| Directory > Computers > Internet > Web Design and Development > Web Usability Hot Text: Web Writing That Works
Articles from trainer-writer team Jonathan and Lisa Price. Ideas and services for web
writers, editors, and content managers.
http://www.webwritingthatworks.com/
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STC SIG - Usability
Forum to share information, resources and experiences on issues related to the usability and
user-centered design. It is the home of the Usability Special Interest Group of the Society for
Technical Communication.
http://www.stcsig.org/usability/
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Usability Watch India
Blog on usability of software and websites through the eyes of Suman kumar.
http://usablityrules.blogspot.com/
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Don't Link to Us
Highlights stupid linking policies by linking to web sites that attempt to impose substantial
restrictions on other sites that link to them.
http://www.dontlink.com
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Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2003 (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)
Sites are getting better at using minimalist design, maintaining archives, and offering
comprehensive services. However, these advances entail their own usability problems, as several
prominent mistakes from 2003 show.
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20031222.html
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Nielsen Norman Group
Reports and columns on usability and human interface design by Jakob Nielsen, Don Norman, and Bruce
'Tog' Tognazzini.
http://www.nngroup.com/reports/
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Klariti Guide to Usability and Information Architecture
Directory contains over 500 links, mainly to scholarly articles.
http://www.klariti.com/information-architecture/
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Java Software Human Interface
Essential information about human interface design and usability for applications and applets
written in the Java programming language.
http://java.sun.com/developer/techDocs/hi/
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Comparison of Usability Evaluation Methods
A listing of the most popular methods for determining usability, including the advantages and
disadvantages of each.
http://www.userdesign.com/usability_uem.html
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GUI Bloopers
Presentation and promo of Jeff Johnson's book "GUI Bloopers". Covers problems with text,
graphics, interactive dialog and web design.
http://books.elsevier.com/companions/1558605827/
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IBM DeveloperWorks: Web Architecture
Offering tools needed to understand usability and accessibility issues. Includes materials that can
help you create user-centered applications and gain insight into accessibility challenges.
http://www-136.ibm.com/developerworks/web/
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Royal National Institute for the Blind: Web Access Centre
Web accessibility resources.
http://www.rnib.org/xpedio/groups/public/documents/publicwebsite/public_webaccesscentre.hcsp
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Frontend Usability InfoCentre
Intended to introduce the principles of usability engineering and provide resources and information
for those involved in software and web design.
http://www.frontend.com/infocentre.html
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Usability.gov - Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines
Quantified, peer-reviewed website design guidelines. PDF format, both in chapters or as one big
(39 MB) file.
http://usability.gov/pdfs/guidelines.html
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AgeLight Institute
Guidelines written for webmasters, communicators and marketers to assist with website design for
maximum usability for seniors and older internet users.
http://www.agelight.com/Resources/webdesign.htm
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The Scent of Information
The reason why so many people lose their way on the Web, according to usability expert Jared
Spool, is because they lose the scent of the information they are looking for. Jared shares his
thoughts and perspectives on the Web, usability, and the user's quest for information.
http://www.ddj.com/documents/s=3110/nam1012433977/
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Design Not Found
Critical reviews of web contingency design, or how sites communicate error conditions and/or
recover from them. Includes real-life screen shots with analysis and discussion.
http://www.37signals.com/dnf/
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Educorner
Online introductory course on Information Architecture, (making a website easy to use).
http://www.educorner.com/
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BBC News
Web design 'causes confusion' - Web designers are not on the same wavelength as surfers when it
comes to creating sites, says a US study.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2041040.stm
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Seattletimes.com: A primer for a good Web page
Users want indicators of how good (e.e., current, accurate, credible) the page's information is.
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=issu&da....
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Human Factors International - Web Usability Tips
These tips are provided to help you improve the interaction between humans and computers in your
web design.
http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/10tips.asp
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Alertbox : Top-10 Guidelines for Homepage Usability
Following key guidelines for homepage usability is well worth the investment.
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20020512.html
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IBM - Ease of Use
Resourcs for discovering user-centered design, guidelines, and technologies to help improve the
total user experience for web-based products and services.
http://www-3.ibm.com/ibm/easy/eou_ext.nsf/Publish/558
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Macromedia - Flash : Usability
Usability tips, examples, test case, quotes, related articles and a Flash forum for site
developers.
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/productinfo/usability/
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CNET.com - Study: Design lacking in e-tail sites
The design of some of the leading online stores is mediocre at best, but, according to a new study,
it is improving.
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-931274.html
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Readability Of Websites With Various Foreground/Background Color Combinations, Font Types And Word Styles
1997 psychology research project by Alyson L. Hill at Stephen F. Austin State University.
Participants scanned simulated websites for a target word; readability was inferred from
reaction time.
http://hubel.sfasu.edu/research/AHNCUR.html
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WDVL: Usability Testing in Practice
Reveals one company's usability testing practices and procesures.
http://wdvl.internet.com/Authoring/Design/UsabilityTesting/
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Business Benefits of Accessible Web Design
Describes the many business and technical benefits that are realised by applying the Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to Web applications.
http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/benefits.html
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Missinfom
Resources and links on web design and usability.
http://www.missinform.net
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Usabilityinfo.net
General usability information for creating functional websites.
http://www.usabilityinfo.net
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eShopability
Provides design and usability information and advice on how to convert browsers into buyers and
keep them, analysis and trends. Free fortnightly newsletter.
http://www.eshopability.com
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Usability Must Die
Examines what's wrong with the usability movement, with some humour, and experiences from the coal
face of software design.
http://www.usabilitymustdie.com
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Stevesdomain.net
Focuses on furthering the education of web related topics, including web design and navigation
tips, advice and techniques.
http://www.stevesdomain.net/
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User-Friendly Web Sites for All Ages, Microsoft PressPass
Guidelines for businesses, developers and web designers on how to make their web sites more
user-friendly and accessable for the adult community. A white paper issued by Microsoft,
"Effective Web Design Considerations for Older Adults." is available for download.
http://www.microsoft.com/PressPass/press/1999/May99/GuidelinePR.asp
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Accessible Web
A guide to creating accessible web pages and downloadable documents. From the University of
Newcastle, Australia.
http://www.newcastle.edu.au/oldsite/services/iesd/webteam/access/
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Digital Web Magazine
Article by Rick Cecil: Composition and Usability.
http://www.digital-web.com/features/feature_2000-3.shtml
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User Interface Engineering -- Web Site Usability Book
Spool, Jared. Excerpted from book, "Web Site Usability: A Designer's Guide". Useful
links, articles and resources.
http://world.std.com/~uieweb/bookdesc.htm
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User Interface Design - Software Design Smorgasbord
A comprehensive resource page on UI Design, maintained by Craig Marion, the webmaster of Chester
County Internet Services.
http://www.chesco.com/~cmarion/Design/UIDesign.html
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CNN.com - Analysis: Web sites are locking out the disabled
Office buildings have wheelchair ramps and TV has closed captioning, but many Web sites are
inaccessible to people with disabilities. Things don't have to be that way. Dated August 7, 2000.
http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/08/07/web.site.accessibility.idg/index.html
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Web Usability Findings
Compilation of surveys of web usability engineering and test results.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bing/oversite/webusefind.html
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Human Behavior and the Web Research Center
Research center with useful information on the interface between human behavior and new technology,
especially the web.
http://www.cio.com/research/behavior/
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Principia Hypertextica: Introduction
A mathematics educator's view of web design. Encourages speed, accessibility, validity, and
navigability. Discusses difficulties of math typesetting on the web.
http://world.std.com/~wij/web-design/index.html
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Web Development
A summary of the complete life cycle of web development: planning, analysis, design,
implementation, and promotion. Key practices and online resources are given for each process. By
John December, author of numerous material for web development methodology.
http://www.december.com/web/develop.html
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Towards a Model of Trust for E-Commerce System Design
A paper, by Florian N. Egger, presents a model of trust that informs the human-computer interaction
(HCI) design of electronic commerce systems.
http://www.zurich.ibm.com/~mrs/chi2000/contributions/egger.html
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JavaScript and Web Site Usability
An Interview with JavaScript Guru, Mr. Danny Goodman on how JavaScript can make a web site easier
to use.
http://webword.com/interviews/goodman.html
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A Heuristic Evaluation of a World Wide Web Prototype
Experiment by the Bureau of Labor Statistics(BLS)finding a large number of usability problems that
were identified and suggestions for correction.
http://stats.bls.gov/ore/htm_papers/st960160.htm
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Designing Information-Abundant Web Sites
This article is extracted and adapted from Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective
Human-Computer Interaction 3rd edn., Reading, MA: Addison Wesley (forthcoming). Longman Publishers,
Copyright 1998.
http://ijhcs.open.ac.uk/shneiderman/
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7 Debilitating Diseases of Business Websites
Illnesses make websites inefficient. The cures, by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson:Web Marketing Today, Issue
41, February 1, 1998.
http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/7diseases.htm
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Conference on Usability Tools and Techniques
A summary from the conference sponsored by AT&T Labs. The goal is to develop software tools and
techniques for evaluating the usability of web sites.
http://www.research.att.com/conf/hfweb/proceedings/scholtz/index.html
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Usability Matters
From the Usability Matters Group at the Linköping University in Sweden. Their goal is to make
computer systems more usable. The 1995 essay "Perspectives on Usability" by Jonas
Löwgren is available for download in PDF format.
http://www.ida.liu.se/labs/aslab/groups/um/
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Usability Testing of Advanced Web Concepts
Case study of usability. A sidebar to Jakob Nielsen's article on Sun's new Web design.
http://www.sun.com/980113/sunonnet/concepts.html
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Design Considerations
Designing web sites for readers with visual impairments. General design principles and resources
for additional information.
http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/gallery/dzine/access/
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ShoreWalker
Covers every area of good site design as well as what not to do. Steers you away from hype and
towards more practical, user-friendly Web design. Based in Australia.
http://www.shorewalker.com/
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Designing a More Usable World
Trace Research and Development Center at the University of Wisconsin. Excellent guidelines for
universal web design.
http://www.trace.wisc.edu/world/
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GVU: The Graphics, Visualization and Usability Center
Development of new technologies in graphics, usability and visualization.
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/gvutop.html
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Starling Access Services
Interesting definition of Accessible Web Design. For use by "anyone, any web browsing
technology and any site".
http://www.starlingweb.com/webac.htm
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Fluff and Contenders, Revisited
A monthly web zine for professional web writers and editors who create content for the web. This
archived article, April 1999, is a follow-up of the April 1998 "Cut the Fluff" in
designing web sites and suggest not to "lose sight of usability and functionality".
http://www.contentious.com/archive-main.html#1999-04
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Guide to Usability for Software Engineers (GUSE)
Pages collected by the University of Maryland, Masters of Software Engineering. These guidelines
will assist software engineers to create effective user interfaces.
http://otal.umd.edu/guse/
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Improving Web Site Usability and Appeal
Guidelines compiled by MSN Usability Research to provide designers and producers with ideas to
increase the usability and appeal of Web sites.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/management/planning/improvingsiteusa.asp
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Usable Webs
Information on basic web usability principles, including hints on helping search engines find your
site. Web usability assessments and content development are available.
http://www.usablewebs.com/
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Usability First
Diamond Bullet Design offers their experience and knowledge on website and software usability.
http://www.usabilityfirst.com/
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Usability Engineering
"Designing for Ease Use", Article written by Corporate Solutions Consulting (UK)on
usability engineering.
http://www.consult-me.co.uk/csc-usability-engineering-page.htm
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More Than Screen Deep
Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) of the National Research Council convened a
steering committee to evaluate and suggest fruitful directions for progress in user interfaces to
computing and communications systems. A very informative site.
http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/screen/index.html#contents
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Art and the Zen of Web Sites
Suggestions and guidelines for putting together a usable and attractive web site.
http://www.tlc-systems.com/webtips.shtml
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Daily Blooper
Showcases examples of poor web interface design from real web sites. The aim is to teach good
(user-centered) design by showing what not to do.
http://deyalexander.com/blooper/
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Useit.com
Jakob Nielsen shares his thoughts on usability.
http://www.useit.com
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100 Things to Do to Make a Better Site
List of several (actually, eight) ways to make a more user-friendly site. Also has other reader
comments on the same topic.
http://philip.greenspun.com/wtr/100-things
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Usability.gov
Provided by the National Cancer Institute. Includes information and resources on making web sites
and other user interfaces more useful, usable, and accessible. News and current publications and
additional links are provided.
http://www.usability.gov/
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Theory
A weekly column by Adam Baker that discusses web usability, interface, and interaction design.
Includes previous columns for review.
http://www.merges.net/theory/
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WebMetric Tools
Good usability is vital to the success of any web site. This site has downloadable sets of web
evaluation tools to assist in analysis of a web page based on numerous usability guidelines.
Registration is required (free).
http://zing.ncsl.nist.gov/WebTools/
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WEBehavior
A behavioral research, usability testing, and customer experience evaluation firm.
http://www.webehavior.com/
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Uiweb.com
Monthly expert columns on web usability, interaction and web design.
http://www.uiweb.com/
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The WDVL: Designing Attractive Web Pages
Before you can design avant-garde Web pages, you have to know what the rules are before you try
to break, bend or amend them.
http://wdvl.com/Authoring/Design/Pages/
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Internet Brothers: Helpware for the Cybercommunity
Expanding web community by offering free tips and tutorials about HTML and DHTML, graphics editing,
site promotion, digital photography, and desktop publishing. Presented often with a touch of humor,
and always with examples.
http://internetbrothers.com/
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Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
W3 Consortium publication.
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/wai-pageauth.html
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Internet Brothers: Layout and Design Fundamentals
Avoid common web page mistakes. Learn about proper alignment, coloring and typography, plus how to
put your best foot forward when you have two left feet.
http://internetbrothers.com/layout.htm
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Usability Professionals' Association
The UPA's purpose is to promote usability concepts and techniques worldwide.
http://www.upassoc.org/
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HTML Style Issues
Alan Flavell discusses HTML usability and provides links to many style and usability sites.
http://ppewww.ph.gla.ac.uk/~flavell/www/
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Fifth Conference on the Human Factors and the Web
A forum for sharing information among a community of human factors engineers, designers, and
developers who are interested in producing web sites that are more useful and usable. Site
contains proceedings of the most recent (3/Jun/1999) conference and archives of all previous
conferences.
http://zing.ncsl.nist.gov/hfweb/index.html
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WebWord Usability Consulting
Usability and human factors for the Internet. Including book list, expert articles articles and
interviews, recommended Web sites.
http://www.webword.com
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Web Usability
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. Special issue of WWW Usability arising from a
symposium entitled "The Missing Link: Hypermedia Usability Research and The Web".
http://ijhcs.open.ac.uk/
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Something 4 Nothing Web Pages
Tips for building pages which are visually pleasing, and yet still download quickly and make
information easy to access. From Webdeveloper.com.
http://www.webdeveloper.com/html/html_something_4_nothing.html
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Lynx Friendly
The key to being Lynx Friendly is to be consciously aware of the HTML which goes into creating a
web page and to ensure that those using a non-graphical browser are not ignored.
http://www.cs.umanitoba.ca/~djc/personal/lynxfriend.html
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AnyBrowser.com
Web page viewer presents a site as it might be seen by visitors with different browsers.
http://www.anybrowser.com/
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Say What You Mean on the Web!
Content strategies for your e-business website; 50 ways to make your site easy to understand and
use; free newsletter; regular reports on information design and usability for e-commerce; Los
Angeles-based consultant with online services available.
http://www.ronscheer.com/
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HTML Authoring Tools
Delorie Software provides a number of free services to the web community to assist web authors who
wish to make their information available to the largest audience. These tools provide alternate
ways of viewing your pages, so that you can ensure that your content is received properly by all
viewers.
http://www.delorie.com/web/
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Usefo.com
Web design resources, Usableword newsletter, and web usability guidelines to make web sites faster,
more educational, and usable.
http://patsula.com/usefo/
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All Things Web: The Usable Web
Tips and techniques for building reader-friendly Web pages.
http://www.pantos.org/atw/usable.html
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Magnetic-Media - Web In Motion
A commentary on web usability, design, and direction aimed at the beginning web developer.
http://www.magnetic-media.com/webinmotion/
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SIGCHI World Wide Web Special Interest Area
WWWSIA is a subgroup of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI). It
focuses on the human factors of the World Wide Web.
http://www.acm.org/sigchi/webhci/
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Web Pages That Suck
Learn good web page design by looking at bad web pages.
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/
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Navigation 101
A simple, understandable navigation scheme is a critical aspect of site design and has a direct
effect on the bottom line.
http://wdvl.com/Location/Navigation/101/
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Usable Web
Collection of links and accompanying information about human factors, user interface issues, and
usable design specific to the World Wide Web.
http://usableweb.com/
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Alertbox
Jakob Nielsen's bi-weekly column on current issues in Web usability, focusing on simple and
minimalist design based on real user needs.
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/
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