KISS – Keep it Simple, Stupid! This has historically been a top-level goal for user experience professionals . However, as this blog post describes, achieving simplicity is not a simple exercise. There are many aspects to simplicity. It’s not as easy as saying, “If we look at an Apple UI, that’s our model!” Here’s the post: Simplicity… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Web Usability
New book – Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving
Worth a read! New book available (for free!) – Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving is presented as a handbook for teaching, learning, and doing meaningful disruptive design work. The book includes an introduction to wicked problems, describing some of the challenges and opportunities of design-led entrepreneurial activities. The text describes the skills… Continue Reading
Finally! Microsoft celebrates IE6 death!
As a user experience designer and prototyper, one of the painful aspects of creating websites is checking browser compatability. With the demise of IE6, there’s one less browser version we have to worry about! Hooray! Check out the article on BBC Technology News!… Continue Reading
Phoenix World Usability Day Celebration 2011
“To the heart of design” is a phrase that best describes the largest and most successful World Usability Day (WUD) event produced in Phoenix, Arizona, since its first event in 2007. PayPal hosted and sponsored the event, kicked off with a multimedia presentation of examples from its extensive interaction design team members, numbering 250 strong,… Continue Reading
What Facebook Can Learn From Netflix When Disrupting the User Experience
I love it when journalists don’t let big companies get away abusing their customer’s experience. Here’s the latest user experience blooper, pointed out by Scott Davis at Forbes Magazine: Any time you mess with the user experience, you’re going to risk backlash. If change is based on a solid understanding of your customers and the… Continue Reading
“In Google we trust” – Students poorly advised?
It has become part of the internet vernacular to “Google” something to find out more about it. Once googled, how reliable are the results listed? Are featured listings more truthful or informative than lower-ranked listings? A new study coming out of Northwestern University, discovered that college students have a decided lack of Web savvy, especially… Continue Reading
You’re not a user experience designer if…
It is very comforting that the “User Experience” field has become more popular and well-respected over the years. That makes me, as a UX professional, feel good about the work we do. However, as Whitney Hess points out in her blog post, There’s just one problem: not everyone calling themselves a user experience designer is… Continue Reading
Healthcare Experience Design Conference – Boston, Mass – April 11, 2011
As a user experience professional designing EMR, EHR and case management software in the healthcare industry, there are few opportunities to educate, learn, network and focus on UX in healthcare. Well, look no longer!! I’m excited to hear about the Healthcare Experience Design Conference in Boston, Mass, on April 11, 2011. Here’s a summary of… Continue Reading
Why are User Experience (UX) and User-Centered Design (UCD) getting a bad rap?
There have been a number of recent articles, blog posts and list comments trashing user experience design (UX) as unneeded, misguided and counter-productive to good product design and development. As a long-time user experience practitioner, I was taken aback by these attack from many sides. However, as my partner at Success PragmatiQ, Larry Marine, and I… Continue Reading
Mandel presents to Denver University’s Daniels College of Business on “Golden Rules of Web Design”
Theo Mandel, Ph.D. gives an invited presentation – “Golden Rules of Web Design” – to a Digital Marketing graduate course at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver September 27, 2010 Denver, Colorado… Continue Reading
Healthcare IT News: Health 2.0 2010 Developer Challenge
This is a wonderful community effort! The Health 2.0 2010 Developer Challenge was launched on June 2nd, 2010 at the Community Health Data Initiative (CHDI) meeting at the Institute of Medicine (IOM), with support from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Here’s what it’s all about: Health 2.0’s original tag line of ‘user-generated… Continue Reading
Smashing Magazine: 40+ Helpful Resources On User Interface Design Patterns
User interface design patterns are common researched and reusable solutions to frequent user interface problems. There are a number of user interface pattern repositories. This article in Smashing Magazine lists over 40 resources for user interface design patterns. Here’s what they say about it: In this article, we share with you the best of the best,… Continue Reading
iPad Usability: First Findings From User Testing – Mixed Results!
Now that the iPad is out and people are using the new apps supposedly designed for the iPad, their usability falls short of the expected Apple usability experience. Jakob Nielsen, in his Alertbox, May 10 2010, summarized his findings: “iPad apps are inconsistent and have low feature discoverability, with frequent user errors due to accidental… Continue Reading
Reaching Retirees: Web Design for Senior Users
Good article by Design For Use on web design for seniors. Here’s the summary: “With the aging population and increased reliance on internet resources, improving the online experience of senior and retired users can facilitate greater success and knowledge about the web. While the common practices of increased text size, button size, and simplified layout… Continue Reading
Counterpoint to the “Madlibs” Form Style
As I looked closely at the different form styles in the previous blog entry, I noticed there are a number of differences, in addition to the different form layouts. Any or all of these changes could have contributed to the reported test results. Here’s a well-written counterpoint blog post: Lesson from Madlibs Signup Fad: Do… Continue Reading
“Mad Libs” Style Form Increases Conversion 25-40%
UI designers are always looking for new ways to do common tasks better and faster. This new style of filling in forms may prove to be one of those new twists that makes people think, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Luke Wroblewski writes about some new websites that lay out registration forms in a… Continue Reading
Usability Guidelines for Heuristic Evaluation
Very nice overview of heuristic evaluation guidelines for websites. >… Continue Reading
Theo Mandel’s “Golden Rules of Web Design” Keynote Presentation – User eXperience Russia, October 2009
Theo Mandel, Ph.D. was invited to give a keynote presentation at the User eXperience Russia conference in Moscow, Russia, on October 26, 2009. Mandel’s keynote, “The (New) Golden Rules of Web Design,” is an new presentation based on a chapter from the well-known book, The Elements of User Interface Design (John Wiley & Sons, 1997).… Continue Reading
Bad Usability! Humorous Slideshare Presentation
A humorous, poetic, simple and elegant presentation about bad usability based on the Bad Usability calendar (www.badusability.com/). >… Continue Reading
UX Problems at American Airlines
Dustin Curtis wrote a blog article about American Airlines’ poor website design. He received an e-mail from an Interaction Designer within the company explaining the corporate culture at American Airlines with regard to the website. The designer was promptly fired by AA. >… Continue Reading