Tag: usability
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On Passwords (Usability and Security)
Passwords have barely evolved since the early days of computing and are taken for granted in our daily online-lives. It’s time for change, says usability expert Jakob Nielsen, who believes password masking goes against basic usability principles and should be stopped (via Kottke). Providing feedback and visualizing the system’s status have always been among the…
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The Experience Response
Mark Hurst, author of Bit Literacy and host of the Gel conference, takes a look at Microsoft’s Bing and discusses the problem with Microsoft’s current strategy and ways they can improve. Customers online don’t respond to a brand marketed to them, they respond to the experience they have. If they can accomplish their goal quickly…
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Call-To-Action Buttons
Call-to-action buttons are the buttons that web designers want visitors to click when interacting with their site (Signup, Purchase, Download, etc.). Tips on how to design theseĀ abound on the Internet, but David Hamill’s overview on how to design good call-to-action buttons and the difference they can make is one of the best I’ve seen recently.…
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Design Patterns for Errorproofing
Persuasive technologies are those which are designed to change the attitudes or behaviours of users. Errorproofing, on the otherhand, is concerned not with behavioural change, but in ensuring certain behaviours are met. Errorproof technologies, then, are those which “[make] it easier for users to work without making errors, or [that make] errors impossible in the…
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Usability Tips for Your Website/Blog
Tom of I’d Rather Be Writingāthe ‘technical communication’ blogāhas just written-up twenty usability tips for your blog. I’ve been doing research on what distinguishes good blogs from poor ones, especially by reading “lessons learned” posts by bloggers. I’ve come up with 20 principles I think are worthwhile. Encourage comments Include an About page Keep posts…