THE WEB CAN BE A BETTER PLACE TO SURF AND DO BUSINESS !
Last Updated: October 30, 2004
[June 30, 2001]
Enabling Extremely Rapid Navigation in Your Web or Document (1997,1999) - "This article presents information design techniques that apply to web sites, help systems, hardcopy, and online documentation. When the standard document navigation structures are provided, readers can rapidly survey the scope of a web or document and jump to the pages of greatest interest."
Intranet Journal: Measured intranet ROI benefits Part II
[June 29, 2001]
Bohmann Usability: Navbars: Why Drill-Down Menus are Harmful - "Drill-down menus make interaction more difficult, destroy the user's overview, and poor wording make users give up using the site. ... The ideal way to navigate a website is to point on a link and click."
Business 2.0: The Java Renaissance - "Java is returning to the desktop, whether Microsoft likes it or not. ... It's not clear whether Java will finally fulfill its promise. But its surprising return to the PC shows that developers are hungry for a language that helps them deal with the opportunities and problems the Internet is creating." (by Clay Shirky)
Tim O'Reilly: Information Wants to be Valuable
[June 26, 2001]
IBM: Mind your FAQs, Part 1 - "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are a great way to provide quick, easy answers to users' most common questions. However, ensuring that they fulfill their purpose effectively requires careful planning and design. This article provides 16 tips to help you mind your FAQs." (by Jodi Bollaert)
NW Fusion: Have an intranet question? Steve Blass gets answers.
[June 25, 2001]
Jakob Nielsen: Error Message Guidelines - "Established wisdom holds that good error messages are polite, precise, and constructive. The Web brings a few new guidelines: Make error messages clearly visible, reduce the work required to fix the problem, and educate users along the way."
[June 24, 2001]
DB2 Magazine: Taking Intelligence on the Road - "Pervasive computing is about enabling access through the integration of technologies. It's about using an evolving class of intelligent and portable devices to enable personal and professional transactions that simplify work and home lives." (by Rob Cutlip)
[June 23, 2001]
Good Experience: Microsoft's Smart Tags Threaten the User Experience - "... We must try to protect the Web by remaining vigilant to Microsoft's moves."
Reading Room: Blurbs: How to write them for web pages - "A blurb is a short paragraph that previews what's on the other end of a link. You're reading a blurb now. If it helps you decide whether you should click the link, then it has done its job. ... If your reader is disappointed by a link that you recommended, then the credibility of your entire website will suffer." (by Prof. Dennis G. Jerz)
[June 21, 2001]
From plain English to global English - "Make your documents easy for EFL users to read and understand, and communicate successfully with people all over the world. About one billion people use English as a foreign language (EFL). You can avoid most pitfalls of cross-cultural communication by using global English." (by Rachel McAlpine)
[June 20, 2001]
BBC: E-mail slips as web use grows - "Consumers' Association experts say that, after a brief reign, e-mail is poised for exile to a distant backwater of cyberspace."
[June 19, 2001]
PC World: How to Weave a More Useful Web - "Overall, e-commerce sites usually fail because you just can't find the product you want."
Interface Quiz: Is your product's interface usable?
Search is an important factor in making portals the personalized knowledge gateways they should be
[June 15, 2001]
Bohmann Usability: Calculating Usability Effects - "Time to complete a task and number of errors per task are key metrics when evaluating usability effects."
Intranet Journal: Employing Strategic Content Management For Successful Intranets - " ... it is the transfer of information that drives intranet success."
Netscape Releases 6.1 Beta
Japan Today: Billions have no need for Internet
[June 12, 2001]
Michael L Bernard: How can I reduce the major user annoyances on my site? - "The most dissatisfying web experiences are a) not being able to find specific information, b) using websites that are confusing, and c) websites with slow download time, respectively ... Users also consistently rate non-working hyperlinks as one of the most annoying aspects of web browsing."
There are no second chances when it comes to eCommerce
[June 10, 2001]
Jakob Nielsen: Avoid PDF for On-Screen Reading - "Forcing users to browse PDF files decreases usability by around 300% compared with HTML pages. You should only use PDF for documents that users are likely to print. In those cases, following six basic guidelines will help you minimize usability problems."
ComputerUser: "Stupid" Web tricks can be downright smart - "Don't get too proud of your Web creation. Its beauty is in the eye of the user."
Wired News: Java's Hot, and Going Strong - "There are more than two and a half million Java developers working in the world today, Zander said, and he predicted that the number would rise to four million by 2003."
PF Online: Dot-Commentary: Design for Usability - "It's very tempting to dazzle users with Flash and JavaScripts, but be cautious of putting style ahead of substance." (by Matt Little)
The Register: If restaurants functioned like Microsoft...
[June 9, 2001]
Universal Usability in Practice: Children on the Internet - "A web site for children will be truly useful only when the target age group, task and the site's content are determined before the design process begins. Involving children into design process and evaluation of the site might be a key to success." (by Dina Demner - University of Maryland)
[June 8, 2001]
Intranet Journal: Applying Usability Methodologies in Intranet Information Architecture - "Usability and User Centered design methodologies are crucial to the success of all Internet and intranet projects. Studies have shown that if fixing a usability problem is $1 in the discovery phase of your Web project, the cost of fixing that same problem post-implementation will be between $100 and $160!" (by Mark McLaughlin)
[June 5, 2001]
merges: Website navigation is useful - "Although users tend to navigate websites by search mechanisms or by links embedded in actual content, website navigation serves useful purposes."
Computerworld: Grow Your Site, Keep Your Users - "All sites should plan for quick, unexpected growth spurts by doing upfront usability testing before the sites launch ..." (by Mathew Schwartz)
Internet.com: Think Twice Before Hitching Your E-Commerce Wagon to a Download - Hold off on all the fancy graphics and animations. According to a recent survey, dial-up will rule until 2005.
Online Journalism Review: Weblogs: A New Source of News - "As more people take up Weblogging and more of us come to rely on blogs to help us shape our own personal media universe, media organizations would do well to incorporate them into their Web sites as an important new addition to the journalistic toolkit." (by J.D. Lasica)
[June 2, 2001]
Gamasutra: Behavioral Game Design - "Every computer game is designed around the same central element: the player. While the hardware and software for games may change, the psychology underlying how players learn and react to the game is a constant. ... By understanding the fundamental patterns that underlie how players respond to what we ask of them, we can design games to bring out the kind of player we want." (by John Hopson)
eCompany Now: The High Price of Search Technology - "Having a search engine on your website is critical, because no matter how intuitive your site's interface is, there will always be people who can't find their way around." (by Dylan Tweney)
[June 1, 2001]
WDVL: The Home Page Versus Interior Pages - "Unfortunately, not all users understand the use of the logo as a link to the home page, and it will take a while until this convention is fully established. So for the next few years, it will also be necessary to have an explicit link named 'home' on every page."
Forbes.com (via CamWorld): The Humane Touch: Bad Design Can Be Costly - " ... today's top executives come from backgrounds unlikely to have given them an understanding of the economic advantages of good interface design." (by Jef Raskin)
NYTimes.com (free registration required): Cyber Law Journal: Controversial Ruling on Library Filters
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