User-Centered Design September 14th, 2004

Doug Ward, The Centech Group Certified Advanced ColdFusion Developer

User-Centered Design September 14th, 2004 What’s the problem? What’s the solution? How do you do it?

What’s the problem? Aggravated customers Lost customers Lost money

User-Centered Design “...Usability really just means making sure that something works well: that a person of average (or even below average) ability and experience can use the thing - whether it's a Web site, a fighter jet, or a revolving door - for its intended purpose without getting hopelessly frustrated.” - Steve Krug

User-Centered Design Don’t make me think! Web pages are actually billboards Usability requires user-testing

Things that make you think Mystery links Happy text Misused conventions Bad page structure

Billboard Design 101 Create a clear visual hierarchy Get to the point! Direct users to what they want

Usability Testing Testing one user is 100% better than testing zero users Start testing early The importance of representative users is overrated Testing is an iterative process

What to test “Get it” testing Key task testing

User-Centered Design Don’t make me think! Web pages are actually billboards Usability requires user-testing

Resources Steve Krug - "Don't Make Me Think" – Jakob Nielsen & Marie Tahir - "Homepage Usability" – Jesse James Garrett - "The Elements of User Experience" – Louis Rosenfeld & Peter Morville - "Information Architecture" – Douglas K. Van Duyne, James A. Landay, Jason I. Hong - "The Design of Sites" –

Thank You!