The UK Usability market will grow by an estimated 20% in 2008 to a value of £214 million, according to research published last week by E-consultancy. They write:
The continued growth of this sector is the result of a growing commitment within organisations towards usability and user experience.
E-consultancy’s Head of Research Linus Gregoriadis said: “The [...]
UK usability market worth more than £200 million by end of 2008
Bill Gates on usability: His personal Windows’ experience
Todd Bishop published in his “Microsoft Blog” http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/141821.asp an e-mail, which Bill Gates wrote after having a very frustrating experience trying to download “Moviemaker”.
The internal e-mails have been turned over in the antitrust suits against the company.
So we only can wonder: “Why did he not have a stronger impact on usability issues and who will [...]
Navigation Part 1: How to structure content?
In this series I will talk about different topics regarding navigation I have been asked over the last years.
Part 1: How to structure content
Part 2: How many navigation points
Part 3: Dynamic or static navigation
Part 4: Navigation and the customer life cycle
Part 5: Global navigation
First of all you need to define all the content:
your target group [...]
First global Usability drive – Usability Challenge 1. August 2008
From:
http://usabilitychallenge.webnode.com/
Join the Usability Challenge 2008 and participate in the world’s first global usability drive!
On 1 August 2008, we are asking anyone with a passion for usability to solve a usability problem…any usability problem at all…and help make the world a better/safer/less annoying place.
p.s. I was very busy lately – I will do my very best [...]
Usability and e-commerce Part 6: Shopping basket
Access to the shopping basket
The shopping basket link or summary should show at least the current sum of products bought. Ideally the customer can see the number of items, product name, price, additional costs such as VAT or shipping/handling fees. Some companies even show the delivery time.
The shopping basket page
Ideally a thumbnail picture of [...]
Usability and e-commerce Part 5: Check out process
The worst that can happen to you is to lose your customer during the check-out process.
How to avoid the most serious obstacles:
Availability
Inform the client before the check out process that an item is currently not available. There is nothing worse than filling in several forms and being informed in the last minute, that you currently [...]
Usability and e-commerce Part 4: Search
Having a powerful search engine within your site might be the best investment of your money.
The most difficult task is to define the technical requirements your search engine needs to fulfil. Once you have decided on those, 3 major points for the design of your search interface are:
Place the search clearly visible and [...]
Usability and e-commerce Part 3: Product detail page
Once your customer is on a product detail page he made it half way. Now it is important that the customer can get an understanding and feeling for the product, try to make it tangible. 5 points which are important for product detail pages:
Good product visualisation is crucial. Show the products from different angles, [...]
Usability and e-commerce Part 2: Product overview page
After you have defined your product categories and how to structure them (see Usability and e-commerce Part 1) you are ready to define the product pages. Let’s start with the product overview page:
It is recommended, that the product overview pages follow all a consistent structure. This gives the user the chance to learn your [...]
BBC’s Web site relaunch – topics regarding usability and branding on their new homepage
On March 31st the BBC launched its new Web site and since then they have received over 1600 comments in their blog. Many users are complaining about the relaunch.
Looking at their new homepage, I noticed three main points regarding usability and branding:
#1 Fast access to information on homepage
The main purpose of visiting a [...]