Category Archives: Usability

Periodic Table Design: The Good, the Bad and the Pretty?

One of the most unique reference tools people will use is the periodic table of chemical elements. This is a tool where not only each block in the table has information (about each element), but the layout also has a… More On: Periodic Table Design: The Good, the Bad and the Pretty?

Posted in Multimedia, Usability | Leave a comment

Please Bring Back Vanilla Google

I have a great respect for the folks at Google, but the last two days, I have been very, very perplexed about some design choices. Yesterday (Sep 7, 2010), we saw the Google logo converted into flying globes and today… More On: Please Bring Back Vanilla Google

Posted in Usability | Leave a comment

A Multitude of “Here” Links

Thought I would share a good example of “here” links gone extreme. A minor accessibility & usability recommendation which is often violated is to avoid link text using “Go here”, or “Follow this link” and replace it with meaningful text.… More On: A Multitude of “Here” Links

Posted in Accessibility, Usability | Leave a comment

Jakob Nielsen & Twitter Usability

If Jakob Nielsen is writing a usability article, we know Twitter is now 100% mainstream. Interestingly, this article though only covers release of corporate news information with tips for both writing punchy copy and for timing (9:01 is better than… More On: Jakob Nielsen & Twitter Usability

Posted in Usability, Web 2.0 | 1 Comment

Metadata over Content – How to Build an Unusable Archive

I like to troll for new academic sites in my various lists, especially the Internet Scout Project, but I find that a large percentage of online archival repositories are so unusable I’ve stopped adding them to my own links library.… More On: Metadata over Content – How to Build an Unusable Archive

Posted in Usability | Leave a comment

Paper Prototype Examples

From the Penn State Web Standards list http://deeplinking.net/paper-web/. For my own reference, this site has some good examples of different interfaces sketched on legal paper (and maybe some cocktail napkins). Also has a video showing a usability test with a… More On: Paper Prototype Examples

Posted in Usability | Leave a comment

The Home Page is now the Orientation Area

At the Web 2008 conference this year I was able to listen to the keynote from Steve Krug, the author of the classic usability book Don’t Make Me Think. The one take-away I got from that session was that modern… More On: The Home Page is now the Orientation Area

Posted in Usability | Leave a comment

Web 2.0 Masquerading as Web 1.0 (interesting del.icio.us interface)

I just ran into the site German GROW, a site with cultural links for German teachers at http://www.aatg.org/content/view/255/ It’s run by the AATG (American Association of German Teachers). Like the icons? It looks very Web 1.0. But click each link… More On: Web 2.0 Masquerading as Web 1.0 (interesting del.icio.us interface)

Posted in Usability, Web 2.0 | Leave a comment

The Organization is still in the URL

One issue we keep wrestling with in ITS is how do we hide our organizational structure so that our Web presence can be more seamless to the non-ITS savvy user. An interesting case is Studio 204. I must say it… More On: The Organization is still in the URL

Posted in Usability | 1 Comment

A Jakob Nielsen Eyetrack Study

I regularly read the Jakob Nielsen usability newsletter, and this week he presented results from some eyetracking studies from the U.S. Census Bureau site. In the scanning images, red shows frequent hits, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/fancy-formatting.html The point that struck me the most… More On: A Jakob Nielsen Eyetrack Study

Posted in Usability | Leave a comment