WebWord

This is a false dichotomy that has been bothering me for a while. Obviously it has been bothering Matthew Oliphant as well.
In my opinion, this can be answered pretty easily: Accessibility is usability for persons with disabilities.
When accessiblity is improved for one user group, usability is simultaneously improved for that group. In turn, usability is improved most others users […]

“Over the past five weeks, there’s been a 42% increase in the number of Internet searches involving the phrase “homes for sale,” according to Hitwise, a firm which measures Web traffic.”

According to the author of this article, the increase in number of searches is a representation of interest. This interest, however, might be tied to […]

“The team recognizes that they missed a few areas: you cannot easily switch folders without tapping the dropdown folder list, you can’t switch between applications without touching the screen, and using the dialer on most device requires one to launch the dial pad.”
Improving One-Handed Usability in Pocket PC
Related links:

Let’s Talk About One Hand Navigation
One handed […]

“While we have determined that some usability features can restrict your site’s accessibility, we can ascertain that any steps taken towards accessibility should never restrict usability.”
Can Accessibility And Usability Live In Harmony?

“John Rhodes’ seminal article on Google 2.0 from September of 2001, which envisions a Google Client and predated common usage of the “Web 2.0″ moniker by years. For perspective, when this piece was written, there was no AdSense, no AdWords, no Gmail, Google hadn’t bought Blogger, and Mozilla hadn’t yet birthed Phoenix Firebird Firefox.”
Taken from […]

In his column Microsoft Office vs. the World—No Contest, Dvorak writes the following:
“Currently the way most people think they can beat Word is by making something light-weight or faster or less complicated. Ideally this is all well and good, but people still choose complexity over simplicity when given a choice. This is a sad fact […]

Competitive Analysis
“Even the simplest competitive analysis displays two critical dimensions: the competitors and the criteria, or what we’ll call the competitive framework. The purpose of the competitive framework is to present the data in a way that makes it easy to compare the various sites across the different criteria.”
How do you analyse your user research […]

“In a poll of 300 software buyers, carried out by Red Gate Software, the specialist in database development tools, ease of use came out on top as the number one priority for most buyers of software – highlighting the critical nature of Usability Engineers in software development.”

Usability Engineers Critical To Future Of Software Development

Monique Cuvelier of FreePint asked me to write an article on usability. Below is her introduction…
“According to usability expert John S. Rhodes, too many companies will sooner focus on profits, engineering, marketing and operations before they think of people. In an effort to help computers mesh with humans, he writes about how to find and work […]

I was flipping through the channels and noticed that QVC was selling Dell computers. If you’re curious, it was the E-01510 (Dell 2.53 GHz Celeron, 3 Yr Warranty, 80GB drive, 1GB RAM, DVD player, etc.).
The QVC hosts took a call, which they do from time to time. The woman calling was very pleasant and the […]

“Talking to a CEO about usability can be wonderful or terrifying. The difference between raging success and total failure comes down to understanding exactly what the CEO needs to know and then adjusting your usability message to fit. This article explains how to understand various contexts, and in turn, how to position your usability message.”
CEOs […]

If you’ve ever been to a class or training seminar, you’re probably familar with the task of putting your name on a piece of cardboard. Usually the cardboard is white and you’re handed a marker so you can write your name on it. Then, you face your name forward so that the teacher can read it. 
Simple, right? But could […]