Archive of Usability Articles

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January 31st, 2008

Netlife Research (company website in Norwegian) has done it again. Their 2008 Bad Usability Calendar is here and it is great. So great that it is hard to pick a favorite. Download it here. 2007 has more great examples.
[Note: This is a short post- just got back from the Velvet Revolver concert at Stubb's. Living in Austin rocks!]
Posted in Austin TX, UX, Usability | No Comments »

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January 17th, 2008

You want your software to be used, not to sit on the shelf. You can’t achieve the ROI of your software if people don’t use it. And you can’t achieve the ROI of your software by forcing people to use it either. Some will fail to achieve the benefits, and others will delay using it or refuse to use it entirely. You have to make them want to use it, and you have to design the software for the users who must use it. Otherwise, you won’t achieve the ROI.
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Posted in Business Analysis, Interface Design, Product Management, ROI, UX, Usability | 1 Comment »

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December 20th, 2007

We use actor hierarchies to organize the different users of a system. Different people play different roles, and thus do different jobs. We use different actors to identify and organize those people. When deploying a system globally, we usually discover people that do the same jobs, but do them differently. Incorporating the notion of personas lets us deal with this.
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Posted in Business Analysis, Interface Design, Product Management, Requirements, Requirements Models, UX, Usability | 2 Comments »

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August 27th, 2007

A heuristic evaluation (or heuristic analysis) is a quick, low-cost usability analysis of the design of a user interface. Pareto’s rule tells us that we can get 80% of the results from 20% of the effort. And that’s where discount usability tests like a heuristic evaluation come in to play. Formal, and more detailed usability studies yield better results - but cost more and take more time. A small investment can pay off big with a heuristic evaluation.
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Posted in UX, Usability | No Comments »

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March 23rd, 2007
Joshua Ledwell wrote a short article expressing his perspective on designing software that is neither too simple nor too complex. He also links to some excellent other articles on the topic.
Posted in Design, Software development, UX, Usability | 2 Comments »

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March 12th, 2007
Learning curves have been studied for decades when evaluating manufacturing systems and proposing cost reductions. The Boston Consulting Group did an oft-cited analysis in the 1960’s that describes how people get faster at tasks through repetition. Peter Abilla looked at the extension of this to writing software. We look at how it applies to using software.
Posted in ROI, Software development, UX, Usability | No Comments »

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February 26th, 2007
Jakob Nielsen identifies 8 levels of adoption of usability by corporations. He calls them the stages of corporate usability maturity. There is definitely a continuum of adoption and appreciation for usability in companies today. By understanding the eight levels we can determine how best to increase the commitment to usability on our projects.
Posted in Software development, UX, Usability | 1 Comment »

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February 22nd, 2007
There is such a thing as too much choice. For new users, too much choice (or control) is too much. For experienced users, too little choice is a problem. Ease of use usually comes from reduced control - but users don’t stay “new” for long. There’s a “canyon of pain” to quote Kathy Sierra in that transition from “new” to “experienced.” We call them “competent” users and we have to help them cross the canyon of pain.
Posted in Product Management, Software development, UX, Usability | No Comments »

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January 10th, 2007
There are three main models for selling software. You can hire a direct sales force. You can spend a lot on marketing and advertising. You can let your users sell the software for you, a technique commonly known as viral marketing. There’s a catch with viral marketing - users have to like your software.
Posted in Marketing, Usability | 2 Comments »

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November 8th, 2006
What a great way to demonstrate 12 key usability concepts - creating a calendar where each concept is demonstrated. You’ve heard the saying - “If you can’t be a good example, be a horrible warning.” Here is that saying manifested in calendar form.
Posted in UX, Usability | 5 Comments »