WebWord

10,000 RFID tags in Tokyo (Computer World) — “For example, bringing the terminal close to an RFID tag on a street lamp will pinpoint the user’s location and enable the system to guide the user to the nearest railway station; walking past a radio beacon in front of a shop might bring up details of […]

Senior Usability Consultant, Auckland and Wellington — “We are a small and tightly knit team of experts passionate about a human centered approach to high tech design and development.”

Usability heuristics for web development teams (SitePoint) — “I believe there are a whole lot of things that haven’t been considered in these lists. If we’re going to take a best practice, user centred, holistic, may the force be with you approach to web development, surely there should be a broader focus; and one that […]

“This year, rather than avoid the Internet fads, including social networking and wikis, intranet design teams applied them in restrained ways that emphasized useful information. The result was the addition of sophisticated intranet features that expressed each company’s culture and served the needs of individual employees better than ever before.”
Why? Because the features and functions […]

Surprise, surprise…
(Or not. We’ve known this for ages now.)
“Nearly half of online shoppers would abandon their shopping trolley if confronted by ‘hidden’ charges during the checkout process, according to a survey from Webcredible.”
Keep reading about poor usability and online shopping
 

From Andy Edmonds — “Try modeling different types of drop-out within your e-commerce site. You’ll be amazed how much improving conversion by a 1% at any step in the process can affect the bottom line.”
Transactional Website Conversion Explorer

As expected, several people have asked me how I set up the web audio on my Cat Quote Book web site. When you visit that site, you’ll quickly see that there are a couple of audio recordings available. They are warm and personal, and they add significant value to the web page.
Regular WebWord readers know […]

The Open-Source Solution (MIT Technology Review)
“As the code slowly grows in complexity as well as capability, usability suffers, not only because new functions add to the user interface but because such additions are ad hoc and implemented case by case.”
…and…
“Open source may be superior in producing robust, reliable code. It can hold its own in […]

I’m going to tell you the story behind The Cat Quote Book.
In 2006 I talked a lot about the blending of marketing and usability. Obviously I’ve been keeping WebWord updated. I also wrote articles outside of WebWord. For example, Working with a Usability Specialist as well the articles I’ve written for Apogee.
To understand marketing, I’ve […]

The dark side of prototyping (GUUUI) — Are there any downsides of prototyping? Not really. But as with everything else in life, you might stumble and hurt yourself if you don’t watch your step. This article points out some of the banana skins to steer clear off.”
 

10 Tips to Improve Usability — “Three questions are likely to reveal solutions for the shopkeeper in trouble: Is it easy to move around the store? Are my customers able to find what they want? How can I speed up transactions at the checkout counter?”

Nothing too new here for most WebWord readers. However, it is […]

Wonderful Weather Description — “I love the weather description the Chicago Sun-Times puts on the home page of its Web site each day.”
Weather for 03-Jan-2007 = “A BEAUTY”
Great stuff! These little things like this make a huge difference in how people see a web site. There’s some humanity behind the pages. Good job, Chicago Sun-Times!