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10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines « Smashing Magazine

10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines « Smashing Magazine
Everyone would agree that usability is an important aspect of Web design. Whether you’re working on a portfolio website, online store or Web app, making your pages easy and enjoyable for your visitors to use is key. Many studies have been done over the years on various aspects of Web and interface design, and the findings are valuable in helping us improve our work. Here are 10 useful usability findings and guidelines that may help you improve the user experience on your websites. 1. Form Labels Work Best Above The Field A study by UX Matters1 found that the ideal position for labels in forms is above the fields. 2Tumblr3 features a simple and elegant sign-up form that adheres to UX Matter’s recommendation. Positioning labels on the left also poses another problem: do you left-align or right-align the labels? 2. People instinctively notice other people right away when they come into view. Eye-tracking heat map of a baby looking directly at us, from the UsableWorld study4. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/09/24/10-useful-usability-findings-and-guidelines/

Don Norman Interview - UX Week Video - Events - User Experience - UX Design Re. UX Week – Video Don Norman, the esteemed “Ralph Nader of design,” gives us 52:29 of his time to offer wisdom gained from his experience in matters of user experience, design, business, and making our case to management. Don Norman Quotes Notable quotables, for those who may not have the fifty two and a half minutes: Coding Up a Web Design Concept into HTML & CSS I’ve recently been working on a design concept for a WordPress theme as part of a personal project. In this walkthrough we’ll go through the process of converting the design concept from PSD document right through to completed HTML and CSS mockup, complete with clean and valid code, a few touches of CSS3 and some quick fixes to help out old IE6. The design we’ll be coding up is this WordPress theme concept I’m currently working on as part of a personal project. The design features a clean grey background, but with splashes of vibrant colour in the header, and throughout the page with links and buttons taking bright colour swatches from the main illustration. Overall the design has plenty of clean lines, and uses subtle shadows and inset text effects to add that touch of style.

Operating System Interface Design Between 1981-2009 A Graphical User Interface (GUI for short) allows users to interact with the computer hardware in a user friendly way. Over the years a range of GUI’s have been developed for different operating systems such as OS/2, Macintosh, Windowsamiga, Linux, Symbian OS, and more. We’ll be taking a look at the evolution of the interface designs of the major operating systems since the 80′s.

GUIStuff.com - Free Graphical User Interfaces 10 Useful Techniques To Improve Your User Interface Designs Advertisement Web design consists, for the most part, of interface design. There are many techniques involved in crafting beautiful and functional interfaces. Here’s my collection of 10 that I think you’ll find useful in your work. They’re not related to any particular theme, but are rather a collection of techniques I use in my own projects. Without further ado, let’s get started.

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