http://tc.eserver.org/publisher/Usability_Interface A listing of works published by Usability Interface in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Usability_Interface http://tc.eserver.org/31833.html http://tc.eserver.org/31833.html Online help excels in providing quick access to concise information - but only when the users choose to access it. Delivering high-quality online help that satisfies all users is a hard task. Several good help authoring tools make help generation and maintenance easier, but to create good content that is highly effective is still a huge challenge. Experience shows that even after following quality guidelines or best practices, the final output may still not be good enough to satisfy the needs of your users. Heuristic evaluation of an online help system provides an initial assessment of both quality and usability. This article presents a summary of key points for evaluating online help, though you will likely want to expand the heuristics with company or product-centric metrics suitable to your application. http://tc.eserver.org/31832.html http://tc.eserver.org/31832.html Clearly defined documentation requirements are instrumental in ensuring the appropriate documents are created accurately and in a timely manner. This article will make a case for using explicit documentation requirements and will recommend a method for putting it into practice. http://tc.eserver.org/31834.html http://tc.eserver.org/31834.html Both technical communicators and usability professionals share an interest in how easily someone can use technical information. How efficiently does the writer help the reader glean the meaning of technical text? Is the experience of acquiring information satisfying or difficult? http://tc.eserver.org/31205.html http://tc.eserver.org/31205.html Will Emergency Medical Records (EMRs) make our delivery of medical care more usable? http://tc.eserver.org/30642.html http://tc.eserver.org/30642.html GUI Bloopers 2.0 describes common user-interface mistakes found in today's software products and services, and provides design rules and guidelines to avoid them. Johnson describes the design decisions that lead to misuse of controls, poor navigation, prose-riddled labels, bad design and layout, faulty interaction, and poor responsiveness. GUI Bloopers 2.0 is well illustrated with hundreds of examples from real products and online services, and stories from his own experience. http://tc.eserver.org/30638.html http://tc.eserver.org/30638.html Creating a product that has a logical information structure is critical to the success of the product. A good structure helps users find information and accomplish their tasks with ease. Card sorting is one method that can help us understand how users think the information and navigation should be within a product. http://tc.eserver.org/30637.html http://tc.eserver.org/30637.html User assistance is defined as a form of assistance that is provided to users of products to help them use the products more easily and efficiently. In the Information Technology industry, a product is a software product/application that users use to perform specific business functions. Users of these products/applications use them differently, based on their social and philosophical environment, their cultural context, their learnability and a number of other factors. While the same user assistance must necessarily be designed and delivered to the users of a product, because all users use a particular product/application to perform similar tasks, user assistance can be designed and delivered differently to users, based on their social and philosophical environment. This could enable users from diverse social and philosophical backgrounds use the same products/applications more effectively. http://tc.eserver.org/30641.html http://tc.eserver.org/30641.html Over the past ten years, there has been an ever-increasing amount of usability recommendations for improving website design. Much of the data has focused on navigation of single-language websites. But few studies have tackled the problems of bilingual sites, and virtually no information has been gathered about usability of bilingual or multilingual sites where the languages are not written in the same direction (for example, English, which is read from left-to-right, and Hebrew, which is read from right-to-left). http://tc.eserver.org/30640.html http://tc.eserver.org/30640.html This article is based on the research and feedback I received from a number of user experience designers, usability specialists, product developers and writers, which led me to engage in a dialogue with the users. http://tc.eserver.org/30639.html http://tc.eserver.org/30639.html User experience professionals can also learn some lessons from and find potential recruits in technical communicators as they have skills that can be applied directly to the design process. http://tc.eserver.org/28585.html http://tc.eserver.org/28585.html World Usability Day has come and gone for 2006, and the results of the global online card sort are in. About five hundred people in 19 or 20 countries participated in the exercise. Find out what's next. http://tc.eserver.org/28582.html http://tc.eserver.org/28582.html Why does a web site that rarely changes need HCI people? Learn about the experiences of a new employee, Josh Mittleman, which he shared with the UsabilityNJ meeting in October. http://tc.eserver.org/28584.html http://tc.eserver.org/28584.html The Persona Lifecycle describes the value of personas, and offers detailed techniques and tools to conceive, create, communicate, and use personas to create [great] product designs. John Pruitt and Tamara Adlin provide examples, samples, and illustrations for persona practitioners to imitate and model. It is important to emphasize that the use of personas is a method that compliments other user-centered design techniques, including user testing, scenario-based design, and cognitive walkthroughs. http://tc.eserver.org/28587.html http://tc.eserver.org/28587.html Because many of the local Usability Professionals Association (UPA) members work in internet-related fields, Philadelphia's second Annual World Usability Day looked to broaden horizons by focusing on 'User Experience Beyond the Web.' The pervasive theme of the presentations by Hal Rosenbluth, James Mitchell, and Stephen Wilcox was that we actually have a lot in common. http://tc.eserver.org/28588.html http://tc.eserver.org/28588.html How Community Manager Karen Bachmann has learned about the power and importance of storytelling, and some of the many stories that have deeply affected her. http://tc.eserver.org/28586.html http://tc.eserver.org/28586.html The Washington D.C. Usability Special Interest Group teamed up with the local Usability Professionals Association to present a panel discussion about usability in healthcare. Did you know that rising costs, an aging population and pressure to adopt new technologies increasingly strain the healthcare system? At the same time, patients and their families have ever-more access to health information, and many want healthcare to become more patient-centered. http://tc.eserver.org/28583.html http://tc.eserver.org/28583.html I recently made a career transition from technical writing to usability engineering. In my new position, I have been conducting site visits with customers in the area. During a recent visit, I found an opportunity to query a user, 'Mike,' about using online Help. Join Molly on her first experience watching a user try to work with documentation, an experience both illuminating and alarming. http://tc.eserver.org/28495.html http://tc.eserver.org/28495.html Learn about the career path of usability professionals from three speakers who have extensive experience in the usability profession, including managers of usability departments and independent consultants. http://tc.eserver.org/28496.html http://tc.eserver.org/28496.html Selections of 'least favorite' designs from graduate students of the George Mason University Department of Psychology. http://tc.eserver.org/28494.html http://tc.eserver.org/28494.html Technical communicators and usability practitioners are not simply kindred spirits--they are the same spirit: the spirit of communication. http://tc.eserver.org/28498.html http://tc.eserver.org/28498.html STC communities have moved from trying to figure out how they will work in the new model to starting to make the kinds of fundamental changes and undertake initiatives that will build value for members. We are starting to understand how to 'play' within and succeed with our new rules. For UUX to undertake new initiatives, we need more members to volunteer. http://tc.eserver.org/28497.html http://tc.eserver.org/28497.html What's the problem with personas? They're a new concept to many communicators, and thus sufficiently unfamiliar to make them difficult to use. To help solve this problem, I developed a couple of personas to show you how it's done, and illustrate their implications for documentation. http://tc.eserver.org/28493.html http://tc.eserver.org/28493.html A 'user edit' (also known as a 'usability edit') enables you to evaluate the usability of documentation (Schriver, 1991). Participants in a user edit study can either think aloud as they use the documentation to complete tasks or they can mark up the pages of the documentation to indicate where they had problems. The think-aloud protocols or marked-up pages are then reviewed for usability problems. The user edit report lists the problems and recommendations about how to improve the usability of the documentation. http://tc.eserver.org/27812.html http://tc.eserver.org/27812.html Recognize the many paths to success and be prepared to forge your own if needed. You may find at the end of your 'wrong way' happy clients, satisfied users, and a successful and delivered system. http://tc.eserver.org/27808.html http://tc.eserver.org/27808.html What has long been a struggle for UEX professionals can actually be a great tool to demonstrate the importance of your role. We have found a way, using tools that you may already have, to support the users' needs that can positively impact your company’s bottom line. http://tc.eserver.org/27809.html http://tc.eserver.org/27809.html We sponsored an award to raise awareness of the importance of usability. Instead of focusing on what projects had done wrong with regard to usability, we decided to reward a project for doing things right! http://tc.eserver.org/27807.html http://tc.eserver.org/27807.html What makes documentation usable? Usable documentation accommodates the way I think. Hart summarizes his principles for define 'user-friendly documentation.' http://tc.eserver.org/27810.html http://tc.eserver.org/27810.html A report on a presentation by Ginny Redish where she discussed how research from linguistics, as well as cognitive psychology, reading studies, writing studies, and other disciplines could contribute to useful and usable Web sites. http://tc.eserver.org/27811.html http://tc.eserver.org/27811.html User Interface has been on sabbatical, but I am happy to announce that we have returned. Starting with this issue, the newsletter is online and ends our traditional newsletter format. http://tc.eserver.org/26403.html http://tc.eserver.org/26403.html Are you frustrated by a computer that slows your productivity? Do you ever get the urge to kick it or throw it out the window? Before you hurt your toe or strain your back, there are a few simple things you can try to tune-up your computer and make it run faster. http://tc.eserver.org/26400.html http://tc.eserver.org/26400.html To successfully communicate to users, documentation must do more than meet the user’s information needs, it must present the information in the same way the user processes the information. The design of software and it accompanying documentation must be reconceived so that the design is done from the problem-solver’s point of view. http://tc.eserver.org/26402.html http://tc.eserver.org/26402.html Customer-feedback concerning product documentation is an 'artifact' of value. Product/project management depends on documentation groups to play an active role in closing the feedback acceptance and incorporation cycle to the best satisfaction of the sending-customer. http://tc.eserver.org/26406.html http://tc.eserver.org/26406.html When we consider the right questions to ask in usability, we first think of the questions we should ask our users and stakeholders. This line of questioning is a necessary part of our jobs. However, I have seen few articles outside of the ROI of usability discussions where usability professionals ask questions about the usability of our own processes and approaches. http://tc.eserver.org/26399.html http://tc.eserver.org/26399.html As technical communicators, we need to ask good questions to elicit information, but many of us lack adequate training in this skill. http://tc.eserver.org/26405.html http://tc.eserver.org/26405.html Belgium is renowned for scrumptious chocolates, Trappist beers, canals of Bruges, Flemish painters, cathedrals, and the metropolitan city of Brussels. But few people know about the champions of usability. http://tc.eserver.org/26404.html http://tc.eserver.org/26404.html User-centered design is being systematically integrated into the Web, application and product development process. It's the tipping point usability specialists have been waiting for. But are we ready? Does the field have the tools, and resources -- or for that matter the people -- to keep up with the need? http://tc.eserver.org/25386.html http://tc.eserver.org/25386.html If you want your online career center to attract good resumes or really interesting candidates, usability is a key factor. If you are committed to attracting the most qualified candidates, be prepared to invest time and effort to improve the content and quality, and conduct tests to assess usability. http://tc.eserver.org/25387.html http://tc.eserver.org/25387.html A new buzzword you should know about is 'blog' or 'web log', meaning web log, digital journal, or online diary. Blogs are the Next Big Thing to hit the Internet, after conventional Web Sites. http://tc.eserver.org/25388.html http://tc.eserver.org/25388.html Do you believe that localization of a product is essential to ensure usability and customer satisfaction? http://tc.eserver.org/25389.html http://tc.eserver.org/25389.html When you renew your STC membership, be sure to select STC Usability and User Experience (UUX) as one of your communities. http://tc.eserver.org/25385.html http://tc.eserver.org/25385.html Success in usability testing is learning what you need to know. That includes finding out both what is working well and what is not working well. Focusing on formative tests—with an eye toward identifying problems and bringing the issues to the team—is the secret to successful usability testing. http://tc.eserver.org/25384.html http://tc.eserver.org/25384.html When it comes to the usability of the presidential candidates' blogs, they all need some work from a usability standpoint. Applying good usability practices would make better use of campaign funds, attract young voters, and give candidates a better idea of what is important to the electorate. http://tc.eserver.org/25081.html http://tc.eserver.org/25081.html If you are like most technical writers, your procedures have automatically numbered steps (whether in tables or text), Microsoft Word provides two relatively simple ways for you to cross-reference a step number. http://tc.eserver.org/25080.html http://tc.eserver.org/25080.html A high fidelity home page is one that simply and clearly communicates an accurate, complete, and favorable impression of your organization and its products. An effective home page will also display your intimate understanding of, and desire to fully accommodate, the actual needs and interests of users. http://tc.eserver.org/25079.html http://tc.eserver.org/25079.html It is almost impossible to do business without using information technology (IT) systems, whether or not they are developed in-house. Evaluating the quality of these systems is critical to an organization’s ability to do business using resources in an optimal way. http://tc.eserver.org/25078.html http://tc.eserver.org/25078.html Unlike many game developers, one company creates games primarily targeted at young women and girls. MiniFizz is certainly not just a traditional boys’ game painted pink. http://tc.eserver.org/25077.html http://tc.eserver.org/25077.html How do you test a game? Rather than look at background issues like differences between games and applications, this article focuses on the methods employed for the usability testing of Ion Storm’s game Thief: Deadly Shadows. http://tc.eserver.org/25076.html http://tc.eserver.org/25076.html Documentation and information organization are an integral part of video game construction. The video game industry may be one of the directions technical communicators will move toward in the near future. http://tc.eserver.org/24739.html http://tc.eserver.org/24739.html I found myself wondering; was there any statistically significant relationship between feeding and cooperation? http://tc.eserver.org/24740.html http://tc.eserver.org/24740.html "2 Create a Website" has many different facets. One of the best things this site provides is a detailed step-by-step resource that leads the user through the process of setting up, creating, and maintaining a Web site. http://tc.eserver.org/24519.html http://tc.eserver.org/24519.html Detailed explanation of how to conduct a web usability user observation test. Simple, step-by-step instructions for professional administration of testing program. How to select and supervise test subjects. How to design test task assignments. Suggested forms to use: test subject selection computer skills level telesurvey, link strategy survey, system usability scale questionnaire, site satisfaction survey. http://tc.eserver.org/23880.html http://tc.eserver.org/23880.html Companies are reducing their training budgets. During these austere times, the technical writer must get more creative than ever to participate in the annual conference. An informal survey of attendees at the 50th Annual Conference in Dallas showed that many people paid their own way to the conference. There are numerous ways to reduce the cost to attend the conference. http://tc.eserver.org/23866.html http://tc.eserver.org/23866.html If your Web site is not designed for or understood by a global audience, you are excluding an estimated 200 million people, according to John Yunker in <i>Beyond Borders: Web Globalization Strategies</i>. http://tc.eserver.org/23865.html http://tc.eserver.org/23865.html Author Ilise Benun looks at the web from a refreshing perspective, tying marketing and usability together through a common interest in understanding the people who use a web site. http://tc.eserver.org/23873.html http://tc.eserver.org/23873.html Beyond just the undeniable importance of a usable form and voting mechanism, is the need to consider the comfort and satisfaction of voters dealing with sometimes radically changed voting systems, especially when the move is from paper-based voting systems to electronic systems. http://tc.eserver.org/23879.html http://tc.eserver.org/23879.html In the world of usability, Thomas Gilbert, human performance engineer; John Bowie, information engineer; and Genichi Taguchi, quality engineer, are singing a three-part harmony. Exemplifying different generations as well as three distinct but overlapping domains, these experts converge at a vantage point from which they should be jointly capable of conducting the whole orchestra. This article explains the contributions each individual has made, directly or indirectly, to the domain of software development. http://tc.eserver.org/23878.html http://tc.eserver.org/23878.html Although I had extensive experience creating surveys and analyzing survey results, working on a Usability SIG and an Employment and Salary Survey taught me a lot about a new survey tool. http://tc.eserver.org/23875.html http://tc.eserver.org/23875.html Anyone who knows Ben Shneiderman and the activities of the Human Computer Interface Lab (HCIL) would expect he would produce a book like Leonardo's Laptop. Twenty years ago as founding director of HCIL, Shneiderman was in the avant-garde of bringing together experts in computer science, engineering, psychology, and education to develop computers and their interfaces to better serve human needs. http://tc.eserver.org/23870.html http://tc.eserver.org/23870.html This article describes how we investigated software message severity levels using surveys in a series of usability tests and how the results helped us create a standard set of severity levels. These findings can also be applied to other messages. http://tc.eserver.org/23864.html http://tc.eserver.org/23864.html If you want to learn about paper prototyping from a renowned practitioner then I highly recommend Paper Prototyping by Carolyn Snyder. Snyder advocates paper prototyping because it’s easy to design (requires minimal drawing skills), cheap to create (needs only paper and markers), and offers and opportunity for developers and users to evaluate design concepts. If you wonder where the beginning of the design process starts, it begins when great minds meet and brainstorm ideas, and drawing is a natural approach to illustrate them. http://tc.eserver.org/23876.html http://tc.eserver.org/23876.html The switch to web delivery meant that we no longer had to restrict the newsletter to black and white, and we were no longer limited to four pages (a folio) or a multiple of four pages. An end to the cost constraints imposed by printing also allowed more creative formatting and the use of color. http://tc.eserver.org/23874.html http://tc.eserver.org/23874.html Reshaping Technical Communication: New Directions and Challenges for the 21st Century by Barbara Mirel and Rachel Spilka, eds. offers great insights that might help you gain an understanding of how each world operates, why they operate as they do, and how the two worlds affect and can alter the future of technical communication. http://tc.eserver.org/23877.html http://tc.eserver.org/23877.html The first Usability SIG survey was conducted in 1996. I thought that 2003 was an ideal opportunity to survey our members again. Due to cost constraints, the survey was only available for 30 days. Of the 1600 members, 85 responded to the survey. That might be considered a low response, but statistics show that a response rate of over 5% is considered good. Yes, we read every reply. The Usability SIG team reviewed the results and have a strategy to make improvements. The following are samples of the responses received. http://tc.eserver.org/23881.html http://tc.eserver.org/23881.html The message about usability is reaching general audiences. However, sometimes the message is garbled and sometimes it is overlooked entirely. http://tc.eserver.org/23868.html http://tc.eserver.org/23868.html As a designer of software systems, I believe that the child's spirit of 'why' is something to retain and infuse into our work when gathering requirements, interviewing users, and interviewing stakeholders. http://tc.eserver.org/23872.html http://tc.eserver.org/23872.html The useful features of digital cameras are not enticing enough to trade for the simplicity of the non-digital design that meets the fundamental goals of the majority of users. As for me, I have learned my lesson with digital cameras. I will keep my user-friendly, old fashion, but reliable non-digital camera. http://tc.eserver.org/23867.html http://tc.eserver.org/23867.html The Usability SIG is always interested in new ways to put publish our newsletter on the Web. When an upgrade to Macromedia’s Contribute 2.0 included a new program called FlashPaper, we decided to give it a try. http://tc.eserver.org/23869.html http://tc.eserver.org/23869.html How do we communicate what we know about the people who use our products in an engaging, efficient way? How do we get beyond statistics to a portrait of users that helps us use this information to make decisions? http://tc.eserver.org/23855.html http://tc.eserver.org/23855.html STC has been challenged by the changing economy and the evolving nature of our work and career development. These challenges have required Society leaders to look carefully into how the STC should change to better serve a diverse and global membership. http://tc.eserver.org/23856.html http://tc.eserver.org/23856.html Most businesses have seen a dramatic increase in the amount of information employees require to perform tasks. Traditional approaches to training such as paper documentation, instructor-led training, or computer-based training (CBT) may have been effective in the past, but are not suitable to respond to the rapid changes in time, cost, and delivery of information today’s marketplace requires. At Unisys Corporation we have piloted an electronic performance support system that provides self-instruction for our clients at their point of need. http://tc.eserver.org/23851.html http://tc.eserver.org/23851.html Advances in technology in the last ten years have created an emerging category of portable online computers (Pocket PCs or PPCs) that offer a wide range of product features comparable to Personal Computers (PCs). Improvements in PPC hardware specifications and the growing numbers of compatible software applications are resulting in an increased (and multi-faceted) user base. Increasing technical capabilities, advanced product features, and a diversified user base are creating new challenges to design online Help systems that can satisfy user needs and requirements effectively. http://tc.eserver.org/23859.html http://tc.eserver.org/23859.html What is the best way to thank helpful users for participating in a usability study? Carl Myhill asked this question to a popular discussion group of the Usability community. The following are some of the replies. http://tc.eserver.org/23862.html http://tc.eserver.org/23862.html Creates a set of questions for each usability category for the person performing the heuristic evaluation with a range of very satisfied to very unsatisfied to not applicable. Each question can have a severity level that can raise significant opportunities for improvement to the foreground. http://tc.eserver.org/23852.html http://tc.eserver.org/23852.html Watching a colleague facilitate usability testing, the author asks what constitutes too much interaction by the facilitator. What his colleagues had to say got me thinking. http://tc.eserver.org/23854.html http://tc.eserver.org/23854.html How many times has a vendor’s help desk operator told you that the solution to a problem is either an upgrade or a patch? Those of us in the IT industry are familiar with this reply because that’s the advice our own helpdesk operators tell our customers. If corporate profits depend on improving product design, and selling upgrades, there is no profit in supporting old software and creating patches. The profit is in selling new and improved products. Some questions you need to consider before buying a software upgrade. http://tc.eserver.org/23863.html http://tc.eserver.org/23863.html A common theme in most stories is that introducing usability into a company, or even just into your own technical communication work, is often a long-term effort. In my own experience, my first effort to introduce usability at my then employer took almost two years to move from a few isolated activities and providing occasional design advice to interface developers into a fully recognized user interface design role. http://tc.eserver.org/23857.html http://tc.eserver.org/23857.html Here is a preview of the Usability and Information Design (UID) stem of the 2004 STC International Conference. You can also find the full stem in a spreadsheet that you can download (Excel format). http://tc.eserver.org/23853.html http://tc.eserver.org/23853.html Did you ever wonder why some products are well designed and easy to use and others are not? The answer is simple—decision makers and budget holders make decisions with little thought of how they reduce usability. Here then are the top ten decisions that reduce usability. http://tc.eserver.org/23860.html http://tc.eserver.org/23860.html We are all somewhat familiar with the range of methods that can be used to usability test our products or even early designs. But there may be more methods than you’ve thought about. How many of the following methods are you familiar with? http://tc.eserver.org/23861.html http://tc.eserver.org/23861.html Which companies are actually practicing usability, and what does usability mean to them? Who's investing time and money into usability, and what kind of return are they receiving on their investment in the real world? http://tc.eserver.org/23858.html http://tc.eserver.org/23858.html The Product Usability Design Group (PUDG) at IBM (IBM UK, Ltd., Hursley Park) was faced with a problem; we were constantly requested to run events for school children who visit the site and yet had nothing prepared to offer. The Usable Tour was our creative solution to this challenge. This was a series of user-centered design flavored activities which put a different spin on IT and taught the students something about usability techniques all while giving them hands-on experience with the Usability Lab and its equipment. The event was a success—the kids 'learned new things to do with computers,' and the PUDG team had successfully developed an off-the-shelf tour that can be used the next time they're requested to run an activity. http://tc.eserver.org/20040.html http://tc.eserver.org/20040.html Ever wonder about the relationship between academia and the corporate world? Or, maybe if you are on the corporate side (as I am), have you wondered why academia operates as it does? (And vice versa.) If so, Reshaping technical communication: New directions and challenges for the 21st century offers great insights that might help you gain an understanding of how each world operates, why they operate as they do, and how the two worlds affect and can alter the future of technical communication. http://tc.eserver.org/19184.html http://tc.eserver.org/19184.html With the passage of Section 508 and the efforts of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), interest in Web site accessibility continues to increase. Web designers and Web content developers are finding that knowledge in Web accessibility is becoming essential to be marketable to government contracts and private industry since accessibility is becoming a best practice, and in some cases a legal requirement, in Web development. This article is written for those who already have a general knowledge about the reasons for, and the techniques of, designing accessible Web sites. In this article, I will share the steps that I have taken to work toward transforming a Web site that I manage to one that is accessible according to the W3C recommendations. http://tc.eserver.org/19188.html http://tc.eserver.org/19188.html A wheelchair provides transportation for the disabled, independence and self-sufficiency to someone who would otherwise be completely dependent on others. But is functionality the only aspect of a wheelchair worth contemplation? Should we not evaluate the design aesthetic of wheelchairs to the same extent that we analyze the design of other useful and purposeful objects? http://tc.eserver.org/19191.html http://tc.eserver.org/19191.html I view my son's early school years in the 90s as a nightmare. I asked if my son could submit homework done on the computer due to his awful handwriting - weren't his ideas the key issue? - and 'NO!' was the reply. http://tc.eserver.org/19196.html http://tc.eserver.org/19196.html Many organizations are opting to convert existing print publications into electronic newsletters (e-newsletters)—and for good reason. E-newsletters can be developed for a fraction of the cost of their print counterparts and delivered to a global audience instantly. While marketers are discovering the ease of reaching a target audience with e-mail, many e-mail users are frustrated by the barrage of e-newsletters that muddle their inboxes monthly, weekly, or even daily. An onslaught of unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam) has made readers wary of marketing attempts. To reach these wary readers, companies need to create e-newsletters that respond to their audience’s specific needs—namely usability and trust. By following a few guidelines, you can launch a usable and successful e-newsletter. http://tc.eserver.org/19186.html http://tc.eserver.org/19186.html This article describes how to write effective on-line help for blind and low vision users of text based readers. The authors draw on their collective experience in both using text (screen) readers like JAWS to access web applications as well as preparing accessibility help for web pages and applications. This article doesn't include specific information about building web interfaces or sites, use of controls for accessibility within web sites, Section 508 or WAI Standards and Guidelines, or specific information about hardware or software. We include JAWS instructions as an example because it is commonly used in the United States. Also, we don't include information about actual language used within an interface and how to write it to make the interface more accessible. We are only discussing how to write Help pertaining to the interface itself. http://tc.eserver.org/19190.html http://tc.eserver.org/19190.html For 40 years I had taken no notice of the locations of ramps in public buildings, the height or number of stairs, or if pay phones had instructions in Braille. My, how things have changed for me since January when I took on the challenge of writing the Special Needs SIG's Conference Guide for People with Special Needs for the Society's 50th International Conference in Dallas. http://tc.eserver.org/19194.html http://tc.eserver.org/19194.html Over the years, I’ve often heard colleagues say 'let’s throw a questionnaire together and find out what our users think about our product.' Implicit in this statement is the assumption that questionnaires are easy to design, administer, and analyze. This assumption is far from the truth. http://tc.eserver.org/19192.html http://tc.eserver.org/19192.html Web accessibility is a hot topic, and now there is a brand new place to gain the knowledge and credentials you need to succeed in this increasingly important field. Northeastern University, in Boston, Massachusetts-- already well known for its technical writing program-- is now offering a graduate certificate program in Interactive Design. This new program, one of the first in its kind, focuses specifically on topics surrounding web accessibility and design for interactive media of all kinds. http://tc.eserver.org/19183.html http://tc.eserver.org/19183.html In this article we focus on the first of these goals and give you some of the fascinating findings about how vision-impaired users work with web sites. http://tc.eserver.org/19187.html http://tc.eserver.org/19187.html Automated tools can make our jobs significantly easier, more thorough, and more cost effective. But, they are only the first necessary step in addressing accessibility-removing the barriers. We must now address the special condition of usability related to handicapped users and accept that user-based evaluation is the only true test of success. http://tc.eserver.org/19193.html http://tc.eserver.org/19193.html I have attended several conferences at which I witnessed a growing debate over the role of survey work in the field of usability. Some practitioners are of the opinion that 'usability is usability' and 'surveys are surveys', and only rarely do the two meet in a harmonious exchange. The more I have considered this viewpoint, the more convinced I am that it is probably valid, unless the usability specialist takes the lead in assimilating survey output into the process of evaluating the overall effectiveness of Web sites and online applications. http://tc.eserver.org/19185.html http://tc.eserver.org/19185.html Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended in 1998, requires federal departments and agencies, including the United States Postal Service, to comply with accessibility requirements when procuring, developing, using or maintaining electronic and information technology (E&IT), unless doing so causes an undue burden (significant difficulty or expense). E&IT with accessibility requirements pertinent to people with hearing disabilities include: telephones; televisions; videotapes and DVDs; multimedia web sites; interactive voice response systems, and information kiosks. Where steps and physical barriers kept people with physical disabilities out of the workforce and out of government buildings three decades ago, videos and web pages without captioning; telephones without amplification; interactive voice response systems that do not support TTY signals; phone configurations that do not support VCO (voice carry over); and phone systems with no TTY jacks are examples of barriers today. Congress identified the federal government as the proper place to begin tackling these problems. Through the Section 508 amendment, the federal government has been given the responsibility to set an example for the rest of the country by being a model employer and providing exemplary service to its customers with disabilities by showing that access can be achieved in a reasonable way and that information technology access will benefit all people. The Section 508 statute directed the U.S. Access Board to develop access standards for this technology. The process began with a report presented to the board by an advisory committee it convened and ended with the 508 Standards being incorporated in their entirety into the federal procurement regulations. http://tc.eserver.org/19189.html http://tc.eserver.org/19189.html Gloria discusses her low-vision condition, the problems it poses in her life and work and the accommodation strategies she has developed. http://tc.eserver.org/19195.html http://tc.eserver.org/19195.html Whereas 7 (plus or minus 2) is the mantra for structured writing and other methods for organizing information, 5 (plus or minus 2) is the mantra for the number of participants needed in a usability test. Recent articles have looked at what Miller, who introduced the research on short-term memory, really meant regarding the 7 + or – 2 number (Doumont 2002; Kolbach 2002), and a similar re-examination is now a much-discussed topic regarding the viability of applying the number 5 to web usability testing. Two widely-publicized usability studies of Web users, one directed by Rolf Molich and the other by Jared Spool, are fueling the discussion. At the most recent meetings of CHI and UPA, panels addressed this specific topic, and the first question directed to Jakob Nielsen at the CHI session entitled 'Ask Jakob' was, How many users does it take? Knowing something about the research studies and the issues raised gives you the ammunition to decide where you stand. So, here’s a brief overview of what the controversy is based on, and, if you want to learn more, you can read the whole story in the original sources. http://tc.eserver.org/14939.html http://tc.eserver.org/14939.html There are fewer projects in development and that means less work for us. That issue will resolve itself as the recession eases and will reduce some of the pain. I do not believe, as some have suggested, that our work has become irrelevant because programmers have learned how to design usable interfaces. That just isnâ*™t the case. True there are more models to imitate, but every day I see miserably-designed products fielded. And user frustration is hardly a thing of the past. At the core of the problem, I believe, is a truth we must face: we have failed to establish our value to the business community. And if we want to survive and prosper, we must correct that. I doubt that there is a member of this profession who does not believe passionately that the work we do is a major facilitator of success in technology development projects. http://tc.eserver.org/14941.html http://tc.eserver.org/14941.html In Jared Spool's presentation, 'Scent of a Web Site' to the Washington DC Chapter of UPA (September 18, 2002), Spool used scent as an analogy to attract customers to the goods or services they desire online. A predator locates prey by following a scent trail. If the predator loses the scent trail, it returns to the location where the trail was strong, and tries again. Spool reports seeing a similar behavior with people looking for content on very large Web sites. Spool introduced two new vocabulary words that I plan to use. Gallery pages are used on very large Web sites to aggregate content pages. Store pages are used to aggregate gallery pages. The home page connects to stores; effective home pages also connect to galleries and content as well. These concepts aren't necessary for Web sites of one to twenty or so pages. They are essential for very large Web sites, such as Amazon or Microsoft Network, with pages numbering in the millions. http://tc.eserver.org/14940.html http://tc.eserver.org/14940.html I recently posted a message to a popular usability discussion list to learn more about usability-oriented resumes and portfolios. I come from a technical background and my résumé lists common technologies and software. I am interested in creating a version of my resume with a focus on usability, so I wondered what types of information usability practitioners list on their resumes, as well as what usability employers look for. I was also looking for advice regarding online portfolios. Do people prefer online to paper? What types of work should I include? I received a lot of great responses. Everyone believes having an online resume and portfolio is important. Several people said it is important to tailor your resume and portfolio for each job opportunity. I agree with that, but would add that it is important to maintain a comprehensive version of both online, and then tailor the printed versions for each job. http://tc.eserver.org/13710.html http://tc.eserver.org/13710.html For the past nine months the Usability Professionals’ Association (UPA) participated in a project to investigate the feasibility of certifying usability (or user-centered design) professionals. The project was kicked off in Salt Lake City last November when a group of people from many organizations, countries and associations met for three days. That meeting ended with a sense of enthusiasm for creating a certification program based on the international standard for a human-centered design process, ISO 13407. The group planned activities to survey professionals to determine the level of support for certification, and to understand the benefits and drawbacks seen by stakeholders. http://tc.eserver.org/13714.html http://tc.eserver.org/13714.html George Miller, infamous for his 'magical number seven, plus or minus two,' somehow missed an even more important principle of how the world works: no matter how clever we think we are, it still takes us three tries to get anything approximately right. Although most of us have proven beyond a shadow of doubt our ability to blunder around and take many more than three tries, the overwhelming majority of us get it nearly right on the third try. http://tc.eserver.org/13708.html http://tc.eserver.org/13708.html Microsoft FrontPage is used extensively in small and medium-sized companies to create both Intranet and Internet Web sites, even though professional Web designers turn up their noses at it. This article reviews some of the factors that led to its widespread usage, and gives some pointers to non-professional webmistresses. http://tc.eserver.org/13713.html http://tc.eserver.org/13713.html When I was asked to share my experiences with the software program TroopMaster2000, I wasn’t sure I was the right person for the job. I am not a software designer or developer and my computer experience is best described as average—primarily e-mail, web-browsing, and word processing experience with the occasional need for presentations and database management. Hopefully my experiences with TroopMaster2000 as a user—both good and bad—will help future software designers. http://tc.eserver.org/13709.html http://tc.eserver.org/13709.html A compelling reason to make your Intranet accessible to people with disabilities is because itï¿s the law. Section 508 of the United Statesï¿ Rehabilitation Act of 1972 requires that Federal agenciesï¿ electronic and information technology (EIT) be accessible to people with disabilities (vision, hearing, mobility) if the EIT is procured on or after June 21, 2001. If you develop hardware, software, Internet, or Intranet solutions for the U.S. Government, either as an employee of the U.S. Government or as a service or product provider, the procurement date is a critical factor in determining functional requirements of your Intranet. http://tc.eserver.org/13712.html http://tc.eserver.org/13712.html Usability is political. The travel agent battling with an online booking system. The pensioner struggling to use an ATM. The telephone caller lost in the voice-prompt-maze of a computerised answering system. These people exemplify an underclass of end-users forced to interact with technology during their working and private lives. http://tc.eserver.org/13715.html http://tc.eserver.org/13715.html The mood on the usability e-lists is somber. At the WinWriters conference in February, every hand in the audience went up when we were asked if we knew someone who was out of work. Successive rounds of budget cuts and layoffs mean that even those who are still employed are on tenterhooks, or working even harder to fill the gaps. On list recently, posts were predicting even harder times ahead and worrying about whether it was time for usability practitioners to look for alternate careers. http://tc.eserver.org/13707.html http://tc.eserver.org/13707.html The corporate Intranet is an interconnection of users and an organization’s servers and databases. It may be located in one building or multiple buildings, nearby or spread across the world. Think of wiring the Corporate Community. The structure may primarily consist of the organization’s service departments such as Human Resources, Marketing, IT, and Security, and company-wide programs and projects. Where does usability fit into all of this? Poor Web site design, complex tools, inability to locate information, and inconsistent navigation contribute to the frustration of users. http://tc.eserver.org/13711.html http://tc.eserver.org/13711.html Usability testing was an important success factor in a recent project on designing an online interactive help system. As a group of graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University, we had widely ranging backgrounds, but none of us had experience with usability testing or user observations. Involvement with our users provided a great deal of expected and unexpected feedback to the group, and helped us tremendously to learn more about our users, and ourselves as writers and information designers. As a writer, I hadn’t had any experience with usability testing. When I recently returned to graduate school at Carnegie Mellon University, however, I worked with a team of other writers to create a prototype of an interactive online interactive help system. Part of our work included user interviews and observations, and usability testing for our prototype. Although this was a rich learning environment overall, our team felt strongly that we learned the most from our experiences working directly with our users. Maybe the reason is because we thought that we knew our users and what they wanted. http://tc.eserver.org/11902.html http://tc.eserver.org/11902.html In UCD, your development cycle includes stages for both usability design and testing. Be sure to get user feedback throughout development and don’t settle on a final direction or design too soon. Usability testing is the only way you can know if your particular site meets these users’ needs. http://tc.eserver.org/11904.html http://tc.eserver.org/11904.html A reader asks, 'I have a question regarding the tracking of usability problems for a project. In some of the larger projects that I have worked on, we end up with a long list of fixes from multiple sources (heuristic evaluations, usability evaluations, user comments, etc). Many of the comments tend to get buried in a long list or pushed aside by high priority items. How are some of the ways this has been dealt with in the past?' http://tc.eserver.org/11905.html http://tc.eserver.org/11905.html It might be easy to dismiss the WAI as another mouthful of acronyms for yet another Web standard but that would be a mistake. Their goal is to, '…make Web content more available to all users, whatever user agent they are using (e.g., desktop browser, voice browser, mobile phone, automobile-based personal computer, etc.) or constraints they may be operating under (e.g., noisy surroundings, under- or over-illuminated rooms, in a hands-free environment, etc.).' http://tc.eserver.org/11903.html http://tc.eserver.org/11903.html This article was inspired by a question I posed to two electronic communities on the merits of combining the functions of usability and quality assurance (QA) into one group. The first community was a mailing list primarily serving usability and human factors professionals; the second community was the comp.software.testing news group. This question spawned a discussion of the similarities and differences between usability and quality assurance functions, working environments, requirements, and behavior. http://tc.eserver.org/11881.html http://tc.eserver.org/11881.html The Just-In-Time (JIT) method of data analysis has the virtue of immediacy, rapid turn-around, and team involvement; however there are several disadvantages. First, this type of analysis is problem-focused, rather than goal-focused. Long lists of problems are generated, but there is no clear relation to specific usability goals. Second, developers may not be able to fix things immediately so the context of the problem may be lost when it is time to fix the problem. Third, the JIT analysis requires that the entire development team observe the testing sessions since problems may occur that are the responsibility of different developers. http://tc.eserver.org/11884.html http://tc.eserver.org/11884.html The following response to a question about heuristic usability testing techniques appeared recently on a popular mail list for usability professionals. http://tc.eserver.org/11882.html http://tc.eserver.org/11882.html Have you ever wondered about reports of usability tests? How much time does it take to write one? What should you keep in mind when designing and writing the report? Here are some rules of thumb that I use. http://tc.eserver.org/11816.html http://tc.eserver.org/11816.html People unfamiliar with usability think that it's cosmetic and can be combined with other phases of development when time is available. It's often difficult to educate them, especially if they are more senior than you are and consider it a waste of time. They will not be convinced by statistics from anywhere other than outside the organization. What should you do next? You may be able to say something like 'It seems your only objection is [whatever], so if we can resolve this issue, do you have any other reasons why we shouldn't do usability testing?' This way, you have their agreement to do usability just as soon as you have resolved the issue. http://tc.eserver.org/11817.html http://tc.eserver.org/11817.html I have been asked to document the standards and strategies of usability. Given my company's interest to achieve ISO 9000 certification, I thought of the benefits to have a standard and strategy that conform to an ISO standard. My research led to two standards, ISO 13407 and ISO 9241, which have become invaluable to me. http://tc.eserver.org/11819.html http://tc.eserver.org/11819.html Most usability studies focus on ease-of-learning rather than on long-run efficiency. Ease-of-learning is an appropriate goal for products that are used infrequently, like many commercial Web sites, automatic teller machines (ATMs), or Microsoft PowerPoint. However, ease-of-learning should not be the primary goal for products like corporate accounting and purchasing software or CAD software that are used many times a day, often by 'power users'. For products where most users soon become experts and use the products daily, efficiency should be the primary usability attribute, with ease-of-learning a secondary attribute. http://tc.eserver.org/11818.html http://tc.eserver.org/11818.html An article in the Washington Post, June 7, 1999, called Terminal Tantrums; 'Computer Rage' Is Widespread, a Study of Users Concludes describes research out of Britain, that we were among the victims of Technology Related Anxiety (TRA), specifically, 'computer rage.' The study reported high levels of PC-related abuse by colleagues 'as a result of frustration' with information technology. The abuses included 'swearing at their PC,' kicking it, and 'bullying the IT department'. http://tc.eserver.org/11821.html http://tc.eserver.org/11821.html Electronic Performance Support System(s), or EPSS, automates three types of traditional performance support for software users: training, documentation, and help desks. Integrating these support mechanisms into software--using wizards, clear and simple interfaces, and various forms of embedded user assistance--allows novice users to perform competently with minimal help from training, documentation or calls to help desks. http://tc.eserver.org/11822.html http://tc.eserver.org/11822.html I dutifully and eagerly prepared myself for the visit. I read books and STC articles on field visits and questionnaires. I was on a quest, and dangerously close to realizing a dream. At last, I would be able to define my audience, and gage the usability of the online help and hard copy manual. I would finally get the answers to my questions directly from a group of users. http://tc.eserver.org/11823.html http://tc.eserver.org/11823.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/11824.html http://tc.eserver.org/11824.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/11826.html http://tc.eserver.org/11826.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/11828.html http://tc.eserver.org/11828.html Beware of people who give quick, pat answers in response to the question - ‘I’m doing a survey. How many subjects do I need?’ They probably haven’t a clue as to what they’re talking about. There aren’t any valid quick answers to this question. I work in the medical domain and advise faculty/residents/medical students on sample size determination for survey research studies all the time because, in medicine, survey results are often discounted and are not publishable unless you can support/validate the decision you made regarding sample size. We do this through power analysis, and except for the simplest power analyses, it's good to have the advice and assistance of a statistician. http://tc.eserver.org/11830.html http://tc.eserver.org/11830.html For things like order-entry or general form input, some of the attributes of windowing applications can get in the way. If you are designing a windowing application for frequent form-based input/modification, you want really good keyboard capabilities, an absence of windows popping around, a minimum of keyboard mouse transitions, etc. The guidelines for Windows design don't really deal well with form design and high-frequency data input and modification. http://tc.eserver.org/11833.html http://tc.eserver.org/11833.html Projects critical to the missions of business organizations fail, devastating operations as well as IS budgets. Other systems are created or purchased at great cost only to be underutilized or plagued with non-standard 'work-arounds' that undermine the core efficiencies of the system. Fortunately, many of these systems can be recovered. They are technically adequate and potentially usable. User’s perceptions that they are unusable can be changed* through a multifaceted intervention process that we call Mission Critical System Optimization. http://tc.eserver.org/11835.html http://tc.eserver.org/11835.html I've spent most of my career in small software companies. My last two development groups didn't have the funds required to 'personalize' their interfaces with animated characters or even multimedia. And the error messages were already scheduled to be reviewed by a writer. If TME's findings were even partly right, I could potentially produce improvements in the way users perceived the software, with no additional expenditure.