Web Usability Made Simple
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Description
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D15 from a comprehensive curriculum on User eXperience (UX) currently under development at The Online User eXperience Institute (OUXI).
This course is one of a track of courses aimed at small web business owners, students and developers/designers with little or no prior training in software/web usability.
Before you attend this Web Usability Course, we recommend that you take the free, 30 minute course called "Introduction to Web and eCommerce User eXperience Design". As well as providing a high level overview for this and other related courses from the same OUXI curriculum training track, it will explain how the small fees you invest in these courses could pay off in thousands of dollars in increased revenues from your ecommerce website.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course addresses one of three key aspects of the User eXperience of eCommerce and other websites: usability (other courses in the OUXI curriculum will address designing for persuasion and graphic design).
The course is very concrete, a "how-to" course offering clear, actionable guidelines and hands-on exercises. These website usability guidelines are not based on subjective opinion - they have all been well established by rigorous, published research from disciplines such as cognitive science and computer-human interaction. Each guideline is fully explained and generously illustrated with many examples from real websites.
The 34 design guidelines offered were selected from the full body of knowledge on web usability to be: universal (i.e., applicable to any and all websites), easy to explain, commonly violated, high impact, and easy to implement. They represent the "low-hanging fruit" in designing for web usability.
With nothing beyond these 34 key guidelines, anyone should be able to realize major improvements in the usability of their website, which will contribute measurably to the success of the site in meeting its business goals.
COURSE FORMAT
The course format is a Powerpoint presentation accompanied by a studio-recorded video lecture, broken up into chapters and lectures.
Downloadable course materials include the full Powerpoint presentation in two formats - full slides, and two slides per page - and an actionable, Excel-based guidelines checklist that can be used as you apply your new skills to real web projects.
The course includes about 3 hours of lecture, and roughly 1.5 - 2 hours of hands-on exercises.
Both quick (a couple of minutes) and more comprehensive (roughly 45 minutes) optional hands-on exercises, followed by sample exercise solutions, help reinforce your understanding of the guidelines.
Table of Contents
Intro
Infrequently Asked Questions
"User eXperience"
"User Interface"
"Usability"
Anatomy of a User Interface
Guidelines 1-3: Structure of Navigation
Guidelines 4-6: Structure of Navigation
Exercise One: Structure of Navigation
Exercise One Solution: Structure of Navigation
Guidelines 7-8: Design of Navigation
Guidelines 9-10: Design of Navigation
Guidelines 11-12: Design of Navigation
Guidelines 13-15: Design of Navigation
Guidelines 16-17: Design of Navigation
Guideline 18: Design of Navigation
Exercise Two: Design of Navigation
Exercise Two Solution: Design of Navigation
Guidelines 19-20: Design of Page Content
Guidelines 21-24: Design of Page Content
Guidelines 25-28: Design of Page Content
Guidelines 29-34: Design of Page Content
Exercise Three: Design of Page Content
Exercise Three Solution: Design of Page Content
Sum
Infrequently Asked Questions: Answers
Author
Deborah J. Mayhew, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of The Online User eXperience Institute (OUXI) is an internationally recognized consultant, author, teacher and speaker on engineering and designing for the User eXperience.
Deborah was one of the earliest pioneers of the field of software and web user experience. She has been Owner and Principal Consultant at Deborah J. Mayhew & Associates, a consulting firm offering a wide variety of services related to designing and engineering for the User eXperience, since 1986, when she became one of the first independent consultantsin her field.Â
Deborah's clients have included IBM, AT&T, The World Bank, Hewlett-Packard, Ford Motor Company, American Express, The New York City Police Department, Apple Computer, American Airlines, Texas Instruments, NASA, JP Morgan Chase, The National Cancer Institute, Computer Science Corporation, Siemens, Cisco Systems, the IRS and many others.  Deborah has designed user experiences not only for web sites, but also for traditional desktop software applications, medical technology, scientific instruments, and robots.  She has taught courses in many of her client organizations as well as at many professional conferences.
Deborah holds a B. A. in Psychology from Brown University, an M. A. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Denver and a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Tufts University. She has authored or co-authored four books on topics in User eXperience engineering, and has contributed chapters to many other books in the field. One popular book is The Usability Engineering Lifecycle. Another recent book is Cost Justifying Usability: An Update for the Internet Age, co-edited with Randolph G. Bias.
Web Usability Made Simple
View a brief introduction to the course.
Consider these interesting questions about human cognition, just for fun.
View a definition of the term "User eXperience".
Learn a definition of the term "User Interface".
Learn a definition of the term "Usability".
Learn how user interface design guidelines can be categorized into three groups: structure of navigation, design of navigation, and design of page content. This lecture defines and illustrates these categories.
Learn guidelines 1 through 3 for the structure of navigation.
Learn guidelines 4 through 6 for the structure of navigation.
Practice applying usability guidelines 1 - 6 for structure of navigation by doing this hands-on exercise.
Consider this solution to exercise one on structure of navigation.
Depending on how you chose to do the exercise, you can compare your solution to this one, or simply listen to this solution as an additional example of the application of guidelines 1 - 6 for structure of navigation.
Learn guidelines 7 through 8 for the visual design of navigation.
Learn guidelines 9 through 10 for the visual design of navigation.
Learn guidelines 11 through 12 for the visual design of navigation.
Learn guidelines 13 through 15 for the visual design of navigation.
Learn guidelines 16 through 17 for the visual design of navigation.
Learn guideline 18 for the visual design of navigation.
Practice applying usability guidelines 7 - 18 for the visual design of navigation by doing this hands-on exercise.
Consider this solution to exercise two on design of navigation.
Depending on how you chose to do the exercise, you can compare your solution to this one, or simply listen to this solution as an additional example of the application of guidelines 7 - 18 for design of navigation.
Learn guidelines 19 through 20 for the design of page content.
Learn guidelines 21 through 24 for the design of page content.
Learn guidelines 25 through 28 for the design of page content.
Learn guidelines 29 through 34 for the design of page content.
Practice applying usability guidelines 19 - 34 for the visual design of page content by doing this hands-on exercise.
Consider this solution to exercise three on design of page content.
Depending on how you chose to do the exercise, you can compare your solution to this one, or simply listen to this solution as an additional example of the application of guidelines 19-34 for design of page content.
Consolidate your learning by listening to this course summary with some important additional points.
Learn the answers to the infrequently asked questions posed at the beginning of the course.
