Re: [IxDA Discuss] 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines
The list is very out of date and does not contain anything new. Its main worth is in demonstrating the well-established viral power of lumping a collection of random points together and presenting them as a definitive list, as in the 100 best novels etc. On the scrolling point I would speculate that the greater ease of scrolling thanks to trackpads and roller mice has changed users behaviour significantly, although I don't have the research to back it up. On Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 10:26 AM, Fred Leuck fle...@myway.com wrote: Hello all, And Beware the 'Most Users Do Not Scroll' assertion. Not sure it's true. Interesting studies show just the opposite%u2026: - Unfolding the Fold : http://blog.clicktale.com/?p=19 - Paging VS Scrolling : http://www.surl.org/usabilitynews/41/paging.asp - Blasting The Myth of the Fold: http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/blasting-the-myth-of -- Tim Ostler E t...@cogarch.com W www.cogarch.com W timostler.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines
Hopefully next time smashbox will do a Top 10 Accepted Usability Guidelines and the Arguments Against Them type article. It's a much better read when you add in this type of feedback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=46010 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines
Interesting article from smashing.com: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/09/24/10-useful-usability-findings-and-guidelines/ Topics: * Form Labels Work Best Above The Field * Users Focus On Faces * Quality Of Design Is An Indicator Of Credibility * Most Users Do Not Scroll * Blue Is The Best Color For Links * The Ideal Search Box Is 27-Characters Wide * White Space Improves Comprehension * Effective User Testing Doesnt Have To Be Extensive * Informative Product Pages Help You Stand Out * Most Users Are Blind To Advertising * Bonus: Findings From Our Case-Studies If you've never visited smashing.com, they're the single most prolific source of list posts I've ever seen, including a lot of stuff on web design. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines
Beware the 'users focus on faces' assertion. Tom Tullis and his colleagues at Fidelity found that put a person's face next to an item rendered the whole thing invisible. It was a kind of instant 'banner ad blindness' phenomenon. I talked to him about it at their poster at CHI in Boston. It was a startling result. Regards, William Hudson Syntagm Ltd Design for Usability UK 01235-522859 World +44-1235-522859 US Toll Free 1-866-SYNTAGM mailto:william.hud...@syntagm.co.uk http://www.syntagm.co.uk skype:williamhudsonskype Syntagm is a limited company registered in England and Wales (1985). Registered number: 1895345. Registered office: 10 Oxford Road, Abingdon OX14 2DS. Courses in card sorting and Ajax interaction design - Las Vegas and Berlin: http://www.nngroup.com/events/ -Original Message- From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss- boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of David Lambert Sent: 24 September 2009 6:58 AM To: disc...@ixda.org Subject: [IxDA Discuss] 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines Interesting article from smashing.com: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/09/24/10-useful-usability- findings-and-guidelines/ Topics: * Form Labels Work Best Above The Field * Users Focus On Faces ... Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines
Sorry, just remembered I wrote a blog on this! It's at http://www.syntagm.co.uk/design/blog/?p=21 Regards, William -Original Message- From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss- boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of William Hudson Sent: 24 September 2009 3:13 PM To: David Lambert; disc...@ixda.org Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines Beware the 'users focus on faces' assertion. Tom Tullis and his colleagues at Fidelity found that put a person's face next to an item rendered the whole thing invisible. It was a kind of instant 'banner ad blindness' phenomenon. I talked to him about it at their poster at CHI in Boston. It was a startling result. Regards, William Hudson Syntagm Ltd Design for Usability UK 01235-522859 World +44-1235-522859 US Toll Free 1-866-SYNTAGM mailto:william.hud...@syntagm.co.uk http://www.syntagm.co.uk skype:williamhudsonskype Syntagm is a limited company registered in England and Wales (1985). Registered number: 1895345. Registered office: 10 Oxford Road, Abingdon OX14 2DS. Courses in card sorting and Ajax interaction design - Las Vegas and Berlin: http://www.nngroup.com/events/ -Original Message- From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss- boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of David Lambert Sent: 24 September 2009 6:58 AM To: disc...@ixda.org Subject: [IxDA Discuss] 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines Interesting article from smashing.com: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/09/24/10-useful-usability- findings-and-guidelines/ Topics: * Form Labels Work Best Above The Field * Users Focus On Faces ... Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines
David Lambert Interesting article from smashing.com: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/09/24/10-useful-usability- findings-and-guidelines/ Topics: * Form Labels Work Best Above The Field I'm getting really bored with seeing this piece of nonsense peddled again and again. It's not entirely untrue for a very short, very ordinary form like the one in this article. It's unlikely to be true for forms that have a bit more depth to them. See my article: Label Placement in Forms: http://www.usabilitynews.com/news/article3507.asp And remember that users don't bail out of forms because they don't like where the labels are placed - they bail out because they don't like the questions they are being asked, because they consider the questions are intrusive, or because they don't know the answers. best Caroline Jarrett Author: Forms that work: Designing web forms for usability www.formsthatwork.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines
I agree with Caroline that summarizing ten random sources and tips for improving usability, out of context (and out of time, as with the users don't scroll bit), is a little dangerous. At best, some items will help folks who dig deeper and make the effort to merge these tips with their project domain. At worst, a new group of well, you didn't do it like *this article* said to, so it's not usable folks crop up - which is just annoying (esp if you happen to be the sole UX folk on the team). Re: website credibility. I'm highly skeptical of studies that report this in isolation of the much more pertinent facts regarding that decision. The number one factor in a web site's credibility, to me (and I suspect, many others), is my opinion of the company who owns it. The second factor is the URL. The most usable site in the world won't get me to plug my social security number into http://56.62.10.5/action.do?action=Refactorforms=entry#signup But hey, some of the typography items are neat =] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=46010 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines
Caroline is correct that most people don't bail out of forms because of label positioning. The user studies I have done have found validation and error handling to be much bigger problems. For example, trying to create a strong password of CapLetters lowercase Punctuation#! and getting a vague error message that says Please enter a valid password is more likely to create a problem than whether the label Password was above or to the left of the text input. If a certain character is not allowed, say so. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=46010 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines
Hello all, And Beware the 'Most Users Do Not Scroll' assertion. Not sure it's true. Interesting studies show just the opposite%u2026: - Unfolding the Fold : http://blog.clicktale.com/?p=19 - Paging VS Scrolling : http://www.surl.org/usabilitynews/41/paging.asp - Blasting The Myth of the Fold: http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/blasting-the-myth-of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=46010 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines
Perhaps related, or in addition, or in refutation, I'd say stock photography is an instant turn-off in terms of usability and credibility. If I see a vaguely happy person using their laptop in good lighting or a rainbow of diverse people around a conference table I instantly think the site doesn't have anything to say, doesn't know what they're saying, or is a URL squatter. I wonder if there's any research on that. :-\ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=46010 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
