Guest post by Gerry Gaffney, co-author with Caroline Jarrett of Forms That Work: designing web forms for usability. Technical communicators are familiar with the challenges of communicating with audiences who are reluctant to read. Clearly written, thoughtfully designed, well-formatted text isContinue reading… The art of writing very little: how to improve your forms
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Three reasons why response from panels may not be what you want
What might turn an honest, happy respondent into a despondent cheat? I’m a dedicated survey respondent. I have lots of reasons why I tenaciously try to respond to every survey invitation that I get: I’m collecting examples for my library ofContinue reading… Three reasons why response from panels may not be what you want
Design tips for surveys 2012 – a seminar for UIE
When I was invited, as a Rosenfeld Media aspiring author, to talk about surveys for the UIE All You Can Learn series of seminars, I had to think hard about how to condense a full-day training workshop into something that would work forContinue reading… Design tips for surveys 2012 – a seminar for UIE
Design tips for complex forms, Malta 2012
Usability in Malta It was a privilege to be invited to present at Malta’s first usability conference. On one of the coldest, wettest nights that Malta had ever known, an impressively large number of keen people made their way toContinue reading… Design tips for complex forms, Malta 2012
How to get yourself started in statistics
How do you feel about statistics? For a long time, I was a stats refusenik. When I was doing my first degree back in the 1970s, I took a class in mathematical statistics but it never made any sense toContinue reading… How to get yourself started in statistics
Book review: Through the language glass: why the world looks different in other languages
Many of us will be doing a lot of gift-giving this month, so I’ve chosen a book that would be just right for someone who enjoys something thought-provoking and a bit out of the usual: Through the language glass: why theContinue reading… Book review: Through the language glass: why the world looks different in other languages
How to do a survey in six steps
Question: What’s the difference between a questionnaire and a survey? Answer: A questionnaire is a series of questions and answers on a topic; a survey is the overall process of obtaining useful information using a questionnaire. Question: OK then, whatContinue reading… How to do a survey in six steps
Writing and editing for the web, EMBL-EBI 2011
These slides form part of a workshop I ran for an international group of staff at EMBL-EBI. Writing and editing for the web – expanded version from Caroline Jarrett
Design tips for complex forms, J Boye 2011
I was invited to the 2011 J.Boye conference in Aarhus Denmark to deliver a presentation on designing complex forms. People experience forms at three levels – appearance, conversation and relationship – and complexity affects each of them. Using examples from the UK and Danish governmentsContinue reading… Design tips for complex forms, J Boye 2011
Surveys in practice and theory, J Boye 2011
At the 2011 J.Boye conference in Aarhus Denmark, I had the opportunity to run a workshop on surveys. We focused mainly on the practicalities of better surveys: how to write better questions and how to run a good survey process from startContinue reading… Surveys in practice and theory, J Boye 2011