Newsletter issue #64 - 1st July 2009
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This issue
Welcome to the July 2009 edition of the Webcredible newsletter!
In this issue:
- Feature article: Focus groups vs. usability testing - what, when and why?
- Top tip: Categorise effectively
- Useful program: Arachnophilia
- Top link: FeedMingle
- New articles in June
- Webcredible news in June
- Webcredible blog posts in June
Enjoy!
Feature article: Focus groups vs. usability testing - what, when and why?
User research is a crucial component of any website or product development process. It will help you identify the needs of your users and demonstrate how your website, intranet or application can be improved. Focus groups and usability testing are two very useful but very different research activities. This article looks at the difference between them, their pros and cons and when in the development process you should use them.
Top tip: Categorise effectively
When focusing on users looking for products, services or information on your website, many are tempted to concentrate primarily on the search functionality. However, you can't rely completely on search. Many users favour browsing over search and their needs must be supported. It's crucial that you make sure you're categorising your content so people can browse their way there. Be sure to follow these essential rules for good categorisation:
- Categorise as your users would Think about how users would approach your site content. If you are selling something, will they have a budget in mind? Do they need a specific colour? Are they landing on your site looking to solve a particular problem? Group your content accordingly.
- Don't just reproduce your internal company structure Nearly all visitors to your site will not know anything about your internal structure. So don't split your content along these lines, navigating this will be easy for you, but you're going to confuse everyone else.
- Consider different categorisations If there are separate groups of users with different needs, split visitors by the different groups and adjust the navigation accordingly. For a great example look at some university sites - they're often split by potential students, current students, and staff.
- Don't give users too many choices at a time If you're asking users to choose from too many options at a time, they will struggle! The number thrown around most commonly is up to 7 options (plus or minus 2). This should only be used as a basic guide, people are able to cope with many more options if they're sub-grouped first.
Useful program: Arachnophilia
Looking for a text editor that lets you edit multiple documents and offers a built-in FTP client? Arachnophilia is a free Java-based editor that features user-defined templates, user-customisable toolbars, multiple editing and the ability to upload changes through FTP without leaving the interface. Simply download the editor and start using these features.
Top link: FeedMingle
FeedMingle is designed to make life simpler for web designers and developers by allowing you to merge two or more RSS or Atom feeds into one. Simply type in the addresses of all your feeds and it will create one RSS feed, Atom feed, JSON feed and an HTML widget to paste into a website or blog.
New articles in June
Read these and many other articles
Webcredible news in June
- Online shoppers value retailer reputation more than price
- Cambs County Council case study goes live
Read these news stories in full
Webcredible blog posts in June
- Art vs. Design
- User experience "papercuts"
- Furniture giants missing basic website usability
- The importance of Human Computer Interaction to UX
- Bing v. Google: A user experience perspective
- What's your favourite Firebug feature?
Usability lab & focus group facilities hire
Hire out our London based, purpose-built, state-of-the-art facilities for usability testing, focus groups, user interviews and more.
Find out more about hiring our facilities
Training courses
Come on one of our training courses and become a web guru! Our 18 courses are run across 5 training streams:
- Usability & accessibility courses
- Website optimisation courses
- Online copywriting courses
- Web development courses
- Online marketing courses
Training courses are held every 2 weeks in London and are fantastic - small class sizes, highly interactive and taught by experts.
