User-Centered Design September 14th, 2004

1. User-Centered DesignSeptember 14th, 2004

2. User-Centered DesignSeptember 14th, 2004 Doug Ward, The Centech Group Certified Advanced ColdFusion Developerwardd@centechgroup.com 301-975-5074

3. User-Centered DesignSeptember 14th, 2004 • What’s the problem? • What’s the solution? • How do you do it?

4. What’s the problem? • Aggravated customers • Lost customers • Lost money

5. 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

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

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

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

9. 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

10. What to test • “Get it” testing • Key task testing

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

13. Resources • Steve Krug - "Don't Make Me Think" • http://www.sensible.com/ • Jakob Nielsen & Marie Tahir - "Homepage Usability" • http://www.useit.com • Jesse James Garrett - "The Elements of User Experience" • http://www.jjg.net/ • Louis Rosenfeld & Peter Morville - "Information Architecture" • http://www.louisrosenfeld.com/home/ • Douglas K. Van Duyne, James A. Landay, Jason I. Hong - "The Design of Sites" • http://www.designofsites.com/

14. Thank You!