Question: where do you go to find 225 local government officials, all talking about usability? Answer: the recent Headstar/Socitm event: Building the perfect council website. So what is Headstar / Socitm? Headstar is a pioneering e-publisher. If you’re into e-governmentContinue reading… Useful, usable and used – your new look council website
Tag: usability
How to look at a form in a hurry
Anyone who has heard or read more than one of my presentations will be familiar with my mantra: ‘test, test and test again’. It’s the only way to find our whether something really is usable, and yet we’re sometimes putContinue reading… How to look at a form in a hurry
Ticket, please? Thoughts on visibility of system status
We open with a story that’s a touch complicated. Hang in here with me, the usability point will come through in the end. My husband loves his railways. He’s mostly into railways as they actually are today, as a practicalContinue reading… Ticket, please? Thoughts on visibility of system status
User Interface Design and Evaluation: Open University textbook
“User Interface Design and Evaluation” began life as the Open University distance learning course M873, part of the postgraduate diploma. More than 1000 professionals studied the course and the University decided to make the core course materials available as aContinue reading… User Interface Design and Evaluation: Open University textbook
We need to include people with disabilities in our designs
Recently, I was having an online conversation about the challenges of finding participants for testing – specifically, the challenges of finding participants with disabilities. Someone put the view; “if we’re having trouble finding people with disabilities, then maybe we wouldContinue reading… We need to include people with disabilities in our designs
Books on usability? … not one in a thousand
I live in England, and here Christmas is pretty inescapable. That suits me fine as I love the whole thing: twinkly lights, family get together that’s always exactly the same every year, crazed people rushing through the shops. And so,Continue reading… Books on usability? … not one in a thousand
Hooray, I’m Doing the Forms!
Here’s a little secret that I’d like to share with you: most people just aren’t all that thrilled by forms. They don’t like filling them in, they don’t like thinking about them, and they certainly don’t like the idea ofContinue reading… Hooray, I’m Doing the Forms!
Not beyond usability – just nearby
I’ve got a pet peeve: the phrase ‘beyond usability’. It doesn’t matter who uses it and how appropriate it is to the content of their article, website, speech or whatever. I hear it, I get annoyed, I stop paying attention.Continue reading… Not beyond usability – just nearby
Making a better web form
Which usability changes make the biggest difference? Invited by LoanBright to review their forms, we were surprised by some of the results. Among the changes we tested – layout, wording of questions, addition of extra pages – the only one to make a significant differenceContinue reading… Making a better web form
A farewell to pop-ups
Comment added in 2022: These days we use the term ‘modal’ instead of ‘pop-up’ and I don’t see as much discussion of pop-up blockers. Otherwise, I think this is still accurate. CJ. Do you remember the olden days onContinue reading… A farewell to pop-ups