Valeriu Caraulean » design

Intro to Usability

Valeriu Caraulean — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:52:21 +0000

I just finished watching a video about basics of Usability. Before, I’ve read few articles and blog posts on the topic , but this video gives a nice introduction in Usability basics and Usability Testing so that I’ll save it in the blog. The speaker is Steve Krug, author of “Don’t make me think”, book sitting in my “to be read” list and just moved higher in the queue.

The thing I liked the most is how “cheap” are usability improvements. Change the caption of the button, remove that cryptic description, move important things higher and hide functions being rarely used.

And test it. Iteratively. It’s agile on it’s better form – pick a user or two and just let them do something useful in your app. Notice errors, fix it.

And test it, again…

Successful User Interface

Valeriu Caraulean — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:31:49 +0000

The success of user interface is not only in visual design, but also in user interactions. Usability, along with generic application usefulness, will define final user satisfaction & overall experience when working with your application.

Any developer occasionally or permanently is playing to role of user interface and interactions designer. Every time you are spiking an UI prototype or creating a data entry form we should keep in mind the user, usability and characteristics of successful user interface. What they are?

User interface should be:

Clear
Concise
Familiar
Responsive
Consistent
Attractive
Efficient
Forgiving

Read more, with details in 8 Characteristics Of Successful User Interfaces.

Take care of the users. At the end, they are paying your wages…