Eyetracking Web Usability: book review – Jan 2010 (book is by Jacob Nielsen)
The book’s conclusion will come as no surprise to the reader. “Eyetracking fills in the details… Most companies should not bother conducting their own eyetracking studies.” The book does nothing for the eyetracking industry except cement its status as an expensive diversion. If this is the accumulated wisdom of the largest eyetracking survey in history, we can safely consider the technology inconsequential.
Remember those design principles you learned ten years ago? Eyetracking shows they’re right. Carry on.
8 usability lessons learned – Kart Me, Jan 2010
Menus should be short, top navigation should be functional. Top navigation gives people a persistent feeling that is comforting, Text-only links should be blue. Buttons should look clickable. Lots of cool graphics is overwhelming. Tiny font size is OK.
Pitfalls to avoid when designing forms – Blogoscoped, Aug 2008
In most instances, the form reset button is not needed, though it can almost always do harm if users accidentally click it. Only offer the choices absolutely necessary in the context of what the user is trying to achieve. Forms are still part of the web page and should adhere to basic web usability rules like making fonts big enough to be readable, making links look like links and non-links not look like links.
Apple vs Microsoft: A website usability study – Dmitry Fadeyev, May 2009
Detailed walkthrough the differences in design, layout and navigation of each web site
User Interface & Design – East vs West – Bijan Sabet, May 2009
Apple is about a beautiful design and Google is about the utility. Two examples that point out the obvious: Apple’s iPhone and Google’s search. Both are brilliant but opposite ends of the spectrum. I can’t imagine Google creating an app like iPhoto. And I can’t imagine Apple ever agreeing to ship a product that looks like Gmail. Again, both products are highly successful.
How little do users read? – Jakob Nielsen, May 2008
On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely.
Simplicity: What we can learn about usability – Eric Burke, Mar 2008
Wireframe for a typical Apple product (touch) versus typical Google product (find) versus typical corporate app (noise). Plus fair comment about the different in requirements for an Apple product (limited list of options – your music) versus Google (match any keywords) versus corporate (specific answers, legal implications of getting stuff wrong)
Links
- Principles for user interface design – Talin
- The ultimate guide to A/B testing – Smashing Magazine, June 2010
