Topics: User Science: Usability
Usability experts are from Mars, graphic designers are from Venus. Creative problem solving. Designing for your audience. Contingency design, site mapping, information architecture. Conducting meaningful user testing. Usability testing on the cheap. (33 articles)
Web 3.0
by Jeffrey Zeldman
Issue 210January 16, 2006
Web 2.0 is a fresh-faced starlet on the intertwingled longtail to the disruptive experience of tomorrow. Web 3.0 thinks you are so 2005.
Thinking Outside the Grid
by Molly E. Holzschlag
Issue 209December 19, 2005
“There is a new kid on the block, and her name is ‘I’ve never designed with a table in my career.’”
Sensible Forms: A Form Usability Checklist
by Brian Crescimanno
Issue 209December 19, 2005
”...we can make our users’ lives easier by thinking about the way people interact with our websites, providing clear direction, and then putting the burden of sorting out the details in the hands of the computers—not the users.”
Power to the People
by D. Keith Robinson
Issue 208November 28, 2005
“We should be providing solutions that work for people, not the other way around.”
Design Choices Can Cripple a Website
by Nick Usborne
Issue 207November 08, 2005
”...just pause for a moment and think of all the design choices you have made over the last year, and the reasons why you made them. And think about the huge impact those choices might have had on the performance of the sites you worked on.”
Ambient Findability: Findability Hacks
by Peter Morville
Issue 205October 10, 2005
“Findability defies classification. It flows across the borders between design, engineering, and marketing. Everybody is responsible, and so we run the risk that nobody is accountable.”
Improving Link Display for Print
by Aaron Gustafson
Issue 203September 19, 2005
It seemed my zeal for linkage had come into conflict with my desire to improve print usability.
Complex Dynamic Lists: Your Order Please
by Christian Heilmann
Issue 200May 24, 2005
Help your site’s visitors reach their goals quickly with a dynamic menu that takes its cue from the Mac OS X Finder.
Enhance Usability by Highlighting Search Terms
by Matt Riggott, Brian Suda
Issue 186August 10, 2004
Google’s cache offers users a copy of your website with their search terms highlighted. You can do the same thing and make it easier for users to find what they’re looking for — whether they’re coming from an external search engine or your own site search — by making their search terms easy to spot.
Let Them Eat Cake
by Aaron Gustafson
Issue 177April 16, 2004
A growing debate pits accessibility against usability. From our point of view, it’s like pitting peanut butter against jelly. This article helps you create a page that is both usable and accessible, saving readers the trouble of scrolling with a little help from JavaScript and the Document Object Model.
The Table Ruler
by Christian Heilmann
Issue 175March 26, 2004
Make your site easier to use by giving your visitors a virtual “ruler” to guide and track their progress down long data tables. With a pinch of JavaScript and a dash of the DOM, your table rows will light up as your visitors hover over them.
Accessible Pop-up Links
by Caio Chassot
Issue 174March 19, 2004
Sometimes we have to use pop-ups — so we might as well do them right. This article will show you how to make them more accessible and reliable while simplifying their implementation.
Helping Your Visitors: a State of Mind
by Nick Usborne
Issue 171February 20, 2004
Even the simplest website is harder to figure out than a catalog or magazine. We all know how to “use” a catalog: start at the front cover and keep turning the pages. But with every new site we visit, we have to “learn” how it works, how its “pages” turn, how to find what we’re looking for. Text that takes visitors’ needs into account can help guide them through the maze.
Designing for Context with CSS
by Joshua Porter
Issue 171February 20, 2004
The medium is the message: Imagine providing unique information exclusively for people who read your site via a web-enabled cell phone — then crafting a different message for those who are reading a printout instead of the screen. Let your context guide your content. All it takes is some user-centric marketing savvy and a dash of CSS.
The Perfect 404
by Ian Lloyd
Issue 168January 16, 2004
No matter how carefully you design and structure your site, visitors will sometimes request missing, moved, or non-existent pages. A well tempered 404 error page will plunge these visitors back into the flow of your site. Ian Lloyd shares strategies for crafting the perfect 404.
Tackling Usability Gotchas in Large-scale Site Redesigns
by Jeffrey Zeldman
Issue 163November 14, 2003
Redesigns can solve old usability problems while creating new ones that must be solved in turn. From the lessons of the ALA 3.0 redesign comes this quick study in remapping content without frustrating readers.
Keeping Navigation Current With PHP
by Jason Pearce
Issue 162November 07, 2003
Turning unordered lists into elegant navigational menus has become a new favorite pastime for many web designers. A dash of PHP can add intelligence to your CSS-styled menu.
Slash Forward (Some URLs are Better Than Others)
by waferbaby
Issue 138February 22, 2002
Some URLs are better than others: easier for visitors to remember, easier for designers and developers when it comes time to change the technology that drives the site. Waferbaby neatly and briefly considers the effect of web addresses on usability, design, and ease of maintenance and technological transition.
A Backward Compatible Style Switcher
by Daniel Ludwin
Issue 136February 08, 2002
You asked for it, you’ve got it: an Open Source alternate style sheet switcher that actually works in Netscape 4. No, really. Daniel Ludwin shows how it’s done.
Reading Design
by Dean Allen
Issue 128November 23, 2001
With so many specialists working so hard at their craft, why are so many pages so hard to read? Unabashed text enthusiast Dean Allen thinks designers would benefit from approaching their work as being written rather than assembled.
Information vs. Experience
by Emmanuel King Turner
Issue 125October 26, 2001
The conflict between presentation and structure reveals two views of the web. Which one’s winning?
How to Succeed With URLs
by Till Quack
Issue 123October 12, 2001
Dynamic websites rock. Dynamically generated URLs suck. Till Quack shows how to use PHP to convert those machine-friendly nightmares into dreamy, human-friendly web addresses.
Beyond Usability and Design: The Narrative Web
by Mark Bernstein
Issue 106April 20, 2001
Crafting a narrative web: To succeed profoundly, Bernstein says, websites must go beyond usability and design, deeply engaging readers by turning their journeys through the site into rich, memorable, narrative experiences.
A Failure to Communicate
by George Olsen
Issue 103March 30, 2001
It’s ironic that, as professionals dedicated to clear communication, information architects and user interface designers are having such trouble communicating with each other. Information designer George Olsen digs up the roots of communication breakdown and explores the three aspects of web design.
The Declination of Independence
by Ryan Holsten, Michael Krisher, Brandon Oelling
Issue 102March 23, 2001
Three web designers discuss trendiness and innovation in design, and list 15 sites that made a difference in the year 2000.
The Curse of Information Design
by Scott Jason Cohen
Issue 96August 13, 2005
With the rise of information architecture, user experience consultants, and usability experts, the fate of a website is no longer left to chance, and its design is no longer a function of organic processes. That may be good for business, but is it really good for the web? Scott Cohen has his doubts.
Daemon Skins: Separating Presentation from Content
by Mark Newhouse
Issue 87November 03, 2000
There ’s more than one way to skin a website. Newhouse demonstrates creative scripting techniques that give viewers and designers the control they crave.
Experience Design
by Bob Jacobson
Issue 77August 18, 2000
It’s time for web designers to peek over the cubicle and start sharing ideas with their peers in related design disciplines. Jacobson suggests one way to do that in this overview of the emerging Experience Design paradigm.
Usability experts are from Mars, graphic designers are from Venus
by Curt Cloninger
Issue 74July 28, 2000
Usability mavens like Jakob Nielsen think the web is an ill-used database. Graphic designers like Kioken think it is a fledgling multimedia platform. Could both groups be right? New ALA author Curt Cloninger explains why usability experts are from Mars, graphic designers are from Venus. This one’s a hottie.
URLS! URLS! URLS!
by Bill Humphries
Issue 70June 30, 2000
Database-driven content management systems are everywhere. And with them come URLs only a robot could love. Bill Humphries shows how to transform CGI-generated URLs into meaningful user interfaces through the power of URL mapping.
Walking Backwards: Supporting Non-Western Languages on the Web
by Shoshannah L. Forbes
Issue 65May 26, 2000
And you think you?ve got problems. Try building web sites in a bi-directional language like Hebrew or Arabic. Israeli web developer Shoshannah L. Forbes discusses the mind-boggling hardships involved, and looks at what the latest browsers are doing about it.
Fragments (of Time)
by Pär Almqvist
Issue 64May 19, 2000
The best web interfaces take time – the one asset that seems to be in perpetually short supply. Leading Scandinavian web developer Pär Almqvist presents a time-based perspective on web interfaces and the network economy.
Language: The Ultimate User Interface
by Julia Hayden
Issue 59April 14, 2000
Words. Language. Meaning. They’re a nutritious part of your complete website. So why do so many webmakers treat language like an afterthought? Julia Hayden explores ways to make words work.
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