The ‘worldwide’ bit of the web made many of us realise that our web designs have the potential to reach the whole world. Some of us work for organisations that explicitly want to attract audiences from many different countries. AndContinue reading… Colours and Culture – don’t always believe what you read
Category: Forms
New book published: Forms that Work
Publication day for the book that brings together much of what Gerry Gaffney and I have learned about creating better forms over more than a decade of practice, consultancy, teaching and research. Here is what the publishers Morgan Kaufmann haveContinue reading… New book published: Forms that Work
Label placement in forms: what’s best?
Introduction Forms are ubiquitous and a major way in which websites can become interactive. But they tend to receive little design attention – and much of that is spent arguing about details. This talk looks at one of those details:Continue reading… Label placement in forms: what’s best?
Buttons on forms – where to put them, and what to call them
Here’s a question that I get asked quite often: “Should we put ‘OK’ button to the left or the right of the ‘Cancel’ button?” A common variant is to ask the same question with ‘Back’ or ‘Previous’ instead of ‘Cancel’,Continue reading… Buttons on forms – where to put them, and what to call them
Delivering Better Ballots
“An election is not held to test voters’ ability to follow instructions, but to receive instructions from the voters as to which candidates they will elect. No legitimate public purpose is served by designs that distort those instructions.” It’s goodContinue reading… Delivering Better Ballots
People before pixels: what to think about before you start
Luke Wroblewski asked me to contribute some thoughts to his book “Web form design: filling in the blanks”. Here’s what I wrote. I love forms, mostly because they offer so many opportunities for improvement. And I love discussing forms withContinue reading… People before pixels: what to think about before you start
How to do ‘Contact Us’ badly (and some tips for doing it well)
My email started playing up. I noticed that I was getting items out of sequence, sometimes very late. I tried the usual things: clearing the spam folders, powering the computer down, you know. But there was nothing for it: I’dContinue reading… How to do ‘Contact Us’ badly (and some tips for doing it well)
Adding fun and engagement to purposeful systems using augmented reality and other techniques: report from OzCHI 2007
A warm Australian November, a friendly, collaborative conference: what’s not to like? OzCHI always attracts a proportion of Scandinavians and Brits who are happy to escape to the sun. And to add to the attraction, the theme of OzCHI 2007Continue reading… Adding fun and engagement to purposeful systems using augmented reality and other techniques: report from OzCHI 2007
Expert review helps to improve a complex form
Applying for Lasting power of Attorney is often something people do at a time of challenge or stress. In this presentation to the Sixth International PLAIN Language Conference I describe a case study for the US Department of Constitutional Affairs where ourContinue reading… Expert review helps to improve a complex form
The book you ought to buy (even if you think you don’t need it)
This month, I’m enthusing about Ginny Redish’s new book Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works (Morgan Kaufmann). If you write, or your clients write, then you’ll learn from it. If you’re working on a content-rich website:Continue reading… The book you ought to buy (even if you think you don’t need it)