USER-CENTERED DESIGN
SITES
Apple Web Design Guide
Apple's guide to user-friendly web design.
Bad Human Factors Designs
A scrapbook of unusable designs, from buttons that won't push to containers that won't open.
Champions: Jakob Nielsen, author & Web site usability guru
An interview with Jakob Nielsen on why usability matters, the best and worst practices in site building, and what the future holds on the web.
Does Your Site Work? Ask a Usability Guru
Article from The Industry Standard features tips and quotes from usability experts Jakob Nielsen and Jared Spool.
GVU WWW User Surveys
Bi-annual surveys of Internet users by Georgia Tech's Graphics, Visualization, and Usability Center.
Home Page for Practitioners of Usage-Centered Design
Resources for professionals focused on software usability and user interfaces. Includes forms for developing use cases and user profiles, book and website recommendations, and articles.
How to Avoid 10 Fatal Website Mistakes 
Article outlining 10 usability tips for designers of shopping sites.
The Interface Mafia
A group that gives programmers feedback on making their software easier to use, and teaches people about good interface design.
The Magical Number Seven
An article by George A. Miller, originally published in 1956, about the amount of information a person can process at one time.
philosophe.com
Essays on website quality assurance determining a site's purpose, and ensuring the purpose is fulfilled.
PsyberSpace.NET Blogger
A blog ("weblog") providing links to, and searches of, articles and sites dealing with user interface and information architecture issues.
Seven Deadly Web Site Sins (And Why You Must Avoid Them at All Costs)
Article outlining seven "deadly sins" of web development. Source: ZDNet.
Third Conference on Human Factors & the Web
The website for the 1997 Human Factors & the Web conference. Includes some valuable papers in the "Conference Proceedings" section.
uidesign.net
Editorials, reviews, and papers on user interface design, from David J. Anderson.
UIR's External Homepage
Publications and projects from Xerox PARC's User Interface Research Group, dealing with information foraging, information visualization, and webology.
UIWeb
Writings related to user interface design.
Usability Professionals' Association
Website for the UPA (Usability Professionals' Association), including a job bank, conference information, and usability links.
Usable Web: Guide to Web Usability Resources 
A large collection of resources on usability, navigation, site architecture, and much more. Collected and maintained by Keith Instone.
useit.com: Usable Information Technology
Jakob Nielsen's site offers articles and resources in usability, tips on how to conduct user tests, and his well-known Alertbox column.
User Interface Design for Sun's WWW Site
An examination of the methods and tools used in redesigning Sun's WWW site in 1995, and again in 1997. Written by Jakob Nielsen et al.
User Interface Engineering
UIE's site offers many articles on user testing, as well as research summaries from their own usability studies.
View Source Magazine: Human Interface
Netscape’s DevEdge Online features several articles on human-computer interaction topics.
Web Review: Usability
Articles on usability from Web Review magazine.
WebWord.com: Usability, Web site design, ...
Self-described as "the voice of Internet usability and human factors," this site contains columns and interviews dealing with designing sites and writing content that is easy to use and appealing to users.
ARTICLES
"Don't Make Me Think": Classics Illustrated Does Web Usability
A big recommendation for Steve Krug's slim usability book, Don't Make Me Think. (4/16/2001 at Lighthouse on the Web)
A Message to Web Designers: If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It
Salon.com learned through visitor complaints, after its recent site redesign, that change for the sake of change isn't good. The complaints about usability and poor navigation are not unique to the redesigned news magazine, though. (8/3/2000 at The New York Times)
Automatic for the User
A "noncomprehensive" look at various tools designed to look at your site and give you advice on improving its usability. (9/19/2001 at builder.com)
Building Web Sites With Depth
How to make a good, usable commerce-driven website. Provide good search functions; allow good side-by-side comparisons of products; and provide ways of filtering out products the consumer won't want. (1/10/2001 at Web Techniques)
Corporate Websites Get a 'D' in PR
Results of a usability test show that most corporations have woefully inadequate press areas on their websites. (4/1/2001 at UseIt)
Debunking the Myths of UI Design
Counters the user interface myths that many software developers, including web designers, hold. Covers the importance of design, how to organize and assign design tasks, what methods to use, and the degree of expertise required in UI design. (3/14/2001 at IBM)
Deconstructing: Contentville.com
Two usability consultants review Contentville.com, a website that provides for-fee access to numerous dissertations, articles, etc. (3/1/2001 at Internet World)
Deep Linking is Good Linking
When an external site links to one of your deep, internal pages,don't complain; instead, build your site so that users can appreciate it even if they haven't come through your front page. (3/3/2002 at UseIt)
Dialog: The Butterfly Effect
An interview with Jakob Nielsen, Bruce Tognazzini, Brenda Laurel, Don Norman, and Jeff Veen, starting with how the Florida butterfly ballots should have been tested, and ending with the design of punch cards, URLs, and Morse code. (12/1/2000 at Feed)
Does Online Shopping Need a Dose of Technology?
A recent Jupiter Media Metrix report expresses shock and dismay that many commerce sites are paring down on use of advanced technology for the sake of low-tech, easy-to-use sites. (11/15/2000 at Lighthouse on the Web)
Flash and Web-Based Applications
"Flash applications require a new level of usability commensurate with their status as ephemeral applications. A focus on simplicity will be key, as will a much deeper understanding of users' needs than has characterized the first decade of Web design." (11/25/2002 at UseIt)
Getting Personal on the Internet
"Economists" think they can predict web users' behavior from what they've done in the past; "psychologists" predict based on people's reasons for doing things. The best personalization practices lie between their theories. (6/29/2000 at Upside)
Getting Site User Feedback
How to get feedback from site visitors about what's good and bad about your site, and how much time and money each method could cost. Methods: unsolicited user feedback, surveys, online usage profiling, and focus group sessions. (9/27/2000 at Web Developers' Journal)
Interface Questions Answered
Interface experts talk about how much information is too much (or too little) on a page, layout, navigation, and more. (9/22/2000 at Web Review)
Intranet Usability: The Trillion-Dollar Question
A study of intranet usability indicates that lack of management support, and a decent budget, can have a devastating effect on company intranets; and that a few improvements in intranets can greatly enhance employee productivity. (11/11/2002 at UseIt)
Invasion of the Usability Experts
A critique of usability experts in general, and Jakob Nielsen in particular. (1/10/2001 at Web Techniques)
Jakob Nielsen on How Apple Blew It, How Linux Willjakob Nielsen On How Apple Blew It, How Linux Will Blow It, and the Next Big Thing
Jakob Nielsen opines on the trouble with email, the pleasures of SMS, web services, and Microsoft vs. Apple vs. Linux. (10/16/2001 at The Register)
Kids' Corner: Website Usability for Children
Usability studies of children indicate they react to confusing sites like adults, but also regard advertisements on content. (4/14/2002 at UseIt)
Making the World a Happier Place, One Web Site at a Time
Interview with Jakob Nielsen and Marie Tahir, authors of HomePage Usability, a book that examines 50 popular home pages and gives them a usability critique. (10/8/2001 at WebReference.com)
Notes on the eCustomerExperience Conference
Summaries of, and reactions to, sessions at Good Experience's eCustomerExperience conference. (10/19/2000 at Good Experience)
Novice vs. Expert Users
Most web usability tests focus on novice users - how someone new to a site, or new to a web, reacts to a site. But sites should also be designed with advanced users in mind. (2/6/2000 at UseIt)
Official Winter Olympics Site: Not Even Bronze
Jakob Nielsen critiques the usability of the official 2002 Winter Olympics website, and finds it severely lacking. (2/17/2002 at UseIt)
Organize Your Content, Raise Your Revenue
Sometimes, it's better to make your users click through more pages to get to deep content; not just for more page impressions, but to relieve the clutter of a busy front page. (9/28/2000 at InternetDay)
Poor Code Quality Contaminates Users' Conceptual Models
Jakob Nielsen calls on website developers to emphasize stability and reliability in their projects, for the good of their users. (10/28/2001 at UseIt)
Reality Check for Web Design
LIFT-Nielsen Norman Group Edition, a Dreamweaver plugin, allows web developers to test their sites for usability and accessibility compliance, as they build them. (10/2/2002 at Wired News)
Reduce Redundancy: Decrease Duplicated Design Decisions
In other words, "do each thing once" - don't offer the user the same choice in multiple guises; it will cause confusion. (6/9/2002 at UseIt)
Regulatory Usability
Jakob Nielsen argues that many government-imposed regulations meant for disseminating information in the text world make no sense online; and should be replaced by usability and comprehension tests of the material. (9/3/2000 at UseIt)
Saying No: How to Handle Missing Features
How to tell users that your site is missing features that they expect to be there. (1/23/2000 at UseIt)
Speed, Performance Are Web Criteria
Web sites are losing business due to slow download times and poor usability; several companies hope to automate improvement in both areas. (11/29/1999 at Red Herring)
Technology Need Not Be Impenetrable
Alan Cooper, the man who created Visual Basic, talks about what he considers the biggest problem in software - it isn't designed for easy use. (2/13/2000 at Mercury Center)
Ten Good Deeds in Web Design
Tips on making your website better, focusing on letting the user know where they are, what's important on the page, and how to get more of what they want. (10/3/1999 at UseIt)
The OO Design Process: Verifying the Analysis
The difference between mock-ups and prototypes, why mock-ups are useful, and a concrete example of using one. (12/14/2000 at IBM)
Thinking Beyond Web Usability
An interview in which Donald Norman, the author of The Psychology of Everyday Things, dispenses with the notion that web usability is paramount, focusing instead on the overall results of an online experience. (12/19/1999 at WebWord.com)
Usability - the Basics
Basic information on usability - what it is, dealing with graphics size and speed, text, colors, etc. (9/10/2001 at WDVL)
Usability and Navigation
Advice on using website navigation elements to make your site more usable - what kinds of things you should link to from each page, what links should look like, and how to show your site's structure. (10/8/2001 at WDVL)
Usability as Barrier to Entry
Usability expert Jakob Nielsen opines that new sites must be twice as usable as well-established sites to retain new users. (11/28/1999 at UseIt)
The Usability of Email Subject Lines
Summary of a limited study on how an email's subject affects a reader's perception of the message's importance. (2/10/2001 at WebWord.com)
Usability vs. Design (Mars vs. Venus)
A redux of the war between usability experts and graphic designers, and the common ground that both sides will (hopefully) find. (12/22/2000 at A List Apart)
Usable Forms for the Web
Building usable web forms: initial design, choosing control types, grouping and labeling controls, and more. (6/26/2002 at WDVL)
Usable Forms for the Web
Building usable web forms: initial design, choosing control types, grouping and labeling controls, and more. (6/26/2002 at WDVL)
The Web's Still-Unfulfilled Personalization Promise
Despite all the talk about website personalization, few sites have implemented it well. It's costly ("The average personalization system costs about $1.5 million..."), time-consuming, and the ROI is hard to measure. (8/4/2000 at Business Week)
When Nielsen Speaks . . .
An interview with Jakob Nielsen. Questions: What is usability? What is the User Experience World Tour? Plus opinions on site redesigns, WAP, and Flash. (1/10/2001 at Web Techniques)
Who's the Fattest Site of Them All?
A recent survey from Byte Level Research found that the high-profile websites it examined had an average of 89KB of information on their home pages; they advise sites to have a home page weight of 60KB, while Jupiter suggests 40KB. (10/16/2000 at ZDNet)
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