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.
#28909
Fast and Simple Usability Testing
Everyone knows by now that they should test the usability of their applications, but still hardly anybody actually does it. In this article I'll share some tips I've picked up for doing usability tests quickly and effectively. Relatively recent tools like Django and Ruby on Rails allow us to develop projects faster and to make significant changes later in the project timeline. Usability testing methods should now be adapted to fit this modern approach to development.
Downe, Natalie. 24 Ways to impress Your Friends (2005). Articles>Usability>Testing>Methods
#28700
Fast, Cheap, and Good: Yes, You Can Have It All
The sooner you complete a usability study, the higher its impact on the design process. Slower methods should be deferred to an annual usability checkup.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2007). Articles>Usability>Testing>Methods
#28511
Fast, Cheap, and Good: Yes, You Can Have It All
The sooner you complete a usability study, the higher its impact on the design process. Slower methods should be deferred to an annual usability checkup.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2007). Articles>Usability>Methods
#22847
Faster Factfinding With Digital Libraries? 
This paper covers the usability testing of a prototype digital library. The library holds technical manuals for scientific instruments. Findings show test subjects can locate desired documents faster with this digital library than a corresponding paper library. However, the same subjects can locate desired information faster in a paper document than a digital one. Finally, most subjects reported they would prefer to using the online library of technical documents over the library of paper ones.
Barnett, Mark R. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Usability>Documentation>Online
#10347
Fear and Loathing of the Help Menu: A Usability Test of Online Help 
A usability test of online Help for a Windows-based database-searching application showed that test subjects avoided the Help menu for as long as possible. When finally obliged to use Help, they read the information carelessly and bailed out quickly, even without finding the necessary information. On the other hand, the test subjects did use dialog-box Help and pop-up Help for tools. The article identifies three qualities and two requirements that are apparent in dialog-box Help and pop-up Help for tools but which are not shared by the Help menu. It suggests that these qualities and requirements may make any Help access method that contains them attractive to users. It then goes on to examine dialog-box Help, pop-up Help for tools, and several other Help access methods, that use these qualities and requirements.
Grayling, Trevor. Technical Communication Online (1998). Articles>Usability>Online
#29553
Feature Richness and User Engagement
The more engaged users are, the more features an application can sustain. But most users have low commitment--especially to websites, which must focus on simplicity, rather than features.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2007). Design>Web Design>Usability
#23966
Features Talk, but Behaviors Close
Features are often the currency of software development and marketing, yet few people can agree on what exactly defines a feature. The term can be used to describe a particular piece of functionality, an entire set of functionality, a capability, or sometimes even a possibility.
Fore, David. Cooper Interaction Design (2003). Articles>Usability
#30442
Featuritis (or Creeping Featurism)
Featuritis or creeping featurism is the tendency for the number of features in a product (usually software product) to rise with each release of the product. What may have been a cohesive and consistent design in the early versions may end up as a patchwork of added features. And with extra features comes extra complexity.
Soegaard, Mads. Interaction-Design.org. Articles>Usability>Interaction Design>Project Management
#13372
Field Studies Done Right: Fast and Observational
Field studies should emphasize the observation of real user behavior. Simple field studies are fast and easy to conduct, and do not require a posse of anthropologists: All members of a design team should go on customer visits.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2002). Articles>Usability>Methods
#19748
Field Studies: The Best Tool to Discover User Needs
The most valuable asset of a successful design team is the information they have about their users. When teams have the right information, the job of designing a powerful, intuitive, easy-to-use interface becomes tremendously easier. When they don't, every little design decision becomes a struggle. While techniques, such as focus groups, usability tests, and surveys, can lead to valuable insights, the most powerful tool in the toolbox is the 'field study'. Field studies get the team immersed in the environment of their users and allow them to observe critical details for which there is no other way of discovering.
Spool, Jared M. User Interface Engineering. Articles>User Centered Design>Methods>Usability
#11822
Field Trials: Trials and Tribulations of a Field Visit
I dutifully and eagerly prepared myself for the visit. I read books and STC articles on field visits and questionnaires. I was on a quest, and dangerously close to realizing a dream. At last, I would be able to define my audience, and gage the usability of the online help and hard copy manual. I would finally get the answers to my questions directly from a group of users.
Gunn, Robi. Usability Interface (1998). Articles>Usability>Audience Analysis
#28299
Filter and Sort: Improving Ecommerce Product Findability
Filtering and sorting are essential for helping users find the products they're looking for. Find out how to make best use of this essential functionality.
Webb, Jonathan. Webcredible (2006). Design>Web Design>Usability>E Commerce
#10172
Finally: Progress in Internet Client Design
There has been no progress in client software for the last seven years: Mosaic defined the Web feature set in 1993, and since then there has only been more fancy page layouts, no better user interfaces. This sorry picture is finally changing. Several recent software products have introduced specialized applications with better user interfaces for special-purpose use. And there is even a new browser out with improved user control.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2000). Articles>Usability>Software>Web Browsers
#23034
Findability refers to the quality of being locatable or navigable. At the item level, we can evaluate to what degree a particular object is easy to discover or locate. At the system level, we can analyze how well a physical or digital environment supports navigation and retrieval. This website is a selective, seriously incomplete, and perpetually evolving collection of links to people, software, organizations, and content related to findability.
#31071
Findability, Orphan of the Web Design Industry
Findability is to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as 'web standards' is to 'table layouts.' In a web whose vastness exceeds comprehension, sites with findable content win. The good news is that everyone on your team can help make your site findable.
Walter, Aarron. List Apart, A (2008). Articles>Web Design>Usability
#13345
Finding Information on the Web: Does the Amount of Whitespace Really Matter?
It has been a long-held notion that the use of open space or 'whitespace' adds not only to the attractiveness of the design of a written publication, but adds to the functionality as well. For example, it has been stated that whitespace plays the crucial role of 'directing the viewers attention to the regions where important information is provided and allowing the global structure of the composition to assume a meaningful configuration' (Mullet & Sano, 1995, p. 126). It is contended that Whitespace 'gives the eye a place to restIt can help to organize the material on the page. It can tie successive pages together by repetition of identifiable areas' (White, 1974, p. 48). However, it has been asserted by Web usability researcher Jared Spool that these assumptions should not apply to Web design.
Bernard, Michael, Barbara S. Chaparro and R. Thomasson. Usability News (2000). Articles>Usability>Web Design
#18936
If you’re using the eenie meenie method to select users for your research, perhaps it’s time you tried something a little more scientific. There is no such thing as sound user research without an airtight user-selection process behind it. No matter how good the observation and analysis, it’s all for naught if you’ve studied the wrong people. Too much “user research” is conducted, analyzed, and applied without anyone ever having spoken to users. Researchers then offer guidelines based on the needs and preferences of people who would never use the product in question. Relevant user research results depend on two factors: First, obviously, you’ll need to find people who are likely to use the product. Second, you’ll need to interview enough of them so that trends emerge from their collective behavior. These trends will indicate your primary design targets.
Merholz, Peter. Adaptive Path (2003). Articles>User Centered Design>Usability
#18595
Principles fundamental to the design and implementation of effective interfaces, whether for traditional GUI environments or the web. Of late, many web applications have reflected a lack of understanding of many of these principles of design, to their great detriment. Because an application or service appears on the web, the principles do not change. If anything, applying these principles become even more important.
Tognazzini, Bruce. Nielsen Norman Group (1994). Articles>Usability>Assessment
#21019
First Rule of Usability? Don't Listen to Users
To design an easy-to-use interface, pay attention to what users do, not what they say. Self-reported claims are unreliable, as are user speculations about future behavior.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2001). Articles>Usability>Methods
#10570
Prototyping is a quick way to incorporate direct feedback from real users into a design. Paper-based prototyping bypasses the time and effort required to create a working, coded user interface. Instead, it relies on very simple tools like paper, scissors, and stickies. Even in applications where new technologies are deployed, paper provides maximum speed and flexibility.
Klee, Matthew. User Interface Engineering (2000). Design>Usability>Prototyping
#18572
Five Steps to Unlocking a Web Site's Potential
A systematic approach to the application of human factors principles to ensure customer satisfaction.
Israelski, Ed. Human Factors International (2000). Design>Web Design>Usability
#29813
Five Survival Techniques for Creating Usable Products
When we ask designers what stage they spend the bulk of their time in when launching a product, the majority of designers answer, the Implementation Stage. However, our research shows that the teams launching the most usable products on schedule and on budget spend the bulk of their time in the Measure and Learn stage.
Perfetti, Christine. User Interface Engineering (2007). Design>Usability>User Interface>Methods
#22559
Five Usability Principles for Web Design
Guidelines to keep in mind when designing a site.
Benun, Ilise. Publish (2004). Design>Web Design>Usability
#22083
Five Ways to Identify Intranet Usability Issues
Many intranets are under-used. Intranet managers lament the low use and discuss how to get staff to 'use the intranet more', resulting in marketing and promotions activities to increase use.
Maurer, Donna. Step Two (2004). Design>Web Design>Intranets>Usability
#31802
Five Ways to Improve Online Cross- & Up-selling
Find out how to increase cross-selling and up-selling on your website. Doing so will help you sell more items and keep customers coming back to your site again and again.
Wong, Cyprian. Webcredible (2008). Design>Web Design>Usability
