“Making the simple complicated is commonplace,” said jazz composer and bassist Charles Mingus, ” but making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.”
It sounds like I’m selling usability when I talk about the return on investment that applied usability can bring to a project. But it’s a fact that research has shown again and again. An [...]

Web professionals often talk about the challenges of repurposing content, creating Web-friendly content, and adapting content for the Web. This chart outlines some of the differences in a succinct way.
Do you have any other points you’d add to this chart? Let me know and I’ll credit your ideas on this blog if you want.
Download PDF (72 Kb): Usability Differences [...]

1. Arms extend fully around body when giving hugs.
Rating: 10/10  Notes: Somehow this feature still functions effectively when children are adults, and regardless of their expanded height or girth.
2. Visual acuity and sightlines
Rating: 10/10  Notes: Most subjects seemed to have 360-degree vision (“eyes in the back of their heads”), could spot micro stains on shirts [...]

Have you ever been concerned about security on Twitter? You should be.
I’ve tweeted this before on my Twitter pages @usabilitydesign and @socialmediamash, but I have to expand on this issue here because I think it’s going to be something that is going to become an issue for Twitter micro-bloggers.
In case you’re new to Twitter, or not familiar [...]

Here are 5 quick tips on naming your business, from the experts at BrandNewPerfect.Name:
1. We want the perfect domain name.
In the beginning, everyone pined over what seemed to be the perfect domain names – the obvious ones like realestate.com, entertainment.com and internet.com (how would you like to own the ‘internet’?). Then some creative upstarts such [...]

When most businesses hear about the rise of social media – i.e. blogging, podcasting, social networks such as Facebook – their reactions can be paraphrased as “Interesting, but how is that going to help our business?” or “I don’t want my employees wasting their time socializing on the Web.”
With social media, the emphasis is on [...]

With apologies to Jakob Nielsen’s Top Ten, here are the Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design, from someone who has worked as a Web Manager and Web Strategist for many years:
1. The Web Strategy doesn’t follow the Business Strategy.
Whether you’re designing for a Fortune 1000 corporation, a SOHO business, a government agency or a non-profit, [...]

(click on thumbnail image above to view full size diagram)

In determining site navigation options for Web sites, many Web administrators/developers are satisfied to offer several navigation options to people (e.g. site search + menus + static links) as well as redundant navigation methods (allowing users to choose several ways to arrive at the same content).
However, most people use more than one navigation choice during [...]

Web analytics practices for intranets are fundamentally different than those applied to Internet sites. Internet analytics ask: Who is using the site? What days of the week and what hours of the day receive the most traffic? What browsers are people using when they visit the site? Why are people visiting the site? With intranets, [...]

1. Print content is structurally and functionally different from online content.  Understand the differences when you write for Web sites. Print is formally written and passively read. It’s linear, narrative, dated and presents a continuous view. Online content is informally written, chunked out, non-linear, interactive, dynamic and current. One involves reading paper, the other involves [...]

Most Web sites would receive a failing grade when it comes to providing transparent, comprehensive and responsive “contact” content.
When Web customers click on a link, that’s an interaction, but when they submit a contact request, that’s a transaction of information – they’re send you their personal “content” and expecting the site to respond accordingly. They’re [...]

The downloadabled Universal Design Access Chart was compiled from various Internet sources for the purpose of assembling a wide variety of access issues and barriers that relate to disabilities, yet may also improve the user experience for those who have needs relating to age, education, income, environment or other variables.
Universal Design Access Chart [compiled by DigitalPractices.com]
Also [...]

In January, 2004, I was asked to speak at IQPC’s Content Week conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. The following column is based on my presentation from that event.
You take your car into the shop every couple of years to get its front end aligned every couple of years, so why not do the same for [...]

A new IBM research report suggests that the best analogies for businesses in the future may no longer be the command structures of the military but the self-organising networks found in nature: schools of fish, flocks of birds and swarms of insects. This research, contained in The IBM Global Innovation Outlook 2.0 Report, reinforces Bioteam [...]

Most Web sites receive a failing grade when it comes to providing transparent, comprehensive and responsive “contact” content.  
When Web customers click on a link, that’s an interaction, but when they submit a contact request, that’s a transaction of information – they’re send you their personal “content” and expecting the site to respond accordingly. They’re sharing [...]

Gerry McGovern has spoken, written and consulted extensively on Web content management issues since 1994. He has written three highly respected books, including Content Critical and The Web Content Style Guide, and is currently working on a fourth.
You’ve said that Web designers should think of the Web as a publication and think of themselves as [...]

Jesse James Garrett is author of the landmark information architecture book, Elements of User Experience. He is also the founding partner of Adaptive Path, a user experience consulting company.
The Elements of User Experience got its start on your Web site. What are the origins of that book?
The model described in the book really grew out [...]