#27377
Whenever I hear someone making a general statement about what older people can or cannot do I think of my father-in-law. He's 80 years old and regularly runs marathons and competes in triathlons. He wins too. So I'm always suspicious about stereotypes involving technology and older users.
Weinschenk, Susan. Human Factors International (2006). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>Usability>Elderly
#18573
Usability Testing: Use It or Lose It
We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare – but could they get to the commerce section of your site? OK, maybe primates aren't your target market, but before you launch your site you had better make sure that your users can use it. Usability doesn't mean that your best friend thinks it's 'cool,' your designer calls it 'cutting-edge,' or your VC sees it as 'viable.' What it means is that you get a group of users to hammer on it, and you watch them hammer. That way, you find out what paths they follow, which graphics they click, where they get lost, and, most importantly, when they lose interest. Usability testing is crucial to your site's success and profitability.
Skipton, Celia. Human Factors International (2000). Articles>Usability>Web Design
#30626
User Experience Inside and Out: The Strategy of Persuasive Design
Presents a strategic roadmap for user experience design. Combining usability with the science of persuasion, learn how you can: impact online decision-making and user motivation; create a dashboard-based framework to measure and track user experience; integrate your customer channels and internal-facing systems; and help executives appreciate and understand the value of user-centered thinking and design.
Nadel, Jerome and Jay More. Human Factors International (2007). Design>User Centered Design>User Experience>Usability
#29496
User Interface Design Newsletter
Monthly articles on the latest usability research and its practical implications for user interface design.
Human Factors International (2007). Journals>User Interface>User Experience>User Centered Design
#27389
Web Design Standards: 10 Organizational Secrets
The practices and processes that facilitate the organizational development needed to create a successful Web design standard.
Schaffer, Eric M. Human Factors International (2006). Presentations>Web Design>Style Guides>Workplace
#27379
When Getting the Job Done Isn't Enough
Interface designers today are swirling within a blizzard of data. How many types of user data does your Web team collect?
Straub, Kathleen. Human Factors International (2006). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Log Analysis
#27378
Where Are You When I Need You? (or... Ending the Search for Search)
Just as with any relationships, users' previous experiences--good or bad--will influence the expectations and hopes that they will have for their relationship with your site. And as with human relationships, this means that if you really want it to work, you need to know some of the gory details of their past to make the future smooth. That's the bad news. The good news is that we are only talking about Web sites.
Straub, Kathleen. Human Factors International (2006). Articles>Web Design>Usability
#30625
Who's Keeping Score? The Value of Usability Scorecards and Metrics
Explains how HFI's evolving set of user experience metrics can help you: quantify best practices in design at a site, sub-site or page level; prioritize your usability resources across a range of projects; get valuable feedback quickly, in 'design time'; track and benchmark user experience over time; learn how you score against your competitors; and synthesize your various user data streams into an integrated UX dashboard.
Goddard, Phil and Susan Weinschenk. Human Factors International (2007). Design>User Experience>User Centered Design>Podcasts
#33220
Are We There Yet? Effects of Delay on User Perceptions of Web Sites
One of the chronic challenges that will be highlighted by emotional design is site download speed. There are many sources of delay in Web site and application delivery.
Straub, Kathleen. Human Factors International (2003). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Emotions
#33231
What can we conclude when users are reading prose text from monitors? Users tend to read faster if the line lengths are longer (up to 10 inches). If the line lengths are too short (2.5 inches or less) it may impede rapid reading. Finally, users tend to prefer lines that are moderately long (4 to 5 inches).
Bailey, Robert. Human Factors International (2002). Articles>Web Design>Typography
#33232
Serving Citizens’ Needs: Minimising Online Hurdles to Accessing Government Information 
With the rapid spread of the Internet across society, government institutions are taking advantage of digital technology to distribute materials to citizens. Is merely having a website enough, or are there certain usability considerations site creators must keep in mind to assure efficient public access to online materials? This project looked at typical people's ability to locate various types of content online, in particular, their ability to find tax forms on the web. Findings suggest that people look for content in a myriad of ways, and there is considerable variance in how long people take to complete this online task. Users are often confused by the ways in which content is presented to them. In this paper, two common sources of confusion in users' online experiences with locating tax forms online are distinguished: (1) URL confusion and (2) page design layout. Ways are also suggested to decrease these two sources of frustration, yielding less exasperating and more productive user experiences.
Hargittai, Eszter. Human Factors International (2003). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Government
#33233
It appears that about one out of five Web sites (only 20%) currently are designed using a "Fluid" layout. Unfortunately, the layout most preferred by users, the "Fluid" layout, is the one implemented least often by designers.
Bailey, Robert. Human Factors International (2001). Articles>Web Design>Document Design
