How Many Subjects Do I Need for a Statistically Valid Survey?

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.

Gardner-Bonneau, Daryle. Usability Interface (1998). Articles>Usability

How Much Interaction is Too Much?

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.

Anderson, Clifford. Usability Interface (2004). Articles>Usability>Testing

How Technical Communicators Can Apply User-Centered Design to Their Work

The user-centered design process applies to designing a piece of technical communication as well as designing a product. Placing the user at the center of the design and development process for information ensures that a usable piece of communication will be delivered to the customer. Technical communicators can apply each of the user-centered design (UCD) tasks to their own writing process and information development cycle.

Fisher, Lori H. Usability Interface (2000). Design>User Centered Design>TC

How the Usability SIG Survey Was Developed

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.

Kleid, Naomi A. Usability Interface (2003). Articles>Usability>Methods>Surveys

How to Create and Promote a Blog in Eight Easy Steps

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.

Streight, Steven. Usability Interface (2005). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Blogging

How to Thaw a Turkey

I open my usability presentations with this true story: I was given a large, frozen turkey a few years ago. When it came time to prepare the turkey, I placed it on a kitchen counter to let the turkey thaw.

Thomas, Joyce. Usability Interface (2001). Humor>Documentation

How to Use FrontPage to Design a Corporate Intranet

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.

Yelverton, Bonnie. Usability Interface (2002). Design>Web Design>Software>FrontPage

How Usability and Audit Contribute to Product Design

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.

Manhaeve, Rik. Usability Interface (2004). Articles>Usability>Technology

How Usable Software Can Liberate Users from the Routine of Boy Scout Administration

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.

Mullins, Mike. Usability Interface (2002). Articles>Usability

Human-Computer Interface at Google

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.

Hoffer, Eric. Usability Interface (2007). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>Usability

I Walk, I See, I Hear

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.

Shumway, Jodi. Usability Interface (2003). Design>Usability>Accessibility

Improving User Documentation and Customer Care

In recent years, the Customer Care Survey of Service and Support Practices in the Software Industry has consistently reported that only about half of software publishers put their documentation through a formal test. We thought that these numbers were low, so we checked them at the Software Testing, Analysis & Review (STAR) conference (Orlando, May 16, 1996). During a plenary session, Kaner asked attendees (software testers) whether their groups tested their companies’ user manuals. Confirming the Customer Care data, at least half the room stood up to signify that their companies did not. This means that reputable companies are not testing their manuals – companies who don’t care about quality don’t spend money to send testers to STAR.

Kaner, Cem and David Pels. Usability Interface (2000). Articles>Usability>Software

Innovations in Card Sorting

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.

Dick, David J. Usability Interface (2007). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods>Card Sorting

Intranet Accessibility and Section 508

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.

Bine, Katharyn. Usability Interface (2002). Design>Accessibility>Web Design>Section 508

Is it Time to Upgrade?

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.

Dick, David J. Usability Interface (2004). Articles>Management>Software

Is Localization of a Product Essential to Ensure Usability and Customer Satisfaction?

Do you believe that localization of a product is essential to ensure usability and customer satisfaction?

Dick, David J. Usability Interface (2005). Articles>Language>Localization

Just Kick It: Six Things You Can Do to Make Your Computer Run Faster

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.

Schurtz, Renee. Usability Interface (2005). Articles>Documentation>Technology

Justification for Documentation Testing

Is documentation testing a part of your production process? If not, don't you think that it should be? Generally, Technical Writers work to tight schedules, which often does not include documentation testing because there is no time. Besides, who wants to take the risk of causing a rewrite or correcting product design and not shipping on schedule? Nobody! What is needed is a justification for including documentation testing in the production schedule. In 'Liability for Defective Documentation,' Cem Kaner provides valuable justification for documentation testing to ensure quality. Bad documentation, he says, has a ripple effect on the number of users it impacts such as Product Development, Training, and Customer Support.

Dick, David J. Usability Interface (2000). Articles>Usability

The Key for Effective Documentation: Answer the User's Real Question

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.

Albers, Michael J. Usability Interface (2005). Articles>Documentation>Usability

Kindred Spirits? Usability Practitioners and Technical Communicators

Technical communicators and usability practitioners are not simply kindred spirits--they are the same spirit: the spirit of communication.

Keirnan, Timothy. Usability Interface (2006). Articles>TC>Usability

Review: Leonardo’s Laptop: Human Needs and the New Computing Technologies

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.

Rotz, Allen. Usability Interface (2003). Resources>Reviews>Usability

Let's Get It Started!

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.

Bachmann, Karen L. Usability Interface (2006). Articles>Usability>User Experience>Volunteering

Let's Work Together

I’ve been working with a product development team for over a year and I think the world of them. Not only are they good at what they do, they are also concerned about creating a product which is both usable and technically robust. They are also serious about their process in which cross-functional teams work together on different parts of a large product. Recently when things got a little busy, we decided to invite another interface designer to help ease the workload. With a robust process and a good interface design, I didn’t think there would be much trouble to integrate a new designer. Imagine my surprise when one member of the group came to me in distress. It turned out that she had been walking the new person through all of the existing designs, showing her both the screen layouts and the analysis behind them. She said, 'As I showed her the prototypes, she kept asking questions. They were good questions, but I felt as though she had found every usability battle I had lost in the last six months.'

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

Looking Forward to A New Year in Usability

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.

Bachmann, Karen L. Usability Interface (2004). Articles>Usability>Planning

Looking Information about Usability Testing of Documentation

Looking for information about Usability Testing of Documentation? There are many other models available. In a recent presentation to my local STC chapter I identified four main stages for a document's life cycle: Requirements Gathering, Design, Writing, and Maintenance.

McDaniel, Scott M. Usability Interface (2000). Articles>Usability