Must Read Usability Articles
This article contains a collection of must read articles on usability and user interaction design. General understanding of usability and how people generally interact with websites has come a long way in the past 10 years. In this time many useful studies have been conducted which may have implications on the way you design your next website.
1. 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines
This article published by Smashing Magazine lists some very practicle advice on usability. Some of the details that the article lists may not seem to be critical but this is the nature of usability. A website which is easy and intuitive to use is a collection of simple usability principles and design patterns being applied.
Of the findins which this article lists the most stand out is the following:
3. Quality of Design Is An Indicator Of Credibility
One interesting finding of these studies is that users really do judge a book by its cover… or rather, a website by its design. Elements such as layout, consistency, typography, color and style all affect how users perceive your website and what kind of image you project. Your website should project not only a good image but also the right one for your audience.
Other factors that influence credibility are: the quality of the website’s content, amount of errors, rate of updates, ease of use and trustworthiness of authors.
2. Top 10 Usability Highs of Mac OS
This is a very interesting article which looks into the usability perfection that is Mac OS. The article goes through a showcase of good usability in the operating system and explains why it is so. One of the points which I liked in this article was the following:
6. Fitts’ Law
Essentially, the famous Fitts’ Law says that users are more productive with the mouse when they have less distance to travel and a larger target to click on to do their tasks. Mac’s design engineers have incorporated this rule in their design: almost all application menus are attached to the top of the screen, rather than to the applications’ windows. It improves the usability and reduces screen clutter. Compared to other user interfaces, regarding Fitts’ Law Mac performs better.
3. 10 User Interface Design Fundamentals
A very useful article which goes through the fundamentals of user interaction design. It outlines all of the key features which need to be understood with the most critical principals being mentioned at the top of the article. The article does a very good job in stressing the fact of understanding your user and what their needs are.
Your user’s goals are your goals, so learn them. Restate them, repeat them. Then, learn about your user’s skills and experience, and what they need. Find out what interfaces they like and sit down and watch how they use them. Do not get carried away trying to keep up with the competition by mimicking trendy design styles or adding new features. By focusing on your user first, you will be able to create an interface that lets them achieve their goals.
4. 9 Ways to Take Your Site from One to One Million Users
This is absolutely brilliant and a MUST see article. The article is based on digg dounder Kevin Rose’s talk at FOWA London ( The Future of Web Apps). I highly recommend watching the video which is embeded at the bottom of the article. This article should act as a great reference to anybody who is launching a new web brand or service.
For more on usability and user interaction design read my article on user interaction design fundamentals.
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