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Design/Usability
Web Usability is an approach to make web sites easy to use for an end-user, without requiring her (or him) to undergo any specialized training. The user should be able to intuitively relate the actions he needs to perform on the web page, with other interactions he sees in the general domain of life e.g. press of a button leads to some action. The broad goal of usability can be:
- Present the information to the user in a clear and concise way.
- To give the correct choices to the users, in a very obvious way.
- To remove any ambiguity regarding the consequences of an action e.g. clicking on delete/remove/purchase.
- Put the most important thing in the right place on a web page or a web application.
Design/Usability Tutorials and Reference Online
There is an abundance of websites on designing web usability. We recommend starting with the following guides:
- Web Developer's Virtual Library: Designing Web Usability
- Jakob Nielsen: UseIt.com
- SmashingMagazine.com: Clear And Effective Communication In Web Design
- Usability.gov
- UsabilityFirst.com: Do's and Dont's
Design/Usability Online Video Training by Lynda.com
Lynda.com is a subscription based provider of educational materials for creative designers, instructors, students, and hobbyists. The subscription cost is approximately $25/month or $250/year. Videos are closed caption and may require QuickTime.
The video training course(s) below can be partially previewed prior to subscribing:
