Building Usability Quotes/Tips List

[Webnauts]

Dear Usability Professionals, Advocates and Friends!

I would like to gather "Usability Tips/Quotes" to provide them here, on my web site and my forum as "Quote of the day" or "Quote of the week".

Therefore I would appreciate your tips/quotes!

That can be useful for all of us, or?

Thanks in advance for your kind support!

[ScottNorton]

I just received a good resource on accessibility and usability, in the latest issue of ACM's Interactions. The full title is "Bridging the Gap Between Accessibility and Usability." [1]

The researchers observed and listened to 16 blind users as they used the web with screenreaders (JAWS and Window-Eyes). The paper documents their observations, condenses them into lessons learned, and turns these lessons into specific guidelines to web page designers and screenreader developers. (26 guidelines apply to web designers.)

Their observations are very practical and to-the-point. For example, "First, screenreader users must find the form." JAWS has a "Jump to form" key, but none of the participants used it. They all listened to the page contents until it said there was a form.

Their guidelines provide more detail on things we already know about (like alt text) as well as user-centric things that only the screenreader users really understand ("You don't want to come in and out of Edit mode when using a form.")

1. Mary FrancesTheofanos and Janice (Ginny) Redish, "Bridging the Gap Between Accessibility and Usability." Interactions, X.6, Nov-Dec 2003, pp 36-51.

[Webnauts]

Great post ScottNorton!

[usermonster]

1. Don't assume your visitors know anything about you or your site.
No matter how clever, how smart, or how important you think your site is, your visitors aren't going to care if they have to fight through clever marketing terms and confusing links.

2. Treat your links well.
Links are gateways into your site: Underline or unequivocally identify text links and make buttons look clickable. Write meaningful link labels. If you use icons, label them clearly.

3. Don't force users to register until it's absolutely necessary.
On shopping sites, let users purchase without registering; on content sites, show some content first; on service sites, give them a sample before making them register.

4. Don't be shy.
Don't hide your contact information. Credibility comes from easy access to your digits. If
you sell products, put your e-mail and telephone number on your homepage.

5. Don't employ radical navigation just to be different.
Some sites employ unusual navigation and terminology to stand out from the crowd. Most of these sites eventually retreat to conventional menu systems. Unless your site is experiential, stick to common navigational practices.

6. Keep your pages lean.
If you're peddling products, services, or information, don't slow your users down with
unnecessary graphics and animation. Free pass to art sites, designers, and entertainment
portals catering to high-bandwidth users.

7. Make your homepage a gateway.
Your homepage should highlight the main activities of your site. "Bubble up" content to show users what they'll find. Define a start point for new users. Don't let your homepage look like all your others.

8. Don't hide search.
If your site has search, put a search box on every page. If the search is limited, let the user
know. Don't put two search boxes on a page, even if they search different areas of your site.

9. Stay on message.
Keep informational copy concise. Use bullet points, paragraph headers, and active sentences. Expunge marketing babble. When you're done, go back and cut your word count by half.

10. Run guerrilla usability tests.
Find five people to test your site. Watch them navigate and attempt tasks as they "think aloud" their actions. It's a problem if more than one tester can't do or find something. Remember, it's not the users' fault if they have trouble: it's a design flaw.

[Webnauts]

usermonster excellent post. I also have visited your website and I was impressed.

If you ever would like to make an affiliate program, I would gladly like to work with you.

[Webnauts]

I just received a good resource on accessibility and usability, in the latest issue of ACM's Interactions. The full title is "Bridging the Gap Between Accessibility and Usability." [1]

The researchers observed and listened to 16 blind users as they used the web with screenreaders (JAWS and Window-Eyes). The paper documents their observations, condenses them into lessons learned, and turns these lessons into specific guidelines to web page designers and screenreader developers. (26 guidelines apply to web designers.)

Their observations are very practical and to-the-point. For example, "First, screenreader users must find the form." JAWS has a "Jump to form" key, but none of the participants used it. They all listened to the page contents until it said there was a form.

Their guidelines provide more detail on things we already know about (like alt text) as well as user-centric things that only the screenreader users really understand ("You don't want to come in and out of Edit mode when using a form.")

1. Mary FrancesTheofanos and Janice (Ginny) Redish, "Bridging the Gap Between Accessibility and Usability." Interactions, X.6, Nov-Dec 2003, pp 36-51.

I would love to read it but is not for free, and I do not have a credit card.