Usability-Forscher ist der Amerikaner Jakob Nielsen.

Rothe, Stephan. Stero.de. (German) Design>Web Design>Usability

Web 2.0 "Neglecting Good Design"

Hype about Web 2.0 is making web firms neglect the basics of good design, web usability guru Jakob Nielsen has said.

BBC (2007). Design>Web Design>Usability

The Web Backlash of 1996

The Internet doubles every year and has done so ever since it was founded. Currently, the Web grows even faster (doubling every four months or so), though this higher growth rate will have to slow down eventually since the Web is a subset of the Internet and thus cannot outgrow it.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1996). Articles>Web Design>Usability

Web Design Usability Sources  

A bibliography of books and articles about usability and user-centered design in the web design process.

Usability.gov (2006). Resources>Bibliographies>Web Design>Usability

Web Design: Consistent Design

As in printed publications, consistent layout and design are essential to the production of web-based materials. This both projects a professional image, as well as making it easier for visitors to navigate through your site and find the specific information they are looking for. It is important that every page within your site contains a number of crucial elements.

Dianthus. Design>Web Design>Usability

Web Developers: On Being Too Wired

I was wondering if anyone else is starting to feel ill at ease about the work that we do. I personally do a lot of web development work. I regularly conduct usability testing on people so that web sites, and other technology, fit better with humans. I make it a point to stress that good design work yields higher profits, growth, and strategic advantage for our clients.  While these things are acceptable and fit with our social norms, I feel like we are becoming the defense contractors of the new economy. I remember when folks at General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing were getting heat for being baby killers and the like. Will the masses start revolting against us?

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2000). Careers>Web Design>Usability

Web Interface Design Issues: Usability

Usable web sites are logical, intuitive, and clear to the people who use them.

Summerville, Marion. Black Sun Images (2000). Design>Web Design>Usability

Web Navigation: Resolving Conflicts between the Desktop and the Web

This paper summarizes a workshop at CHI98 that focused on navigational problems caused by differences in navigational models between the desktop and the Web. The goal of this workshop was to identify usability problems encountered when users move from the 'traditional' desktop to the Web and to identify ways to minimize transfer-learning problems between the two platforms.Workshop papers will soon be available online.

Fellenz, Carola, Jarmo Parkkinen and Hal Shubin. ACM SIGCHI (1998). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Usability