A little late to the party, I suppose, but here are my top picks for 2005 on a variety of web design-related subjects.
Read MoreAuthor: Christian Watson
Do You Know What Users are Searching for on Your Web Site?
Do you know what people are searching for on your site? Got anything interesting to say about it? If so, Lou Rosenfield and Rich Wiggins are conducting a survey – What are users searching for on your site? – for an upcoming book on search analytics for web sites and intranets.
Read MoreGood Recap of Recent Usability Research Studies
The December UI Design Letter from Human Factors International has a great recap of “usability research findings”:http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/dec05.asp#kath from the past few years.
Web Site Usability Testing: Thoughts and Takeaways
I recently ran one of our regular usability sessions for our “hospital web site”:http://www.seattlechildrens.org. It’s always a fascinating experience watching real users -fumble around- navigate our site and the web team always learns a lot from it.
“Cashing in with Content”: Book on Using Web Content Effectively
David Meerman Scott has written an interesting new book about using content to drive web site visitors to action. In “Cashing in with Content” he profiles 20 organizations – large and small – from a diverse range of industries (e-commerce, business-to-business, nonprofit, education, healthcare, music, politics) who are successfully using web content to deliver a competitive advantage.
Download Free Icons from IconBuffet
IconBuffet’s new ‘Delivery’ service offers you a free download of a sample set of icons each month.
Read MoreDon’t Make Me Think: Read Chapter on Accessibility Online
I recently reviewed Steve Krug’s book Don’t Make Me Think. Now in its second edition, if you haven’t read it yet, you’d be doing yourself a huge favor by adding it to your Christmas list.
Read MoreCheap Stock Photography: Fotolia
Last week, “I profiled Big Stock Photo”:https://smileycat.com/miaow/archives/000187.html as being a worthy competitor to iStockphoto. Well, I’ve since come across “Fotolia”:http://www.fotolia.com/ – another iStockphoto clone.
Get Your Site Rated by the ‘Experts’ for Free
Want a free check up on how your site compares with ‘best practice’ in terms of popularity, design, accessibility, and user experience?
“Sitescore”:http://www.silktide.com/tools/sitescore is a online tool that provides an automated rating of your site according to the above four criteria as well as incorporating a user rating feature.
Mouse Hover: More Useful Than You Thought
Bill Scott delves into the humble mouse-over in his post “Musings on Mouse Hover”:http://looksgoodworkswell.blogspot.com/2005/11/musings-on-mouse-hover.html. In it he identifies three main uses for mouse-over effects: