Syntagm > Design for Usability > Resources | Articles

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On this page:

• Talks and papers
• Articles by journal
• Articles by topic
• MSc Dissertation

Please note that we also have free UX benchmarking reports and lots of free material on card sorting.

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Talks and Papers

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• Reduced Empathizing Skills Increase Challenges for User-Centred Design
  • Short paper presented at CHI 2009 and HCI 2009
• The Challenges of User-Centred Design
  • An essay based on William Hudson's keynote talk at CADUI 2008
• Mental Models, Metaphor and Design
  • UK UPA and HCI2003
• Adopting User-Centered Design Within An Agile Process: A Conversation
  • Author's draft of Cutter IT Journal article for Software Usability issue (10/03)
• Metaphor in User Interface Design: A View from the Trenches
  • Draft of HCI2003 metaphor workshop paper

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Articles by Journal

All articles are native HTML – ordinary web pages – except where noted. They are designed for easy on-screen reading but are also suitable for printing.

A note on printing the articles: If you would like to print these articles on A4 paper, set the page margins to 10 mm in your browser. Otherwise you may find a few lines truncated. (Users of US Quarto format are unaffected.)

Column and other articles in interactions magazine

• Fitts at 50: For Link Design, Size Does Matter (May/June 2005)
  • Fitts’ Law still has an important role even after 50 years
• The Cost of More: Psychology of Choice in Interaction Design (March/April 2005)
  • Optimizing the user experience in e-commerce design
• A Tale of Two Tutorials: A Cognitive Approach to Interactive System Design and Interaction Design Meets Agility (Jan/Feb 2005)
  • A review of two interaction design tutorials at CHI and OOPSLA 2004
• Attentional Gambling: Getting Better Odds from Your Web Pages (Nov/Dec 2004)
  • Making sure that web pages and navigation get the attention they deserve
• Breadcrumb Navigation: There's More to Hansel and Gretel than Meets the Eye (Sep/Oct 2004)
  • Why breadcrumb navigation is not an option but a necessity
• Inclusive Design: Accessibility Guidelines Only Part of the Picture (Jul/Aug 2004)
  • A discussion of the Disability Rights Commission UK study of web site accessibility
• My Place or Yours: Use and Abuse of Research Facilities (May/Jun 2004)
  • Usability labs are no place to do fieldwork
• Applying Research to Design: Bridging a Widening Gap (Mar/Apr 2004)
  • The case for more design-oriented research
• Foraging à la Carte: An Appetite for Popup Menus? (Jan/Feb 2004)
  • Popup menus do have a place in usable web sites
• Enterprise Information Architecture: Strategies for the Real World (Nov/Dec 2003)
  • Review of Lou Rosenfeld's 2003 London tutorial
• Books and Mortar: The Science of Web Shopping (Sep/Oct 2003)
  • Traditional sales strategies do not necessarily work on the web
• Don't Make me Read (Jul/Aug 2003)
  • Use and abuse of text in web page design

• Metaphor: A Double-Edged Sword (May 2000)
  • ACM Digital Library (subscribers only)
  • Draft copy (PDF available to all)

Column in the SIGCHI Bulletin

• An Early Millennial Retrospective (May/Jun 2003)
  • A review of the column for the final print edition of the Bulletin
• Elegance, Simplicity, Flexibility and Change (Mar/Apr 2003)
  • The need for flexible design in order to resist the effects of design erosion
• Public Accommodation: The US Web Accessibility Jigsaw (Jan/Feb 2003)
  • Confusing legal rulings hinge on the definition of 'public accomodation'
• Crossing the Wireless Chasm: A Standards Nightmare (Nov/Dec 2002)
  • Wireless standards suffer from complex conceptual models
• The Lost World of E-Banking (Sep/Oct 2002)
  • Why many banking web sites are living in the past
• The Objective Web (Jul/Aug 2002)
  • Helping users reach their goals in unfamiliar fields
• Navigate on the right? The jury is still out. (May/Jun 2002)
  • Would moving links to the right side of the page really help?
• Simulating the Less-Than-Perfect User (Mar/Apr 2002)
  • Convincing developers that users are not "just like us"
• Navigational Nous (Jan/Feb 2002)
  • Knowing when less is more
• Designing for the Grand Illusion (Nov/Dec 2001)
  • Change (inattention) blindness in web design
• Welcome to Nirvana: Naïve Beliefs of Usability (Sep/Oct 2001)
  • Addressing popular usability misconceptions
• Browsing for Consistency (Jul/Aug 2001)
  • Lack of browser functionality and Microsoft's Hailstorm
• How many users does it take to change a web site? (May/Jun 2001)
  • The war of numbers for usability testing
• Web of Confusion, Part 2 (Mar/Apr 2001)
  • Review of UI 2001 Conference, Boston (part 2)
• Web of Confusion, Part 1 (Jan/Feb 2001)
  • Review of UI 2001 Conference, Boston and obstacles to web usability (part 1)
• Web evolution: Is HCI an endangered species? (Nov/Dec 2000)
  • Commentary on Jakob Nielsen's announcement of the death of web design

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Articles by Topic

All articles are native HTML, also suitable for printing.

Content

• Don't Make Me Read (Jul/Aug 2003)
  • Use and abuse of text in web page design

Design

• Fitts at 50: For Link Design, Size Does Matter (May/June 2005)
  • Fitts’ Law still has an important role even after 50 years
• The Cost of More: Psychology of Choice in Interaction Design (March/April 2005)
  • Optimizing the user experience in e-commerce design
• Attentional Gambling: Getting Better Odds from Your Web Pages (Nov/Dec 2004)
  • Making sure that web pages and navigation get the attention they deserve
• Breadcrumb Navigation: There's More to Hansel and Gretel than Meets the Eye (Sep/Oct 2004)
  • Why breadcrumb navigation is not an option but a necessity
• Elegance, Simplicity, Flexibility and Change (Mar/Apr 2003)
  • The need for flexible design in order to resist the effects of design erosion
• Simulating the Less-Than-Perfect User (Mar/Apr 2002)
  • Convincing developers that users are not "just like us"
• Designing for the Grand Illusion (Nov/Dec 2001)
  • Change (inattention) blindness in web design

E-Commerce

• Books and Mortar: The Science of Web Shopping (Sep/Oct 2003)
  • Traditional sales strategies do not necessarily work on the web
• The Lost World of E-Banking (Sep/Oct 2002)
  • Why many banking web sites are living in the past

General

• An Early Millennial Retrospective (May/Jun 2003)
  • A review of the column for the final print edition of the Bulletin

HCI

• Crossing the Wireless Chasm: A Standards Nightmare (Nov/Dec 2002)
  • Wireless standards suffer from complex conceptual models
• Welcome to Nirvana: Naïve Beliefs of Usability (Sep/Oct 2001)
  • Addressing popular usability misconceptions
• Web evolution: Is HCI an endangered species? (Nov/Dec 2000)
  • Commentary on Jakob Nielsen's announcement of the death of web design

Navigation

• Foraging à la Carte: An appetite for popup menus? (Jan/Feb 2004)
  • Popup menus do have a place in usable web sites
• Navigate on the right? The jury is still out. (May/Jun 2002)
  • Would moving links to the right side of the page really help?
• Navigational Nous (Jan/Feb 2002)
  • Knowing when less is more

Metaphor

• Mental Models, Metaphor and Design (pdf)
  • UK UPA and HCI2003
• Metaphor in User Interface Design: A View from the Trenches (pdf)
  • Draft of HCI2003 metaphor workshop paper
• Metaphor: A Double-Edged Sword (interactions, May 2000)
  • ACM Digital Library (subscribers only)
  • Draft copy (pdf, available to all)

Reviews

• A tale of two tutorials: a cognitive approach to interactive system design and interaction design meets agility (Jan/Feb 2005)
  • A review of two interaction design tutorials at CHI and OOPSLA 2004
• Enterprise Information Architecture: Strategies for the Real World (Nov/Dec 2003)
  • Review of Lou Rosenfeld's 2003 London tutorial
• Web of Confusion, Part 2 (Mar/Apr 2001)
  • Review of UI 2001 Conference, Boston (part 2)
• Web of Confusion, Part 1 (Jan/Feb 2001)
  • Review of UI 2001 Conference, Boston and obstacles to web usability (part 1)

Usability and Accessibility

• Inclusive Design: Accessibility Guidelines Only Part of the Picture (Jul/Aug 2004)
  • A discussion of the Disability Rights Commission UK study of web site accessibility
• My Place or Yours: Use and Abuse of Research Facilities (May/Jun 2004)
  • Usability labs are no place to do fieldwork
• Public Accomodation: The US Web Accessibility Jigsaw (Jan/Feb 2003)
  • Confusing legal rulings hinge on the definition of 'public accomodation'
• How many users does it take to change a web site? (May/Jun 2001)
  • The war of numbers for usability testing

Web Technology

• The Objective Web (Jul/Aug 2002)
  • Helping users reach their goals in unfamiliar fields
• Browsing for Consistency (Jul/Aug 2001)
  • Lack of browser functionality and Microsoft's Hailstorm

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Dissertation

• Explicit Object Lifetime Management in C++ (500 Kb, pdf)
  • MSc Dissertation for the Open University (September 1998)