Syntagm > Design for Usability > Resources | Articles

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On this page:

• Recent publications
• Book chapter (see our separate page on complete books)
• 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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Recent Publications

• Asperger’s Syndrome, Autism, and Camouflaging: Reduced Empathy Revisited (Mar-Apr 2019)
  • Changes in the field of autism research since my 2009 paper (ACM Interactions)
• HCI/UX-Related Logic Problem (Apr 2016)
  • Compares abstract and concrete versions of a logic problem and discusses implications for UCD
• User Stories Don't Help Users: Introducing Persona Stories (Nov-Dec 2013)
• Article on the many shortcomings of user stories in ACM Interactions
• Lighting the Road Ahead: The 55-Minute Guide to Usability, Accessibility and SEO
  • (PDF) Like it says on the tin (a short, very blue, book for managers and others without UX training)
• User Requirements in the 21st Century (August 2012)
  • Why user-centred design should be central to Agile development

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Book Chapter

See our books page for complete books. Below is a PDF of William Hudson's chapter in Object Modeling and User Inteface Design (2001, now out of print although still available through some sellers). Click here to download Adobe's free Acrobat Reader for PDFs.

• Toward Unified Models in User-Centered and Object-Oriented Design
  (PDF, 230 KB)

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Talks and Papers

These files are Adobe Acrobat PDFs. To read them you will need the free Acrobat Reader. If you have problems opening the files, make sure that you have the latest version and have applied any software updates (and re-booted your Windows system). If problems persist, try saving the file locally to disk and open it from there – otherwise contact us.

• Asperger’s Syndrome, Autism, and Camouflaging: Reduced Empathy Revisited (Mar-Apr 2019)
  • Changes in the field of autism research since my 2009 paper (ACM Interactions)
• Reduced Empathizing Skills Increase Challenges for User-Centred Design (2009)
  • Short paper presented at CHI 2009 and HCI 2009
• The Challenges of User-Centred Design (2008)
  • An essay based on William Hudson's keynote talk at CADUI 2008
• Mental Models, Metaphor and Design (2003)
  • UK UPA and HCI2003
• Adopting User-Centered Design within an Agile Process: A Conversation (2003)
  • Author's draft of Cutter IT Journal article for Software Usability issue (10/03)
• Metaphor in User Interface Design: A View from the Trenches (2003)
  • Draft of HCI2003 metaphor workshop paper

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Articles by Journal

Article in Agile Record Magazine

• User Requirements in the 21st Century (August 2012)
  • Why user-centred design should be central to Agile development

Chapter in Interaction Design Encyclopedia

• Card Sorting
  • Peer-reviewed introduction to card sorting and cluster analysis

A note on printing the articles: If you would like to print the articles below 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

• Asperger’s Syndrome, Autism, and Camouflaging: Reduced Empathy Revisited (Mar-Apr 2019)
  • Changes in the field of autism research since my 2009 paper (ACM Interactions)
• User Stories Don't Help Users: Introducing Persona Stories (Nov-Dec 2013)
  • Article on the many shortcomings of user stories in ACM Interactions
• Playing Your Cards Right: Getting the Most from Card Sorting for Navigation Design (Sep/Oct 2005)
  • Introduces dendrograms and new ways of looking at card sorting results
• 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

Cutter IT Journal

• Adopting User-Centered Design within an Agile Process: A Conversation
  • Author's draft of Cutter IT Journal article for Software Usability issue (10/03)

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Articles by Topic

All articles are native HTML, also suitable for printing.

Agile UCD

• User Requirements in the 21st Century (August 2012)
  • Why user-centred design should be central to Agile development
• Adopting User-Centered Design within an Agile Process: A Conversation (October 2003)
  • Author's draft of Cutter IT Journal article for Software Usability issue

Asperger's Syndrome/Autism Spectrum in IT

• Asperger’s Syndrome, Autism, and Camouflaging: Reduced Empathy Revisited
  • Changes in the field of autism research since my 2009 paper (ACM Interactions)
• Reduced Empathizing Skills Increase Challenges for User-Centred Design
  • Short paper presented at CHI 2009 and HCI 2009

Card Soring

• Card Sorting
  • Peer-reviewed introduction to card sorting and cluster analysis

• Playing Your Cards Right: Getting the Most from Card Sorting for Navigation Design (Sep/Oct 2005)
  • Introduces dendrograms and new ways of looking at card sorting results

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

User and Persona Stories

• User Stories Don't Help Users: Introducing Persona Stories
  • Article on the many shortcomings of user stories in Nov-Dec 2013 issue of ACM Interactions

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)