News (20 links)
More General Topic(s): Profession (13)
Track the field of web usability, as it is covered by the press.
It may not be complete coverage of web usability, but it is important to see what is deemed 'newsworthy' and what is not.
Scents and sensibility
http://www.economist.com/print ... splayStory.cfm?Story_ID=587294
Xerox PARC's Bloodhound assesses usability.
April 26, 2001
Remember The User's Point Of View
http://www.informationweek.com/831/usability.htm
Stories form HP, Google, Metavante, and a bit of history.
Destination: InformationWeek (7)
Find more like this
April 3, 2001
Fed Opens Web to Disabled
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,40790,00.html
Topic:
Accessibility (19)
Find more like this
December 21, 2000
Locking Out the Disabled
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article.asp?aid=17690
Access is not so hard.
PCWorld article by Judy Heim. Has an excellent ending section on how to learn more about web accessibility.
Topic:
Accessibility (19)
Find more like this
August 9, 2000
How to Weave a More Useful Web
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article.asp?aid=17702
Nine of the ten Web sites you've looked at today stink.
Cameron Crouch, PC World, talks with Jakob Nielsen about:
- The One-Click Approval: usability comes first
- When Unique Isn't Good
- Content Rules in Site Wars: useful content
- The E-Commerce Challenge: finding products
July 19, 2000
Airlines hit snag with online customer service
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-238533.html
March 28, 2000
Big Company Weakened
http://www.business2.com/magazine/2000/01/20586.htm
Fortune 100s have sloppy HTML and broken links.
The blame is pushed around, but some businesses do not see a problem: just something else wrong with the computer.
Jared Spool points out that this is only a small part of the overall usability of the site.
Elizabeth Millard, Business 2.0, January 2000.
Topic:
Technology (18)
Destination: Business 2.0 (12)
Find more like this
February 3, 2000
Web search results still have human touch
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-234893.html
Humans help make usable search results.
A CNET news article about the trend toward customizing and rigging search results. Companies are giving up on the pure technology approach and adding human editors to search engines and directories.
December 27, 1999, by Paul Festa.
Topic:
Searching (15)
Find more like this
December 27, 1999
End of URLs as we know 'em?
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9908/10/endurl.idg/index.html
Common Name standard and how it might help users.
August 10, 1999
Why we reverted to the former InfoWorld.com Web site
http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayNew.pl?/reed/990726sr.htm
Went back because old site was fast, clean, and easy to use.
Destination: InfoWorld (12)
Find more like this
July 26, 1999
IBM's redesign results in a kinder, simpler Web site
http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-b ... ns/hotsites/hotextra990419.htm
Sales went up 400 percent with easier to navigate site.
Topic:
Value (10)
Destination: InfoWorld (12)
Find more like this
April 19, 1999
Tearing Up the Rules at latimes.com
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/business/1017967214.php
December 22, 1998
Optimize Your Site's Usability
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_2619.html
Impact of users ruling the Internet.
'...usability has become a core competency for business survival in the network economy.'
October 8, 1998, Anchordesk special report by Jakob Nielsen.
Topic:
Value (10)
Destination: Anchordesk (5)
Find more like this
October 8, 1998
Don't Make This Web Site Mistake
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_2628.html
Everyone seems to be wasting money on hard-to-use sites.
Ecommerce, corporate and even design firm sites are not effectively grasping the fundamentals for success:
- Offering what people want (news, content worth researching, products and services worth paying for)
- Fast
- Well-maintained
- Intuitive
- Organized
October 8, 1998, Anchordesk article by Jesse Berst.
Destination: Anchordesk (5)
Find more like this
October 8, 1998
Stupid Ecommerce Tricks
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_2359.html
Five ways top web sites drive customers away.
Real ecommerce mistakes from 'In Search of E-Commerce' report:
- Slow pages
- Plug-ins and downloads
- Hard-to-find purchase options
- Hard-to-find products
- Links making it easy to leave
July 29, 1998, Anchordesk article by Annette Hamilton.
Topic:
Ecommerce (25)
Destination: Anchordesk (5)
Find more like this
July 29, 1998
Listen Up
http://www.cio.com/archive/webbusiness/040198_main.html
Pay attention to what your users say.
About finding out who your users are, how to involve them in the design process, and how to take advatange of the web to be a better listener.
Includes interview with Wayne Neale on Kodak redesign efforts.
Article from CIO magazine, April, 1998 by Scott Kirsner.
Destination: CIO WebBusiness (20)
Find more like this
April 5, 1998
Seven Deadly Web Site Sins
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_1716.html
Anchordesk's list of commandments.
Specific to usability, Jesse Berst gives us these things to avoid:
- inconsistent navigation
- broken links
- browser-specific sites
- frames
- opening new windows
The TalkBack section at the bottom of the page includes reader feedback and is equally interesting.
Destination: Anchordesk (5)
Find more like this
January 30, 1998
Fixing Web-site Usability
http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-b ... .pl?/features/971215webfix.htm
How to let visitors to your Web site cut through the document maze.
Quotes from Jared Spool, Steven Nelson, Murray Maloney, Jakob Nielsen, and Lucy Lockwood. The collection of topics covered include:
- User testing
- UIE findings
- Creating good links and navigation mechanisms
- Confusing market research with usability testing
- Importance of content
InfoWorld article by Lynda Radosevich, December 15, 1997.
Destination: InfoWorld (12)
Find more like this
December 15, 1997
Avoid the #1 Web Site Sin: Slow Loading Pages
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_1244.html
September 97 AnchorDesk article on seriousness of slow pages.
Has links to advice on speeding up access (graphic tips, mainly).
Article needs information on other way to speed up pages, plus AnchorDesk should practice what it preaches.
Topic:
Speed (10)
Destination: Anchordesk (5)
Find more like this
September 15, 1997
Users Grapple with Pace of Web's Changes
http://content.techweb.com/wire/news/1997/09/0910web.html
Role standards play in affecting user experience in ever-changing Web.
HTML, CSS, DHTML and XML discussed in terms of using new technologies without regard to usability.
Article by Richard Karpinski, InternetWeek, on TechWire site.
Topic:
Technology (18)
Find more like this
September 10, 1997
