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.
#21160
Eight Quick Tips for a More Usable E-Commerce Web Site
If you are a Web site developer and you want to create a safe, warm, and comfortable e-commerce environment for your users, then you will want to consider several issues. Start first by thinking about your own online shopping and purchasing concerns. What do you like? What don't you like? What do think are the indicators of online security and personal and financial privacy?
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (1999). Design>Web Design>Usability>E Commerce
#23236
Many web sites considered robust and healthy by their owners may be suffering from one of these eight life-threatening diseases.
Streight, Steven. Webcredible (2004). Design>Web Design>Usability
#18729
Los enlaces, en la actual Web, tienen la función de representar un vínculo o conexión unidireccional entre dos nodos web. Son la unidad básica de interacción de los sistemas hipertexto, por lo que la interacción en la Web comúnmente es conocida como Navegación. En un espacio virtual compuesto por nodos y vínculos entre dichos nodos, si se entiende que la ubicación del usuario está en el nodo que se encuentra visualizando, la interacción sobre los enlaces con la posterior visualización de otros nodos se entiende como un desplazamiento o, en un océano de nodos, como navegación. Para que el usuario dentro de nuestro sitio web experimente una navegación eficiente, fácil y satisfactoria, los enlaces no sólo tendrán que conectar nodos con contenidos verdaderamente relacionados, sino además presentarse de tal forma que el usuario entienda sin ambigüedades que se trata de un enlace, comprendiendo consecuentemente su función.
Hassan Montero, Yusef. Nosolousabilidad.com (2002). (Spanish) Design>User Interface>Usability
#23873
Electronic Voting: Usability, Communication, Trust
Beyond just the undeniable importance of a usable form and voting mechanism, is the need to consider the comfort and satisfaction of voters dealing with sometimes radically changed voting systems, especially when the move is from paper-based voting systems to electronic systems.
Bachmann, Karen L. Usability Interface (2003). Articles>Usability>User Interface>Civic
#18731
Elementos de Navegación y Orientación del Usuario
Los elementos de navegación y orientación tienen como función básica informar constantemente al usuario acerca de dónde se encuentra, que relación tiene el nodo web que está visualizando respecto al resto de la arquitectura del website, dónde ha estado y hacia dónde puede ir. El objetivo: no perder al usuario.
Hassan Montero, Yusef and Francisco Jesus Martin Fernandez. Nosolousabilidad.com (2002). (Spanish) Articles>Usability>User Centered Design
#28693
The Elements of Interaction Design
Other design disciplines use raw materials. Communication designers use basic visual elements such as the line. Industrial designers work with simple 3D shapes such as the cube, the sphere, and the cylinder. For interaction designers, who create products and services that can be digital (software) or analog (a karaoke machine) or both (a mobile phone), the design elements are more conceptual. And yet they offer a powerful set of components for interaction designers to bring to bear on their projects.
Saffer, Dan. UXmatters (2006). Design>Usability>Interaction Design
#24708
There is a direct line between the abstraction embodied in our code and the reality of the people who will come into contact with that code. Methodologies and managers are beside the point—a distraction from the real issue.
Read, Daniel. developer.star (2001). Articles>Usability>Programming
#25850
Eleven Common Web Page Design Frustrations And How To Cure Them
Information is the ultimate reason for your web site's existence. Your Web site should transparently communicate its content. Anything that interferes with the immediate and intuitive transfer of information between you and your web site visitor undermines your web site's success.
Parker, Roger C. NewEntrepreneur.com (2000). Design>Web Design>Usability
#29752
Eleven Usability Principles for CMS Products
The functionality of the content management system (CMS) is obviously a key deciding factor when purchasing a new product. Equally important is the usability of the CMS.
Robertson, James. Step Two (2007). Articles>Content Management>Usability
#27813
Email Newsletters: Surviving Inbox Congestion
Newsletter usability has increased since our last study, but the competition for users' attention has also grown with the ever-increasing glut of information.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Articles>Usability>Marketing>Email
#18401
Emotion & Design: Attractive Things Work Better 
Advances in our understanding of emotion and affect have implications for the science of design. Affect changes the operating parameters of cognition: positive affect enhances creative, breadth-first thinking whereas negative affect focuses cognition, enhancing depth-first processing and minimizing distractions. Therefore, it is essential that products designed for use under stress follow good human-centered design, for stress makes people less able to cope with difficulties and less flexible in their approach to problem solving. Positive affect makes people more tolerant of minor difficulties and more flexible and creative in finding solutions. Products designed for more relaxed, pleasant occasions can enhance their usability through pleasant, aesthetic design. Aesthetics matter: attractive things work better.
Norman, Donald A. JND.org (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability>Emotions
#18574
'Viewability' on a Web site may not imply 'usability.' Real Websters know the difference. For example, a recent Web-mag cartoon shows a puzzled 'visitor' in front of a store front. A sign says 'Come on in.' However, the visitor fails to see any door. It's obscured by the Las Vegas pizzazz and animatronic geegaws soliciting attention willy-nilly. Have you seen such Web sites?
Schaffer, Eric M. Intranet Journal (2001). Design>Web Design>Usability
#28018
Empirical Evaluation of a Popular Cellular Phone's Menu System: Theory Meets Practice 
A usability assessment entailing a paper prototype was conducted to examine menu selection theories on a small screen device by determining the effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction of a popular cellular phone's menu system. Outcomes of this study suggest that users prefer a less extensive menu structure on a small screen device. The investigation also covered factors of category classification and item labeling influencing user performance in menu selection. Research findings suggest that proper modifications in these areas could significantly enhance the system's usability and demonstrate the validity of paper-prototyping which is capable of detecting significant differences in usability measures among various model designs.
Huang, Sheng-Cheng, I-Fan Chou and Randolph G. Bias. Journal of Usability Studies (2006). Articles>User Interface>Usability>User Centered Design
#18453
Employee Directory Search: Resolving Conflicting Usability Guidelines
Guidelines conflict on whether to limit intranet search to a single search box or dedicate an additional box to employee directory searches. There's theory to support both guidelines. What's up?
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2003). Design>Usability>Style Guides
#23272
Enabling Extremely Rapid Navigation in Your Web or Document
This article presents information design techniques that apply to web sites, help systems, hardcopy, and online documentation. When the standard document navigation structures are provided, readers can rapidly survey the scope of a web or document and jump to the pages of greatest interest. This article explains the nature and benefits of detailed outlines and recommends that web authors provide a reasonably detailed and structured outline of their web site. Surfing the web can be speeded up greatly by loading fewer irrelevant pages and by giving users an (additional) alternative to page-by-page exploration, thus avoiding the lost-in-hyperspace syndrome. The distinctions between overviews, tables of contents, full-text searches, database keyword searches, and topical indexes are explained, to justify providing multiple approaches for the reader.
Hoffman, Michael. Hypertext Navigation (1997). Design>Web Design>Usability
#13355
Web services will free individual site designers from having to program and design common features. This will decrease business costs, increase usability, and let designers focus on and improve features that are unique to each site.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2001). Design>Content Management>Web Design>Usability
#19027
Once upon a time, if it was on the web, it was good. If it did tricks, so much the better. And how did a company know if its website was really good? Of course, by measuring traffic. The more traffic, the better, right?
Jaleshgari, Ramin. CIO Magazine (2000). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Log Analysis
#10168
Websites must tone down their individual appearance and distinct design in all ways: visual design; terminology and labeling; interaction design and workflow; and information architecture. These changes are driven by four different trends that all lead to the same conclusion.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2000). Articles>Usability>Web Design>Interaction Design
#23047
I know lots of usability advocates who speak the language of business quite fluently. Could we get better? Sure. But on the whole, we are the solution, not the problem. Let's not weaken our ranks with friendly fire. We have plenty of real enemies to keep us busy.
Morville, Peter. Semantic Studios (2002). Articles>Usability>Professionalism
#24837
Enhance Usability by Highlighting Search Terms
Google's cache offers users a copy of your website with their search terms highlighted. You can do the same thing and make it easier for users to find what they’re looking for — whether they're coming from an external search engine or your own site search — by making their search terms easy to spot.
Suda, Brian and Matt Riggott. List Apart, A (2004). Design>Web Design>Usability>Search
#13341
Entering Text Into Hand-Held Devices: Comparing Two Soft Keyboards
With the increasing demand for smaller more mobile devices (e.g., PDAs, pen tablets, etc.), manufacturers have been forced to consider alternative methods of input (other than a standard keyboard) such as pen-based input via handwriting recognition or on-screen, soft keyboards. However, meeting the need for high-efficiency input in these physically constrained environments has proven to be a challenge for designers and researchers, particularly given the fact that they are designing for a “walk-up” market where consumers want to be able to begin using it without extensive practice.
Bohan, Michael. Usability News (2000). Articles>Usability>Design
#21098
OK, it's trite, arbitrary, western-centric and perhaps even politically incorrect. But the flipping of the calendar from the year 1999 to Y2K is compelling. Y2K: For how many of the past 1000 years would such a term have been meaningful? That it is, shows how central information technology has become in our thinking.
Kreitzberg, Charles B. Usability Professionals Association (2000). Articles>Usability
#26629
Enterprise Portals Are Popping
A usability analysis of 23 intranet portals finds strong growth, increasing collaboration features, and cross-functional governance.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2008). Design>Web Design>Intranets>Usability
#26627
Usability goes beyond the level of individual users interacting with screens. It's also a question of how easy or cumbersome it is for the entire organization to use a system.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2005). Articles>Usability>Workplace
#27812
Recognize the many paths to success and be prepared to forge your own if needed. You may find at the end of your 'wrong way' happy clients, satisfied users, and a successful and delivered system.
Bachmann, Karen L. Usability Interface (2006). Careers>Consulting>Usability
