What & Why of Usability Home > What & Why of Usability UX Discipline (11) User experience (UX) focuses on having a deep understanding of users, what they need, what they value, their abilities, and also their limitations. Web analytics is the collection, reporting, and analysis of website data. UX Overview (3) Is including user experience in project development worth the time and resources? Government agencies provide vital information and services that affect people’s daily lives.
Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education « Libraries and Transliteracy [tweetmeme source=”librarianbyday” only_single=false]Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education from ACRL, (The Association of College and Research Libraries division of the American Library Association) includes a sections on the definition of information literacy, IL Technology, IL & higher education, IL & pedagogy, standards, assessments, performance indicators, and a practical guide for instruction librarians. I’ve included the four standards & their performance indicators below but left out the included outcomes. You can read the document online or download a pdf. Approved by the Board of Directors of the Association of College and Research Libraries on January 18, 2000, Endorsed by the American Association for Higher Education (October 1999) and the Council of Independent Colleges (February 2004) An information literate individual is able to: Standard One – The information literate student determines the nature and extent of the information needed. 1. Like this:
Are You Really Prepared for Your Usability Study? The Three Steps for Success By Christine Perfetti Originally published: Jun 22, 2010 Over the years, many design teams have come to me requesting usability testing consulting services. The first thing I tell people is that usability testing is not a complicated process. At its core, a usability test involves putting a person in front of the product and watching what they do. We consider a usability testing project a success if, after working with us, the team considers testing so valuable that they decide to bring the practice in-house. If you're thinking about bringing your usability testing in-house, you'll want to take the time to prepare appropriately for your first study. 1. After completing these steps, you can begin your usability study with confidence. Step 1: Writing a usability test plan At the beginning of any usability testing project, you'll want to meet with your design team, engineers, and organization's stakeholders to identify what they hope to learn from the usability test. Step 2: Recruiting Users
What is User Experience? | UserTesting Blog More and more companies are learning that in order to stay competitive, they need to be investing in user experience, but they don’t necessarily know what it means. The good news is, there’s never been a better time to learn about UX. Whether you want to become a professional UX designer or researcher, or you just want to learn the principles of UX to create better products, designs, and campaigns, we’re here to help you get started. In this post we’ll share our thoughts on what UX is, and what the field will look like in the future. The definition of user experience The exact definition, as outlined by the International Organization for Standardization, is a “person’s perceptions and responses resulting from the use and or anticipated use of a product, system or service.” Or, more simply, user experience is how you feel about every interaction you have with what’s in front of you in the moment you’re using it. There are many facets of your experience, none of which can stand on their own.
Visualizing Progress with Agile Storymapping Kanban walls, status reports, risk logs … with so many project management tools, it's easy to fall into the complacent feeling that a project is staying on track. But keeping a project on-track in terms of enhanced user experience goes beyond just hitting that next release deadline: it’s also about adding value to the business and building features that matter to end users. It’s also important not forget the UX debt we may have built up thanks to shoddy software practices. When it comes to keeping all of these elements in perspective, storymapping is a great technique that can help us focus on the bigger picture, while also keeping our wider stakeholder group (like developers and product owners) aware of the project’s progress. Let’s examine what storymaps are and then look at how to build one. What are Storymaps? Storymaps are an agile tool originally conceived by Jeff Patton in 2005 and further explained in his 2008 article, “The new user story backlog is a map.” How Do You Build One?
Tools - Guidelines and standards manuals The word 'Guidelines' is in fashion, but implies flexibility. I prefer 'Standards.' The appearance and exposure of the corporate brand must be constant. In even the most entrepreneurial corporate culture where "all permissions are granted unless expressly denied," identity must be the great exception, in which all permissions are denied unless expressly granted. Otherwise, chaos will rule. Edward Tufte says this well: "If there is a well thought-out design standard, it should be followed. Until 2000 or so, the best manuals were beautifully designed books, expensively produced to support their quality message and policy importance. Some manuals are at least partly 'open' on the Web, and I will add well-designed examples below as I (or you) find them. [Thanks to teacher Paulo Granato (e-mail) in Brazil for suggesting this page, and to URL contributors such as Hans Stol, Piotr Sierzega, Johnny Hood and Design Maven Frank Briggs.]
Usability Testing Project Management (4) A project plan takes into account the approach the team will take and helps the team and stakeholders document decisions made regarding the objective, scope, schedule, resources, and... Creating an interdisciplinary team with the right mix of skills is vital to the smooth and successful execution of any project. Team members may be able to cover multiple roles or there may... Use your kick-off meeting to discuss the business case related to the site, the vision and mission based on user and organizational goals, and the vision for the site moving forward. Website requirements are a list of necessary functions, capabilities, or characteristics related to your website and the plans for creating it. User Research (14) When reporting results from a usability test, you should focus primarily on your findings and recommendations that are differentiated by levels of severity. Usability Evaluation (14) Information Architecture (4) User Interface Design (4)
10 Important CheckPoints To Follow Before A Site's Launch 21 Aug / 2018 148 views “Quality means doing it right even when no one is looking.” – Henry Ford Are you building a new website or redesigning an earlier one to represent your brand and business in the online world? Remember, the entire exercise can spring surprises in the form of glitches or loose ends, which, if not addressed in time, can leave a negative impact on the user experience of your site. To ensure the success of your website in terms of its functionality, performance, usability, and security among others, it should undergo rigorous testing before its launch. Importantly, the testing process helps in optimizing your site for search engine rankings as well – an important criterion to enable your site to generate leads and drive conversions. #1 Image Optimization: Although images help to draw the attention of users and make the site attractive, they can reduce the loading speed of the site as well. Conclusion
Agile User Experience Design By Janet M. Six Published: April 24, 2012 Send your questions to Ask UXmatters and get answers from our experts—some of the top professionals in UX. In this edition of Ask UXmatters, our experts discuss the gaps between the agile development model and user experience design. Ask UXmatters is a monthly column in which our panel of UX experts answers readers’ questions about a broad range of user experience matters. The following experts have contributed answers to this edition of Ask UXmatters: Leo Frishberg—Principal Architect, User Experience at Tektronix Inc. Q: In your experience, what are the gaps between the agile development model and user experience design? A Key Gap: UX Needs a Clear Product Vision “In UX design, we want to know everything that’s relevant up front…. … We want to anticipate and envision the product holistically—and not just its parts—as soon as possible.” “Volunteer to write the vision statement when everyone else seems frustrated by the lack of a clear direction.”
Draft Blog Guidelines Shamelessly cobbled together from several sources (such as LITA’s blog policy and the canonical St. Petersburg College Library Blog Policy), here’s a generic draft blog guideline. Alane, per your earlier comment, I wasn’t sure how or whether to wedge in a statement about not talking about confidential projects, which would be on the lines of OCLC not discussing products. Purpose The MPOW Libraries are providing blogs to MPOW departments to advance the … [mission/purpose/general big-sky hoo-hah; a functional statement, as opposed to “because we wanted to say we were blogging”]. Blog managers XYZ will be responsible for overall blog administration [tag, you’re it!]. Hosting Blogs are hosted at [blogs.library.MPOW.edu?] Blog Assignments For 2007, to conserve bandwidth and ensure a smooth migration to this new service, one blog will be assigned on request to each department at MPOW Libraries. Acceptable Use MPOW Libraries reserve the right not to post any blog post, or to later remove it. Pages
10 Heuristics for User Interface Design: Article by Jakob Nielsen Download a free poster of Jakob’s 10 Usability Heuristics at the bottom of this article. #1: Visibility of system status The design should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within a reasonable amount of time. When users know the current system status, they learn the outcome of their prior interactions and determine next steps. Predictable interactions create trust in the product as well as the brand. #2: Match between system and the real world The design should speak the users' language. The way you should design depends very much on your specific users. When a design’s controls follow real-world conventions and correspond to desired outcomes (called natural mapping), it’s easier for users to learn and remember how the interface works. #3: User control and freedom Users often perform actions by mistake. When it's easy for people to back out of a process or undo an action, it fosters a sense of freedom and confidence. #4: Consistency and standards