Five Ways To Make Sure That Users Abandon Your Forms

Completing a form is rarely (if ever) the goal in and of itself. The goal is to entice the user into a deeper relationship (of some sort) with your web site. Notice that I didn't say that the goal was to complete a transaction or make a sale.

Improving Customer Experience (2006). Design>Web Design>Forms>Usability

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

Fixing the Back Button and Enabling Bookmarking for AJAX Apps

With AJAX-based applications still in their infancy there has been a tendency to disgard basic web behaviour in favour of slick functionality. In this article I am trying to rescue two of those ‘lost’ behaviours – bookmarking and the back button, using Javascript.

Stenhouse, Mike. Content With Style (2005). Design>Web Design>Usability>Ajax

Flash: The Pros and Cons

Flash animations have become popular on the Web. But popularity is not often a good measure of useability or effectiveness. So what are the pros and cons of using Flash on a Web site?

HyperWrite (2003). Design>Web Design>Usability>Flash

Focus Group

A focus group is a focused discussion where a moderator leads a group of participants through a set of questions on a particular topic. Focus groups are often used in the early stages of product planning and requirements gathering to obtain feedback about users, products, concepts, prototypes, tasks, strategies, and environments. Focus groups can also be used to obtain consensus about specific issues.

Usability Body of Knowledge. Resources>Usability>Methods>Focus Groups

Focus Groups in Usability: From Face-to-Face to Screen-to-Screen Dialogue  

Electronic focus groups became a popular alternative to face-to-face groups in user research in recent years. They are largely known for the benefits of anonymity, accurate discussion tacking, and low cost. At the same time, the quality of results generated by on-line focus groups remains uncertain. The paper explains five fundamentals of the focus group technique, such as content, context, representation, facilitation and interaction. It reviews different stages of focus group development and provides recommendations for facilitating each stage. The paper discusses the potentials and limitations of electronic focus groups, provides practical tips for facilitators, and compares them with face-to-face groups.

Gorlenko, Lada. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Usability>Online>Focus Groups

Focus Groups to Study Work Practice

Focus groups are a good way to learn how people approach tasks and to get an overview of work that spans hours or days or longer periods. Focus groups can be a great way to learn about the work that occurs 'between' or 'around' the tools we build.

Ede, Meghan R. Useit (2002). Articles>Usability>Methods>Focus Groups

Focus Groups to Study Work Practice

My definition of focus groups is very broad. I consider focus groups to occur whenever a group of people are invited to participate in a moderated discussion on a specific topic. I usually use focus groups very early in the design, to better understand potential users of a product or service. This differentiates usability focus groups from marketing focus groups, which often seek to learn reactions to a finished product. Focus groups differ from usability studies in that the participants are not asked to use a product. They differ from participatory design sessions because the participants are not asked to contribute or comment on design ideas. In a focus group, all I want participants to do is talk.

Ede, Meghan R. Usability Interface (1998). Articles>Usability>Methods>Focus Groups

Focus Groups: How to Run Them

Focus groups are fundamental as an input into any web design decisions - find out how to plan and successfully run them.

Fidgeon, Tim. Webcredible (2006). Design>Web Design>Usability

Focus on User Responses

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

Following a Fast-Moving Target: Recording User Behavior in Web Usability Testing  

Presents techniques for capturing user behavior accurately and completely in real time.

Kantner, Laurie. Tec-Ed, Inc. (2002). Articles>Usability>Methods

Formal Definition of User-Centered Design

UCD is a highly structured, comprehensive product development methodology driven by: (1) clearly specified, task-oriented business objectives, and (2) recognition of user needs, limitations and preferences. Information collected using UCD analysis isscientifically applied in the design, testing, and implementation of products and services. When rigorously applied, a UCD approach meets both user needs and the business objectives of the sponsoring organization.

TaskZ. Design>Usability>User Centered Design

Formal Usability Inspections

Formal Usability Inspection takes the software inspection methodology and adapts it to usability evaluation. Software inspections, more commonly known as code inspections, started at IBM as a way to formalize the discovery and recording of software problems ('defects' in quality jargon, 'bugs' in the vernacular). The technique also provided quantitative measurements that could be tracked using statistical process control methods. Code inspections were also adapted to check and track documentation defects, and usability defects were a logical next step. Formal usability inspections include aspects of other inspection methods too. Heuristics are used to help non-usability professionals find usability defects. Inspectors walkthrough tasks with the user's goals and purpose in mind, similar to cognitive walkthroughs, although the emphasis is less on cognitive theory and more on encountering defects.

Hom, James. VWH.net. Articles>Usability>Methods

Formal Usability Reports vs. Quick Findings

Formal reports are the most common way of documenting usability studies, but informal reports are faster to produce and are often a better choice.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2005). Articles>Usability>Reports

Forms vs. Applications

Once an online form goes beyond two screenfulls, it's often a sign that the underlying functionality is better supported by an application, which offers a more interactive user experience.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2005). Articles>Web Design>Forms>Usability

Formularios: Identificación de los Campos Opcionales

Completar formularios en los sitios web es uno de los procesos que requiere normalmente mayor esfuerzo por parte del usuario. No disponer de formularios 'usables' puede ser una de las causas de abandono más frecuente de un sitio web. Para conseguir formularios usables se deben tener en cuenta muchos aspectos. Uno de ellos, es diferenciar de forma fácil y clara los campos obligatorios de los opcionales[1]. En este artículo se muestran y valoran lo diferentes métodos que utilizan para ello las webs de banca de particulares españolas. El trabajo de campo realizado ha consistido en revisar los procesos de ejecución de transferencias y de registro de nuevos clientes (si lo hubiera) de los sitios web de los siguientes trece bancos: Patagon, Cajamadrid, Cam, Uno-e, eBankinter, CaixaCatalunya, BancoPopular-e, Santander Central Hispano, BBVA, La Caixa, El Monte, Ing-direct, Banesto.

Nosolousabilidad.com (2002). (Spanish) Design>User Interface>Usability

Forskellen på Usability og Brugervenlighed

Hvad er forskellen på 'usability' og 'brugervenlighed'? Som ordet jo fortæller, er usability, studiet i brugbarhed. Hvorimod brugervenlighed er studiet i at etablere et interface, som er venligt mod brugeren.

Orgaard Larsen, Thomas. Quark, The (2002). (Danish) Articles>Usability

Forums for Improving HCI Education

As HCI continues to mature as a discipline, educators face a challenging task. HCI educators need to keep up with the changing definition of HCI, understand what industry is experiencing, and where research is heading. To do this, HCI educators must continue to discuss the discipline and how they teach it.

Sears, Andrew. SIGCHI Bulletin (1997). Articles>Education>Usability

forUse: the Newsletter of Usage-Centered Design

forUse is an electronic newsletter published by e-mail approximately 9 times a year. forUse covers new developments in usage-centered design. Regularly features include: tips and techniques on design, modeling, and management, questions and answers on technical issues in usage-centered design, plus news and upcoming events. Subscribers get early notice of new papers and publications, and the newsletter features complement material on the Web site.

Foruse.com. Journals>Usability>User Centered Design>Newsletters

Four Bad Designs

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

The Four Horsemen of Usability

As of June 2001, four web properties control more than 50% of all the time spent online by U.S. surfers. This means that you can throw away your usability guidelines and follow these companies. They spend millions on usability testing and they are driving standards by sheer market force. You have no choice but to follow their lead.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2001). Design>Web Design>Usability

The Fourteen Biggest E-Book Design Mistakes

Roger C. Parker returns with this tutorial to help make your electronic publications attention-getting, attractive, and easy to read... all part of his recent book Design to Sell.

Parker, Roger C. Design, Typography and Graphics (2006). Design>Document Design>eBooks>Usability

Free Stuff and Web Usability

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

The Freedom of Fast Iterations: How Netflix Designs a Winning Web Site

The designers of Netflix.com have a smashing success on their hands, but we didn't find them resting on their laurels. They want to get even better, and for them that means iterate, iterate, iterate. Netflix isn't the only company using a fast iterative design approach. Google has also gained attention for their unorthodox design methods, with many people complaining that they have a huge stable of products, but only a few they've designed well.

Porter, Joshua. User Interface Engineering (2006). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Workflow

From Data Drought to Factoid Flood: Reinforcing the Banks of the River of Communication    

Information, once rare and valuable, is now as plentiful as it is meaningless. The constant accessibility rendered by various 'networking' technologies has led to a veritable glut of information. Deluged with data and flooded with facts, we are drowning in a river of communication with no clear direction or purpose. Media-mesmerized and stimuli-saturated, we are caught up in the murky current, making it increasingly more difficult to keep our heads above water. Whether we sink or swim will depend on how effective we are at controlling and managing the flow, how efficient we are at fishing for essence and meaning, and how adept we are at preserving the ecology between man and this digital morass.

Dahm, Rea Etta M. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Information Design>Usability