Experiences in Remote Usability Evaluations  

Traditional usability testing occurs in a laboratory setting in which users are directly observed by test facilitators. However, the costs associated with accessing users for usability testing as well as the limited availability of many users make it necessary to consider new methods for gathering usability feedback for software products. Online, remote testing is a key to achieving a larger, more diverse pool of participants.

Cheatham, Deane and Velda Bartek. IBM (2004). Articles>Usability>Testing

Fast Incremental Updates of XML Records

XML is often used today as a data export and exchange format. In such cases, you might deal with a feed of XML records; sometimes, if this feed, is too long, there are performance problems importing it into another system. As such, you might want to produce only an incremental feed--that is, one that only includes items that have changed. This article presents a collection of simple techniques that you can combine into a system for more digestible feeds containing only updated records.

Ogbuji, Uche. IBM (2007). Articles>Information Design>XML

Firefox 2.0 and XML

Firefox 2.0 brought several important changes in its XML support. It's currently reaching its peak in user deployment. Learn about updated XML features in Firefox 2.0, including a controversial change to the handling of RSS Web feeds.

Ogbuji, Uche. IBM (2007). Articles>Information Design>XML>Web Browsers

Focus on Simplicity

An IBM Ease of Use poster with the message 'Focus on Simplicity.'

IBM (1999). Design>Presentations>Posters>Minimalism

Frequently Asked Questions about the Darwin Information Typing Architecture

DITA experts Don Day, Michael Priestley, and Gretchen Hargis address the topic architecture of DITA, tips and techniques, and general DITA questions.

Day, Don, Michael Priestley and Gretchen Hargis. IBM (2001). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

Generate Flash Movies on the Fly with PHP

Rich Internet Applications is the new buzz-phrase for Web 2.0, and a key component of the substance behind Web 2.0 is Adobe Flash. Learn how to integrate Flash movies into your application and generate Flash movies dynamically using the Ming library.

Herrington, Jack D. IBM (2006). Design>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash

The Geronimo Renegade: Web 2.0 Report Card

Web 2.0 is still one of the computer industry's hottest buzzwords, despite widespread disagreement as to what the term actually means. This month, The Geronimo renegade cuts through the hype and looks at the Apache Geronimo project as both an enabler of Web 2.0 applications and as a Web 2.0 application itself.

Chase, Nicholas. IBM (2007). Design>Web Design>Server Side Includes>Java

Get Started with XPath 2.0

XPath 2.0 is the foundation of two essential recommendations currently in the final stages of development at W3C: XSLT 2.0 and XQuery. It is a major rewrite designed to significantly increase the power and efficiency of the language. In this article, Benoît Marchal shows how the new data model enables you to easily write more sophisticated requests.

Marchal, Benoit. IBM (2006). Articles>Information Design>XML>XSL

Getting Started with the DocBook XML Dialect

Gets you started with DocBook, an SGML/XML dialect that describes the content of technical articles and other documents. David discusses the benefits of using DocBook, and then describes how to plan and modularize a large document conversion project.

Mertz, David. IBM (2000). Articles>Documentation>XML>DocBook

GUI Versus the Web

Focuses first on the differences between GUI and Web environments, and reveals effective approaches for each that can enable the best possible user experience.

Berry, Dick. IBM (2000). Design>Web Design>User Interface

GUIs and XML Configuration Data

Discusses how XML is used in the configuration of GUI interfaces. He looks at Mozilla's XML-based User Interface Language (XUL) which allows you to write applications that run without any particular dependency on the choice of underlying operating system. This may seem strange at first, but you'll soon see that this Mozilla project offers powerful tools for GUI building that allow you to develop for an extensive base of installed users.

Mertz, David. IBM (2004). Design>Web Design>User Interface>XML

Head-Tracking Pointer

An application that, using an inexpensive camera, lets users control a mouse pointer by aiming their face around the screen.

IBM (2006). Resources>Software>Accessibility>Microsoft Windows

How Not to Make Your Site Accessible

Web sites are designed by people with fast, powerful computers, modern browsers, IT staff to keep verything running, their choice of software, and local disk storage -- or at worst, a fast network. They are browsed by people with any of a variety of computers, whatever browser the machine shipped with, software that may have been installed by an IT department that thinks Web browsing is counterproductive, and modems. In fact, it's so easy to ignore this gap that it's easier to offer advice for how to flaunt it than it is to give advice for closing it. Following is a set of principles for doing just that -- making your site as inaccessible as possible.

Seebach, Peter. IBM (2001). Design>Web Design>Usability

HTML 5 and XHTML 2

While the intention of both HTML V5 and XHTML V2 is to improve on the existing versions, the approaches the developers chose to make those improvements is very different. And with differing philosophies come distinct results. For the first time in many years, the direction of upcoming browser versions is uncertain. Uncover the bigger picture behind the details of these two standards.

de Jonge, Adriaan. IBM (2007). Articles>Web Design>Standards>HTML5

IBM バリアフリーの扉

米国IBMアクセシビリティ・センターの提供情報や、IBMアクセシビリティ・リサーチ・グループによる高齢者・視覚障害者関連情報の公開など、アクセシブルな情報社会のための関連リソース。インターネット閲覧支援ソフト「らくらくウェブ散策®」の紹介など。

IBM. (Japanese) Design>Web Design>Accessibility

IBM Servlet-Based Content Creation Framework

This framework provides an easily-used and easily-understood way of developing Web-based applications. The framework not only supports but also enforces the complete separation of content and presentation. Its simple and elegant design does not hide the familiar underlying servlet infrastructure.

Pawlitzek, Rene. IBM (2005). Articles>Web Design>Server Side Includes>Java

The Iceberg Analogy of Usability

Developers sometimes ask which aspects of look and feel contribute most to the overall usability of an application or Web site. They are typically surprised when I answer that the 'look and feel' aspects aren't the major contributors at all. Look and feel have been popular discussion topics for many years, and some developers have proposed various schemes purporting to allow an easy swap of one look and feel for another. They were perhaps compelled to this thinking to compensate for an inadequate understanding of their users. Around 1990, I became alarmed by the popularity of design architectures advocating paradigms like the User Interface Management Systems (UIMS) that enable a pluggable look and feel. Many of my colleagues and I felt that look and feel represented only the tip of the iceberg. We felt that the set of concepts users must learn and understand to use a product or Web site effectively is actually the most important factor.

Berry, Dick. IBM (2001). Articles>Usability>User Experience>Web Design

Implementing Hamlets

The Hamlet framework was developed to extend Java servlets and enforce the separation of content from presentation. In this article, you'll find an additional way to provide dynamic content as René Pawlitzek advances the framework further and refines use of the template engine.

Pawlitzek, Rene. IBM (2006). Articles>Web Design>Server Side Includes>Java

Improving the Usability of Programming Publications  

This paper summarizes the work of a study group on ways to improve the usability of publications that support programming products. Task orientation, an approach to providing, organizing, and packaging information, is covered, together with innovations to improve the usability of programming publications: ease-of-use education, measurement of user opinion, and incorporating usability into the publications development process.

Bethke, W.M., P.H. Dean, E. Ort Kaiser and F.H. Pessin. IBM Systems Journal (1981). Articles>Documentation>Writing>Technical Writing

Integrate XForms with the Google Web Toolkit, Part 1: Introducing GWT's JavaScript Native Interface

This four-part series demonstrates how to use the Google Web Toolkit (GWT) and XForms together to create a dynamic Web application.

Galpin, Michael. IBM (2007). Articles>Web Design>Ajax>JavaScript

Integrate XForms with the Google Web Toolkit, Part 2: Creating an Artist and Album Management Form

This four-part series demonstrates how to use the Google Web Toolkit (GWT) and XForms together to create a dynamic Web application. Part 1 looked at the JavaScript underpinnings of each technology. Part 2 shows you how to use those JavaScript underpinnings to start mixing the two technologies together to build the rock star application.

Galpin, Michael. IBM (2007). Articles>Web Design>Server Side Includes>Ajax

Integrating Usability and Accessibility  

Usability is a concept that we intuitively know when we experience it. The notion of usability can refer to ease of use, ease of learning, efficiency and usefulness. To render a satisfying user experience, a well-designed product should have a combination of these features.

Johannesen, Leila, Joe Sacco, Tim Hogan and Marc Boegner. IBM (2004). Articles>Usability>Accessibility