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Web
Usability Resources and Tools
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- More
Than Screen Deep - Computer Science and Telecommunications
Board (CSTB) of the National Research Council convened a steering
committee to evaluate and suggest fruitful directions for progress
in user interfaces to computing and communications systems. A very
informative site.
- Adobe
- Flash : Usability - Usability tips, examples, test case,
quotes, related articles and a Flash forum for site developers.
- AgeLight
Institute - Guidelines written for webmasters, communicators
and marketers to assist with website design for maximum usability
for seniors and older internet users.
- Alertbox - Jakob
Nielsen's bi-weekly column on current issues in Web usability,
focusing on simple and minimalist design based on real user needs.
- All Things Web:
The Usable Web - Tips and techniques for building
reader-friendly Web pages.
- alt
tags - Muddling Through - Web site designers should think hard
about how to keep users from muddling around on their sites.
"Users muddle when it isn’t clear what they are supposed to
do in any given situation."
- AnyBrowser.com - Web
page viewer presents a site as it might be seen by visitors with
different browsers.
- Art and the
Zen of Web Sites - Suggestions and guidelines for putting
together a usable and attractive web site.
- BBC
News - Web design 'causes confusion' - Web designers are not
on the same wavelength as surfers when it comes to creating sites,
says a US study.
- Bohmann Usability
- News weblog covering web usability in Europe.
- Croc O' Lyle -
Weblog by a practicing User Experience Architect. Usually about
usability, design information architecture and e-business.
- Designing a More Usable
World - Trace Research and Development Center at the
University of Wisconsin. Excellent guidelines for universal web
design.
- Don't Link to Us -
Highlights stupid linking policies by linking to web sites that
attempt to impose substantial restrictions on other sites that
link to them.
- eShopability -
Provides design and usability information and advice on how to
convert browsers into buyers and keep them, analysis and trends.
Free fortnightly newsletter.
- Eyetools Research - Greg
Edwards on design and content optimization through eyetrack
testing: measuring what people read, look at, skip, and ignore on
webpages.
- Fifth
Conference on the Human Factors and the Web - A forum for
sharing information among a community of human factors engineers,
designers, and developers who are interested in producing web
sites that are more useful and usable. Site contains proceedings
of the most recent (3/Jun/1999) conference and archives of all
previous conferences.
- Guide to Usability for
Software Engineers (GUSE) - Pages collected by the University
of Maryland, Masters of Software Engineering. These guidelines
will assist software engineers to create effective user
interfaces.
- A
Heuristic Evaluation of a World Wide Web Prototype -
Experiment by the Bureau of Labor Statistics(BLS)finding a large
number of usability problems that were identified and suggestions
for correction.
- Hot Text: Web
Writing That Works - Articles from trainer-writer team
Jonathan and Lisa Price. Ideas and services for web writers,
editors, and content managers.
- HTML Authoring Tools -
Provides free services to assist web authors who wish to make
their information available to the largest audience.
- Human
Factors International - Web Usability Tips - These tips are
provided to help you improve the interaction between humans and
computers in your web design.
- IBM
DeveloperWorks: Web Architecture - Offering tools needed to
understand usability and accessibility issues. Includes materials
that can help you create user-centered applications and gain
insight into accessibility challenges.
- Improving
Web Site Usability and Appeal - Guidelines compiled by MSN
Usability Research to provide designers and producers with ideas
to increase the usability and appeal of Web sites.
- Internet Brothers:
Helpware for the Cybercommunity - Expanding web community by
offering free tips and tutorials about HTML and DHTML, graphics
editing, site promotion, digital photography, and desktop
publishing. Presented often with a touch of humor, and always with
examples.
- Java
Software Human Interface - Essential information about human
interface design and usability for applications and applets
written in the Java programming language.
- JavaScript
and Web Site Usability - An Interview with JavaScript Guru,
Mr. Danny Goodman on how JavaScript can make a web site easier to
use.
- Jef Raskin - A site
by and about Jef Raskin, interactive systems design expert.
- Jeffrey
Veen: The Usability of Subscribing to Feeds - RSS feeds are
surprisingly difficult for the average user to use.
- Klariti
Guide to Usability and Information Architecture - Directory
contains over 500 links, mainly to scholarly articles.
- Lynx
Friendly - The key to being Lynx Friendly is to be consciously
aware of the HTML which goes into creating a web page and to
ensure that those using a non-graphical browser are not ignored.
- Morville,
Peter: Building a Synonymous Search Index - Help users find
the documents they're looking for by incorporating a
'thesaurus-like' hierarchy for your site.
- Morville,
Peter: Virtual Documents: The Challenges of Chunking - Advice
for determining a level of granularity in breaking up documents
for online viewing.
- Navigation
101 - A simple, understandable navigation scheme is a critical
aspect of site design and has a direct effect on the bottom line.
- Nielsen Norman Group
- Reports and columns on usability and human interface design by
Jakob Nielsen, Don Norman, and Bruce 'Tog' Tognazzini.
- Norman,
Don: Human Centred Design - Don Norman discusses the approach
to usability when building his own website. This includes links to
related content by Jakob Nielsen.
- Opquast - A list of best
practices intended to improve the quality of on-line services.
- Pointafter.com
- 20 Do's and Don'ts of Web Usability - Tips from George
Prociuk.
- Principia
Hypertextica: Introduction - A mathematics educator's view of
web design. Encourages speed, accessibility, validity, and
navigability. Discusses difficulties of math typesetting on the
web.
- Publish.com
- Flash and Usability - Guidelines for usable Flash, By Ilise
Benun.
- Readability
Of Websites With Various Foreground/Background Color Combinations,
Font Types And Word Styles - 1997 psychology research project
by Alyson L. Hill at Stephen F. Austin State University.
Participants scanned simulated websites for a target word;
readability was inferred from reaction time.
- Roger
C. Parker - Eleven Common Web Page Design Frustrations and How To
Cure Them - How to keep web page design from interfering with
communication to visitors.
- Rosenfeld,
Lou: Is Less Really More? - When it comes to the usability
factor of tables of contents, is less really more?
- Rosenfeld,
Lou: Yahoo! is Dead. Long Live Yahoo! - Discussion on the
inevitable collapse of Yahoo directory due to its size and
complexity. He Predicts mini-yahoo sites within corporate
intranets.
- Schaffer,
Eric: How to Develop a Corporate Intranet Standard - From the
consultants of Human Factors International. [PDF]
- Schaffer,
Eric: How to Develop an Effective GUI Standard -- PDF file -
From the consultants of Human Factors International (www.humanfactors.com).
Requires Acrobat Reader.
- Schroeder,
Will: Testing Web Sites with Eye-Tracking - Describes an
experiment carried out to monitor the eye movements of visitors to
a prototype web site.
- Scottberkun.com
- Expert columns on web usability, interaction and web design.
- ShoreWalker - Covers
every area of good site design as well as what not to do. Steers
you away from hype and towards more practical, user-friendly Web
design. Based in Australia.
- Some
Simple Techniques In Making Your Website Accessible - Tutorial
by Andrew Pae, Technical Coordinator at the ADAPTS Office at
Georgia Tech. General design principles plus resources for
additional information.
- Something
4 Nothing Web Pages - Tips for building pages which are
visually pleasing, and yet still download quickly and make
information easy to access. From Webdeveloper.com.
- Spool,
Jared: Hard Evidence from Research - Spool uncovers the
lessons his research has taught him about how best to design a
site so that users don't end up thwarted
- Spool,
Jared: Web Graphic Design Is Not What You Think, A Usability
Perspective - "The number one activity on the Web is
information retrieval." In part of his tutorial, Spool
explained his findings on graphic design and users' success.
- Starling Access
Services - Interesting definition of Accessible Web Design.
For use by "anyone, any web browsing technology and any
site".
- STC SIG - Usability
- Forum to share information, resources and experiences on issues
related to the usability and user-centered design. It is the home
of the Usability Special Interest Group of the Society for
Technical Communication.
- Stevesdomain.net -
Focuses on furthering the education of web related topics,
including web design and navigation tips, advice and techniques.
- Szuc, Daniel:
Usability in Hong Kong - Interview detailing the approach to
web usability in Hong Kong.
- Theory - A weekly
column by Adam Baker that discusses web usability, interface, and
interaction design. Includes previous columns for review.
- 100 Things
to Do to Make a Better Site - List of several (actually,
eight) ways to make a more user-friendly site. Also has other
reader comments on the same topic.
- Tognazzini,
Bruce: First Principles - Bruce Tognazzini discusses basic
prinicples of usability for both traditional applications and web
services.
- Universal Usability
- Includes an online version of the book "Access by Design: A
Guide to Universal Usability for Web Designers" by Sarah
Horton, along with links to other useful resources.
- Usability
Engineering - "Designing for Ease Use", Article
written by Corporate Solutions Consulting (UK)on usability
engineering.
- Usability First -
Diamond Bullet Design offers their experience and knowledge on
website and software usability.
- Usability
Matters - From the Usability Matters Group at the Linköping
University in Sweden. Their goal is to make computer systems more
usable. The 1995 essay "Perspectives on Usability" by
Jonas Löwgren is available for download in PDF format.
- Usability Must Die
- Examines what's wrong with the usability movement, with some
humour, and experiences from the coal face of software design.
- Usability Professionals'
Association - The UPA's purpose is to promote usability
concepts and techniques worldwide.
- Usability.gov - Provided
by the National Cancer Institute. Includes information and
resources on making web sites and other user interfaces more
useful, usable, and accessible. News and current publications and
additional links are provided.
- Usable Web - Collection of
links and accompanying information about human factors, user
interface issues, and usable design specific to the World Wide
Web.
- Usable Webs -
Information on basic web usability principles, including hints on
helping search engines find your site. Web usability assessments
and content development are available.
- Usefo.com - Web design
resources, Usableword newsletter, and web usability guidelines to
make web sites faster, more educational, and usable.
- Useit.com - Jakob Nielsen
shares his thoughts on usability.
- User
Interface Design - Software Design Smorgasbord - A
comprehensive resource page on UI Design, maintained by Craig
Marion, the webmaster of Chester County Internet Services.
- Various:
WebWord Interviews with the Experts - Site includes usability
articles written by John S. Rhodes. This page is a good starting
point.
- Vaspers the Grate
- Insights into web writing, user-focused web design, and web
credibility enhancement.
- Vaspers
the Grate: Web Credibility Destroyers - List of design issues
that pollute an overall impression of trustworthiness and
dependability.
- The WDVL:
Designing Attractive Web Pages - Before you can design
avant-garde Web pages, you have to know what the rules are before
you try to break, bend or amend them.
- WDVL:
Usability Testing in Practice - Reveals one company's
usability testing practices and procesures.
- Web
Development - A summary of the complete life cycle of web
development: planning, analysis, design, implementation, and
promotion. Key practices and online resources are given for each
process. By John December, author of numerous material for web
development methodology.
- Web Pages That Suck
- Learn good web page design by looking at bad web pages.
- Web Usability -
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. Special issue of
WWW Usability arising from a symposium entitled "The Missing
Link: Hypermedia Usability Research and The Web".
- Web
Usability Articles - Several years of usability-related
articles from Digital Web Magazine.
- Web
Usability Findings - Compilation of surveys of web usability
engineering and test results.
- WEBehavior - A
behavioral research, usability testing, and customer experience
evaluation firm.
- Webmaster's
Corner - A commentary on web usability, design, and direction
aimed at the beginning web developer.
- WebMetric Tools
- Good usability is vital to the success of any web site. This
site has downloadable sets of web evaluation tools to assist in
analysis of a web page based on numerous usability guidelines.
Registration is required (free).
- WebWord Usability Consulting
- Usability and human factors for the Internet. Including book
list, expert articles and interviews, and recommended sites.
- Adaptive
Path - 90% of All Usability Testing is Useless - Lane Becker
writes, "Rather than a validation done once before completing
a product... internal, qualitative usability testing [should be]
done earlier, more frequently, and as part of the design process -
not separate from it." (June, 2004)
- Top Ten
Web Design Mistakes of 2003 (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox) - Sites
are getting better at using minimalist design, maintaining
archives, and offering comprehensive services. However, these
advances entail their own usability problems, as several prominent
mistakes from 2003 show. (December, 2003)
- Publish.com
- Five Usability Principles For Web Design - Ilise Benun
elaborates on the principles of consistency, interaction,
instruction, choices and control. (August 30, 2003)
- Publish.com
- Usability Matters - Article by Marcia Ludkin. "Again
and again... usability experts discover that real people may not
understand what may be obvious to a site’s designers."
(February 11, 2003)
- CNET.com -
Study: Design lacking in e-tail sites - The design of some of
the leading online stores is mediocre at best, but, according to a
new study, it is improving. (June 3, 2002)
- CNN.com
- Analysis: Web sites are locking out the disabled - Office
buildings have wheelchair ramps and TV has closed captioning, but
many Web sites are inaccessible to people with disabilities.
Things don't have to be that way. (August 7, 2000)
- User-Friendly
Web Sites for All Ages, Microsoft PressPass - Guidelines for
businesses, developers and web designers on how to make their web
sites more user-friendly and accessable for the adult community. A
white paper issued by Microsoft, "Effective Web Design
Considerations for Older Adults." is available for download.
(May 12, 1999)
- The
Scent of Information - The reason why so many people lose
their way on the Web, according to usability expert Jared Spool,
is because they lose the scent of the information they are looking
for. Jared shares his thoughts and perspectives on the Web,
usability, and the user's quest for information. (May 15, 1998)
- Seattletimes.com:
A primer for a good Web page - Users want indicators of how
good (e.e., current, accurate, credible) the page's information
is. (March 29, 1998)
- 7
Debilitating Diseases of Business Websites - Illnesses make
websites inefficient. The cures, by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson:Web
Marketing Today, Issue 41, February 1, 1998. (February 1, 1998)
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