Universal usability refers to the design of information and communications products and services that are usable for every citizen. The concept of universal usability is closely related to the concepts of universal accessibility and universal design.
#23564
Capturing the Usability Chimera: Practical Applications of Usability Testing 
How do I effectively include usability as a part of developing online and printed documentation?
Holmes, Fredrick and Melissa Wallentine. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Usability>Testing>Documentation
#26785
A Car for All - or Mobility for All? Part I
Population aging and environmental concern are two important factors that will effect the design of vehicles in the future. In response to the potential conflict between them, the authors propose a shift in focus from individual vehicles to transport services, from '€˜A Car for All'€™ to '€˜Mobility for All'€™, and offer strategies, scenarios and case studies of how this might be achieved. New service and vehicle typologies are introduced and discussed, and an area of future research and development is identified.
Coleman, Roger and Dale Harrow. uiGarden (2006). Articles>Usability>User Interface
#24755
Card Sorting Tools: Final Summary
A summary of how IBM's USort/EzCalc and CardZort worked for results entry and analysis.
Maurer, Donna. DonnaM (2004). Articles>Usability>Methods>Card Sorting
#22482
Card Sorting: A Definitive Guide
Card sorting is a simple user-centered technique for obtaining insight into the structure of a site. But is it really so simple? This definitive guide to card sorting includes detailed instructions on how to execute and analyze a sort, plus helpful hints to improve your sorts. It is the first in a series of articles about card sorting.
Maurer, Donna and Todd Warfel. Boxes and Arrows (2004). Articles>Usability>Methods>Card Sorting
#28271
Card Sorting: An Inexpensive and Practical Usability Technique 
Card sorting is often inexpensive, quick, and easy. Learn when to use this method and how to perform a card sort of your own within your company.
Kaufman, Joshua. Intercom (2006). Articles>Usability>Methods>Card Sorting
#24468
Card Sorting: How Many Users to Test
Testing ever-more users in card sorting has diminishing returns, but you should still use three times more participants than you would in traditional usability tests.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2004). Articles>Usability>Methods>Card Sorting
#29928
Card Sorting: Mistakes Made and Lessons Learned
Card sorting is a simple and effective method with which most of us are familiar. There are already some excellent resources on how to run a card sort and why you should do card sorting. This article, on the other hand, is a frank discussion of the lessons I've learned from running numerous card sorts over the years. By sharing these lessons learned along the way, I hope to enable others to dodge similar potholes when they venture down the card sorting path.
Ng, Sam. UXmatters (2007). Articles>Usability>Methods>Card Sorting
#21279
Card-Based Classification Evaluation
We hear and talk a lot about card sorting in various forms, and how it can be used as input on a hierarchy or classification system (or a taxonomy, if you like more technical words). We hear that we should test our hierarchies, but we don’t talk about how.
Maurer, Donna. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Usability>Methods>Card Sorting
#21109
Making decisions regarding your investments is difficult, even during the best of times, and it is interesting to look at the reasons and drivers behind 'putting your money where your mouth is'. Usability, I believe, is a key part of the investment decision process. In an increasingly complex and technological world, a lot of people are perusing, gathering, and analyzing financial information using the internet. This is often the key material that helps people make their investment decisions in one particular way or another.
Harrison, Nick. WebWord (2001). Articles>Usability>Marketing
#28495
The Career Path for Usability Professionals: A Review of the UPA DC June 7, 2006
Learn about the career path of usability professionals from three speakers who have extensive experience in the usability profession, including managers of usability departments and independent consultants.
Dick, David J. Usability Interface (2006). Careers>Usability
#29743
For many practitioners, technical communication can--and should--be the springboard for a different career. Many technical writers and editors have made transitions to related disciplines from which they can influence industry and academia. They now have titles such as marketing and web content writer, usability lab manager, product marketing manager, business operations strategist, and more. This paper summarizes the career evolutions of the author and several colleagues in technical communication, and provides advice to help readers broaden their career horizons.
Rosenbaum, Stephanie L. STC Proceedings (2004). Careers>TC>Usability>Marketing
#26538
Folks on the Interaction Design Discussionion mailing list posted some tips and Web sites helpful in conducting a job search.
IxDA Resource Library (2005). Careers>Usability>Mailing Lists>Interaction Design
#18357
Careers in Technical Communication: Usability
This paper informs students, parents, and professionals within technical communication about the profession of usability. It starts with various research methods and sources of more information. Then the focus shifts to the profession of usability, discussing topics such as: user-centered design, the definition of usability, possible career tracks, educational opportunities, educational requirements, future trends in the profession of usability, and trends within the field of usability. The paper provides an overview of the profession and relevant issues surrounding it, as well as providing sources of additional information.
Berni, Kevin. Mercer University (2002). Careers>TC>Usability
#18281
Cascading Versus Indexed Menu Design
If there is one basic truism about the Web it is that every designer has their own opinion concerning the best method for presenting menu items on a web page. Two common ways to present menus are to either hierarchically cascade the menu items upon mouse-over, or to simply place most, if not all, of the menu items in a categorical index. Cascading menus have the advantage of requiring little screen real estate. However, they have been much maligned for several reasons. First, it is sometimes difficult to use for the reason that users must precisely control their mouse movements in order to select the correct menu item. It becomes increasing difficult with the number of levels a user must navigate. Second, cascading menus hide menu information until the user positions the mouse over the menu level above it.
Bernard, Michael and Chris Hamblin. Usability News (2003). Design>Web Design>Usability
#18226
The Case for User-Centered Design
The need for user-centered design in this era of rapid technological change is reviewed, and key ingredients of a user-centered design process are described: (1) involvement of users, structured by rigorous user input and feedback methodologies, (2) multidisciplinary teamwork, from developing the initial concepts and approach to evaluating and refining the product after its introduction in the marketplace, and (3) focus on competitiveness, on state-of-theart user interfaces and technology. Data supporting the economic value of user-centered design processes is also reviewed.
Soderston, Candace and Thyra L. Rauch. STC Proceedings (1996). Presentations>User Centered Design>Usability
#22461
Case Study - Building a Usable Site
A website can be both attractive and easy to use. Usability and good looks aren't mutually exclusive and one doesn't necessarily have to negate the other.
SitePoint (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability>Case Studies
#28016
IBM was contracted to provide a new Air Defence Command and Control (ADCC) system for the Royal Air Force. The IBM Human Factors (HF) team was responsible for the design of the operations room, workstations and the graphical user interfaces. Because the project was safety-related, IBM had to produce a safety case. One aspect of the safety case was a demonstration of the operational effectiveness of the new system. This paper is an in-depth case study of the user testing that was carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the system. Due to time constraints the HF team had to observe five participants working simultaneously. Further, to provide a realistic operational environment, up to twenty-eight operators were required for each test. The total effort for this activity was four person-years. The paper will detail the considerations, challenges and lessons learned in the creation and execution of these multi-user user tests.
Hey, Elliott. Journal of Usability Studies (2006). Articles>Usability>Web Design
#30550
Catalyze is a member-driven community for all professionals involved in defining business systems, designing software applications and creating websites. If you are a business analyst, usability professional, UI designer, information architect, interaction designer, product manager, project manager or anyone else involved in the definition process of software applications, this community is for you and will be worth your time.
#14184
Celebrating Holidays and Special Occasions on Websites
Even small holiday decorations can increase joy of use and make websites feel more current and more connected to users' lives and physical environment. The key is to commemorate without detracting from your users' main reasons for visiting the site.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2002). Articles>Web Design>Usability
#28034
As a usability professional, there are many reasons why you might speak with your CEO or other senior leaders. For example, you might need funding for a new laboratory or testing equipment. You might also need to justify current or future expenses, such as salaries, end user remuneration, or your travel budget. Most conversations are financial in nature.
Rhodes, John S. and Daniel Szuc. uiGarden (2006). Articles>Usability>Management
#18157
Certification of Usability/User Centered Design Professionals: Proposed Competencies
The proposed competencies for a Usability Professional have been derived from ISO 13407, ISO TR 18529 and the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA).
Bevan, Nigel. Usability Certification Working Group (2002). Careers>Certification>Usability
#15005
Challenges in Participant Recruiting for Usability Testing
Effective participant recruiting is crucial to collecting reliable data during usability testing of high-tech products and services. Not only should test participants reflect the characteristics of the targeted users of the product or service, but they also must be likely to use it. Only then will their experiences and opinions yield reliable data for identifying meaningful improvements. This paper presents real-world challenges in recruiting participants for usability testing of new-technology products and services for which no firmly established customer base exists. It discusses techniques for meeting recruiting challenges, before and after test sessions begin, based on Tec-Ed usability-test case studies.
Hinderer, Deborah. Tec-Ed, Inc. (1997). Articles>Usability
#22784
Change the Color of Visited Links
People get lost and move in circles when websites use the same link color for visited and new destinations. To reduce navigational confusion, select different colors for the two types of links.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2004). Design>Web Design>Usability>Color
#23513
Change the Constraint, Change the Guidelines
From a usability perspective are we letting inertia stop us from going and searching for the real new issues which constrain web sites from achieving their goal, or are we moving on, forgetting the last war, and actively out looking for that new constraint and seeking to write the new rules for a world where broadband is ubiquitous?
Anderson, David J. UIdesign (2004). Design>Web Design>Usability
#28951
Change vs. Stability in Web Usability Guidelines
A remarkable 80% of findings from the Web usability studies in the 1990s continue to hold today.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2007). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Standards
