Ginny Tutorial - Hot Topics in Usability

Hot Topics in Usability

Organising and writing content to support e-services

Tutor Ginny Redish

E-services can be a tremendous time-saver and cost-saver for both sides: for customers and for businesses and government agencies. Can be! But only if they are done so well that they are faster and easier than other modes - faster and easier than calling up or writing letters.

The key to a successful e-service site is to organize and write it so that busy users can find what they need and understand what they find quickly enough to satisfy themselves. Come work with Ginny Redish and learn and practice how to make sure your e-service web sites are successful.

We'll begin with how to do user analysis and task analysis so you know who you are supporting with e-services and what they will come wanting to do. No matter who your users are, we'll probably agree that, like most web users, they seldom read; they skim, scan, search, and select.

Come work with Ginny on how to reach these busy web users through the right information architecture and information design. Learn the magic of chunking. Understand how just a little "active" space in the right places can help users. Practice writing that grabs users with the first few words - and doesn't use many more to make the point. Consider what's different about the web from writing and designing for print or even for online help. You'll see the power of single-sentence paragraphs, of using lists, of creating consistent formats, of sometimes using sentence fragments.

Research in cognitive psychology, linguistics, and human factors - as well as empirical usability studies of web sites - underlies what Ginny covers. The workshop itself is very practical and highly interactive. Ginny provides lots of guidelines, tips, techniques, and examples. You'll see many web sites - both bad and good. You'll learn to analyze the information architecture and information design of different sites - and learn techniques for mocking up and then evaluating your own e-service site.

About the Tutor

Janice "Ginny" Redish
Janice (Ginny) Redish, President of Redish & Associates, Inc., helps clients solve problems in usability, web design, and clear communication. She helps companies bring usability into their products and their development processes. Ginny is also an internationally-recognized speaker and workshop leader; she is a dynamic instructor.

Ginny has spent more than 20 years helping managers, developers, and content specialists in government and private companies to communicate effectively. She has worked extensively with the U S National Cancer Institute (NCI), helping with many NCI web sites and with www.usability.gov. She has also worked with many other clients in the U S, Canada, Europe, and Japan, including the Federal Aviation Administration, NASA, the Veterans Administration, several agencies in Washington state, and private companies, such as American Airlines, Marriott International, Nokia, IBM, HP, Sony, and Xerox.

Ginny is co-author of two recent books:

A Practical Guide to Usability Testing, with Joseph Dumas, revised edition, 1999
User and Task Analysis for Interface Design, with JoAnn Hackos, 1998

In 1995, the professional society of computer documentation specialists (ACM SIGDOC) honored Ginny with its Rigo award, given annually to an individual for significant contributions to the profession. In 2001, Ginny received that the Alfred N. Goldsmith Award from the IEEE Professional Communication Society. Ginny is a Fellow of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) and a former member of the board of directors of both STC and the Usability Professionals' Association.

Usability training

If you would like further information on usability training, please contact Caroline Jarrett
	Effortmark Limited 11 Bridge Street Leighton Buzzard LU7 1AH	Tel: +44 (0)1525 370379 Fax: +44 (0)1525 372363 caroline dot jarrett at effortmark dot co dot uk

Last updated: 29 March 2004