Ten Guidelines for User-Centered Web Design

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.

Truchard, Aimee and Raissa Katz-Haas. Usability Interface (1998). Articles>Usability>Web Design

That's a Good Question!

As technical communicators, we need to ask good questions to elicit information, but many of us lack adequate training in this skill.

Frick, Elizabeth A. 'Betsy'. Usability Interface (2005). Articles>Usability>Interviewing

Review: To Create a Website

"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.

Krudner, Leanne. Usability Interface (2004). Articles>Reviews>Web Design

Top 10 Decisions That Reduce Usability

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.

Dick, David J. Usability Interface (2004). Design>Usability>User Interface

Tracking Usability Problems for a Project

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?'

Wilson, Chauncey E. Usability Interface (1999). Articles>Usability

Training and Development: Guidelines for an Effective Resume and Portfolio

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.

Johnson, Tessa. Usability Interface (2002). Careers>Resumes>Usability

Types of Usability Methods

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?

Preston, Alice. Usability Interface (2004). Articles>Usability>Methods

Uncovering True Motivation: The Whys and Wherefore

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.

McDaniel, Scott M. Usability Interface (2003). Articles>Usability>Audience Analysis

Understanding Usability Issues of Bidirectional Bilingual Websites

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).

Guren, Leah. Usability Interface (2007). Articles>Web Design>Localization>Usability

Usability and Quality: Partners in Achieving Effective Documentation

When we began discussing this joint issue of Usability Interface and DocQment, we quickly realized that no concise definitions for either usability or quality existed: in fact, there were many definitions for both terms. A query to a usability professionals’ mailing list for a definition produced many varied responses from which a brief working definition of usability can be distilled: A usable product is one that is learnable, efficient, memorable, error-averse, and satisfying. In other words, usability is a characteristic of a product or document. Defining quality is no easier: there are also a variety of answers. A brief working definition might be: Quality documentation is documentation presented in an easy-to-use, straightforward manner with complete glossaries and indexes.

Robinson, Ralph E. and Dick Miller. Usability Interface (2000). Articles>Documentation>Usability

Usability for Everyone

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?

Harvey, Michael. Usability Interface (2008). Articles>Usability>TC

Usability in Belgium?

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.

Dick, David J. Usability Interface (2005). Articles>Usability>Regional>Belgium

Usability in Practice: Company Profile of Hylotek

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?

Giangrossi, Diane. Usability Interface (2004). Articles>Usability>User Centered Design>Case Studies

Usability of My Digital Camera

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.

Dick, David J. Usability Interface (2003). Articles>User Interface>Photography>Usability

Usability of U.S. Presidential Candidate Blogs: Why it Matters

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.

Russo, Thomas. Usability Interface (2005). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Blogging

Usability Report Tips

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.

Wilson, Chauncey E. Usability Interface (1997). Articles>Usability>Reports

Usability SIG Web Site Tests Macromedia FlashPaper

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.

Dick, David J. Usability Interface (2004). Articles>Document Design>Software>Flash

Usability Strategies for Intranet Web Site Design

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.

Dick, David J. Usability Interface (2002). Articles>Usability>Web Design

Usable Tours: Transforming the Usability Lab into an IT Learning Zone

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.

Marasco, Davis. Usability Interface (2004). Articles>Education>Usability

The User Edit Method for Evaluating the Usability of Documentation

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.

Wilson, Chauncey E. Usability Interface (2006). Articles>Documentation>Editing>Usability

User Observation Tests: Forms and Procedures

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.

Streight, Steven. Usability Interface (2004). Articles>Usability>Testing>Web Design

Using a Style Guide to Build Consensus

Style guides are often requested as a way to promote a common look and feel but do little to address the real problems in the way user interfaces are developed. In many situations, a collection of rules for visual design and the use of controls can seem like a band-aid; promoting surface-level consistency rather than solving the real usability problems. Even when a good style guide is created, it is often ignored after release. Worse, the style guide can become a weapon where a user-centered design process is needed. In either case, the style guide has failed to produce the desired effect. What’s missing is a consensus on the scope, ownership, or content. Solving this problem requires a change in the way style guides are developed, distributed, and used. Three suggestions for teams developing style guides are to start early, to make the emerging style guide widely available, and to plan for long-term maintenance of the guidelines.

Quesenbery, Whitney. Usability Interface (2001). Articles>Style Guides

Using Comics in Technical Documentation

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.

Gupta, Rajeep. Usability Interface (2007). Articles>Documentation>Technical Illustration>User Experience

Using Personas: Bringing Users Alive

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?

Quesenbery, Whitney. Usability Interface (2003). Articles>Usability>Methods>Personas

Using Technical Communication Skills in User Experience

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.

Putkey, Theresa. Usability Interface (2007). Articles>TC>User Experience