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Useit.com - http://www.useit.com
Jakob Nielsen shares his thoughts on usability. |
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Alertbox - http://www.useit.com/alertbox/
Jakob Nielsen's bi-weekly column on current issues in Web usability, focusing on simple and minimalist design based on real user needs. |
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Usability Professionals' Association - http://www.upassoc.org/
The UPA's purpose is to promote usability concepts and techniques worldwide. |
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Adobe - Flash : Usability - http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/testing_usability.html
Usability tips, examples, test case, quotes, related articles and a Flash forum for site developers. |
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IBM DeveloperWorks: Web Architecture - http://www-136.ibm.com/developerworks/web/
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. |
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Nielsen Norman Group - http://www.nngroup.com/reports/
Reports and columns on usability and human interface design by Jakob Nielsen, Don Norman, and Bruce 'Tog' Tognazzini. |
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Usability.gov - http://www.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. |
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Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2003 (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox) - http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20031222.html
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. |
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HTML Authoring Tools - http://www.delorie.com/web/
Provides free services to assist web authors who wish to make their information available to the largest audience. |
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Web Pages That Suck - http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/
Learn good web page design by looking at bad web pages. |
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Usable Web - http://usableweb.com/
Collection of links and accompanying information about human factors, user interface issues, and usable design specific to the World Wide Web. |
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AnyBrowser.com - http://www.anybrowser.com/
Web page viewer presents a site as it might be seen by visitors with different browsers. |
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Starling Access Services - http://www.starlingweb.com/webac.htm
Interesting definition of Accessible Web Design. For use by "anyone, any web browsing technology and any site". |
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Tognazzini, Bruce: First Principles - http://www.asktog.com/basics/firstPrinciples.html
Bruce Tognazzini discusses basic prinicples of usability for both traditional applications and web services. |
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Universal Usability - http://universalusability.com/
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. |
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Web Development - http://www.december.com/web/develop.html
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. |
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CNET.com - Study: Design lacking in e-tail sites - http://www.news.com/2100-1017-931274.html
The design of some of the leading online stores is mediocre at best, but, according to a new study, it is improving. |
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Don't Link to Us - http://www.dontlink.com
Highlights stupid linking policies by linking to web sites that attempt to impose substantial restrictions on other sites that link to them. |
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Various: WebWord Interviews with the Experts - http://webword.com/interviews/index.html
Usability articles written by John S. Rhodes. This page is a good starting point. |
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Web Usability Articles - http://www.digital-web.com/topics/usability/
Several years of usability-related articles from Digital Web Magazine. |
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Scottberkun.com - http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/
Expert columns on web usability, interaction and web design. |
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STC SIG - Usability - http://www.stcsig.org/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. |
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WebMetric Tools - http://zing.ncsl.nist.gov/WebTools/
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). |
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More Than Screen Deep - http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/screen/index.html#contents
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. |
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Eyetools Research - http://blog.eyetools.net/
Greg Edwards on design and content optimization through eyetrack testing: measuring what people read, look at, skip, and ignore on webpages. |
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Human Factors International - Web Usability Tips - http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/10tips.asp
These tips are provided to help you improve the interaction between humans and computers in your web design. |
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Web Usability - http://ijhcs.open.ac.uk/
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". |
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Readability Of Websites With Various Foreground/Background Color Combinations, Font Types And Word Styles - http://hubel.sfasu.edu/research/AHNCUR.html
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. |
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Hot Text: Web Writing That Works - http://www.webwritingthatworks.com/
Articles from trainer-writer team Jonathan and Lisa Price. Ideas and services for web writers, editors, and content managers. |
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Adaptive Path - 90% of All Usability Testing is Useless - http://www.adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000328.php
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." |
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Jef Raskin - http://jef.raskincenter.org/
A site by and about Jef Raskin, interactive systems design expert. |
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Art and the Zen of Web Sites - http://www.tlc-systems.com/webtips.shtml
Suggestions and guidelines for putting together a usable and attractive web site. |
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Vaspers the Grate - http://vaspersthegrate.blogspot.com/
Insights into web writing, user-focused web design, and web credibility enhancement. |
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Usability Matters - http://www.ida.liu.se/labs/aslab/groups/um/
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. |
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ShoreWalker - http://www.shorewalker.com/
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. |
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Croc O' Lyle - http://crocolyle.blogspot.com
Weblog by a practicing User Experience Architect. Usually about usability, design information architecture and e-business. |
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Theory - http://www.merges.net/theory/
A weekly column by Adam Baker that discusses web usability, interface, and interaction design. Includes previous columns for review. |
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Java Software Human Interface - http://java.sun.com/developer/techDocs/hi/
Essential information about human interface design and usability for applications and applets written in the Java programming language. |
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Some Simple Techniques In Making Your Website Accessible - http://www.adapts.gatech.edu/general_resources/webaccess.htm
Tutorial by Andrew Pae, Technical Coordinator at the ADAPTS Office at Georgia Tech. General design principles plus resources for additional information. |
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Szuc, Daniel: Usability in Hong Kong - http://webword.com/interviews/szuc.html
Interview detailing the approach to web usability in Hong Kong. |
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Usability Must Die - http://www.usabilitymustdie.com
Examines what's wrong with the usability movement, with some humour, and experiences from the coal face of software design. |
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eShopability - http://www.eshopability.com
Provides design and usability information and advice on how to convert browsers into buyers and keep them, analysis and trends. Free fortnightly newsletter. |
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CNN.com - Analysis: Web sites are locking out the disabled - http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/08/07/web.site.accessibility.idg/index.html
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. |
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Principia Hypertextica: Introduction - http://www.cst.cmich.edu/users/chaff1ra/m132/WWW/type/
A mathematics educator's view of web design. Encourages speed, accessibility, validity, and navigability. Discusses difficulties of math typesetting on the web. |
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Stevesdomain.net - http://www.stevesdomain.net/
Focuses on furthering the education of web related topics, including web design and navigation tips, advice and techniques. |
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The WDVL: Designing Attractive Web Pages - http://wdvl.com/Authoring/Design/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. |
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7 Debilitating Diseases of Business Websites - http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/7diseases.htm
Illnesses make websites inefficient. The cures, by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson:Web Marketing Today, Issue 41, February 1, 1998. |
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Bohmann Usability - http://www.bohmann.dk/observations/
News weblog covering web usability in Europe. |
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Usable Webs - http://www.usablewebs.com/
Information on basic web usability principles, including hints on helping search engines find your site. Web usability assessments and content development are available. |
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How to Develop an Effective GUI Standard - http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/guistandards.pdf
Eric Schaffer of Human Factors International describes the result of his experiences of working Eric working on over 150 user interface standardization projects. |
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BBC News - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2041040.stm
Web design 'causes confusion' - Web designers are not on the same wavelength as surfers when it comes to creating sites, says a US study. |
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Usefo.com - http://patsula.com/usefo/
Web design resources, Usableword newsletter, and web usability guidelines to make web sites faster, more educational, and usable. |
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Pointafter.com - 20 Do's and Don'ts of Web Usability - http://www.pointafter.com/Archives/nl0204.htm
Tips from George Prociuk. |
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Klariti Guide to Usability and Information Architecture - http://www.klariti.com/information-architecture/
Directory contains over 500 links, mainly to scholarly articles. |
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Webmaster's Corner - http://www.newramp.com/webmasters/archive.asp
A commentary on web usability, design, and direction aimed at the beginning web developer. |
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WEBehavior - http://www.webehavior.com/
A behavioral research, usability testing, and customer experience evaluation firm. |
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Norman, Don: Human Centred Design - http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/gratuitous_grap.html
Don Norman discusses the approach to usability when building his own website. This includes links to related content by Jakob Nielsen. |
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Vaspers the Grate: Web Credibility Destroyers - http://vaspersthegrate.blogspot.com/2004/06/web-credibility-destroyers.html
List of design issues that pollute an overall impression of trustworthiness and dependability. |
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Internet Brothers: Helpware for the Cybercommunity - http://internetbrothers.com/
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. |
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A Heuristic Evaluation of a World Wide Web Prototype - http://stats.bls.gov/ore/htm_papers/st960160.htm
Experiment by the Bureau of Labor Statistics(BLS)finding a large number of usability problems that were identified and suggestions for correction. |
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User-Friendly Web Sites for All Ages, Microsoft PressPass - http://www.microsoft.com/PressPass/press/1999/May99/GuidelinePR.asp
Guidelines for businesses, developers and web designers on how to make their web sites more user-friendly and accessible for the adult community. A white paper issued by Microsoft, "Effective Web Design Considerations for Older Adults." is available for download. |
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Something 4 Nothing Web Pages - http://www.webdeveloper.com/html/html_something_4_nothing.html
Tips for building pages which are visually pleasing, and yet still download quickly and make information easy to access. From Webdeveloper.com. |
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WDVL: Usability Testing in Practice - http://wdvl.internet.com/Authoring/Design/UsabilityTesting/
Reveals one company's usability testing practices and procesures. |
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Rosenfeld, Lou: Is Less Really More? - http://www.ddj.com/184412956
When it comes to the usability factor of tables of contents, is less really more? |
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Rosenfeld, Lou: Yahoo! is Dead. Long Live Yahoo! - http://www.ddj.com/184412919
Discussion on the inevitable collapse of Yahoo directory due to its size and complexity. He Predicts mini-yahoo sites within corporate intranets. |
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Morville, Peter: Virtual Documents: The Challenges of Chunking - http://www.ddj.com/184412896
Advice for determining a level of granularity in breaking up documents for online viewing. |
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The Scent of Information - http://www.ddj.com/web-development/184413077
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. |
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Spool, Jared: Web Graphic Design Is Not What You Think, A Usability Perspective - http://www.ddj.com/web-development/184412961
"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. |
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Morville, Peter: Building a Synonymous Search Index - http://www.ddj.com/184412944
Help users find the documents they're looking for by incorporating a 'thesaurus-like' hierarchy for your site. |
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Spool, Jared: Hard Evidence from Research - http://www.ddj.com/184412959
Spool uncovers the lessons his research has taught him about how best to design a site so that users don't end up thwarted |
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Opquast - http://www.opquast.com/
A list of best practices intended to improve the quality of on-line services. |
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Fifth Conference on the Human Factors and the Web - http://zing.ncsl.nist.gov/hfweb/index.html
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. |
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Designing a More Usable World - http://trace.wisc.edu/world/
Trace Research and Development Center at the University of Wisconsin. Excellent guidelines for universal web design. |
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Web Usability Findings - http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bing/oversite/webusefind.html
Compilation of surveys of web usability engineering and test results. |
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Publish.com - Flash and Usability - http://www.publish.com/article2/0,,1757914,00.asp
Guidelines for usable Flash, By Ilise Benun. |