Usability Tools and References

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Human-Centered Design Toolkit - Case Studies - IDEO

For years, businesses have used human-centered design to develop innovative solutions. Why not apply the same approach to overcome challenges in the nonprofit world? This project, funded by International Development Enterprise (IDE) as part of a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, sought to provide NGOs and social enterprises with the tools to do just that. IDEO, in collaboration with nonprofit groups ICRW and Heifer International, developed the HCD Toolkit to help international staff and volunteers understand a community’s needs in new ways, find innovative solutions to meet those needs, and deliver solutions with financial sustainability in mind. The HCD Toolkit was designed specifically for NGOs and social enterprises that work with impoverished communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Design To Sell: 8 Useful Tips To Help Your Website Convert | How

http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2009/04/06/design-to-sell-12-tips-to-help-your-website-convert/ As we see more and more businesses move their services online, and even more that begin their life on the Web, a greater need arises for websites that are designed and built to sell. A great-looking website may achieve the goal of shaping and delivering a strong brand, but its good looks alone aren’t enough to sell the products or services on offer . For that, you need to introduce the element of marketing. You may want to take a look at the following related articles: 1.

Durability of Usability Guidelines (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbo

http://www.nngroup.com/articles/durability-of-usability-guidelines/ Summary: About 90% of usability guidelines from 1986 are still valid, though several guidelines are less important because they relate to design elements that are rarely used today. The usability field is getting on in age, and we now have the cumulative wisdom of more than twenty years of user research at our disposal. Some usability enemies like to dismiss established findings, claiming, "they may have been true once, but not any more." Because the computer field does tend to move quickly, it's reasonable to ask whether old usability insights have indeed become obsolete. From 1984 to 1986, the U.S. Air Force compiled existing usability knowledge into a single, well-organized set of guidelines for its user interface designers.
http://mashable.com/2011/09/16/ui-design-resources/ The Web Design Usability Series is supported by join.me , an easy way to instantly share your screen with anyone. join.me lets you collaborate on-the-fly, put your heads together super-fast and even just show off. Designing a great user interface can be a challenge, even for the most seasoned designer. Countless factors need to be taken into consideration and the difference between a good UI and a great one often boils down to paying close attention to the smallest details.

9 Essential Resources for User Interface Designers

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-things-i-cant-believe-websites-are-still-doing/

5 Things I Can't Believe Websites Are Still Doing

The general consensus is that the Internet went mainstream sometime around 1996 . That's important because it means that for a decade and a half, the experts have been spouting off about how "in the future," all businesses will be dependent on connectivity. Well here we are, we've arrived at the future, and even the corner dildo recycler has a website. Via Sextoyrecyling.com And many of them have no fucking clue how their audience thinks or acts.
Last week we presented 8 Useful Tips To Help Your Website Convert – we discussed various rules and guidelines from marketing, such as subliminal suggestion, prevention of choice paralysis, AIDA-principle, attention guide and the Gutenberg rule. The main idea was to help designers and developers create a design that would help the site to grow and become a success the financial point of view. As we see more and more businesses move their services online, and even more that begin their life on the Web, a greater need arises for websites that are designed and built to sell. A great-looking website may achieve the goal of shaping and delivering a strong brand, but its good looks alone aren’t enough to sell the products or services on offer. For that, you need to introduce the element of marketing. This article presents further principles and rules that will help your site convert .

7 More Useful Tips To Help Your Site Convert | How-To | Smashing

http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2009/04/13/7-more-useful-tips-to-help-your-site-convert/
Mobile Application Usability

Desiree Sy Journal of Usability Studies, Volume 2, Issue 3 , May 2007, pp. 112-132 Abstract http://www.upassoc.org/upa_publications/jus/2007may/agile-ucd.html

Adapting Usability Investigations for Agile User-Centered Design

usability

The Web Design Usability Series is supported by join.me , an easy way to instantly share your screen with anyone. join.me lets you collaborate on-the-fly, put your heads together super-fast and even just show off. Over the last few weeks, we've gathered together some great resources and information on constructing amazing user interfaces . Here, we'll take a closer look at 10 beautiful interfaces — five for the web and five for mobile — that you can use as reference points in your own design.

10 Excellent User Interface Designs to Learn From

http://mashable.com/2011/09/23/ui-design-examples/

mobiReady - dotMobi compliance & mobileOK checker

YOU ARE HERE: home The mobiReady testing tool evaluates mobile-readiness using industry best practices & standards. The free report provides both a score (from 1 to 5) and in-depth analysis of pages to determine how well your site performs on a mobile device. Provides results for a single page http://ready.mobi/launch.jsp?locale=en_EN
Check to see if your IP addresses are listed with 80 DNS based anti-spam databases! Will your mail server be blocked by DNSbl filters? Just because the IP is listed with a particular blacklist does not mean that you are sending spam, just that particular blacklist suggests not to accept mail from a mail server running at that IP address. Most residential Cable/DSL IP addresses that are dynamically assigned will indicate that they are blacklisted, meaning you should be sending from your ISP's mail server, not a mail server running on your own internet connection. Blacklist Check List If you have questions or would like to discuss DNS based blacklists please visit the DNS based Blacklists Forum . http://whatismyipaddress.com/blacklist-check

Blacklist Check

113 Design Guidelines for Homepage Usability (Nielsen Norman Group)

While many of these guidelines can apply to web design in general, they are especially critical to follow when designing your homepage, because the stakes are so high. Your homepage is often your first — and possibly your last — chance to attract and retain each customer, rather like the front page of a newspaper. One of the biggest values of a newspaper's front page is the priority given to top news items. All homepages would benefit from being treated like a front page of a major newspaper, with editors who determine the high-priority content and ensure continuity and style consistency. Even small changes to homepages can have drastic effects. Consider the homepage for The New York Times .

B2B Usability

Summary: User testing shows that business-to-business websites have substantially lower usability than mainstream consumer sites. If they want to convert more prospects into leads, B2B sites should follow more guidelines and make it easier for prospects to research their offerings. Many business-to-business (B2B) sites are stuck in the 1990s in their attitude toward the user experience. Most B2B sites emphasize internally focused design , fail to answer customers' main questions or concerns, and block prospects' paths as they search for companies to place on their shortlists.
Summary: How to define usability? How, when, and where to improve it? Why should you care? Overview defines key usabilty concepts and answers basic questions. This is the article to give to your boss or anyone else who doesn't have much time, but needs to know the basic usability facts. What — Definition of Usability

Usability 101: Definition and Fundamentals - What, Why, How

Home Page Design Guidelines

Summary: A company's homepage is its face to the world and the starting point for most user visits. Improving your homepage multiplies the entire website's business value, so following key guidelines for homepage usability is well worth the investment. Homepages are the most valuable real estate in the world. Each year, companies and individuals funnel millions of dollars through a space that's not even a square foot in size. For good reason. A homepage's impact on a company’s bottom line is far greater than simple measures of e-commerce revenues: The homepage is your company's face to the world .

Ten free usability testing tools

There are plenty of tools around which allow website owners to conduct tests and attempt to identify problem areas on their websites. I've listed ten of the best free usability testing tools, which are either completely free of charge, or allow users to try before they buy. If I'm missed any good ones, let me know... Fivesecondtest