Usability

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Usability

• Jim Doran

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DONT MAKE ME THINK

• This evening's discussion borrows heavily from
  Steve Krug's outstanding book Don't Make Me
  Think
• Some facts about web pages

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1. We don't read pages, we scan them.
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2. We don't make optimal choices, we sacrifice.

• We're usually in a hurry
• There's not much penalty for guessing incorrectly
  
• Weighing options may not improve our chances
• Guessing is more fun

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3. We don't figure out how things work, we muddle
through.

• Why bother? When we find something that works, we
  stick with it.
• So.conventions are our friends.

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Every page needs a name

• We must remind the user where they are, and they
  should be able to get back home.

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Tabs
Breadcrumbs
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Page Layout

• Visual Hierarchy
• most important info on top
• upper left preference
• use of whitespace
• contrasting fonts for importance or lack of
• indenting subordinate info
• graphics used for grouping (lines, boxes, etc)

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continued

• Visual Flow
• where do we look next?
• top-bottom left-right tendency
• too many strong focal points?
• Grouping
• by grouping you are implying items are related
  (opposite is also true)
• Alignment
• subtle way of associating things
• Creating a visual Framework
• Consistent color, font, layout, navigation is
  best. Have this framework repeated on each page
  helps content stand out more.

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How do we figure this out?

• Usability testing
• Test early in the project
• Test one user is 100 better than testing zero
  users
• Testing improves our judgment
• Testing is iterative process
• Testing 3 people will reveal about 80 of a
  sites issues.

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Types of testing

• Just get it testing
• Directed testing

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Fun

• http//www.webpagesthatsuck.com/