#18278
You'd Think They'd Learn: Bad Design Kills Web Sites
Despite the benefits, Jakob Nielsen said in a recent talk that barely 20 percent of companies he surveyed test Internet projects before putting them online. Nielsen said a key reason companies don't do user testing is that the department required to pay for it -- information technology -- is generally not the one that reaps the rewards.
Walker, Leslie. Washington Post, The (2001). Design>Web Design>Usability
#31418
Zebra Striping: Does it Really Help?
The user of a table would be looking for one or more data points. Therefore, if we set a task that uses a table, and zebra striping does make things easier, then we would expect to see improvements in accuracy and speed.
Enders, Jessica. List Apart, A (2008). Articles>Web Design>Usability>CSS
#20867
Zipf Curves and Website Popularity
Much available data suggests that Web use follows a Zipf distribution. The figure shows the distribution of incoming page requests to www.sun.com during a one-month period last year. Each datapoint represents one page, with the x-axis showing pages sorted according to popularity: the first page is the most popular one (the home page), the second page is the one that received second-most requests that month, and so on until we reach page number 10,000 which was only requested a single time that month.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1997). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Usability
#28374
初期の頃の爆発的な成長も徐々にそのスピードを緩め、成熟に達しつつあるWebではあるが、その歩みは留まることなく、最近、ウェブサイトの数が1億を突破した。
Nielsen, Jakob. U-Site (2006). (Japanese) Articles>Usability>Web Design
#27172
这项研究调查了西方可用性规则是否可以应用于中文网站。Nielsen 等在2000年根据研究领域内的观察提议了一套207条可用性规则。我们采用了其中48条作为子集，研究四家中文在线书店的依从率（译者注：另译为顺应度）（一个网站所符合的规则条数，除以总的规则条数），任务完成时间，任务准确程度，以及用户的可用性感受和喜好程度。结果显示遵从可用性规则和站点可用性有显著关系：随着站点依从率的升高，用户所感受到的站点的可用性和印象也在提高。这一结果揭示了决定中文用户行为的规则和西方用户极为相似。简言之，这一研究质疑了很多人认为亚洲站点和西方站点的可用性（标准）应该不一样这一普遍的直觉。
Yau, Josephine K. Y. and William G. Hayward. uiGarden (2005). (Chinese) Design>Web Design>Usability>China
#23228
樽本徹也（イード）によるユーザー中心設計、ユーザービリティ、ユーザーインターフェース設計にまつわるユーザビリティエンジニアの専門的視点からの考察コラム。
Tarumoto, Tetsuya. Cocolog-Nifty (2004). (Japanese) Resources>Web Design>Usability>Blogs
#26904
Google 的真实情况是怎样的呢？回答是：它并不简洁。 瞧，我喜欢 Google。它是个很棒的搜索引擎，但是我比较反感听到有人表扬它的外观优雅而简洁。见鬼，所有的搜索引擎都有一部分是优雅而又简洁的：在输入框中输入要查询的词语，然后按“回车”键。 “不”，有人会马上反对说：“Google的搜索页面是那样的简洁、优雅，没有和其它的功能挤在一起”。
Norman, Donald A. uiGarden (2006). (Chinese) Articles>Web Design>Usability>Search
#28376
参加の仕方は一様ではない：もっと大勢のユーザに書き込んでもらうには
多くのオンライン・システムでは、ユーザの90%は読むだけで自ら書き込むことは決してしない。9%は、ほんの少し書き込みをする。システム上にみられるアクションのほとんどは、残る1%のユーザによるものである。
Nielsen, Jakob. U-Site (2006). (Japanese) Design>Web Design>Community Building>Usability
#26957
本文的第一部分（二月份）介绍了如何通过优化代码来尽可能少的传输数据，在本文的第二部分中，我们将着重介绍如何利用Web端的缓冲技术（caching）来尽可能降低传输的频繁度。一旦您开始注意进行有效的缓冲设置，您便可以极大地减少网页加载的次数，尤其对于经常访问您网站的常客和忠诚的访问者来说更是如此，而且还可以降低您整体带宽的消耗，并减少您有限的服务器资源的占用。
Powell, Thomas A. and Joe Lima. uiGarden (2005). (Chinese) Articles>Web Design>Usability
#32358
User Experience Design: The Evolution of a Multi-Disciplinary Approach 
Easy task completion (traditional usability) is not enough in the Web world. Appealing visual site design is not enough. A site visitor needs to not only be attracted to a site and able to figure out how to buy (or register, sign up, etc.)-they need in addition to be able to tell quickly that a site will meet their needs, and they need to want to buy from this site, as opposed to a competitor's site. This is a key aspect of overall Web site success.
Mayhew, Deborah J. Journal of Usability Studies (2008). Articles>Web Design>User Experience>Usability
#32379
Getting a Form's Structure Right: Designing Usable Online Email Applications
There are a million websites out there. There are a million email service providers out there. How do you ensure that you gain the right audience to join your service? What are those factors that will help users move ahead and become your loyal customer? Part of the answer has to do with the first step: Registration!
Kirmani, Afshan. Boxes and Arrows (2008). Articles>Web Design>Forms>Usability
#32439
Specify a Maximum Width for Em-Based Layouts
One technique that can easily make reading a site a lot more uncomfortable is using an elastic, or em-based, layout such as the one I use here (and talk about a bit more in detail in Fixed or fluid width? Elastic!) without specifying a maximum width in another unit.
Johansson, Roger. 456 Berea Street (2008). Articles>Web Design>Usability>CSS
#32457
Ten Usability Nightmares You Should Be Aware Of
If your visitors don't understand how they can get from point A to point B they won’t use your site.
Smashing (2007). Articles>Web Design>Usability
#32458
Why Award-Winning Websites are So Awful
Practical and functional websites rarely win prizes for design but they do win sales and make profits.
McGovern, Gerry. Gerry McGovern (2007). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Blogs
#32485
Introduction to Screen Readers
Begins by showing us the core functionality of screen readers and how they interact with the desktop. In the second part it demonstrates how a blind user may use them to explore and understand web sites, how sites are “linearized”, and how using semantic markup to build sites supports accessible navigation and usability.
Tsaran, Victor. Yahoo (2007). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Universal Usability
#32486
Introduction to Screen Magnifiers
Karo Caran and Victor Tsaran show how the screen magnifier ZoomText is used to make the computer desktop and web sites readable to people with reduced vision.
Caran, Karo and Victor Tsaran. Yahoo (2007). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Universal Usability
#32587
Extending Card-Sorting Techniques to Inform the Design of Web Site Hierarchies
Card sorting offers a systematic and statistically significant process for answering questions about hierarchy design. However, those of us who have run card sorts know there is an art to conducting successful card sort studies, and there are many variables that can affect the usefulness of results. In this column, I’ll discuss the challenges and limitations of card sorting and review alternative and complementary techniques that designers can leverage when developing an information hierarchy for a large-scale Web site.
Hawley, Michael. UXmatters (2008). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Card Sorting
#32601
Building Usable Websites, Part 1
Usability is all about how people interact with software driven systems and how to make those systems better suited to their all-too-human users. When you hear people describe a piece of software as “user-friendly” or “intuitive”, what they are really saying is that the software exhibits good usability.
Shreves, Ric. Water and Stone (2004). Articles>Web Design>Usability
#32603
Building Usable Websites, Part 2
Over the last few years, usability practice has begun to take on a new maturity. Systems have become more formalized, practices more standardized, and in the process certain principles have risen to prominence. To get you thinking about what it means to create usable applications, here’s a list of six basic principles which should be applied when you are building software-based systems.
Shreves, Ric. Water and Stone (2004). Articles>Usability>Web Design
#32604
Building Usable Websites, Part 3
Website and software application usability is a classic intangible, hard to measure and even harder to sell to clients or management. Ironic, as I think it safe to say that at this stage in the game there are few sites that would not benefit from a usability survey and a bit of tweaking. Nevertheless, some companies have taken the cue and great usability case studies are beginning to emerge.
Shreves, Ric. Water and Stone (2008). Articles>Usability>Web Design>Case Studies
#32635
Understanding Disabilities when Designing a Website
This article will explain some simple techniques which, if incorporated into the design of a website, will enhance its accessibility and usability for people who have a vision, hearing, physical, cognitive, or learning disability.
Tomlinson, Leona. Digital Web Magazine (2008). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Usability
#32752
Findability/SEO Cheat Sheet: Quick Guide to Web Standards SEO
A findability strategy cheat sheet that will guide you through all of the stuff you should be doing when creating new websites or even redesign existing ones.
Walter, Aarron. AarronWalter.com (2008). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Search Engine Optimization
#32803
Eye Movement Patterns on Single and Dual-Column Web Pages
This study examines eye movement patterns of users browsing or searching a 1-column and 2-column news article on a web page. The results show a higher number of fixations for information in the second column of an article than for the same information in the lower portion of a single column. In addition, the typical "F" pattern appeared in the left column of the 2-column layout, but not in the right column. Users also fixated more on other page elements, such as ads, when they were browsing than when they were searching.
Shrestha, Sav and Justin W. Owens. Usability News (2008). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Eye Tracking
#32806
How Do Users Browse a Portal Website? An Examination of User Eye Movements
This study examined the eye movement patterns of users browsing a web-based portal interface. Results demonstrate consistent scan patterns in both 2 and 3-column portal layouts. In the 2-column portal, users viewed the page through the top, left channel and proceeded to scan the rest of the portal page in a reverse 'S' pattern by row. In the 3-column portal layout, users typically started scanning in the top, center channel, and then proceeded to scan in a reverse 'S' pattern through the rest of channels by row. Implications of these results to portal design are discussed.
Owens, Justin W. and Sav Shrestha. Usability News (2008). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Eye Tracking
#32807
Usability Evaluation of a University Portal Website
This article provides a summary of a usability evaluation of a university portal website. University faculty, staff, and student users were asked to complete representative search tasks and provide feedback on the portal usability. Several user interface design issues were found to impact user performance in terms of task success and perceived task difficulty, in addition to overall satisfaction. From these results, recommendations are made for university portal design related to the default 'home' page, channel customization and configuration, and placement of user-specific functions.
Chaparro, Barbara S. Usability News (2008). Articles>Web Design>Usability>User Centered Design
