#usability (299 links)
"Jeff Parks [and] Milissa Tarquini [...] talk about how this long held rule in web design is being de-bunked by web analytics and user testing, as well as how this will impact design and development processes based on screen resolution and browser compati
- In Appreciation of Measures That Tell Stories - Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design boxesandarrows.com
Click streams have made room for bounce rates, search analytics, and so much more. If we play our cards right, we can reduce and synthesize the raw data and give our clients more meaningful information that foments action.
- The Limitations of Server Log Files for Usability Analysis - Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design boxesandarrows.com
Server log files are inappropriate for gathering usability data. They are meant to provide server administrators with data about the behavior of the server, not the behavior of the user.
- Readability, Uniqueness, Hackability and Meaning in URL Design - Article - andrewingram andrewingram.net
URL design is arguably one of the most important areas of website developement. Not only do URLs generally have huge visual priority in web browsers but they’re also shown on search result listings and get used for matching search terms.
- 30 Usability Issues To Be Aware Of | Know-How smashingmagazine.com
30 important usability issues, terms, rules and principles which are usually forgotten, ignored or misunderstood.
- ClickTale Blog » ClickTale Scrolling Research Report V2.0 - Part 1: Visibility and Scroll Reach blog.clicktale.com
Visitors appear to be using the location of the scroll bar but not the size of the tracker when scrolling, since the scroll bar location is a relative indicator and the scroll tracker size is an indicator of page height.
Instead of cluttering client sites with this kind of widget I’ve started adding a set of pages with information that helps the user resize text in their browser.
- About the Book - Designing Interfaces designinginterfaces.com
An intermediate-level book about interface and interaction design, structured as a pattern language.
- ActsAsUndoable | Javascript nodetraveller.com
- Web Application Form Design uie.com
Variations in the alignment of input fields, their respective labels, calls to action, and their surrounding visual elements can support or impair different aspects of user behavior.
- How to create an unobtrusive print this page link with JavaScript | 456 Berea Street 456bereastreet.com
It is very unusual to see print links implemented in an unobtrusive way, so here is how to do that.
- 10 colour contrast checking tools to improve the accessibility of your design | 456 Berea Street 456bereastreet.com
Plus some useful general information on contrast issues.
- Good vs. Great Design cameronmoll.com
- Peter Van Dijck’s Guide to Ease » Blog Archive » IA for beginners: long pages work. poorbuthappy.com
"Scrolling works. Long pages work. Anything else tends to be informationarchitecturitis (which I define as “the practice of adding too much structure when it’s not needed and even gets in the way”)." But not all the time, naturally.
- Usability enhancements with JavaScript « AlastairC alastairc.ac
AlastairC's collection of worthwhile DOM-based enhancements.
Because secondary actions can have negative consequences, especially when used unintentionally, I’ve often argued they should be absent from forms.[...]That said there are situations where secondary actions make sense.
"Pagulayan runs a testing lab for Bungie that looks more like a psychological research institute than a game studio. The room we're monitoring is wired with video cameras that Pagulayan can swivel around to record the player's expressions or see which but
The more engaged users are, the more features an application can sustain. But most users have low commitment -- especially to websites, which must focus on simplicity, rather than features.
- ClickTale Blog » Unfolding the Fold blog.clicktale.com
"In this post, we will demonstrate with charts and real data several behavioral patterns related to scrolling." No such thing as the fold - useful background for this POV.
Holding on to this disbelief – this myth that users won’t scroll to see anything below the fold – is doing everyone a great disservice, most of all our users.
This page collects all my published work related to information architecture and user experience.
- Coding Horror: Removing The Login Barrier codinghorror.com
Even if you can't avoid an eventual login, it is possible to make the user's login process nearly seamless. Too many sites take a ham-handed, completely traditional approach to logins. You can do much, much better than the abysmal login barrier status quo
A blind or a keyboard user not being able to learn about the new sports range of a certain brand is less problematic than the same user not being able to do a money transfer or apply for council benefits.
- Lessons From Google Mobile - Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design boxesandarrows.com
Some good points about mobile development.
- IA One Sheeters iaonesheeters.com
One-Sheeters are quick and easy marketing tools for information architects. They're like mini brochures to advertise IA deliverables and promote the IA practice in your company.
"This, almost more than any other item in the web author’s toolbox, seems to be misunderstood and overused." Hear, hear!
- ClickHeat | Clicks heatmap labsmedia.com
ClickHeat is a visual heatmap of clicks on a HTML page, showing hot and cold click zones.
- Why "Click here" is bad linking practice cs.tut.fi
"Web pages often contain links like "Click here" or just "here". This document explains why such usage is bad practice, especially for accessibility reasons."
- Coding Horror: Usability Is Timeless codinghorror.com
The very existence of the new, updated book hints that usability guidelines evolve over time. In one of the first chapters, Nielsen makes this explicit by revisiting earlier web usability issues to see how much they've improved in seven years. Each
- Lame excuses for not being a Web professional | 456 Berea Street 456bereastreet.com
If you do like rants and have an interest in creating websites that work for as many people as possible, you might enjoy this.
- Juicy Studio: Choosing an Accessible CMS juicystudio.com
How do you go about choosing an accessible content management system (CMS)? What are the main criteria for success? And how to ensure ease of use for authors including screen reader users?
"[With eyetracking] we can see that a user may navigate the page of an interface that houses the info she wants," she said, "but if the text is poorly presented, or the navigation is cluttered, or there are too many superfluous images so she cannot easily
- Good Experience - The Page Paradigm goodexperience.com
On any given Web page, users will either: 1. click something that appears to take them closer to the fulfillment of their goal, 2. or click the Back button on their Web browser.
It’s common for people to ask for improvement figures, and usability just doesn’t work quantitatively, so it’s good to have some defensive arguments up my sleeve.
- Web Usability - Source Order, Skip links and Structural labels usability.com.au
Is page source order important to screen reader users?
- Transitioning from User Experience to Product Management - Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design boxesandarrows.com
Becoming a product manager is a logical move for many UX practitioners, as it requires many of the same skills, traits, and competencies involved in crafting a user experience. Additionally, product management is a common role within many organizations, m
This article introduces the basics of cognitive psychology around colour and patterns -- what you need to know, and how it affects Web design in a nutshell.
The implications of having two camps for accessibility
- Tantek's Thoughts — 2007 February tantek.com
Three Hypotheses of Human Interface Design: "I'm calling these hypotheses instead of laws because they have yet to be proven out through rigrous scientific study and critique. I've developed them merely from anecdotes and examples."
- Perceptions of page loading speed » AlastairC alastairc.ac
Applying a number to page loading speed is always suspect, and I’ve generally applied the metric of making sure that people can continue their task within 10 seconds on a reasonable connection (56k+). That doesn’t mean the page has loaded, but that en
- Why you should be using disambiguated URLs simonwillison.net
There’s one aspect of URL design that is often ignored. Good URLs should be unambiguous. By that, I mean that any logical piece of content should have one and only one definitive URL, with any alternatives acting as a permanent redirect.
- Information Architects Japan » iA Notebook » The 100% Easy-2-Read Standard informationarchitects.jp
- Garrett Dimon / Documenting Interface Design garrettdimon.com
I’ve done my best to migrate away from traditional documentation methods and find ways that actual help others visualize what the end product should look like.