From Design Features To Financial Performance: A Comprehensive Model Of Design Principles For Online Stock Trading Sites  

As e-business grows rapidly, interests in design principles for e-business web sites are increasing. A few studies have suggested design principles with concrete design features, but failed to link the features to the performance of an e-business site, such as attitudes of its customers or financial performance of the e-business company. This paper proposes a comprehensive framework that covers from concrete design features to financial performance for online stock trading, which is one of the most important domains of e-business. The proposed model for online stock trading sites consists of three design principles: functional convenience, representational delight, and structural firmness. Through empirical studies, this research found that the convenience, delight and firmness principles were closely related to the level of customer satisfaction, and, consequently, to the level of customer loyalty to the sites. We also identified important design features such as presentation of stock quotes in the homepage for each of the three design principles. Finally, the study results showed that customer loyalty would affect the financial performance of online stock trading companies. This paper concludes with the implications and limitations of the results.

Lee, Youngsu and Jinwoo Kim. Yonsei University (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability

From Good to Great—: The Finer Points of Writing User Documentation  

A few years ago, the NeXT user publications group was handed a charter to create casual books with personality. We were also told to condense the user documentation for an entire operating system and several bundled applications into 300 pages. And of course we had the top priority of creating accurate, complete, and easy-to-use documentation. To our delight, these goals ended up being mutually compatible. The keys? Task orientation, flat hierarchy, carefully crafted page design, illustration, and a casual, intelligent tone. We also broke some 'rules'! (Caution: Some of the following material may seem radical to seasoned traditionalists.)

Casabona, Helen. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Software>Usability

From Inspiration to Action at A.G. Edwards

Discusses how his team of Certified Usability Analysts (CUAs) were instrumental towards making usability a routine practice at A.G. Edwards.

Nadel, Jerome and Pat Malecek. Human Factors International (2006). Presentations>Usability>Workplace

From Last Minute to Ground Floor Development  

A transition from being a last minute resource to participating in product design and contributing to overall quality is occurring for many technical communicators. This move is not always easy; there are often many hurdles. With increased awareness of resources such as usability experts, multi-disciplinary teams, and customers, technical communicators can smooth the way and gradually get in at the ground floor.

Adams, Linda, Christopher Morrow and Nicole Vanop. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Usability

From the SIG Manager's Desk--Technical Communicators and Usability

Why technical communicators and usability? Both writers and software development managers have asked me that question. In both cases, it springs from a narrow view of communicators as 'just writers.' It is a point of view that fails to see the many activities, from learning the subject matter to organizing the information or creating good document design, that are hidden behind that final task of writing the words.

Quesenbery, Whitney. Usability Interface (2000). Articles>Usability

From Writing Documents to Meeting User Information Needs  

As professional Technical Communicators, we constantly struggle with the question 'Is what we produce being used and is it making a difference?' Too often, we base our measures of success on our own views of what makes a good document, Help system, or other information product. Through broader and more detailed analysis, and by measuring success based on how our information products affect others, we can increase the effectiveness of our information products and increase our value to our users and companies.

Hurst, Bob, Cindy Line and Kerry Newberry. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Writing>Usability>Assessment

FucinaWeb

FucinaWeb è un sito indipendente di risorse e articoli per sviluppatori e designer web che volge un occhio di riguardo alle problematiche di usabilità e accessibilità.

FucinaWeb. (Italian) Resources>Directories>Accessibility>Usability

The Future of the "Mobile Internet"

In the near future the number of mobile Internet access devices will surpass the number of PCs in the world. This obviously has a number of implications for the future of the Internet and what form it will take in this changed environment. A recent article in the Economist compares the transition to that from the telegraph to the ‘speaking telegraph’, or what we now call the telephone. In both instances a technology which had been the preserve of specialist operators was passed into the hands of the public. And in both cases, this transition caused huge changes despite the underlying technology remaining largely unchanged. New usage models emerged as the user base changed.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Articles>Usability>Wireless Web

Fuzzy + Expensive = Useful?

Executives as well as customers demand quality from technical communicators. However, the requirements of both groups seem hard to combine: Executives want quality to be achieved inside the company by applying quality standards without causing any delay or additional costs. Establishing customer-based quality, on the other hand, usually demands extra money and extra time. Nevertheless both demands can and should be utilized for developing a user-oriented quality system.

Bock, Gabriele. TC-FORUM (1998). Articles>Usability>Quality

Galleries: The Hardest Working Page on Your Site

Galleries -- the list of links to content -- are your site's hardest working pages. They are the final page that separates those users who find the content they are seeking from the users who won't. A well-designed gallery page will drive users to success every time. A poorly-designed site will only serve to drive users away.

Spool, Jared M. User Interface Engineering (2005). Design>Web Design>Usability

Garbage In, Garbage Out: Using Affordances

The trick is to make data-entry forms clear enough that workers understand what you require of them without having to ask. This understanding alone can drastically reduce the frequency of errors, but to turn that understanding into a payback, you'll have to design a label for each field that is truly obvious to the workers. Information designers call these clues "affordances", and if you're lucky enough to have technical writers or editors in your organization, you can probably enlist their aid in designing these clues.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (1999). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>Usability>Forms

Gateway Pages Prevent PDF Shock

Spare your users the misery of being dumped into PDF files without warning. Create special gateway pages that summarize the contents of big documents and guide users gently into the PDF morass.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2003). Design>Web Design>Usability>Adobe Acrobat

Gathering Input for the Best Possible Prototype  

Prototyping has long been a part of the sofiware development process, but is still an underutilized aspect of documentation design, particularly for online design. Developing a detailed approach to prototyping lets writers design and confirm document usability early in the development cycle. Implementing detailed prototyping in an iterative design cycle ultimately leads to the best possible document for the audience.

Mobley, Karen L. STC Proceedings (1997). Presentations>User Centered Design>Usability

General Concepts, Universal Design Principles and Guidelines

People who could benefit from more universal designs include many both with and without disabilities. In some cases, people may experience difficulty in using products purely as a result of the environment or an unusual circumstance. Beneficiaries of universal design include: * People in a noisy shopping mall who cannot hear a kiosk * People who are driving their car who must operate their radio or phone without looking at it * People who left their glasses in their room * People who are getting older * People with disabilities * Almost anyone In order to design for the general population, it is important to understand the diversity, problems, tools, and abilities of its members.

University of Wisconsin. Design>Usability>Accessibility>Universal Usability

Generic Commands

Applications can give users access to a richer feature set by using the same few commands to achieve many related functions.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2007). Articles>Usability>User Interface

Get a Free Call to Action!

Every page on your website needs a call-to-action, a what can I do next. Learn how you can do this simply by listening to infomercials.

Claiborne, Scottie. Webcredible (2005). Design>Web Design>Usability

Get Organized Or Get Lost

Some Web sites intended to help users actually hamper them. Here's how to design sites that keep your users happy.

Shank, Patti. TrainingMag.com (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability

Get Out of Your Lab, and Into Their Lives

We need to practice research methods that accept the complexity of customers' technological world, and take it into account. Monolithic solutions are giving way to smaller point solutions, people are saving their information in a variety of places (personal computer, websites and hosted applications, handheld devices, print-outs), and reliance on stored passwords and favorites is deepening. And yet, in this climate, we still invite folks into a foreign lab, to use a computer that isn't theirs, to leave behind their files, papers, and Post-It Notes, and then ask them to engage in a scripted series of uninterrupted tasks.

Merholz, Peter. Adaptive Path (2006). Articles>Usability>Methods

Get Real! Planning Tasks and Activities for Your Usability Test  

Producing usable task-oriented information requires thorough knowledge and understanding of the tasks to be supported. Technical communicators can acquire this knowledge and understanding in a number of ways, each of which has its own strong points and drawbacks.

Grice, Roger A. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Usability>Planning

Getting Corporate Approval

Shared Medical Systems Corporation (SMS) recently combined its 66-person technical writing group and six-person performance-centered design team to form a new department called User Performance. With more and more clinicians—often novice users—interacting with SMS systems, SMS recognized the need to place an increased focus on usability.

Drake, Frederic and Frances L. Fleek. Usability Interface (2000). Careers>Usability

Getting from Research to Personas: Harnessing the Power of Data

The usefulness of personas in defining and designing interactive products has become more widely accepted in the last few years, but a lack of published information has, unfortunately, left room for a lot of misconceptions about how personas are created, and about what information actually comprises a persona. Although space does not permit a full treatment of persona creation in this article, I hope to highlight a few essential points.

Goodwin, Kim. Cooper Interaction Design (2002). Articles>Usability>User Centered Design>Personas

Getting Hired: What Employers Really Want

We began to work on an event to gather professionals and employers to help us figure out what UX employers really want.

Sanchez-Howard, Olga. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Careers>Usability>User Experience

Getting Involved in Product Usability as a Technical Communicator

Recently I transitioned into the role of user interface designer after working several years as a technical communicator in the software industry. Like many Technical Writers, I felt some frustration at being downstream in the development process and having to deal with some product usability issues while I wrote user documentation. As result, I became interested in getting involved upstream in the development process. A Technical Writer's role on the product team is as the communication liaison between the software domain and the user's world. Thus, a Technical Writer takes a broad view of the product and how it fits the user's world. This user perspective is critical to communicating effectively with the user. Not surprisingly this user advocate role also describes the view of the user interface designer.

Molloy, Karen. STC Usability SIG (2000). Articles>Usability

Getting Started With Usability

Practical experience and training helps me to go beyond usability fundamentals. I have learned about usability from books, news groups on the Internet, and university courses. Putting usability to practice means applying the lessons I have learned to small projects that have minimal impact on systems and services, but provide me with an opportunity to gain experience.

Dick, David J. Usability Interface (1998). Articles>Usability