From the category archives:

Usability

Smashing Presents 30 Usability Issues

by erica on November 8, 2008

Was just earlier talking on Twitter about how UX design should be something everyone thinks about rather than shuttled off “only” to UX specialists and consultants, then found this handy dandy page from Smashing Magazine - 30 Usability Issues to be Aware Of. There are lots of UX resources out there that are accessible and [...]

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Companies Just Don’t Get It

by erica on October 30, 2008

I started ranting on Twitter some time last night and realized it was apropos here.
I’m reading About Face by Alan Cooper, and Cooper writes,
If we design and construct products in such a way that the people who use them achieve their goals, these people will be satisfied, effective, and happy and will gladly pay for [...]

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What I’m on about these days

by erica on July 25, 2008

At the moment I am learning more about technical writing and copywriting, and have offered to write the user documentation for Pencil - a Firefox extension for prototyping and wireframing. Otherwise I’ve offered to do a simple introduction to Ajax and JavaScript frameworks for a local group, which is rather nerve-wracking yet also an excellent [...]

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Reference Materials & Events

by erica on May 24, 2008

I recently ordered a few books relating to user experience design - namely:

The Usability Kit (Dan Thies & Dave Davies, Sitepoint)
Deliver First Class Websites: 101 Essential Checklists (Shirley Kaiser, Sitepoint)
The Elements of User Experience: User-centered Design for the Web (Jesse James Garrett, Pearson Education)
Communicating Design: Developing Web Site Documentation for Design And Planning (Dan Brown, [...]

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Making Your Users Feel Special & 30 Boxes

by erica on May 21, 2008

Two things on my radar today; first a look at Andy Budd’s opening presentation at Web Directions User Experience conference. Andy has done an eloquent job of examining a well-known, real-life example that exposes some basic yet fundamental concepts of User Experience Design. He has really shown just exactly what excites and interests me [...]

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