Usability & user research articles
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- Personas - the definitive guide
- Personas can communicate the results of user research in ways that means the results are taken into account throughout the design/development cycle. Find out how to make the best possible personas for your website.
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- 10 unexpected online user behaviours to look out for
- When designing a website, there are key user behaviours that should be taken into account. But in order to take them into account, it helps to know them. This article discusses 10 of the more interesting and less well-known user behaviours that regularly occur in user testing.
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- Six mistakes to avoid in mobile usability
- Looking to reach your customers through the mobile, but not sure of the best way to go about it. This article looks at some of the most common mistakes that people make when they are giving their business a mobile presence.
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- 6-step process for planning a user test
- Preparing for usability testing requires a surprisingly large amount of planning. Here are the 6 key steps you should go through to get ready.
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- Focus groups vs. usability testing - what, when and why?
- Focus groups and usability testing are two very useful but very different user research disciplines. This article will look at the difference between focus groups and usability testing, the pros and cons of each and when in the development process you should use them.
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- User experience over usability
- A good experience is essential for a customer to return and good site usability has several advantages. This article looks at the big picture and the difference in focus between usability and user experience.
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- Website aesthetics - what has it got to do with usability?
- How we choose what to buy is a key question that should be asked when designing an ecommerce website. Find out the importance of and relationship between aesthetics and usability.
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- User interviews - analysis simplified
- You've conducted your user interviews, but now you need to make sense of all that information you've gathered. These best practice tips will help you analyse the results.
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- User interviews - A basic introduction
- User interviews are a great way to build research on your users and help improve the usability of your site. Find out how to conduct them.
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- Usability & security: Unlikely bedfellows?
- With people having to remember more and more usernames, passwords and PINs, it's crucial that any online security offers the best possible usability. Find out how you can help customers remember their passwords and continue using your website in the long-term.
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- 7 usability guidelines for websites on mobile devices
- Usability and page design for websites on mobile phones is very different to that of PCs. These essential mobile usability guidelines will help ensure your site works well for mobile visitors.
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- 10 ways to orientate users on your site
- Follow these top tips and make sure site visitors know where they are on your site at all times.
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- Eye tracking: Eye candy vs. I can do
- Find out the pros and cons of eye tracking, showing you when you should and perhaps shouldn't use it.
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- Split A/B testing
- Split A/B testing is ideal for testing two web page designs to find out which is the best. Find out how A/B testing works and when to use it.
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- Filter & sort: Improving ecommerce product findability
- Filtering and sorting are essential for helping users find the products they're looking for. Find out how to make best use of this essential functionality.
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- The future belongs to the trusted few
- Find out how to avoid sneaky marketing practices that users can see through. Instead, provide honest and useful content and watch the number of repeat site visitors soar.
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- Expert usability review vs. usability testing
- Article outlining the difference between the two usability evaluation methods: The expert usability review and usability testing.
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- Intranet usability guidelines
- Read through these intranet usability guidelines and discover how to improve employee productivity and ease of information-retrieval.
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- Mobile & handheld usability testing - why it matters
- Mobile and handheld usability testing is crucial to your business - find out why and what you need to do for this unique medium.
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- Usability testing with children
- Usability testing with children can prevent some unique challenges - find out what exactly these are and what you need to do.
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- Focus groups - how to run them
- Focus groups are fundamental as an input into any web design decisions - find out how to plan and successfully run them.
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- 8 guidelines for usability testing
- Eight essential guidelines for usability testing, helping you to plan, run and analyse usability tests.
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- Usability for older web users
- The number of older web users is growing at a dramatic rate. Find out how to make your website easy to use for this lucrative market.
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- How to improve your site search (...or 'looking for jamie oliver')
- Site search engines should always allow for common user errors. By taking these errors into account, users won't leave your site because the search function isn't showing them what you're looking for.
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- The secret benefit of search engine optimisation: Increased usability
- How a website optimised for search engines also improves its usability.
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- Everyday usability
- Something as simple as taking a new bus journey to work can provide you with valuable usability lessons. Sound strange? Read on for more...
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- Tell me what you do!
- Explaining what you actually do is the first thing your website should do, but many sites forget this most basic of information. Find out how to do this effectively and avoid leaving your site visitors in the dark.
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- Staying ahead of competitors
- Learn how to stay ahead of your competitors in the fast-paced ever-changing world of the Internet.
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- Why track your visitor's behaviour?
- Understanding what your visitors actually do on your website is an essential part of usability.
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- Ten ways to improve the usability of your ecommerce site
- Here are ten ways to improve the usability of your ecommerce site, so that you can maximise your conversion rate and help convert the contents of users' shopping baskets into orders.
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- Beware of opening links in a new window
- Find out why opening a link in a new window is not generally a good idea.
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- Effective site navigation
- There's not much point in getting to the top of the search engines if people can't find what they're looking for once they get to your website.
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- Ten ways to speed up the download time of your web pages
- Follow this advice and you could shave off up to 90% of your page file sizes.
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- Ten reasons why people don't visit your website
- Find out why people may not be coming to your website and what you can do about it.
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- Why do you have a website anyway?
- Does your website exist solely for the purpose of existing? Learn how to do something with it and get it working for you!
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- Ten usability blunders of the big players
- Usability evaluation of ten of the most popular websites on the Internet.
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- Beyond web usability: Web credibility
- Find out why usability will no longer give you the edge. Make way for web credibility.
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- Eight web usability killers
- Read this article to check that your website isn't sending its visitors away.
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- Web usability: The basics
- Learn the all-important web usability basics with these tips and guidelines.
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- SEO without usability - an exercise in futility
- There's not much point in getting to the top of the search engines if people can't find what they're looking for once they get to your website.
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