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06/25/07
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Should Designers and Developers Do Usability?
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Jakob Nielsen
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Articles and White Papers
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| Having a specialized usability person is best, but smaller design teams can still benefit when designers do their own user testing and other usability work.
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05/14/07
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Command Links
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Jakob Nielsen
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Articles and White Papers
|
| Application commands can be presented as buttons or as links, which offer more room for explanation. For primary commands, however, buttons are still best.
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04/14/07
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Great Minds in Development: Designing Your Applications for Usability
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DevSource
|
|
Quotes, Interviews and Expert Advice
|
| DevSource interviews usability pundit Dr. Jakob Nielsen on everything from the proper attitude for programmers to the importance of prototyping in design to the reasons why PDF, Flash and local search engines can hurt more than they help.
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03/12/07
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|
10 High-Profit Redesign Priorities
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|
Jakob Nielsen
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|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Several usability findings lead directly to higher sales and increased customer loyalty. These design tactics should be your first priority when updating your website.
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02/26/07
|
|
Life-Long Computer Skills
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Jakob Nielsen
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Articles and White Papers
|
| Schools should teach deep, strategic computer insights that can't be learned from reading a manual.
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12/18/06
|
|
Usability in the Movies -- Top 10 Bloopers
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Jakob Nielsen
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Articles and White Papers
|
| User interfaces in film are more exciting than they are realistic, and heroes have far too easy a time using foreign systems.
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12/15/06
|
|
Design Stories: Character counters
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|
Robert Hoekman, Jr.
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Articles and White Papers
|
| Here’s a look at the design of character counters (the little text messages used to indicate how many characters can be entered into a text field).
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12/04/06
|
|
Progressive Disclosure
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|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Progressive disclosure defers advanced or rarely used features to a secondary screen, making applications easier to learn and less error-prone.
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|
11/20/06
|
|
Digital Divide: The Three Stages
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|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| The economic divide is a non-issue, but the usability and empowerment divides alienate huge population groups who miss out on the Internet's potential.
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|
|
11/06/06
|
|
100 Million Websites
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|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| The early Web's explosive growth rate has slowed, but even the mature Web is still expanding and recently crossed the 100 M websites mark.
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|
|
10/23/06
|
|
Productivity and Screen Size
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| A study of the benefits of big monitors fails on two accounts: it didn't test realistic tasks, and it didn't test realistic use. Productivity is a key argument for workplace usability, but you must measure it carefully.
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|
10/09/06
|
|
Participation Inequality: Encouraging More Users to Contribute
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|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| In most online systems, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action.
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|
|
08/17/06
|
|
Feature: Must Usability Die?
|
|
Elisa del Galdo & Jason Williams
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Usability has developed a negative image – as witnessed by the website "usabilitymustdie.com". Elisa del Galdo and Jason Williams of Human Factors Europe explore some of the reasons as to why.
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|
08/14/06
|
|
Data Visualization of Web Stats: Logarithmic Charts and the Drooping Tail
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|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Using a linear diagram to plot data from website traffic logs can lead you to overlook important conclusions. Sometimes advanced visualizations are worth the effort.
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|
07/31/06
|
|
Screen Resolution and Page Layout
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Optimize Web pages for 1024x768, but use a liquid layout that stretches well for any resolution, from 800x600 to 1280x1024.
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|
|
07/10/06
|
|
Traffic Log Patterns
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| The relative popularity of a site's pages, the number of visitors referred by other sites, and the traffic from search queries continue to follow a Zipf distribution.
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|
06/12/06
|
|
The Pinball Effect
|
|
Adam Khan
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Fitts’ Law says that the time it takes to acquire a target is, in part, a function of the size of the target. Make your links eminently clickable with Adam Khan’s Pinball Effect—thanks to just a bit of CSS, the DOM, and JavaScript.
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06/12/06
|
|
Email Newsletters: Surviving Inbox Congestion
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Newsletter usability has increased since our last study, but the competition for users' attention has also grown with the ever-increasing glut of information.
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|
|
06/01/06
|
|
B2B Usability
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| User testing shows that business-to-business websites have substantially lower usability than mainstream consumer sites. If they want to convert more prospects into leads, B2B sites should follow more guidelines and make it easier for prospects to research their offerings.
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|
|
05/08/06
|
|
Salary Trends for Usability Professionals
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Over the last several years, entry-level salaries have dropped, while pay for experienced usability staff has been more stable.
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|
|
04/03/06
|
|
Hyped Web Stories Are Irrelevant
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| The fads and big deals that get the press coverage are not important for running a workhorse website. To serve your customers, it's far better to emphasize simplicity and quality than to chase buzzwords.
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|
|
03/14/06
|
|
Online video interview with Jakob Nielsen
|
|
DevSource
|
|
Quotes, Interviews and Expert Advice
|
| DevSource has published a nice 8-minute online video interview featuring Dr. Jakob Nielsen. Nielsen addresses a wide range of topics, such as proper attitude for programmers, the importance of prototyping in design, and the reasons why PDF, Flash, and local search engines can hurt more than they help.
|
|
|
03/02/06
|
|
Caroline's Corner: Two-column Forms are best Avoided
|
|
Caroline Jarrett
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Caroline Jarrett of Effortmark sees out February 2006 with a further thought on the layout of forms and why a second column is no use at all.
|
|
|
02/20/06
|
|
Usability for Rich Internet Applications
|
|
Donna Maurer
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| So you’ve stopped cringing at the term “Ajax” and you’re ready to start building. But, aside from studying a handful of well-designed sites, how do you figure out how to build usability into your rich Internet applications? Donna Maurer offers tips on designing pages and visual processes for a new generation of apps.
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|
02/06/06
|
|
Users Interleave Sites and Genres
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|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| When working on business problems, users flitter among sites, alternating visits to different service genres. No single website defines the user experience on its own.
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|
12/21/05
|
|
Scent, Search, and the Pursuit of User Happiness
|
|
Jared M. Spool
|
|
Downloadable File
|
| Jared M. Spool has made his presentation Scent, Search, and the Pursuit of User Happiness available online. Download a MP3 and a PDF, listen to the presentation in its entirety and see all the examples using the presentation handout.
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|
|
12/19/05
|
|
One Billion Internet Users
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|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| The Internet is growing at an annualized rate of 18% and now has one billion users. A second billion users will follow in the next ten years, bringing a dramatic change in worldwide usability needs.
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|
12/05/05
|
|
Talking-Head Video Is Boring Online
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Eyetracking data show that users are easily distracted when watching video on websites, especially when the video shows a talking head and is optimized for broadcast rather than online viewing.
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|
|
10/31/05
|
|
Usability awards are just a start
|
|
Bill Thompson, BBC News
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Handing out prizes for usability should not make us think that the battle is won, argues technology commentator Bill Thompson.
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|
|
10/31/05
|
|
Incompetent Email Marketing = Lost Future Opportunities
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Lack of personalization made an email newsletter completely useless to the recipient, damaging long-term customer relationship efforts.
|
|
|
10/17/05
|
|
Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Weblogs are often too internally focused and ignore key usability issues, making it hard for new readers to understand the site and trust the author.
|
|
|
10/03/05
|
|
Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| The oldies continue to be goodies -- or rather, baddies -- in the list of design stupidities that irked users the most in 2005.
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|
|
09/19/05
|
|
Interview with Sarah Horton
|
|
Alex Barnett
|
|
Quotes, Interviews and Expert Advice
|
| Digital Web Magazine catches up with Web style maven Sarah Horton on the heels of the publication of her book Access by Design: A Guide to Universal Usability for Designers. Find out why Web applications get her goat and how you can put her “access by design” approach into practice for more accessible sites from the get-go.
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|
|
09/15/05
|
|
Consistency in Design is the Wrong Approach
|
|
Jared Spool
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| According to Jared Spool the problem with striving for consistency is that we focus our thoughts purely on the design. Instead, we should ask ourselves whether the users are able to understand how to use the product.
|
|
|
09/09/05
|
|
Feature: Knowing when something is Usable, not how to make it so
|
|
Craig Errey
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| The usability profession suffers from a lack of a consistent operationalisation of usability. This means too much variability between designers, too much iteration to get it right the first time and no robust teaching framework, argues Craig Errey.
|
|
|
07/11/05
|
|
Scrolling and Scrollbars
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Despite posing well-known risks, websites continue to feature poorly designed scrollbars. Among the ongoing problems that result are frustrated users, accessibility challenges, and missed content.
|
|
|
06/27/05
|
|
Usability: Empiricism or Ideology?
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|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Usability's job is to research user behavior and find out what works. Usability should also defend users' rights and fight for simplicity. Both aspects have their place, and it's important to recognize the difference.
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|
|
06/13/05
|
|
Archiving Usability Reports
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Most usability practitioners don't derive full value from their user tests because they don't systematically archive the reports. An intranet-based usability archive offers four substantial benefits.
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|
|
06/01/05
|
|
Alertbox: Ten Years
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| 300,000 words of usability essays have had an impact: online user interfaces are considerably easier to use now than they were in 1995. Many predictions and recommendations have come true, though the full Alertbox vision is far from realized.
|
|
|
01/26/05
|
|
Interview With Kelly Goto
|
|
Meryl K. Evans
|
|
Quotes, Interviews and Expert Advice
|
| In Digital Web Magazine’s conversation with Kelly Goto, we cover the newest version of her already successful book and the need to move forward with the New Usability. It’s not a new theory, but rather the old theory blended with today’s environment that requires development around shorter cycles.
|
|
|
12/02/04
|
|
The cranky user: Hardware and usability, Part 2
|
|
Peter Seebach
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| The thing about hardware is that its usability failures tend to be obvious; sometimes so much so that you forget how annoying they really are. In this continuation of last month's column, Peter takes on high-decibel cooling fans, proliferating cable nests, and other hardware-related nuisances that too often hide behind the veil of normalcy.
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|
|
12/01/04
|
|
Finding The Sweet Spot
|
|
D. Keith Robinson
|
|
FAQs and FYIs
|
| Bridging the gap between user and business goals.
|
|
|
11/22/04
|
|
Undoing the Industrial Revolution
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| The last 200 years have driven centralization and changed the human experience in ways that conflict with evolution. The Internet will reestablish a more balanced, decentralized lifestyle.
|
|
|
11/17/04
|
|
The End of Usability Culture, Redux
|
|
Dirk Knemeyer
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| After the original "The End of Usability Culture" sparked conversation throughout the web design community, Dirk Knemeyer returned to develop the point further in this insightful follow-up.
|
|
|
11/10/04
|
|
The End of Usability Culture
|
|
Dirk Knemeyer
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Dirk Knemeyer returns to propose a major shift in our approach to and execution of Web design as the catalyst for more innovative and creative Web experiences.
|
|
|
11/08/04
|
|
Acting on User Research
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| User research offers a learning opportunity that can help you build an understanding of user behavior, but you must resolve discrepancies between research findings and your own beliefs.
|
|
|
11/01/04
|
|
The cranky user: Hardware and usability, Part 1
|
|
Peter Seebach
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Usability studies tend to focus entirely on software, ignoring the impact of hardware design and features on a system's usability. In this first installment of a two-part miniseries, Peter takes a look at the interactions between hardware and usability.
|
|
|
10/25/04
|
|
User Education Is Not the Answer to Security Problems
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Internet scams cannot be thwarted by placing the burden on users to defend themselves at all times. Beleaguered users need protection, and the technology must change to provide this.
|
|
|
05/24/04
|
|
Thirty Years With Computers
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Since I started using computers, they've become almost a million times more powerful. Although big computers can be alienating, their evolution generally leads to a better user experience.
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|
|
05/19/04
|
|
Email Newsletter Usability
|
|
Nielsen Norman Group Report
|
|
Case Studies and reports
|
| The most significant finding from our usability research on email newsletters is that users have highly emotional reactions to them. This is in strong contrast to research on website usability, where users are usually much more oriented toward functionality.
|
|
|
03/30/04
|
|
The Top 3 Priorities of the Talking Horse
|
|
Jared M. Spool
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| It could be that your site (or part of your site) is a talking horse. Is everyone focusing on just "making it work"? Is it the only place people can accomplish their goals? Does making it easy-to-use seem like a low priority? If so, then you might just have a talking horse.
|
|
|
03/29/04
|
|
How well can you use the web?
|
|
Mark Ward, BBC News
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| The web is getting easier to use - but many of the difficulties encountered are partly down to users themselves, says usability guru Dr Jakob Nielsen.
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|
|
01/19/04
|
|
How Big is the Difference Between Websites?
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| The average difference in measured usability between competing websites is 68%. This is smaller than expected, but makes sense given the dynamics of design within individual industries.
|
|
|
12/22/03
|
|
Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2003
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Sites are getting better at using minimalist design, maintaining archives, and offering comprehensive services. However, these advances entail their own usability problems, as several prominent mistakes from 2003 show.
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|
|
12/08/03
|
|
Automated Email From Websites to Customers
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Transactional email can be a website's customer service ambassador, differentiating your message from spam is thus the first duty of email design.
|
|
|
10/15/03
|
|
Web wizards weave their magic
|
|
BBC News
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini discusses the similarities between magic and web design.
|
|
|
09/29/03
|
|
Alertbox #200
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| I've published 200 Alertbox columns on the Web since 1995; in addition to achieving key victories over multi-million-dollar special interests and enemies of usability, the column's readership statistics validate the practice of archiving content.
|
|
|
09/15/03
|
|
Time to Make Tech Work
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
| The IT industry is maturing. Hopefully, this maturity will result in a slower introduction of new features, which in turn will let companies focus their attention and resources on making existing technology work better for users.
|
|
|
07/31/03
|
|
An interview with Jeffrey Veen of Adaptive Path
|
|
Craig Saila
|
|
Quotes, Interviews and Expert Advice
|
| Jeffrey Veen is a partner with the user experience consulting group Adaptive Path and spends his time speaking, writing, and helping companies figure out what their users want.
|
|
|
07/28/03
|
|
Web Traffic Analytics and User Experience
|
|
Fran Diamond
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
07/17/03
|
|
Culture and Usability: Will Design Patterns ease Problems of Context?
|
|
Ann Light, editor UsabilityNews.com
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
07/14/03
|
|
PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
06/20/03
|
|
The Most Important User Experience Method
|
|
Mark Hurst
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
06/16/03
|
|
Diversity is Power for Specialized Sites
|
|
Jakob Nielsen
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
05/22/03
|
|
Feature: Designers' Roles in Communicating with Users
|
|
Ann Light
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
04/25/03
|
|
Flashes of Brilliance and Use-Centered Design
|
|
J. Dawn Mercedes, Ph.D.
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
04/01/03
|
|
Another View: Do Web sites put agencies’ best faces forward?
|
|
Hal Miller-Jacobs
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
03/21/03
|
|
Gratuitous Graphics and Human-Centered Website Design
|
|
Don Norman
|
|
|
|
|
03/20/03
|
|
Seven Deadly Sins of Information Design
|
|
Drue Miller
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
12/23/02
|
|
Top Ten Web-Design Mistakes of 2002
|
|
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s Website
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
12/23/02
|
|
Simplicity is priceless
|
|
infoconomy.com
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
12/09/02
|
|
In the Future, We'll All Be Harry Potter
|
|
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s Website
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
12/04/02
|
|
Usability Is Next to Profitability
|
|
Business Week Online
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
12/01/02
|
|
Interfaces
|
|
British HCI Group
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
11/11/02
|
|
Interfacing with Jakob Nielsen
|
|
PC Pro
|
|
Quotes, Interviews and Expert Advice
|
|
|
11/01/02
|
|
An interview with Dr. Jakob Nielsen, usability expert
|
|
Meryl K. Evans and Nick Finck
|
|
Quotes, Interviews and Expert Advice
|
|
|
10/14/02
|
|
Making do - Agencies efforts to design usable Web sites slowed by lack of resources, training
|
|
Brian Robinson
|
|
Steps and Presentations
|
|
|
09/16/02
|
|
Offshore Usability
|
|
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s Website
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
09/03/02
|
|
10 Best Intranets of 2002
|
|
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s Website
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
08/05/02
|
|
Making the Physical Environment Interactive
|
|
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s Website
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
07/07/02
|
|
User Empowerment and the Fun Factor
|
|
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s Website
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
06/02/02
|
|
Flash critic to coach Macromedia
|
|
David Becker
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
05/26/02
|
|
Supporting Multiple-Location Users
|
|
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s Website
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
04/14/02
|
|
Kids' Corner: Website Usability for Children
|
|
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s Website
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
03/03/02
|
|
Deep Linking is Good Linking
|
|
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s Website
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
02/17/02
|
|
Official Winter Olympics Site: Not Even Bronze
|
|
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s Website
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
01/01/02
|
|
Usability Planning
|
|
Usability Net
|
|
Steps and Presentations
|
|
|
01/01/02
|
|
Usability Interviews
|
|
Usability Net
|
|
Steps and Presentations
|
|
|
01/01/02
|
|
Usability in Procurement
|
|
Usability Net
|
|
Steps and Presentations
|
|
|
01/01/02
|
|
European Union (EU) Project Support
|
|
Usability Net
|
|
Steps and Presentations
|
|
|
10/14/01
|
|
The End of Homemade Websites
|
|
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s Website
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
09/30/01
|
|
Deferred Hypertext: The Virtues of Delayed Gratification
|
|
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s Website
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
08/01/01
|
|
Good Lawyers, Bad Products
|
|
asktog.com: Bruce Tognazzini’s Website
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
07/01/01
|
|
Good Grips: Usability before Branding
|
|
asktog.com: Bruce Tognazzini’s Website
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
06/10/01
|
|
Avoid PDF for On-Screen Reading
|
|
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s Website
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
04/15/01
|
|
The 3Cs of Critical Web Use: Collect, Compare, Choose
|
|
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s Website
|
|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
04/01/01
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ReplayTV
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asktog.com: Bruce Tognazzini’s Website
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Articles and White Papers
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03/18/01
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Stationary Mobility
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useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s Website
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Articles and White Papers
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02/01/01
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Top 10 Reasons the Apple Dock Sucks
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asktog.com: Bruce Tognazzini’s Website
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Articles and White Papers
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|
|
01/01/01
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Usability for Technical Communicators
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Information & Design
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|
Articles and White Papers
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|
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01/01/01
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|
The Butterfly Ballot: Anatomy of a Disaster
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|
asktog.com: Bruce Tognazzini’s Website
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|
Articles and White Papers
|
|
|
11/26/00
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Security & Human Factors
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useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s Website
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Articles and White Papers
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