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
Category: All
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
Colons at the end of labels – revisited
Last month’s column, ‘Colons at the end of labels?’, attracted a small storm of correspondence – well, it certainly felt like a storm for a topic that I thought was obscure even in the world of the forms geek. AndContinue reading… Colons at the end of labels – revisited
Colons at the end of labels?
It’s been a long month – lots to do, lots to think about. And what, in the whole wide world, am I going to thrill you with this month? Well, my dear and loyal readers: it’s forms again. That’s whatContinue reading… Colons at the end of labels?
Unethical or merely inept?
My printer died. It was a Xerox Phaser 8200, a colour printer that uses ‘solid ink’ technology. I liked it a lot because it was quick, high quality, and the solid ink is relatively inexpensive. It had done well forContinue reading… Unethical or merely inept?
Two-column forms are best avoided
A concerned designer wrote to me: ‘Our forms are laid out in a single vertical column. A new project manager is pushing to get the forms for a new product to ‘look different from other products’ by requesting a twoContinue reading… Two-column forms are best avoided
Rules for labelling buttons
It was one of those really conscientious discussions that seemed to have no end. First UI designer: ‘Right. Now here we have a tabbed dialogue box. When you press ‘Cancel’, it should remove all the changes the user has doneContinue reading… Rules for labelling buttons
A magazine about psychology?
As I write this, it’s the run up to Christmas and I’ve reached the point where anything now left undone on my to-do list is going to stay that way. So I thought I’d change focus slightly from my normalContinue reading… A magazine about psychology?
Teaching beginners to find usability problems
My sister lives in Melbourne and that naturally makes me want to get to Australia as often as I can. So I was especially pleased when a few things came together and I was able to make it to OzCHI,Continue reading… Teaching beginners to find usability problems
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