THE WEB CAN BE A BETTER PLACE TO SURF AND DO BUSINESS !
Last Updated: October 30, 2004
[November 30, 2001]
The Detroit News: Pediatricians monitor patients via Web, e-mail - "A growing number of U.S. pediatricians are going online -- creating Web sites, responding to parents' concerns by e-mail and asking specialists to 'examine' ill kids by e-video, experts reported recently."
WebmasterBase: Avoid eCommerce Hosting Horror - "... the Web host is literally the backbone of your site."
[November 28, 2001]
Frontend Usability InfoCentre: Usability and Cost-Cutting - "Investment in usability, and particular the adoption of user-centred design programmes, is really about reducing costs in the long term. And in the current economic climate, that should make user-centred design an even more important element of the product development process."
Online Journalism Review: Online News Users Have to Pay - "Web users do not read the Web, rather, they view the Web to experience it. To get a Web user to pay for content, the news product must provide a viewing experience."
Usablemobile.com: usability forum for the 'mobile internet'.
[November 26, 2001]
IBM: Empowering users with launchpads - "Today's software designs attempt to limit the amount of expertise that's required of end users. As a result, usability and help mechanisms, such as wizards, have gained in popularity. However, sometimes even the most well-designed wizards are not enough to help end users successfully complete complex tasks. If you encounter this problem, a launchpad may be a relatively inexpensive solution. Here, Daina [Wickham] shows you what a launchpad is, how it can be useful, and how to design one that effectively empowers your users to be more productive."
IBM: Fifteen dos and don'ts for designing wizards that make complex tasks easier for your users
[November 25, 2001]
Gerry McGovern: Web classification is essential - "Classification (taxonomy, categorization) is to content as mapping is to geography. It is an essential tool that allows the person visiting a website to navigate it quickly and efficiently. Without professional classification a website becomes a jumble yard of content that is confusing and time wasting."
[November 24, 2001]
Kristoffer Bohmann: Product pictures clarify user worries
Wired News: Photoshop: It's All the Rage
Intranet Journal: Apply Usability Methodologies in Intranet Information Architecture in a Real World Context Part III
Bytesworth: Search Utilities - "... adding search capabilities to your site suddenly gives you an incredibly flexibly, user-definable navigation scheme."
[November 18, 2001]
TechExtreme.com: And Now, a Touchy-Feely Mouse That Goes Bump - "... The mouse vibrates, or pulses, when a user moves the cursor over Windows menus, functions, icons and Web links. The technology is meant to ease the use of intricate software when users switch between dialogue boxes, folders and navigation bars."
BBC: Can computers be creative? - "Creativity is one of those things which makes humans so special. But could there ever be a day when computers are composers, theoretical physicists, or artists?"
[November 17, 2001]
Madhu Menon: Good and bad interfaces
Lars Pind: Graphic Design for Human Interfaces - "Graphic design for human interfaces involves not only aesthetics, but also a deep understanding of the information that needs to be communicated, and of the interaction that is to take place."
[November 16, 2001]
InformationWeek (by Fred Langa): The 10 Best And Worst Things About Windows XP
WebmasterBase: Introduction to Human Computer Interaction - "In order to achieve a usable Website, you need to apply what you know about humans and computers, and consult with likely users throughout the design process. ... People should not have to change the way that they use a system in order to fit in with it. Instead, the system should be designed to match their requirements."
[November 13, 2001]
Digital Web Magazine (Tutorials): What's happening? A new look at Web pages - "... If we're offering downloads, or time-consuming content we need to let our users know what they're in for. Give a file size and a download time estimate up-front before the users get tangled up in filling forms and the like. ... These are a few small techniques which can make the difference between a regular Website and one with the gloss of excellence."
About.com Web Design: Indulgent Design - "Remember that your users have chosen the Flash and waited for the download, now it's time to indulge them. Give them something better than plain old HTML -- a better interface, a better overall experience. Best of all, give them something memorable."
[November 12, 2001]
Advogato: How non-programmers use documentation. - "Non-programmers want screen-shots in the on-line help. They don't care if it increases an application's file size. ... Non-programmers would never buy a book about an application. They say technical books are for programmers. ... If a non-programmer can't find an answer in the on-line help, they will either call tech support or use another application."
IBM: "After a few usability tests with a paper prototype, you'll have confidence that you're implementing the right thing."
Jakob Nielsen: Beyond Accessibility: Treating Users with Disabilities as People
Wired News: Bill Gates admitted it: PCs don't work very well. - "... Microsoft's chairman predicted that technology would eventually come together well enough to fade into the background and let users focus on what they want to do."
[November 10, 2001]
Wired News: Nanocomputers Get Real - "Molecular processors, he [Ralph Merkle, a principal fellow at Zyvex, the world's first molecular nanotechnology company] explained, could allow computers to see, hear and interact with humans much more directly."
David Weinberger (via snowdeal): The Hyperlinked Metaphysics of the Web - "The Web is built for others. With rare exception, everything there was placed there for others to see, use or play with. At commercial sites, the interests of others may be ultimately subordinated to one's own, but at least at the simplest level, even Web stores are built to meet the needs of others."
[November 9, 2001]
Dave Winer: Microsoft: Too much control of the Web? - "... I cling to the hope that the Bush administration really doesn't understand the Web, and that Microsoft really doesn't want the power to control what is said on the Internet."
Robert X. Cringely: ".NET is essentially a giant system for tracking user behavior ..."
NewScientist.com: Web mega-archive raises legal questions - "A website called the Wayback Machine last week opened a gateway to more than 10 billion archived Web pages. But it also opened a can of worms. The site has been using software robots to record Web pages since 1996. But these include pages that were later removed by site owners because they contained material that was pirated, illegal, or deemed too sensitive."
[November 7, 2001]
Gerry McGovern: "Is email becoming a productivity drain, rather than a productivity gain?"
System Concepts: Measure the usability maturity of your company - "Fill in this short questionnaire to identify the usability maturity of your own organisation. Is your organisation at the immature end (level 1), regarding usability as irrelevant? Or at the mature end (level 5), with usability part of the product lifecycle?"
Wired News: "... critics still contend that granting Microsoft control over a massive set of personal data creates intolerable security risks."
[November 6, 2001]
Kristoffer Bohmann: Pop-ups decrease homepage usability - "... A better solution would integrate the pop-up content into the homepage to make interaction with the site more smooth."
MSDN Magazine (via iaslash): Web Q&A: A Look at Usability - "There are sites whose architects and designers have learned that not all users are alike. These sites offer the same merchandise to all customers, but they package the process in a number of different ways in order to appeal to a variety of customer types."
The Register: Junk mail costs lives -"Sixty two per cent of companies surveyed by MessageLabs said they are now reviewing their anti-spam policy, as they become more aware of the negative impact that unwanted email has on their businesses. Unwanted email (anything from discounted impotency cures to get-rich-quick schemes) use up valuable bandwidth - clogging servers, as well as wasting human resources."
"SurveyMonkey.com has a single purpose: to enable anyone to create professional online surveys quickly and easily."
WebmasterBase: Optimize your Copy - "The Web's interactivity empowers readers to control their own informational destiny. Provide solid, digestible chunks of information, and glue them together with a navigation that clearly shows users where they can go next."
[November 4, 2001]
Nathan Wallace: Web Writing for Many Interest Levels (1999) - "Clear, usable content is easily created by deliberating writing for many different levels of reader interest. Every person has a certain level of interest in every piece of information. A writer should help each reader get their desired level of information as quickly as possible. Knowledge of and writing to these levels will increase the satisfaction of all readers."
[November 3, 2001]
Darwin: Why Do Intranets Fail? - "Lack of strategic planning, inadequate executive sponsorship, waning financial support or inconsistent content management spell disaster for most internal websites before they even get off the ground."
BetaNews: Microsoft Windows XP Operating System: Usability Study - "In virtually every task item used in this research study, Windows XP has been rated as 'easier' to use than Windows 98. This does not mean that Windows 98 was perceived as 'difficult,' it is simply that in this head-to-head comparison across the tasks selected, XP demonstrates significantly improved ease of use." (Bloomsburg University, October 8, 2001)
BBspot: Microsoft Offers Media Alternative to Anthrax/War
[November 2, 2001]
NYTimes.com (free registration required): What's in a Product Name? - "Why doesn't someone simply create a centralized Web site: a tidy list of all registered product names?"
Frontend Usability InfoCentre: Alternatives To User Requirement Gathering
David R. Woolley: The Future of Web Conferencing (1998) - "Predicting the future is always a dicey business, and never more so than when the subject is the Web. ... When it comes to Web conferencing, though, there is one prediction that's easy to make: it will get better."
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