A couple weeks ago my email subscribers received a link for a “new post” that didn’t go anywhere. It’s not that the page was broken, or that the post didn’t exist. Instead the problem was that I was working on a new post that was not yet finished and accidentally hit the “Publish” button, instead of the “Save Draft” button. Of course, like any typical user, I blamed myself. (more…)

The home page of your web site is your online store-front. The inside pages are the equivalent to customer facing insides of your shop. So what kind of first impression are you giving to your customers? Are you a high end retailer on the posh side of town, a quaintly decorated boutique, or maybe a brightly lit warehouse with hundreds of products? Or are you a small building with plain white walls and price charts scattered amongst rows of products on metal shelving? (more…)

Let’s face it, you probably won’t be surprised if I tell you that you’re faced with hundreds, maybe even thousands of choices a day. We are all increasingly aware that our lives have become busy messes and decision making has become a mix of quick fix decisions and complicated painstaking choices. In addition, the number of decisions we make every day just get bigger and bigger with every year as technology advances and information becomes more accessible. So how, with all of this madness surrounding us, can you expect your users to choose between all of the options you are providing them and close on a sale amongst the hustle and bustle of there already over complicated day? (more…)

I’m testing out new functionality on Flickr, that allows me to immediately post Flickr photos to my blog. I thought I would test this out by posting a screen shot of a new website I recently stumbled upon (http://www.stumbleupon.com/). (more…)

I recently gave a presentation at the South Florida User Experience Meetup on the top 10 design and layout principles you should know when designing your website. Below is a summary as well as the presentation with some screen shot examples for those who could not attend. (more…)

Paper Prototyping with Magnets and Dry Erase

What is Paper Prototyping?

Paper Prototyping is a low fidelity (Low-Fi) way to create and test designs before an application has been built. The nature of a these prototypes as paper and pencil is an important element. Not only does the paper and pen lead to a creative aspect of the process, but it also lends well to a cheap budget and quick turnaround. More importantly however, the rough sketch implies an unfinished idea which lends well to iterations and makes it more likely that those working on the design will be willing to change them. The more time and effort we put into an idea, typically the more attached we become to that idea. By creating rough sketches with just enough fidelity to get the idea across we are more likely to be open to modifications. (more…)

What are standards?

Standards are agreed upon conventions for a particular process or visual pattern based on research and proven best practices. They provide a basis for commonality across many diverse things. They allow us to learn something once, and employ it in multiple places. An example of a well know interface standard are the simple button icons used in rich text editing toolbars for bold, italic and underlined text. The B is Bold, the I is italic and the U is underlined. (more…)

(Download the PDF)

A few weekends ago I made the trip to grandmas for some nice rest and relaxation. On the way over I loaded some overdue podcasts onto my iPod for some road trip enjoyment. One of these podcast’s was Userability # 3 the guest on the show asked about interactions that we become numb to in using the computer so frequently. I found the podcast interesting and a great reminder that we can’t assume anything about our users.

I didn’t realize how quickly this lesson would be reiterated to me again. The next day, grandma asked me to help her with some issues in her email. Now keep in mind grandma’s been on email as long as the rest of us, she’s not a newbie to the concept. On the same token, she works on her Inspiron Dell laptop from a retirement community center where not many other people use computers. Therefore she has very little social influence in learning the advancements of interactions over time. So while she is up to date in a sense and a regular user, she certainly not an “advanced” user or “explorer”. (more…)

(Download the PDF)

Change is good, and it’s important to keep your site up to date. However change can also be hard to handle, especially when you feel as if you’ve had the rug pulled out from under you. Which is how many users feel when they go to a familiar site and suddenly everything is completely different.

This is something to keep in mind when making changes on your website, specifically in account based websites.  When someone creates an account and has “private” pages they form a sense of ownership with these pages. “They have my stuff on them, therefore they belong to me now”. This can be good in some sense as it indicates loyalty, but what happens when it’s time to update the site? (more…)

(Download the PDF)

First impressions are worth a lot on the web when competition is only a click away. So what first impression are you giving people when they come to your website? Does your site seem confusing, overwhelming, without focus? One of the most common mistakes people make when creating their homepages is forgetting about their users and first impressions. Many homepages are bogged down with useless text, a mess of links and images and no clear statement of what they do, or what their users can do on their site. It’s important that you’re clear and obvious on what you have to offer and the value you can provide.

The Test

Take the 5 second test to find out how you’re doing:

Take a screen shot of your website and print it in black and white. Show it to family and friends who may not be familiar with the site, but only let them look at it for 5 seconds. Can they tell you the company the website was for? What does the company do? What would they do next on the site? If they can’t figure this out, without your prompting, then your homepage could use some work. Keep in mind, people will give your site a lot less than 5 seconds time on the web.

(more…)