Open Directory - Computers: Internet: Web Design and Development: Web Usability
See also: This category in other languages: - List of several (actually, eight) ways to make a more user-friendly site. Also has other reader comments on the same topic. - Experiment by the Bureau of Labor Statistics(BLS)finding a large number of usability problems that were identified and suggestions for correction. - Usability tips, examples, test case, quotes, related articles and a Flash forum for site developers. - Guidelines written for webmasters, communicators and marketers to assist with website design for maximum usability for seniors and older internet users. - Jakob Nielsen's bi-weekly column on current issues in Web usability, focusing on simple and minimalist design based on real user needs. - Tips and techniques for building reader-friendly Web pages. - Web page viewer presents a site as it might be seen by visitors with different browsers. - Suggestions and guidelines for putting together a usable and attractive web site. - Web design 'causes confusion' - Web designers are not on the same wavelength as surfers when it comes to creating sites, says a US study. - News weblog covering web usability in Europe. - Weblog by a practicing User Experience Architect. Usually about usability, design information architecture and e-business. - Trace Research and Development Center at the University of Wisconsin. Excellent guidelines for universal web design. - Highlights stupid linking policies by linking to web sites that attempt to impose substantial restrictions on other sites that link to them. - Greg Edwards on design and content optimization through eyetrack testing: measuring what people read, look at, skip, and ignore on webpages. - 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. - Pages collected by the University of Maryland, Masters of Software Engineering. These guidelines will assist software engineers to create effective user interfaces. - Provides free services to assist web authors who wish to make their information available to the largest audience. - Articles from trainer-writer team Jonathan and Lisa Price. Ideas and services for web writers, editors, and content managers. - Eric Schaffer of Human Factors International describes the result of his experiences of working Eric working on over 150 user interface standardization projects. [PDF] - These tips are provided to help you improve the interaction between humans and computers in your web design. - 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. - 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. - Essential information about human interface design and usability for applications and applets written in the Java programming language. - An Interview with JavaScript Guru, Mr. Danny Goodman on how JavaScript can make a web site easier to use. - RSS feeds are surprisingly difficult for the average user to use. - Directory contains over 500 links, mainly to scholarly articles. - 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. - Help users find the documents they're looking for by incorporating a 'thesaurus-like' hierarchy for your site. - Advice for determining a level of granularity in breaking up documents for online viewing. - Reports and columns on usability and human interface design by Jakob Nielsen, Don Norman, and Bruce 'Tog' Tognazzini. - Don Norman discusses the approach to usability when building his own website. This includes links to related content by Jakob Nielsen. - A list of best practices intended to improve the quality of on-line services. - Tips from George Prociuk. - A mathematics educator's view of web design. Encourages speed, accessibility, validity, and navigability. Discusses difficulties of math typesetting on the web. - How to keep web page design from interfering with communication to visitors. - When it comes to the usability factor of tables of contents, is less really more? - Discussion on the inevitable collapse of Yahoo directory due to its size and complexity. He Predicts mini-yahoo sites within corporate intranets. - 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. - From the consultants of Human Factors International. [PDF] - Describes an experiment carried out to monitor the eye movements of visitors to a prototype web site. - Expert columns on web usability, interaction and web design. - Covers every area of site design as well as what not to do. Steers the user away from hype and towards more practical, user-friendly Web design. Based in Australia. - Tips for building pages which are visually pleasing, and yet still download quickly and make information easy to access. From Webdeveloper.com. - Spool uncovers the lessons his research has taught him about how best to design a site so that users don't end up thwarted - "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. - Interesting definition of Accessible Web Design. For use by "anyone, any web browsing technology and any site". - Focuses on furthering the education of web related topics, including web design and navigation tips, advice and techniques. - Interview detailing the approach to web usability in Hong Kong. - A weekly column by Adam Baker that discusses web usability, interface, and interaction design. Includes previous columns for review. - Bruce Tognazzini discusses basic prinicples of usability for both traditional applications and web services. - 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. - Diamond Bullet Design offers their experience and knowledge on website and software usability. - The UPA's purpose is to promote usability concepts and techniques worldwide. - 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. - Collection of links and accompanying information about human factors, user interface issues, and usable design specific to the World Wide Web. - Information on basic web usability principles, including hints on helping search engines find your site. Web usability assessments and content development are available. - Web design resources, Usableword newsletter, and web usability guidelines to make web sites faster, more educational, and usable. - Jakob Nielsen shares his thoughts on usability. - Usability articles written by John S. Rhodes. This page is a good starting point. - Insights into web writing, user-focused web design, and web credibility enhancement. - List of design issues that pollute an overall impression of trustworthiness and dependability. - 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. - Learn good web page design by looking at bad web pages. - 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". - Compilation of surveys of web usability engineering and test results. - Usability and human factors for the Internet. Including book list, expert articles and interviews, and recommended sites. - A commentary on web usability, design, and direction aimed at the beginning web developer. - 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." - Provides design and usability information and advice on how to convert browsers into buyers and keep them, analysis and trends. Free fortnightly newsletter. - 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 01, 2004) - Ian Lloyd gives strategies for building custom 404 error pages that enhance usability. (January 16, 2004) - Sites are getting better at using minimalist design, maintaining archives, and offering services. However, these advances entail their own usability problems, as several prominent mistakes from 2003 show. (December 01, 2003) - Ilise Benun elaborates on the principles of consistency, interaction, instruction, choices and control. (Publish.com) (August 30, 2003) - The design of some of the leading online stores is mediocre at best, but, according to a new study, it is improving. (June 03, 2002) - 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 07, 2000) - 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) - Illnesses make websites inefficient. The cures, by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson:Web Marketing Today, Issue 41, February 1, 1998. (February 01, 1998)
