4 Feb 2010
It seems every time I conduct a usability testing session, I learn something new and the experience, however humbling, leads to a number of important discoveries for the client. Usability testing is valuable because every site is different and clients goals vary, so you really must do it to make...
4 Feb 2010
In a session entitled "Tabula Rasa - Methods for jumping into UI Design" at the recently held User Experience Camp in Washington (#uxcampdc), Brian Talbot lead us in a discussion on starting with a blank slate. A number of great ideas came out of that discussion. Since I really enjoy...
4 Feb 2010
When implementing a design, a problem I encounter frequently involves floated elements within a container element breaking the borders of their container. This occurs often in lists of articles or documents that have thumbnail images floated next to their title and description, but the issue can...
29 Jan 2010
I was recently asked to change my password through my online banking institution. In making the change, I was struck by the system's thoughtful interaction design.
For starters, when you arrive at the form, there are only two fields present, with basic instructions off to the left. My view is...
24 Dec 2009
At Forum One we are always attempting new ways of delivering better looking web sites more quickly and within the budget. One of the techniques that we grown fond of and have incorporated into our process for most projects is creating what we call a hybrid page. A hybrid page contains text and...
16 Dec 2009
That's right. I said it. And so did CX Partners. The fold doesn't matter.
Over the last 6 years we've watched over 800 user testing sessions between us and on only 3 occasions have we seen the page fold as a barrier to users getting to the content they want.
People DO scroll!
One of the most common...
2 Dec 2009
There are a number of ways to learn about your site's audiences. Many of them are expensive and time consuming - focus groups, interviews, and personas for example. Here are three relatively cheap and easy ways you can learn more about your audiences.
Utilize Your Site Statistics
Statistics...
25 Nov 2009
On November 5, a group of web executives around the DC area joined us to hear 4 speakers share their stories and strategies to get return visitors. And boy did we learn a lot!
Michael Edson kicked off the session speaking about how the Smithsonian developed a new strategy to reposition...
23 Nov 2009
With a seemingly steady rate of adoption across a handful of social networks, sites nowadays allow users to push content to a bevy of social sites. Tools like Share This allow users to select their social site of choice to distribute content. Check out the 199 options on Nielsen's Share menu!...
10 Nov 2009
So you want to use CSS to style a form button to appear as an image, similar to the way you would with any anchor link (using background-image). While the process is very similar, there are a few odd behaviors that form buttons exhibit that anchor links do not (particularly when viewed in IE6)...
The User Experience & Design blog shares insights in creating usable and beautiful sites and applications for our customers.
