The Letter - usability

World Usability Day

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:54:29 +0000

Five second test

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:04:23 +0000

The five second test is a simple usability test that helps you measure the effectiveness of your user interfaces. Upload your screenshots and get people to test them or try it out first with the examples. Via Richard Rutter.

10 Best Application UIs of 2008

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:18:23 +0000

Maybe a bit too early for a best of anything in 2008 but Jakob has posted a very interesting Alertbox. He focusses on 10 applications (web and desktop) that seem to do things right in terms of their UI. The main points of interest I noted are:

These applications have used "dashboards" to give users an overview of their available functionality
Instead of JavaScript alerts, lightbox modal dialogue boxes seem to be the preferred option (for aesthetics as well as accessibility I presume)
Wizards prove to be be popular for guiding users through the applications

And I'd say these points apply to web design too.

Videogame usability

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:16:30 +0000

Ten standard features every videogame designer should embrace.

I Want to Reduce GUI as Much as Possible

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 07:17:36 +0000

In this Tech-On interview Apple GUI-expert Toshiyuki Masui says:

if you consider an alarm clock, which can be set only by adjusting its hands, there would be no need for a complicated GUI to set the time to record a video. What is important is to operate the equipment by actually touching it