Featured Tools & Resources

"10 Steps to Creating the Perfect Web Site"

"The Beginning of the End or the End of the Beginning?" An Analysis of the Emerging Role of IT

"Is Your Project at Risk?" A 60-second Assessment for IT, Marketing and Webmasters

"Trickle-down Alignment" A Partnership Framework to Turn Leadership Vision into Reality

Archives

• Author: Dr. Charles B. Kreitzberg

Reducing Outsourcing Risk through Visual Communication (PDF )
Published in the February, 2004 newsletter of the Society for Information Management.

Usability Issues in the Re-Engineering of Legacy Systems
Cognetics Corporation has been involved in a number of projects to re-engineer interactive legacy systems. In performing these jobs, it has become clear that the re-engineering of legacy systems raises a series of unique issues. Paper delivered at the Usability Professionals Association.

The LUCID Computing Movement
In 1999 Charlie led a "call-to-arms" for Logical User Centered Interaction Design, challenging the UCD community to get on board for a Year 2000 Opportunity.

Re-Engineering Legacy Systems
This presentation to a NIST symposium begins "A legacy is something handed down from the past and now that the computer has been used commercially for more than 40 years, we're finding that a lot of the old systems which have been handed down from previous development efforts need to be rebuilt and re-engineered to conform to current standards." Paper delivered at a NIST symposium.

The Two Step Design Process
A look at the differences between interaction design and technical design of software.

Technology and Chaos
An exploration of the role of chaos in business computing and makes some recommendations for how IS departments can improve the return on the investment (ROI) their companies make in computer technology.

Re-inventing IS: The Outsourcing Dilemma
This article discusses how the role of IS departments must change when technical development functions are outsourced. This article (somewhat edited) was published in the January 27, 1997 Communications Week.

Danger: Construction Zone
This article discusses net-centric computing in which programs are stored on a server rather than on users PC's. The concern raised is that the trend toward net-centric computing will damage software usability. This article was published in Communications Week in December 1996.

The Trouble with Computers (Book Review)
This is a review of Thomas Landauer's important book. Landauer conducts a meta-analysis of all "credible" studies on user-centered design and concludes that bad design has a serious negative impact on national productivity. This article was published in the newsletter of the Society for Technical Communications.

Ending the Software Struggle
This paper discusses why software is so difficult to use and presents suggestions for solving the problem. It was originally presented as a talk to the New Jersey Society for Information Management in September 1996.

Communicating With Users
Why can't users and programmers communicate? This paper discusses the problem and suggests some ways to solve it. This article was published in the Fall 1996 edition of NetMarketing, a web-oriented supplement to Advertising Age.

• Author: Scott McDaniel

"Selling Usability: Scope and Schedule Estimates" (PDF )
Published in the December, 2003 issue of Intercom, a publication of the Society for Technical Communication.

"Uncovering True Motivation: The Whys and Wherefore"
published in the STC Usability SIG Newsletter, October 2003.

Talk to STC local DC chapter on 5 March, 2003:
"Planning Usability Into Your Product: The How And When Of Usability Evaluation"

• Powerpoint presentation (PDF )
• Handouts (PDF )

"The Big Dig: Mining Nuggets of Value" (PDF )
with Michelle McDaniel
How to Design a Search Interface to Meet your Users' Needs
published in User Experience magazine, Summer 2002

"What's Your Idea of a Mental Model,"
published on the Boxes and Arrows web site.

• Author: Paul S. Hoffman

"Accommodating Color Blindness" (PDF ),
published in the Usability SIG Newsletter of STC.

Special project: "Irish Space" (The Journey of the SS Jeanie Johnston II: Outward from Earth)

• Author: Whitney Quesenbery, former Vice-President of Design

The Five Dimensions of Usability
What makes something usable? It's tempting to say "easy to use" or "easy to learn," but these quick phrases don't really help you understand how to meet user needs. A more helpful approach is to think of usability as the end result of a user-centered design process. This session looks at the five characteristics ("the 5 Es") that describe usable documentation and software design—efficient, effective, engaging, error-tolerant, easy to learn—and explains how to recognize them. We'll start with definitions and examples and then look at how to decide which of these characteristics you should emphasize to meet the needs of your users.

On Beyond Help – User Assistance and the User Interface
An article on how people search for information, published in Technical Communication. Winner 2001 Frank R. Smith Outstanding Journal Article.

Designing Usable Search Interfaces: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (PDF)
Almost every large web site, intranet, e-commerce application or knowledge management system includes some kind of search interface, whether it is a query screen, hierarchical navigation or a visualization approach. But, despite their wide-spread use, they are often the cause of usability problems in effectively finding information or other items.   This session looks at the challenges of search interfaces and some ways to design for better usability.

Profiles, personas and stories (PDF)
This tutorial explores ways of communicating what the users are like as people, how they will use what you create, their goals and the context in which they live and work. Profiles organize the information you have collected about your users into a concrete format. Personas add goals, character and personal histories to make these archetypical users come alive, and allow you to address your writing or design work directly to them. Storytelling techniques help make a point, convey information efficiently and effectively, and sell design ideas.

Voting and Usability (PDF)
Lessons learned from the 2000 Presidential Election.

When the show must go on, it's time to collaborate or die.
An article in Boxes and Arrows on what I learned about UI design while working in the theatre.