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If you are making a new Web site or even working on an old one, usability should be playing a big role in your development. Usability encompasses everything from the User Interface to accessibility for people with disabilities.
Webreference Articles
- Accessibility and the Web
- Accessiblity to the Web is generally taken for granted, except when a site is slow or unavailable. Here, you'll learn about techniques to make your Web site more accessible. Some are relatively simple, while others require a little work. By Lee Underwood.
- Designing From Both Sides of the Screen
- Help get your usability and software engineers on the same page with this
New Rider's publication. Our excerpt from Chapter 1 discusses the need to
build collaborative relationships between applications and the people who use
them.
- Book Review: Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed
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We review Jakob Nielsen and Marie Tahir's new book, Homepage Usability. The authors reveal 113 homepage usability design guidelines and 40 design metrics, and apply them mercilessly to 50 popular websites. You only get one chance to make a first impression, this book will ensure it's a good one. By Andy King. See also New Riders' interview with the authors, and our own interview with more usability details.
- Site Review: Whitehouse.gov Usability: The Web Wing
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President Bush has launched a revamped Whitehouse.gov.
While much improved, the new site still has some usability
problems. As a public service, three usability experts
analyze the new site. By Andy King.
- Book Review: Designing Easy-to-use Websites
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IBM usability guru Venessa Donnelly gives a more structured approach to usability using
methods borrowed from the software development world. Also includes an
interview. By Andy King.
- Book Review/Interview: Designing Web Usability
- We summarize Jakob Nielsen's newest book on improving Web usability. Also includes an interview with the usability guru. By Andy King.
- Book Review: Don't Make Me Think!
- A practical Web design usability guide, "Don't Make Me Think!" is based on empirical observation, not exhaustive statistics. Steve Krug's five years of usability consulting are boiled down to this thin yet gem-filled how-to. By Andy King.
- Collecting Feedback About Your Website's Search Interface
- Usability gurus Jakob Nielsen and Kara Pernice Coyne show how to test your site's search interface for usability.
- Usability Design Tip: Do It Over
- Designing a highly usable Web site is an iterative process. Knowing when to start over is important. By Bob Stein.
- Why You Need to Test Your Web Site with Real Users
- An article that explains how to assess a site's usability and why it's necessary to have 'real' users test your site. By Lois Wakeman.
Usability Articles
- All Things Web
- The Usable Web: A collection of web sites about usability and design - and remembering the user. From Terry
Sullivan.
- Bobby
- A free Web-based service that will help you make Web pages accessible to
people with disabilities.
- GUSE
- Guide to Usability for Software Engineers - and that includes Webmasters. From the University of Maryland, generated by their MSE program.
- Links on the WWW
- A chapter excerpt from the book, "Web Site Usability" by the User
Interface Engineering group.
- Sun's Study on UI
- Slightly old (the inline graphics are gone..), but with interesting analysis and user commentary from their study. Also discusses the 1998 redesign of their own site.
- Usability Methods Toolbox
- Information about methods and techniques used in usability evaluation. Comprehensive, with an academic slant. By James Hom.
- Useit.com(*)
- A Web site devoted to teaching people how to make usable, approachable web
sites. By Jakob Neilson, a distinguished Sun Engineer who works on future
directions for Web usability. Don't miss AlertBox, a semi-monthly newsletter on
usability.
- WebWord.com
- Devoted to helping you improve the usability of your Web site. Recommended
books, Web sites, monthy usability column, interviews, and more are available.
Manufacturers' Usability Design Specs and UI Labs
- Apple
- OS Human Interface Guidelines.
- IBM (*)
- Ease of Use: Articles, News, Training and Tools.
- Microsoft
- Usability information from MSDN.
- Sun
- Sun's Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines.
Usability Collections
- HCI Index
- Organized collection of pages points you to many different resources on
Human-Computer-Interaction on the Internet. By Hans de Graaff.
- HCI Resources on
the Web
- A collection of HCI resources, maintained by Michael Ericsson.
- Usability collection
- A collection of articles that have appeared in WebReview on on topics related to usability.
- Usability and
Accessibility
- Links from the web design guide at the Mining Co.
- Usable Web (*)
- Usable Web is a guide to resources about Web usability, about making the
Web easier to use. Lots of links to different articles on designing web
interfaces.
- Web Accessibility Resource Center
- NetMechanic's collection includes links to articles on section 508 compliance and policy, tools, event listings,
and an Accessibility Dictionary.
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