#22467
Ever Wondered What Your Users Looked at First?
Text-centric commercial websites are taking a pounding this year, with layoffs and closures affecting even the giants as advertising revenue streams slow. One result of this revenue squeeze shows in such widely read information sites as Forbes.com, The Economist, Salon.com and the Financial Times, all of which are experimenting with new web formats to better compete for readers.
Till, Francis. SitePoint (2001). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design
#21275
The Evolving Homepage: The Growth of Three Booksellers
What lessons have we learned about how design improves the interface between customers and companies? Perhaps we can start by asking how websites have actually changed over time, and from that we can learn how websites should change in the future.
Lombardi, Victor. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design
#13798
Extending FDD for UI: Implementing Feature Driven Development on Presentation Layer Projects
Feature Driven Development is a model-driven short-iteration process for managing the analysis, design and construction phases of a software project. Feature Driven Development was developed in 1998 by Jeff De Luca following on the back of work by Peter Coad on Feature Lists. I was fortunate to have worked on the team, together with Stephen Palmer, Phil Bradley and Paul Szego, as we developed the FDD method and used it to deliver a very large project. So far the published material on FDD focuses on its use with the business layer piece of the system. Back in 1998 we also adapted the method to accommodate presentation and system interface layers. However, the early implementations for these other layers were never wholely satisfactory. Over the last 2 years I have continued to refine and develop FDD for use with presentation layers. This paper will set out my latest thinking on FDD for UI.
Anderson, David J. UIdesign (2001). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design
#26129
Eyes Top Left: Lessons from Eyetrack III
Where do your eyes go when you read articles on the Web? What do you notice, and what do you miss? The upper left quarter of the screen gets the most attention, according to the Eyetrack III research of The Poynter Institute, the Estlow Center for Journalism & New Media, and Eyetools.
McAlpine, Rachel. Quality Web Content (2005). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Eye Tracking
#29551
Fancy Formatting, Fancy Words = Looks Like a Promotion = Ignored
One site did most things right, but still had a miserable 14% success rate for its most important task. The reason? Users ignored a key area because it resembled a promotion.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2007). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Usability
#26570
To explore information behavior from a psychological perspective by relating information seeking to personality traits and study approaches. Fast surfing could be related to a surface study approach and emotionality, as well as to low openness to experience and low conscientiousness. Broad scanning was linked to extraversion, openness, and competitiveness, whereas deep diving was a search pattern typical of analytical students with a deep and strategic study approach.
Heinström, Jannica. Journal of Documentation (2005). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Cognitive Psychology
#29810
Five-Second Tests: Measuring Your Site's Content Pages
On your site, the content page is the user's most frequent final destination. This page contains the information the user came to the site to find. Sites often have hundreds, if not thousands (and in some cases, millions) of these critical pages. How can design teams be confident their content pages are understandable to users? How does a team ensure they've designed content pages that communicate the essential information effectively?
Perfetti, Christine. User Interface Engineering (2005). Articles>Web Design>Usability>User Centered Design
#21152
What do you really want your users to do once you get them to your site? What information do you want to get to them? How do you want to them to use your site? What responses do you want from your users?
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (1999). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Usability
#23242
Forget the "What" - Focus on the "How"
Emphasis the benefits, not the features of your services, and watch your website's conversion rate increase!
Thackston, Karon. Webcredible (2004). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design
#21169
Forms and JavaScript Living Together in Harmony
Most developers don't surf the web with JavaScript turned off on purpose. Fortunately, there are rarely instances where this lack of respect for the non-JavaScript users is necessary.
Howden, Jeff. evolt (2003). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>DHTML
#31912
Bad content, bad links, bad navigation, bad category pages... which is worst for business? In these examples, bad content takes the prize for costing the company the most money.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2008). Design>Web Design>Usability>User Centered Design
#21155
Everyone loves free stuff. Capitalize on this and you can make your site more user-centered. It can also drive up sales, profits, and user satisfaction.
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (1999). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Usability
#21307
At this point in experience design's evolution, satisfaction ought to be the norm, and delight ought to be the goal. As design professionals, how do we create opportunities for customer delight?
Hanna, Parrish. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>User Experience
#28296
The Future Belongs to the Trusted Few
Find out how to avoid sneaky marketing practices that users can see through. Instead, provide honest and useful content and watch the number of repeat site visitors soar.
Usborne, Nick. Webcredible (2006). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Marketing
#26450
Global Site Navigation: Not Worthwhile?
Having global navigation isn't a bad thing. It's just not something that should garner a lot of resources, as it's unlikely to be important in the user experience. You're probably better off putting your resources elsewhere (such as increasing scent for the most important content on your site).
Spool, Jared M. GUUUI (2004). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design
#28390
To me, understanding goals is the single most critical factor in the success of any design project, and fundamental to the Web Design from Scratch approach. In this section, you'll learn techniques that help you discover your own goals and gain insight into what your target audience really wants. If you're working on a project, this section will help you get a clear picture of your purpose, understand the key goals of your target users and start to visualise a high-value solution that ensures everybody wins.
Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2006). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Methods
#28407
Everything that goes into your web site must have a purpose. Every single element and decision must help users achieve their goals and support the site's goals.
Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2006). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Minimalism
#27942
Growing a Business Website: Fix the Basics First
Clear content, simple navigation, and answers to customer questions have the biggest impact on business value. Advanced technology matters much less.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Usability
#10412
Guidelines for Web Data Collection: Understanding and Interacting with Your Users 
The global growth of the World Wide Web challenges technical communicators to reconsider the methods we use to create designs that meet the goals and needs of our users. This article focuses on taking advantage of the Web's potential for interactivity between designers and users. It offers strategies for getting data from users of Web sites and using it for two main purposes: (1) analyzing audience and patterns of use to support continuous redesign, and (2) building a relationship or sense of community on a Web site.
Ramey, Judith A. Technical Communication Online (2000). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Log Analysis
#19002
Handlings Orienteret Webdesign
Når et website etableres vil det som oftest være med virksomheden eller organisationen som udgangspunkt. Det betyder at det er disse interesser der er afsæt for løsningen. At tage udgangspunkt i ens egne faktiske situation er helt indlysende, og acceptabelt da denne situation er afsættet for hvorledes websitet skal impleenteres. Skulle man tage udgangspunkt i brugeren ville kravene ikke nødvendigvis være i overensstemmelse med de visioner virksomheden har. Det er vigtigt at have øje for hvorledes virksomheden arbejder med websitets mål i forhold til virksomhedens mål og visioner. Dette betyder at man bliver nødt til at gøre et grundigt forarbejde inden man påbegynder et webprojekt.
Quark, The (2002). (Danish) Design>Web Design>User Centered Design
#27107
Helping Your Visitors: A State of Mind
Remember your site visitors won't find your website as easy to use as you do. Change your state of mind and you'll improve the user experience for all visitors.
Usborne, Nick. Webcredible (2006). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Usability
#25523
Helping Your Visitors: a State of Mind
Even the simplest website is harder to figure out than a catalog or magazine. We all know how to 'use' a catalog: start at the front cover and keep turning the pages. But with every new site we visit, we have to 'learn' how it works, how its 'pages' turn, how to find what we’re looking for. Text that takes visitors' needs into account can help guide them through the maze.
Usborne, Nick. List Apart, A (2004). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design
#30030
The High Price of Not Listening
Ever visited the website of a company with a glaring error either on the site or in their product, only to discover that they have successfully sealed themselves off from the world, so you can't report it? Sure you have, and it's not only causing you frustration, it's costing that company real money.
Tognazzini, Bruce. Nielsen Norman Group (2004). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>User Experience
#27476
Research indicates that most users never find the majority of the functionality in any given application. Learning tends to reach a plateau early on, and is rarely expanded upon. And what that means is that most customers consistently undervalue the software products they purchase and use.
Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2006). Design>Web Design>Usability>User Centered Design
#28330
The homepage is different from all other Web site pages. A well-constructed homepage will project a good first impression to all who visit the site. It is important to ensure that the homepage has all of the features expected of a homepage and looks like a homepage to users. A homepage should clearly communicate the site's purpose, and show all major options available on the Web site. Generally, the majority of the homepage should be visible 'above the fold,' and should contain a limited amount of prose text. Designers should provide easy access to the homepage from every page in the site.
Usability.gov (2006). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design
