#26631
Macintosh-style interaction design has reached its limits. A new paradigm, called results-oriented UI, might well be the way to empower users in the future.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2005). Articles>User Interface>Human Computer Interaction
#28053
The Real Costs of "Free" Search Site Services
When owners of the big money tree use their excess profits to subsidize unrelated services, independent software vendors (ISVs) are driven out of business. Although such behavior got Microsoft into trouble in the past, ISVs shouldn't expect relief from search-engine-sponsored software from the U.S. Justice Department or the European Commission any time soon. These government agencies are notoriously behind the times, as proven by the fact that they attacked Microsoft only after it had won the browser war by cutting off Netscape's air supply.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Articles>Web Design>Search
#18457
Recruiting Test Participants for Usability Studies
Easy test user recruiting is crucial to an effective usability process. The average per-user cost is $171, but varies greatly depending on location and the targeted profession.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2003). Articles>Usability
#31904
Reduce Bounce Rates: Fight for the Second Click
Different traffic sources imply different reasons for why visitors might immediately leave your site. Design to keep deep-link followers engaged through additional pageviews.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2008). Design>Web Design>Usability>User Centered Design
#13555
Reduce Redundancy: Decrease Duplicated Design Decisions
User interface complexity increases when a single feature or hypertext link is presented in multiple ways. Users rarely understand duplicates as such, and often waste time repeating efforts or visiting the same page twice by mistake.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2002). Design>User Interface>Collaboration
#10164
Regulatory requirements often reduce the usability of Web content and end up damaging the exact goals they were trying to promote. Regulatory agencies usually base their rules and regulations on design criteria that are appropriate for paper-based documents but which don't work in the online medium.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2000). Articles>Usability>Writing
#20837
What will be the key to web-site survival in 1996? My bet is the establishment of relationships between the site and its users.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1996). Design>Web Design>Community Building
#23275
The six remote controls required for a simple home theater illustrate the problems caused by complexity and inconsistency in user interfaces.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2004). Design>User Interface>Usability
#20823
Report From a 1994 Web Usability Study
This reports summarizes results of a usability study of several Web sites I conducted in the beginning of December 1994. Users were observed as they browsed the Web sites of Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, and Time Warner. The report has only been very lightly edited and thus represents my thinking about Web usability in 1994. In fact, the report was originally written for distribution to the rest of the Web team on paper since we were not heavy intranet users in 1994, despite having designed SunWeb a few months before this study.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1994). Articles>Web Design>Usability
#20822
Response Times: The Three Important Limits
The basic advice regarding response times has been about the same for almost thirty years: 0.1 seconds, 1.0 seconds and 10 seconds.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1994). Articles>Usability
#10154
Retaining Key Staff: What High-Tech Employees Say Versus What They Do
Getting and keeping good people is one of the greatest problems facing Internet companies. Even with the latest slump in the industry, we still face negative unemployment among people who understand the Internet. We have all seen the clueless ads looking for Java programmers with ten years' experience. Indeed, those ads started appearing back when not even James Gosling would have qualified. The real issue is not so much number of years as it is amount of insight and skills which translate into real experience. In the human interface field experience is largely driven by the number and diversity of user tests somebody has observed. Some usability professionals run a test per week; others may only get exposure to real people a few times per year.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2001). Careers>Management
#18458
Return on Investment for Usability
Ease of use doesn't come from wishful thinking. It comes from conducting systematic usability engineering activities throughout the project lifecycle. This is real work and costs real money, though not as much as some people fear. You can conduct simple forms of user testing in a few days and gain extensive insights into both user behavior and recommended design improvements. Still, before most people will commit to a lifecycle approach to usability, they want to know what it will cost and what they will gain. We set out to find the answers.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2003). Articles>Usability>Management
#25083
To manage a huge, worldwide information space, users need proven features like fat links, typed links, integrated search and browsing, overview maps, big-screen designs, and physical hypertext.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2004). Articles>Web Design>Hypertext
#31910
Right-Justified Navigation Menus Impede Scannability
Users scan lists by moving their eyes rapidly down the left edge. Menu items that are right-aligned make scanning more difficult.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2008). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Typography
#20850
Web users need structure to make sense of the many and varied information spaces they navigate. The fundamental nature of the Web does not support any structure beyond the individual page which is the only recognized unit of information. For information spaces that cannot easily be hierarchically structured, the subsite can be used as a helpful additional structuring mechanism. Subsites can also be used in hierarchical information spaces to give particular prominence to a certain level of the hierarchy which is used as the subsite designator.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1996). Design>Web Design>Usability>User Centered Design
#22310
There are two main types of user research: quantitative (statistics) and qualitative (insights). Quant has quaint advantages, but qualitative delivers the best results for the least money. Furthermore, quantitative studies are often too narrow to be useful and are sometimes directly misleading.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2004). Articles>Usability>Methods
#11913
Salary Survey: User Experience Professionals Earn Good Money
A survey of 1,078 user experience professionals finds that usability specialists make more money than designers and writers in the same field. In all three areas, salaries are highest in the U.S., lower in Canada and Asia, and much lower in Europe and Australia.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2001). Careers>Usability>Salaries>User Experience
#27478
Salary Trends for Usability Professionals
Over the last several years, entry-level salaries have dropped, while pay for experienced usability staff has been more stable.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Careers>Usability>Salaries
#28050
Screen Resolution and Page Layout
Optimize Web pages for 1024x768, but use a liquid layout that stretches well for any resolution, from 800x600 to 1280x1024.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Design>Web Design>Usability
#26641
Despite posing well-known risks, websites continue to feature poorly designed scrollbars. Among the ongoing problems that result are frustrated users, accessibility challenges, and missed content.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2005). Articles>Web Design>Human Computer Interaction>Usability
#23919
This article addresses common aspects of search, including scoped, Boolean and advanced searches.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1997). Design>Web Design>Usability>Search
#28052
Search Engines as Leeches on the Web
Search engines extract too much of the Web's value, leaving too little for the websites that actually create the content. Liberation from search dependency is a strategic imperative for both websites and software vendors.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization
#26623
Search Engines as Leeches on the Web
Search engines extract too much of the Web's value, leaving too little for the websites that actually create the content. Liberation from search dependency is a strategic imperative for both websites and software vendors.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Articles>Web Design>Search
#11859
Search is the user's lifeline for mastering complex websites. The best designs offer a simple search box on the home page and play down advanced search and scoping.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2001). Articles>Web Design>Usability
#11868
A big lie of computer security is that security improves as password complexity increases. In reality, users simply write down difficult passwords, leaving the system vulnerable. Security is better increased by designing for how people actually behave.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2000). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Security
