Some Thoughts on Extranets

The purpose of this article is to help you understand some business and design issues related to extranets. This article will also get you thinking about the kinds of tools you might offer to your customers.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2002). Design>Web Design

Some Thoughts on Usability and the Economy

This short article answers a few questions about entering a career in usability given the poor market conditions, and it offers some general career advice.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2001). Careers>Usability

Spanking Jakob Nielsen

The purpose of this article is to critically review Jakob Nielsen's article, Intranet Usability: The Trillion-Dollar Question. In summary, Jakob Nielsen makes some fantastic claims about intranet usability that must be weighed against other business needs and constraints. For example, there might be better ways to spend money than on usability, not all usability improvements are created equal, and it can be hard to apply the changes dictated by a usability study. The criticisms can be applied to many other usability articles.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2003). Articles>Usability

Statistically Analyzing Success Rates in Web Usability Testing: The Cochran's Q Test

The Cochran's Q Test can be used to statistically analyze success rate data. It can be used even when only a small number of users are tested. This provides some indication that a vast amount of usability data can, and should be statistically analyzed

Griffith, Jamie. WebWord (2001). Articles>Web Design>Statistics>Usability

The Stench of Evil Users

Some users are out to destroy you. Some users want you to fail. Some users would like to crush your business. They hate you. They hate your web site. They don't like you. They don't like your company. They are poisonous, vengeful, and twisted. And they're smart.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (1999). Design>Web Design>Usability

Strategic Linking Techniques

Utilize hypertext to maximize the interactive experience of your site. Above all else, hypertext should be used to help your users find what they want, when they want it. You want your users to be able to get more information at just the right time and place in your pages. This isn't easy. Poor linking is a major problem on almost all Web sites.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (1999). Design>Web Design>Hypertext

Super Easy Usability Testing

Self-described as the absolute [sic] easiest introduction to usability testing you could possibly find anywhere.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (1999). Articles>Usability>Methods>Testing

Trouble in Paradise: Problems Facing the Usability Community

There are problems with usability and the usability community. This article is my attempt to raise some of the most important and interesting issues. In my opinion, usability as we know it is dying. It is outdated, misunderstood, and it faces very serious challenges in web and software development circles.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2000). Articles>Usability

Understanding Design Misfits

The purpose of this paper is to briefly discuss design misfits. A cursory overview of misfits is provided, along with a working definition. Eight types of design misfits are revealed. Three examples of each type of misfit are provided for clarification.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2001). Design>User Centered Design>Usability

Usability Around the Globe: Resources

This page is meant to be a useful and well-rounded list of resources related to usability around the world. The topics range from appropriate design for global audiences to developing good local content to effective global usability testing. The reality is that there is not much information available. This is perhaps the most comprehensive list available on this topic.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2001). Articles>Usability>International

Usability Can Save Your Company

Data indicate that usability offers a better return on investment than almost any other business action. When times get rough, usability shines. The benefits are huge. Usability is a weapon that can save you money, improve your competitive position, and improve customer loyalty. Now is the time to invest in the research.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2000). Articles>Usability>Management

Usability Metrics

First, when you are conducting a usability test, it is important to understand exactly what data you should be collecting. You should not run a test without first deciding on what data is required to address your business challenges. Plan ahead! Second, in a usability test, you don't just watch users. You must collect data that reflects how customers actually use your products and services. This is easier said than done.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2001). Articles>Usability>Methods>Testing

The Usability of eBay's Checkout Feature

The article briefly highlights some frustrations sellers have with eBay's Checkout feature.

Rhodes, Matt. WebWord (2001). Design>Web Design>Usability>E Commerce

The Usability of Email Subject Lines

Email is very important to a lot of people and companies. However, very little usability research has been done on email, specifically email subject lines. This article is a summary of a research report written by WebWord on the topic and contains several results. The basic finding from the research is that effective email subject lines are very short, very meaningful, and personal.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2001). Articles>Usability>Correspondence>Email

The Usability of the Palm Vx

I recently purchased an 'old' Palm Vx of off eBay.com. Let me tell you, I couldn't be happier with it, except maybe if it had a color screen and the resolution were a little bit higher. It has a couple usability flaws from the original Palm V model, but nothing that dramatically decreases the user experience.

Rhodes, Matt. WebWord (2003). Articles>Usability>User Interface>PDA

The Usability of Usability: An Interview with Jared Spool, Founding Principal of User Interface Engineering

For example, it is often stated as if it was almost a law of nature that the faster pages download, the more usable the site was. But when we actually compared the usability of sites to their download times, we didn't see any correlations. None, zero, zip. If this 'fact' was true, we should've seen something. To go farther, we found that when we asked users to rate the speed of a site, that didn't correlate to the actual download time either. Instead, the perceived speed of the site correlated strongly to whether they completed their tasks! This tells us that, when users are complaining about download time, they probably aren't actually talking about the download time, but about their ability to complete tasks.

Spool, Jared M. WebWord (2001). Articles>Usability>Web Design

Usability Perspective on Banner Ads

I recently have read a lot about the use of banner ads. My short answer is that they don't work. They might be useful for branding and image campaigns but they are not usable and users don't like them at all.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (1999). Design>Web Design>Marketing>Usability

Usability: The Irish Experience

Ireland’s meteoric growth and current status as the world’s largest software exporter (larger even than the US) is already the stuff of IT folklore - or at least it is over here in Europe. Such a large and fast-growing industry, which emerged from almost nothing in the space of a dozen years or so, creates an interesting environment for those practicing usability. There is certainly a sizable potential market out there, in the shape of indigenous software houses and major web developments. The question is when the consultancy sector will catch up with them.

Farrell, Tom. WebWord (2001). Articles>Usability>Regional>Ireland

The Voyeur Web

The purpose of this article is to explain the voyeur web. The central idea is that it is easy to view what other people are doing and experiencing on the web. A list of voyeur tools are provided.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2002). Design>Web Design>Community Building

Web Developers: On Being Too Wired

I was wondering if anyone else is starting to feel ill at ease about the work that we do. I personally do a lot of web development work. I regularly conduct usability testing on people so that web sites, and other technology, fit better with humans. I make it a point to stress that good design work yields higher profits, growth, and strategic advantage for our clients.  While these things are acceptable and fit with our social norms, I feel like we are becoming the defense contractors of the new economy. I remember when folks at General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing were getting heat for being baby killers and the like. Will the masses start revolting against us?

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2000). Careers>Web Design>Usability

The Web for Your Company: Magic Bullet or Poison Pill?

There are basically two types of companies. The first see the Internet as a poison pill, the rest see it a magic bullet. The poison pill companies fear the Web. They see the rush of companies onto the Internet, and they feel that they must join the stampede. They are bitter, they feel slow, and they are angry that the Web has changed the game. The magic bullet companies see the Web as a new frontier, they embrace change, and they capitalize on the Internet hysteria. Rather than simply throwing a Web site out there, they are making the Internet part of their business. They are building the Internet into their strategic plans, and they are taking it for a ride.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (1999). Articles>Web Design>Marketing

Web Site Accessibility

Accessibility and usability are independent from content. People will come to your site because they've heard that you've got a great widget that is the talk of all the tech rags. These same people will leave after a very short time if they cannot find what they are looking for. Good information architecture is key; it's the design, the ability to maneuver around and find the information needed to complete a task.

Tang, Beth. WebWord (2000). Design>Web Design>Accessibility

Web Sites That Heal

The first purpose of this article is to explain the true causes of linkrot. The second purpose is to outline a new way to solve the linkrot problem.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability

Web Usability Bill of Rights

Web developers, web designers, web producers: Wake up. Hear me roar. I am the common user. I am the person that pays your bills. I am the reason you exist. I am your traffic. Heed my words. I am sick and tired of being abused. I am not smiling or winking. I'm not happy. I am a good person, but you have treaded on me for too long now. I am going to tell you what I want. I am going to tell you what I need from you today so that my experience is better. Listen to me. This is no manifesto, this is my life.

Rhodes, John S. and Sean Lindsay. WebWord (2001). Design>Web Design>Usability

The WebWord Content Management System

The WebWord content management system is not technical, it is human. In fact, the technology is minimal and the web site works because a human understands and maintains the content using very simple tools. While this approach consumes a lot of time, it is simple and cost effective. Small and medium web sites can get along without using content management systems.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2001). Design>Content Management>Case Studies>Web Design