Newsletter Editor John S. Rhodes John@webword.com
.. October 28, 2001 Newsletter #63
Table of Contents
1. New WebWord Service: Web Site Quality Testing
2. A Business Case for Usability
3. The Face of Information Architecture
4. Dave's Quick Search Deskbar
5. Investigations in Systems Design: Structure, Context, Failure and Usability
6. Representations and Perceived Information Architecture (PIA)
7. Driving, Death, and Usability
8. The Austin Chapter of the UPA
9. What Can You Find at WebWord.com?
4962 subscribers (almost 5,000!)
Tell a friend. Pass this along to a colleague. Recommend WebWord now! -->
We are launching a new service. Effective immediately, WebWord will be offering web site quality testing to our clients.
Quality testing is different from usability testing. Our quality testing service will help you identify the technical problems with your site. For example:
* Broken links * Broken applications * Missing images * Page loading problems * Browser incompatibility * Broken applications * More...!
Why not outsource some, or all, of your quality testing? By using a 3rd party service, you avoid all the politics associated with in-house testing. You also can save money by getting only the testing you need, when you need it.
WebWord has a track record of excellent service and support. We do excellent research and we catch the important details.
If you want to know more about WebWord's Web Site Quality Testing, please send us a note:
>> QT@webword.com
Cheers,
- John
p.s. Thanks for letting me throw this advertisement at you. Remember, paying customers make WebWord possible. (I'm also *very* excited about our new service. It is going to help a lot of companies!) Everything else below is pure content. No more advertisements or promotions. Enjoy!!
John S. Rhodes WebWord.com -- Industrial Strength Usability http://webword.com john@webword.com
--> http://webword.com/moving/businesscase.html
This is a business case for usability in an organization. It is based on academic research, industrial research, case studies, consulting experience, and common knowledge found in the usability community.
Note: The article is long and full of excellent information. There are also several references at the end.
You can read the new article here: --> http://webword.com/moving/businesscase.html
--> http://webword.com/interviews/wodtke.html
This is an interview with Christina Wodtke, the force behind Elegant Hack. Here are some of the questions that I asked:
* Why is there a need to architect information? That is, why does everyone assume that information needs to be structured and categorized and formatted? Are there any problems with this core assumption?
* Exactly how does information architecture apply to web application design, versus doing information architecture on the content of a site? What are the important things to keep in mind?
* What is the best example of information architecture you have ever seen? Think broadly, beyond the web. Now, why did you choose this example? What is the key lesson?
You can read the new interview here: --> http://webword.com/interviews/wodtke.html
ITEM #4
--> http://webword.com/interviews/bau.html
"Dave's Quick Search Deskbar "
This is an interview with Dave Bau. Here are some of the questions that I asked:
* What is Dave's Quick Search Deskbar?
* You decided to use the GNU General Public License for Dave's Quick Search Deskbar. How does that license work? Why did you choose it?
* Dave's Quick Search Deskbar is pretty simple and easy to use. Did you deliberately focus on usability when you built it? Did you test this tool with people before you launched it?
You can read the new article here: --> http://webword.com/interviews/bau.html
--> http://webword.com/moving/rhodes0001.html
The purpose of this paper is to briefly review and discuss three books related to systems design. The first book is Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and Judgment in Engineering (Petroski, 1994), the second book is The Mythical Man-Month, Anniversary Edition: Essays on Software Engineering (Brooks, 1995), and the third book is Notes on the Synthesis of Form (Alexander, 1964). In this paper, an emphasis is placed on describing the core ideas of the books. Brief discussions of structure, context, failure, and usability engineering are included to highlight several themes found throughout the trio of books.
You can read the new article here: --> http://webword.com/moving/rhodes0001.html
--> http://webword.com/moving/representations.html
This article discusses two key ideas. First, it briefly outlines four ways to represent the same information. Second, it provides a high level overview of Perceived Information Architecture.
You can read the new article here: --> http://webword.com/moving/representations.html
--> http://webword.com/moving/turnsignals.html
This article discusses turn signals and how they are used. Turn signals improve safety because they give people time to react and they reduce driving ambiguity. However, they are only effective when people actually use them. Several lessons are applied to web usability.
You can read the new article here: --> http://webword.com/moving/turnsignals.html
--> http://webword.com/interviews/green.html
This is an interview with Kerrie Green, the President of the Austin chapter of the Usability Professionals' Association. Here are some of the questions that I asked:
* What is the Austin UPA? Please give us some details!
* Describe the members please. Who are they? What do they do? How many members are there?
* What are the hot topics right now? What is on the agenda?
You can read the new interview here: --> http://webword.com/interviews/green.html
WebWord.com Services >> http://webword.com/services/index.html
Articles (Moving WebWord) >> http://webword.com/moving/
Expert Interviews >> http://webword.com/interviews/
Career Center >> http://careers.webword.com/
Recommended Books >> http://webword.com/books/booksindex.html
Newsletter Archive >> http://webword.com/archive
Weblog Archive >> http://www.webword.com/weblog
Usability Reports >> http://webword.com/reports
Recommended Web Sites >> http://webword.com/hotsites.html
End of WebWord.com Usability Newsletter #63
(c)2001 by WebWord.com and John S. Rhodes. All rights reserved.