IA and Usability Archives
Page Description Diagrams
April 04, 2005
A quick overview of Page Description Diagrams and how I use them.Continue reading this entry...
I Hate CAPTCHA...
March 26, 2005
…and Ticketmaster too. For those of you who don’t know the acronym, CAPTCHA are those visual letter tests some applications and sites use to make sure you’re an actual human. And they’re a royal pain in the ass, aside from…Continue reading this entry...
Guidelines For An Uncomplicated Web
March 01, 2005
Offering up some friendly advice to those who, like me, would like to see a less complicated Web.Continue reading this entry...
Web Users Are Beggars
February 24, 2005
Something happened to me last week that got me to thinking about the sad state of findability and usability on the Web.Continue reading this entry...
Folksonomy
February 02, 2005
A very, very simple overview of Folksonomies.Continue reading this entry...
Thinking Differently About Site Mapping and Navigation
January 17, 2005
Thoughts about sitemaps, navigation, IA deliverables and the root problems with organization and content on the Web.Continue reading this entry...
Explorative Navigation
January 05, 2005
[via Digital Web] I just got through reading Henrik Olsen’s article on navigation blindness. It’s a must read for any UI or Web designer. He’s taken several interesting theories, from several well respected sources, brought them together, added a bit,…Continue reading this entry...
Kano Analysis and Customer Needs
November 15, 2004
Just got through reading Gene’s post, Kano Taxonomy of Customer Needs and another post he refers to on the topic. This is interesting stuff, and a great way to represent visually the needs of your customers (or your users) for…Continue reading this entry...
Meeting a User's Emotional Needs
November 01, 2004
Brainstorming how to meet all of a user’s needs and satisfy the goals of the business at the same time.Continue reading this entry...
Guidelines for Linking
September 21, 2004
Sharing a few of my own guidelines when it comes to links.Continue reading this entry...
A Personal User Study...Me
July 06, 2004
…or, will they ever learn…or, the Web is still in many ways a hard-to-use mess where I can’t find anything. Back in November I posted about the Unusable Web and I’ve made it one of my professional goals to help…Continue reading this entry...
Design For Credibility and Trust
July 06, 2004
I was reading Jakob Nielsen’s most recent Alertbox which talks about what he calls “The Role of Reassurance” and how to retain customers and repeat purchases. One thing he said got me really thinking: The biggest challenge in e-commerce is…Continue reading this entry...
Information Architecture -- A Huge Grey Area?
June 27, 2004
This weekend I found myself thinking a little bit about what, exactly, it was I did for a living. It’s actually pretty hard to pin down. My actual job title, down at the hospital, is “Lead Web Developer” — but…Continue reading this entry...
Morville's User Experience Honeycomb
June 21, 2004
From Jesse James Garrett’s classic Elements of User Experience (PDF) to all the killer three-circle diagrams out there, I’ve been a huge fan of visual representations of what people do. While consulting up in Edmonton back in March I saw…Continue reading this entry...
Real User Testing
June 16, 2004
I just got through reading 90% of All Usability Testing is Useless by Lane Becker. It’s a great read and reflects very closely my own views on user testing. Usability doesn’t need to stay within the academic, numbers-based realm of…Continue reading this entry...
Web Sites and Customer Contact
June 14, 2004
If there is one thing many, many Web sites could do better it’s enabling a connection between the site’s owners and their customers, readers and users. A Web site is an always-on representative for your company, organization or yourself. When…Continue reading this entry...
Put The Friendly Back In User-Friendly
May 24, 2004
The term “User-Friendly” is pretty straightforward, no? Well, maybe. I’m not sure what the “official” definition is, but to me it means making something, could be pretty much anything, not only easy for others to use, but attractive or desirable…Continue reading this entry...
Jakob Nielsen Gets A Makeover
May 19, 2004
So Andrei Herasimchuk, Didier Hilhorst, Cameron Moll, Greg Storey, and I decided to take a stab at using design to make Jakob Nielsen a bit more palatable. I think we did a pretty good job. At the same time we…Continue reading this entry...
A Plea For User Advocacy
May 04, 2004
I don’t particularly like computers. Surprised?� I guess considering what I do for a living you might be, but it’s the truth.� I love what I do, I’ve got a passion for the Web and for design, but in general…Continue reading this entry...
Visited Links -- Your Take
May 03, 2004
Jakob Nielsen today handed down some more “wisdom”, this time about visited links. As usual he offers up a hard rule to base design decisions upon without much context or meat to back that rule up. He says: The damage…Continue reading this entry...
User Responsibility
April 29, 2004
James tipped me to a very interesting document he prepared for his SXSW panel, Web Navigation Without A Guide Dog. I’m sorry I missed the panel, because he asked a very interesting question: If we use several accessibility techniques to…Continue reading this entry...
Usability Via Information Architecture
April 21, 2004
I’ve come to find that a good way to gather data about your users is to involve them in your Information Architecture process. I realize that Information Architecture can seem a bit daunting to many Web designers and Web developers…Continue reading this entry...
Good Web Page Titles
April 19, 2004
I’ve posted on the topic of using good titles quite a few times. I’m starting to feel a bit like Zack DeLaRocha, the king of repetition, but hey, if it works for him maybe it’ll work for me. Proper titling…Continue reading this entry...
Don't Blame The Users
March 28, 2004
Lately there has been quite a bit of talk here and elsewhere about usability. We’ve discussed the usefulness of various navigation methods, we’ve bantered about e-mail newsletter preferences and I’ve made a stab at giving you some advice on managing…Continue reading this entry...
Usability and Fly-Out Menus
March 25, 2004
Christian asked me today if I was strongly opposed to fly-out menus. My immediate reaction was, “Hell yes I’m strongly opposed to fly-out menus!” I didn’t even really think about it. I know I’ve looked into them before and found…Continue reading this entry...
Spontaneous User Research
February 12, 2004
Earlier this week I got the chance to do a little “Gorilla usability” and as it usually is, it was a very interesting and eye-opening experience. You may have heard about the new Movable Type driven Policies and Procedures site…Continue reading this entry...
User Testing -- Your Take
January 10, 2004
I was reading through this post on liquid vs. fixed designs at Design by Fire and the consequent discussion and it got me to thinking about user testing. (Don’t worry, I’m not going to resurrect the whole liquid vs. fixed…Continue reading this entry...
Using Dates For Featured Web Content
December 02, 2003
There is quite a bit of content out there on the Web and things change on a daily basis. Because of that, and other reasons, it’s important to attach dates to featured, news or frequently updated Web content. This should…Continue reading this entry...
Unusable Web
November 29, 2003
The Web can be a scary place. There is so much information, so many pages and so many voices it’s a wonder how we, both as users and builders, keep it all straight. Over the last few weeks I’ve been…Continue reading this entry...
Usability - Lessons Learned From A Redesign
November 05, 2003
This is the second in a series of “Lessons Learned” posts regarding the seattlechildrens.org redesign efforts. The first covered development process and Web standards. Before I get into the lessons learned from out usability efforts I want to point out…Continue reading this entry...
Usability - Lessons Learned From A Redesign
November 05, 2003
This is the second in a series of “Lessons Learned” posts regarding the seattlechildrens.org redesign efforts. The first covered development process and Web standards. Before I get into the lessons learned from out usability efforts I want to point out…Continue reading this entry...
Write Better Page Titles
August 18, 2003
One of the quickest and easiest ways to enhance your site for usability and optimize for search is to have a good title on every page. Unfortunately this is something that many Web sites sorely lack. Gorilla Web Tip #7…Continue reading this entry...
The "Information Architecture" Community Has a Problem
August 06, 2003
I put Information Architecture in quotes because I’m not sure if that term is the correct one anymore. There are so many different names for what I consider Information Architecture that I’ve lost count. Information Design, Interaction Design, heck, just…Continue reading this entry...
Design Better Forms
July 28, 2003
This week’s Gorilla Web Tip — Better Web Forms, talks about designing and building better forms for use on the Web. I don’t go into great detail, but I think there are some good ideas in there and some things…Continue reading this entry...
Web Readers Don't Like Clever Words
July 17, 2003
Yesterday I had the great fortune to spend some time with Gerry McGovern. If he is ever in your area I highly recommend checking him out. Better yet, go and drag your clients, content authors and stake holders along with…Continue reading this entry...
FOCUS Series - The User
July 02, 2003
A few weeks ago I published, FOCUS - On The User, the first in a series of introductory articles which I’m calling the FOCUS series. This was done to coincide with the launch of my redesigned site and provides me…Continue reading this entry...
Usable Forms
May 30, 2003
This week in Digital Web, Peter-Paul Koch writes about making forms more usable via the W3C DOM. Most of these tips are technical in nature, showing way to use Javascript and the DOM to implement features that will increase a…Continue reading this entry...
Veen's IA Jargon
April 30, 2003
This entry over at Jeff Veen’s site is too funny and too true….Continue reading this entry...
The Asterisk* Reader Persona!
April 29, 2003
A short while back I asked for volunteers to help me with a persona experiment. The response was very good, I got 12 responses total which is more than enough for what I wanted, and I’d like to thank everyone…Continue reading this entry...
Bipolar Emotional Response Testing (BERT)
April 27, 2003
Down at the hospital we’ve been doing all sorts of usability studies and we’re getting to the point now where we are beginning to get some really good information, not only about our users, but our stakeholders and decision makers…Continue reading this entry...
IA Tools - The Comic
April 22, 2003
For all you visual learners out there. Head over towards Boxes and Arrows for IA Classics: Tools of the Trade in Comic Book Form by Dan Willis. I know I can put this to good use. I love visual explanations…Continue reading this entry...
Adding Value With Flash
April 14, 2003
Echoing things I’ve been saying for years, J. Dawn Mercedes talks about Flashes of Brilliance in Use-Centered Design. Within are some great examples and commentary on some interesting ways that Flash is being used to tackle real world problems. Flash…Continue reading this entry...
Persona Experiment -- Want to Help?
April 04, 2003
This last week at UI 7 West I was able to talk to and learn from quite a few people with quite a bit more experience than I in the realms of usability, information architecture and writing for the Web….Continue reading this entry...
On Usability Myths.
April 01, 2003
Over at 37 Signals there is some debunking of the debunking of usability myths going on. In the original article, Usability Myths Need Reality Checks, the assertion was made that some very common usability guidelines needed to be questioned and…Continue reading this entry...
Interview with Eric Meyer
March 11, 2003
Here is a great, short, interview with Eric Meyer in which he talks about tableless and transitional layouts as well as a bit about the upcoming full-day seminar yours truly will be attending in a few weeks….Continue reading this entry...
Happy Birthday B & A
March 11, 2003
A very heartfelt HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Boxes and Arrows. I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned from that site. I can’t wait to see what the future holds….Continue reading this entry...
Flash Accessibilty
February 26, 2003
My old pal Byron has published an article about Flash Accessibility over at Evolt. It’s a nice overview for anyone interested in making your Flash applications more accessible….Continue reading this entry...
Example Personas.
February 24, 2003
Ever since Practical Persona Creation went up over at Evolt, I’ve had a few requests for examples of personas. Unfortunatly the personas I’ve done at my day job are very specific to the hospital sites and might not be very…Continue reading this entry...
Usability Outsourcing Overseas?
February 21, 2003
Web of Culture talks about a very interesting subject and brings up a good point asking the question: Cheaper Labor But Better Usability? This is something I often wonder about with so many US companies outsourcing web projects to countries…Continue reading this entry...
ASILOMAR on v2.org
February 18, 2003
This may be old news, but I’ve been very busy of late and haven’t been able to keep up. The U.S.S. Hitload of Work has pulled in to harbor. Anyway. Adam Greenfield interviews AIFIA Leadership Council members Jeff Lash and…Continue reading this entry...
Practical Personas over at Evolt.
February 11, 2003
I’ve had another article published. It’s called Practical Persona Creation and it was quite a fun article to write. It describes my experience in creating personas. I’ve found it a very interesting process. I also think there is a place…Continue reading this entry...
Usability Triathlon
January 24, 2003
Last night we conducted a “usability triathlon”, as Brian, our Web Producer, likes to call it, with some of one of the biggest audiences we have for the hospital’s external site — the parents of our patients. It was great….Continue reading this entry...
Recruiting Users for Testing.
January 20, 2003
In his latest Alertbox, Jakob talks about how to recruit users for usability testing. I can attest that this can be a bit tricky at times. Anyway - it’s a quick read that worth looking at….Continue reading this entry...
OJR on Information Architecture
January 17, 2003
Rusty Foster, founder of Kuro5hin, wrote a nice little piece for the Online Journalism Review about Information Architecture and the Asilomar Institute for Information Architecture (AIFIA)….Continue reading this entry...
Thoughts on User testing and Findability.
January 13, 2003
Had a long discussion today about user testing. I’ll not get into the specifics. Afterwards I did some thinking about what kind of user testing is valuable for Web sites specifically — not Web applications or tools. It seems to…Continue reading this entry...
Practical resources for Information Architects.
January 08, 2003
Got this from the AIFIA members mailing list. It’s a great list of practical resources for Information Architects from Erin Malone….Continue reading this entry...
Using HTML for wireframes and prototyping.
January 06, 2003
For all you IA specialists out there — a tip from the world of design and development. Boxes and Arrows released two great articles by Julie Stanford this week. HTML Wireframes and Prototypes: All Gain and No Pain And the…Continue reading this entry...
Controlled Vocabularies on B and A.
January 02, 2003
Boxes and Arrows published a great article on controlled vocabularies a few weeks back. It looks to be one is a great series that I’ll definitely be following. I find this all very interesting as semantic issues have been an…Continue reading this entry...
IA vs. ED
December 30, 2002
The debate still rages on over at Elegant Hack. Damn this makes for an entertaining and iteresting read. As if the original V-2 interview wasn’t enough fun on the topic. If you’re interested you can read my comments on the…Continue reading this entry...
Mistakes in 2002.
December 26, 2002
Christmas is over and it’s back to work. Hardly seems like the holiday season at all. Today I had the chance to read though Jakob Nielsen’s Top Ten Web-Design Mistakes of 2002. Dun dun da! And lo the voice came…Continue reading this entry...
Permanent Link | 2 Comments (Closed)
Gorilla Usability
December 23, 2002
I had a new article go live over at evolt.org today. It’s called Gorilla Usability and it goes over the very interesting usability experiences I’ve had the last few months. I really hope people find it helpful….Continue reading this entry...
Web Navigation thoughts and unsolicited advice
December 09, 2002
Proper Website Navigation : Why you absolutely need it by Kiruba Shankar is an interesting, ah, rebuttal, I guess, to Is Navigation Useful? by Jakob Nielsen. Props to Digital-Web for the link. When Neilsen said “For almost seven years, my…Continue reading this entry...
Testing...123
November 21, 2002
So I’ve been very busy, and will continue to be through the holiday, doing usability studies and trying to get some real world feedback on some of the sites I work on. It’s a very interesting, worthwhile experience. If you’ve…Continue reading this entry...
Peter Morville defines IA.
November 14, 2002
With the launch of the Asilomar Institute for Information Architecture there has been lots of talk on the AIfIA mailing list and elsewhere about how to define information architecture and communicate that definition to the world. Peter Morville has stepped…Continue reading this entry...
IA Article over at Evolt.org
November 13, 2002
Information Architecture for Everyone by little old me, can be found over at Evolt.org. It’s a general introduction to IA, originally targeted at Web developers who might not have had any exposure to formal IA. I hope it’s helpful to…Continue reading this entry...
From Craft to Profession.
November 06, 2002
An exceprt from the book Information Architecture: An Emerging 21st Century Profession by Earl Morrogh can found over at Boxes and Arrows. In this excerpt, Mr. Morrogh is trying to frame IA in such away as to add history to…Continue reading this entry...
Asilomar
November 04, 2002
Life can be strange. Here I am at home today, trying to get some things done around the house, and trying to relax, recover and not think about work. My mind keeps wandering to the IA of our Medical Staff…Continue reading this entry...
User testing on the D.L.
October 28, 2002
Last week I spent some time doing some more low budget user testing. The internet redesign team has been working on some stuff for quite awhile now, and we’ve made a very slow but steady progress to the point where…Continue reading this entry...
IA myth revealed.
October 24, 2002
Another great piece over at Digital-Web - The myth of User-Centered Information Architecture by Jeff Lash An excerpt: Well-defined business and user goals are essential to the success of any project, and the establishment of those goals before the project…Continue reading this entry...
Southwest wiggles off.
October 22, 2002
Looks like Southwest managed to get off the hook with it’s Accessibility case. I can’t say I’m surprised - but I am a bit disappointed. Some of the arguments in favor of the decision are pretty lame. Mark points out…Continue reading this entry...
Readings on IA.
October 16, 2002
A few interesting reads on information architecture: First - Interested in taxonomy? I point you to - A nice breakdown of taxonomies and related terms in relation to Web information architecture by Amy J. Warner. Clear, well written and easy…Continue reading this entry...
Wired on Access.
October 09, 2002
Wired magazine on accessibilty and LIFT NN/g….Continue reading this entry...
On PowerPoint.
October 07, 2002
Over at Boxes and Arrows : Understanding PowerPoint: Special Deliverable #5. Me - I try to avoid PowerPoint whenever possible, but it’s a funny little read and explains a few PowerPoint techniques that seem like they might actually be useful….Continue reading this entry...
More on URL design.
October 04, 2002
In a past post I talked about how it’s hard to work around those darn unreadable URLs that your CMS might spit out. Simon Willison comments on URL design and Brent Simmons law of CMS URLs. Simon even offers a…Continue reading this entry...
Listening Deeply.
October 03, 2002
I came across this little bit about listening today. I’ve worked in many situations and it seems the most successful are those where the people involved really listen to each other - and I don’t mean listen for the person…Continue reading this entry...
Human readable URLs. What a concept.
September 30, 2002
A an article about URL design that is both thought provoking and chock full of good old fashioned common sense. An excerpt: But despite the universality of URLs, we often forget that they’re not just a handy way to address…Continue reading this entry...
Permanent Link | Comments Closed
Personas and the design process.
September 26, 2002
Ever wonder - what exactly is a persona? How do personas relate to design and how can they help me? Well… Personas are in essence, user sketches. You’d interview and observe many users and then use that data to create…Continue reading this entry...
Usability studies.
September 26, 2002
This week I’ve been doing some “guerilla” usability studies over at the hospital. Pretty much what that means is I’ve just been grabbing people, almost at random, and sitting with them watching, taking notes and discussing their experience as they…Continue reading this entry...
McGovern sorts cards.
September 22, 2002
I wish I would have read this article by Gerry McGovern on card sorting a month ago. It has some nice tips on how to conduct a card sorting exercise to help classification, labeling, etc. We did something similar at…Continue reading this entry...
Contingency Design
September 19, 2002
I decided I need to make a custom 404 page for this site, as I have some flash files that point to things in pixel heaven, so I decided to do a little research on contingency design. You know -…Continue reading this entry...
Getting user input!
September 17, 2002
In the last few weeks I’ve thought much on different ways to get some actual user input into my work. It’s a tricky proposition. Down at the hospital we’re really getting into this and I think that since we’ve had…Continue reading this entry...
Good point.
September 03, 2002
In regards to the Gerry McCovern article on classification, while I thought it was quite nice and had some good points - I do agree with this….Continue reading this entry...
Classification explained...kinda.
September 02, 2002
Gerry McGovern explains how to classify content in his latest issue of New Thinking. While it might be a bit light, it’s a quick read that points out some very good tips. In fact, I wish I would have read…Continue reading this entry...
We're not alone out there.
August 28, 2002
A snipit from Information Architechture for the World Wide Web (2nd Edition) can be found here. It’s amazing to see how the big boys, like Microsoft, who is referenced in the above snipit, deal with the same sorts of every…Continue reading this entry...
Intranets in The Emerald City.
August 22, 2002
I just got back from an all day intranet redesign meeting with my team. All in all it went pretty well. For the most part we just worked on the information architecture of the intranet which, let me tell you,…Continue reading this entry...
Practice makes...Chicken soup.
August 16, 2002
I just got done reading this - The Importance of Information Architecture - and the author starts off explaining the differences between the field of IA, the practice of IA and IA experts. I perticulary like the description of the…Continue reading this entry...
Cheddar or chedder?
August 14, 2002
Christina Wodtke’s article Mind your phraseology! is a great overview of controlled vocabulary….Continue reading this entry...
Am I a tool?
August 06, 2002
I’ve been saying this for years….Continue reading this entry...
Search Smearch...?
July 24, 2002
Not sure if I agree with this article from Digital Web Magazine that deals with browsing vs. searching, but it’s interesting anyway….Continue reading this entry...
Ontology? You don't want to know.
July 18, 2002
Today I almost learned what an ontology is, and got a bit of a better idea of what a taxonomy is in the process. Now I need to figure out how to relay that information in plain english. Or not,…Continue reading this entry...
Boxes and Arrows
July 15, 2002
It seems more and more of my days are spent working with Information Architecture. Resources like Boxes and Arrows are proving to be invaluable….Continue reading this entry...
Librarian's ARE sexy!
July 15, 2002
It’s too bad we don’t have an “information specialist” on my team at work. We could really use one… oh and an editor, a writer, a dba…the list goes on… Until that time we have articles like this….