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?
Category: Design
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
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
What’s News? And what’s not?
Novelty attracts – or so we’re told. If you want to get repeat visitors to your website then you need to be offering them ‘new stuff’ with each visit. Perhaps the popularity of blogs is partly because you’re likely toContinue reading… What’s News? And what’s not?
Registration Forms – what to do if you can’t avoid them
The sad thing about registration forms is that users hate them. Stick a form in front of them and they leave your site, they lie, or if they are really web-savvy they use a privacy protection service such as Bugmenot.Continue reading… Registration Forms – what to do if you can’t avoid them
Matters of life and death: an investigation of “living wills” and other advance directives
Earlier this year, we learned of the bitter legal battles over Terri Schiavo. Her husband and her parents disagreed on whether to continue to give her treatment after she collapsed into a coma seven years ago. Like Terri, I haveContinue reading… Matters of life and death: an investigation of “living wills” and other advance directives
Sentence or title case for labels
For those few of us who are deeply interested in forms, there’s nothing so fascinating as a subtle detail. Like, for example, the question that appeared in my email in-box earlier this month. The question Martin McGuire wrote to meContinue reading… Sentence or title case for labels
Persona-led heuristic inspection is here
Last week, a sell-out crowd made their way to Oyster Partners to hear Ginny Redish talk about her recent work at a meeting of the UK chapter of the Usability Professionals’ Association. Ginny’s talk ranged widely across content and theContinue reading… Persona-led heuristic inspection is here
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