A woman with Glaucoma explains how her condition impacts on her ability to read, and suggests ways of designing better for people with poor sight.
Category: Articles
Designing for search: making information easy to find
Today, search is not a design failure, but part of the user experience, one of many ways that people find information on the web. This paper – co-authored with Whitney Quesenbery, Ian Roddis, Sarah Allen and Viki Stirling – looksContinue reading… Designing for search: making information easy to find
What’s in it for me? Rewarding course evaluators
Everyone likes to be rewarded for their efforts. Course evaluators are no exception. We get asked often to look at new online courses and sometimes even get offered a login name and password to a course that other people wouldContinue reading… What’s in it for me? Rewarding course evaluators
Buttons on forms – where to put them and what to call them
Here’s a question that I get asked quite often: “Does the ‘OK’ button go to the left or the right of the ‘Cancel’ button?” A common variant: ask the same question with ‘Back’ or ‘Previous’ instead of ‘Cancel’, and maybeContinue reading… Buttons on forms – where to put them and what to call them
A whole industry sector’s websites rated according to their usability
Caroline Jarrett discusses the results of the annual Better Connected survey, reviewing the state of local authority websites
Usability of content is plain language: the USA Plain Language Act
Caroline Jarrett welcomes the advent of the US Government’s Plain Language in Government Communications Act with a reminder of what plain language is and what it isn’t.
How to do ‘Contact Us’ badly (and some tips for doing it well)
Trying to report a problem with her email leads Caroline Jarrett to share some tips about how to ensure your website’s contact us function is effective for users.
When more data really isn’t the issue
No matter how big a fan of user testing you are, sometimes it’s not more data but action that’s needed. Caroline Jarrett makes the case for knowing how to strike the balance.
Adding fun and engagement to purposeful systems using augmented reality: report from OzCHI 2007
Caroline Jarrett reports on the many uses people are finding for augmented reality in 2007, and argues for the importance of building tools that people actually want to use.
Formats of telephone numbers: why France and the UK don’t work like the US
If your form or survey has an international audience you need to be aware of fields where a country’s system diverges from your own, says Caroline Jarrett, using the example of telephone numbers.