Recommended Usability, UCD, UX Links and Tools - Resources

Client Extranet | Contact

paulhibbitts.com

About Paul

Working with your Team

Case Studies

Home > Resources > Recommended Usability, UCD, UX Links and Tools

Design Approaches and Methods
Activity-Centered Design (6) Agile development (23) Creativity and design (3) Design process overviews (17)	Game design (5) Instructional design (3) Scenario-based design (20) User-centered design (7)
Desktop and Web Design
Accessibility (10) Content strategy (3) Dashboard design (7) Error messages (5) Flash usability (9) Form design (9) Guidelines and standards (40) Inductive user interfaces (6) Information architecture (19) Interface design (8)	Multi-touch interfaces (8) Prototyping stencils and elements (4) Rich Internet Applications (RIA) (9) Search (6) Situational software (4) User assistance (14) User interface patterns (26) Web usability (23) Wizards (4)
General Usability, UCD, & UX Design
Articles (29) Blogs (27) Business benefits of usability (14) Human-computer interaction (15)	Management (5) Organizations (5) Resource collections (30)
Mobile Design
Articles (32) Blogs (2) Cascading style sheets (3) Device emulators and SDKs (9) Graphical user interface editors/coders (3) Guidelines and standards (17)	Interface design (6) Multi-touch interfaces (2) Prototyping stencils and elements (13) Resource collections (8) Usability testing (1) Website design (14)
Online Collaboration
Articles (13) Blogs (6) Chat and instant messaging tools (4) Collaborative prototyping (6) Computer supported cooperative work (4) Document collaboration tools (4) Flowchart collaboration tools (2) MS Office document sharing tools (3) Mind mapping tools (5) Outlining tools (2) Project collaboration tools (14)	Remote access tools (2) Screencast tools (5) Screen capture tools (6) Security tools (2) Storage/backup/sync tools & services (7) Social bookmarking tools & articles (5) Social computing (5) Version control tools & articles (3) Virtualization tools (3) Whiteboard tools (3)
Prototyping
Articles (27) Prototyping tools (23)	Specifications (4) State charts (2)
Psychology and Design
Auditory interfaces (3) Cognitive psychology (10) Conceptual models (7)	Flow (7) Visual design (30)
Remote Usability
Card sorting tools (3) Conference call services (3) Remote focus groups tools (3) Remote usability testing tools & articles (31) Remote user studies tools & articles (6)	Scheduling tools (8) Screen sharing tools (4) Survey and web form tools (10) World time tools (8)
Usability Evaluations
Benchmarking and best practices (2) Eye tracking (7) Usability inspections (11)	Usability questionnaires (6) Usability reports (4) Usability testing (31)
User Needs Analysis
Anecdote Circles (3) Contextual inquiries (13) Field studies (4) Focus groups (5) Interviews (6) Personas (20)	Questionnaire Design (4) Requirements (17) Task analysis (9) Use cases (5) User profiles (4) User research (6)

Last updated on August 27, 2010. indicates Paul’s favorites. Design Methods and Approaches
Activity-Centered Design Top Activity-Centered Design - Bokardo An Alternative to User Centered Design Designing Web Applications for Use Human-Centered Design Considered Harmful More from "The Don" Norman -- Activity-Based Design Redefining User-Centered Design, Part 1 Agile Development Top Adapting Usability Investigations for Agile User-Centered Design Advantages of User Stories for Requirements Agile + UX: (un)Synchronizing UX and development Agile + UX: six strategies for more agile user experience Agile Alliance - Articles about Agile Development Practices Agile Development Processes: An Interview with Jeff Patton Agile Development Projects and Usability Agile User Experience (UX) Resources An Agile approach to User Experience and Design An Agile User-Centered Method: Rapid Contextual Design (PDF) Bringing User Centered Design to the Agile Environment Clash of the Titans: Agile and UCD How to incorporate user-centered design into agile development methodology? Jeff Patton on User Centered Design and Story Mapping Introduction to Agile Usability: User Experience Activities on Agile Development Projects Improving On Agility: Adding Usage-Centered Design to Agile Software Development (PDF) Scenario-based usability engineering techniques in agile development processes (ACM) The Big Agile Practices Survey Report (Part 1) The mystery of the shrinking story Twelve emerging best practices for adding UX work to Agile development Usability Engineering with Agile Software Development Usage to User Interface User-Centered Design and Extreme Programming (PDF) Write a Blockbuster Using User Scenarios Creativity and design Top Creativity for Web Developers Do Interface Standards Stifle Design Creativity? Working Paper: Models for the Creative Process Design process overviewsTop Activity-Centered Design Generic Work Process Guerrilla HCI Human-Centered Design Toolkit - Case Studies - IDEO IBM Design: User-Centered Design Learner-Centered Design RESPECT User-Centered Requirements Handbook (PDF) Scenario-based usability engineering Step-by-Step Usability Guide The LUCID Framework The Schaffer Method The Usability Lifecycle Task-Centered Design Process UCD for Different Project Types UsabilityNet: Methods table User-Centered Design and Web Development User Experience Diagrams Game designTop The Cranky User: Everything I need to know about usability, I learned at the arcade Guidelines for Developing Successful Games Playing away: design lessons for handheld gaming (PDF) User-centered Game Design (DOC) What can games teach us about human-computer interaction? Instructional designTop Interface Interest and Research Group Instructional Technology Resources Learning Skills Program - Bloom's Taxonomy Scenario-based design Top Better User Experience With Storytelling – Part One Channeling Creativity: Using Storyboards and Claims to Encourage Collaborative Design (PDF) Create Scenarios Design scenarios—and how thrilled users ruin them Five Reasons for Scenario-Based Design (PDF) Getting your story straight:Scenario-Based Usability Engineering (PDF) Overview of the Scenario-Based Framework Scenarios Scenario based design Scenario based design: JISC Scenario-based usability engineering Scenarios in practice Scenarios: An Introduction Task-Centered User Interface Design - A Practical Introduction Task Scenarios TEAUS: Task Exploration and Analysis Using Scenarios (PDF) Tell me the story: the unifying role of scenarios in conceptual design Usability Case Study Usage Scenarios for Product Requirements Write Scenarios User-centered design Top Art, Science, and Magic: What really happens during User-Centered Design? Being User-Centered When Implementing a UCD Process Human-Centered Design Considered Harmful Three Steps to Fostering a User-Centered Design Culture User-centered design (UCD) - 6 methods User-Centered Design - IBM Design What is User-Centered Design?
Desktop and Web Design
Accessibility Top Accessify.com IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center \| Developer guidelines for Web accessibility Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design No Fuss Accessibility Section 508: The Road to Accessibility UI Access WebAIM: Keeping Web Accessibility in Mind Web Page Accessibility Checklist Web Accessibility - Section 508 Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Content strategy Top Complete Beginner's Guide to Content Strategy \| UX Booth How content strategy fits into the user experience Why you need a content strategist Dashboard design Top Articles by Stephen Few and Guest Authors Dashboards Dashboards by Example – Volume I Dashboard Design: Why Design is Important Enhancing Dashboard Value and User Experience Intelligent Dashboard Design The Dashboard Spy Error messages Top 4 rules for displaying error messages from a user experience perspective Avoid Being Embarrassed by Your Error Messages Error Message Guidelines Error Message Usability Guidelines Non-Fatal Errors: Creating Usable, Effective Error Messages Flash usability Top Developing User-Friendly Macromedia Flash Content (PDF) Flash vs. HTML: A Usability Test Flazoom.com - Developing User-Friendly Flash Content Form design Top Checklist For Better Forms Designing Usable Forms (PDF) Effective use of forms on websites Forms – the importance of getting it right Guidelines for Designing Web Forms Label Placement in Forms Moving Forms to the Web (PDF) Selection-Dependent Inputs Sensible Forms: A Form Usability Checklist Guidelines and standards Top Aero User Experience Guidelines: Sampler for PDC 2003 Apple Human Interface Guidelines (Mac OS X) Guidelines for Designing Tables Designing websites for Google TV Eclipse User Interface Guidelines, Version 2.1 Gerhardt-Powals' Heuristics GNOME Human Interface Guidelines 2.0 Golden Rules for Bad User Interfaces Guidelines for URI Design ISO 9241 Ergonomics of Human System Interaction IBM Design Principles IBM Ease of Use RealThings Guidelines IBM Ease of Use Web Design Guidelines Indigo Magic User Interface Guidelines Interaction Design Guide for Touchscreen Applications Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines (2nd ed.) KDE3 User Interface Guidelines KDE4 User Interface Guidelines Key Components of the Common User Access User Interface Microsoft Management Console (MMC) User Experience Guidelines Microsoft Surface User Experience MIT IS&T: Usability Guidelines Motif and Common Desktop Environment: Style Guide Nielsen's Ten Usability Heuristics (1994) NExT User Interface Guide (PDF) Office Fluent User Interface Developer Portal OLPC Human Interface Guidelines Oracle Browser Look and Feel (BLAF) Guidelines Planning Your Tablet PC Application Projects/Usability/HIG - KDE TechBase Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines Shneiderman's Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design Smith & Mosier's Guidelines for Designing User Interface Software Switch to Mac OS X From Microsoft Windows The Microsoft Office Fluent user interface overview User's Bill of Rights Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines (HTML) Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines (PDF) Windows XP User Experience Guidelines (PDF) Wizard 97 Yale Web Style Manual-Table of Contents Inductive user interfaces Top How it works: Inductive user interfaces Inductive User Interfaces: A New Opportunity for Writers (PDF) IUIs and Web-Style Navigation in Windows Forms, Part 1 Microsoft Inductive User Interface Guidelines Picking the Right Degree of Control for User Interfaces The Joel on Software Forum - Inductive User Interface Information architecture Top Card-Based Classification Evaluation Card sorting: a definitive guide Card sorting: a definitive guide Content Analysis: A Practical Approach Defining IA Deliverables Faceted Browse Faceted Classification of Information Four Modes of Seeking Information and How to Design for Them How I Draft an Information Architecture InformationDesign.org: gateway to Information Design worldwide Information Architecture Concepts Information Architecture for Everyone Information Architecture Library Information Design Using Card Sorting Interview: Information Architecture Revealed Organizing Your Web Content Sitemaps and Site Indexes: What They Are and Why You Should Have Them SunWeb: User Interface Design for Sun Microsystem's Internal Web Web Design References: Information Architecture Interface design Top Action, interaction, reaction AskTog: First Principles developerWorks: Web architecture: The user experience IBM/Ease of Use/Design Basics Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction: What is Interaction Design? (PDF) Principles of good GUI Design The Building Blocks of Experience: An Early Framework for Interaction Designers (PDF) What is Interaction Design and What Does It Mean to Information Designers? Multi-touch interfaces Top Designing for Multi-Touch, Multi-User and Gesture-Based Systems Multi-Touch Interface Research Multi-Touch Systems that I Have Known and Loved – Bill Buxton Multi Touch Technology Open Source Gesture Library Touch Screen, Multi Touch, and Touch User Interface Resources Touch Usability: News and research on usability aspects of touch interfaces Will Multitouch change your digital life ? Prototyping stencils and elements Top A wireframe kit for Google Drawings and 5 reasons it beats Omnigraffle and Visio Axure Better Defaults Library v2 Design Comics :: Characters and Scenes for Storyboarding & Design PowerPoint Prototyping Toolkit Rich Internet Applications (RIA) Top 6 Tips for a Great Flex UX: Part 5 Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications AJAX Arrives for the Enterprise AJAX & Interface Design AJAX Patterns: Functionality and Usability Patterns RIAs: The Technology Is Exciting, but They Really Do Help Users Usability for Rich Internet Applications Using Ajax for Creating Web Applications XMLHttpRequest Usability Guidelines Search Top 8 Quick Ways to Fix Your Search Best Practices for Designing Faceted Search Filters Designing a search people can really use (PDF) Faceted Search - Chapter 7 IA Heuristics for Search Systems Paging vs. Scrolling: Looking for the Best Way to Present Search Results Situational software Top The Democratization of the Tools of (Software) Production: Situated Software and Zoho Creator Shirky: Situated Software Situational application – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia SOA meets situational applications, Part 1: Changing computing in the enterprise User assistance Top 3 good reasons software will always need help A Usability Test of Web-based User Assistance Creating Online Help (Part 1): Design and Development Considerations Design Checklists for Online Help Instant Usability... How Freshbooks.Com Turns Learners into Users on Every Page Instructional Text in the User Interface: Some Counterintuitive Implications of User Behaviors Instructive Interaction: Making Innovative Interfaces Self-Teaching On Beyond Help: User Assistance and the User Interface Problems in navigating online help: clues from user search patterns Recipe for Designing Usable Documentation Six Slick Tests for Docs and Help The cranky user: The importance of documentation The future of Help? Nine trends in online user assistance Usable Help - Gallery User interface patterns Top 10 UI Design Patterns You Should Be Paying Attention To 12 Standard Screen Patterns 40+ Helpful Resources On User Interface Design Patterns All Design Patterns DarkPatterns.org Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design Designing Social Interfaces Endeca User Interface Design Pattern Library Experiences -- A Pattern Language for User Interface Design Ext GWT 2.1.1 Explorer - Sencha Hypermedia Design Patterns Repository Interaction Design Pattern Library - Welie.com PatternApp Patternry Pattern Tap patternBrowser Quince / UX Patterns Explorer Search Facets» Introducing the Endeca User Interface Design Pattern Library Social Pattern - Design Pattern Library - YDN The Brighton Usability Pattern Collection The Diemen Repository of Interaction Design Patterns The Interaction Design Patterns Page The Pattern Gallery UI Patterns - User Interface Design Pattern Library Ultimate guide to table UI patterns Yahoo! Design Patterns Library Web usability Top 247 web usability guidelines 9 Information Design Tips to Make You a Better Web Designer 10 Useful Web Application Interface Techniques IBM Ease of Use Web Design Guidelines Designing Web Applications for Use Designing Web Interfaces Improving Web Site Usability and Appeal It's a matter of style: GUI versus the Web Link Titles Help Users Predict Where They Are Going Older Wiser Wired Pagination Gallery: Examples And Good Practices Principles of Effective Web Navigation Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines Site Navigation: Keeping It Under Control Strategies For Designing Application Navigation Top-10 Application-Design Mistakes Usability On The Web Isn't A Luxury Userplus.org - Design best practices to build the best web user interface User Interface Implementations of Faceted Browsing Web Design Practices Web Style Guide 3 When It Comes to Homepages, It Is Polite to Stare Writing for a Web audience Wizards Top iSeries Navigator Software Interface Guidelines – Wizards SAP Wizard Style Guide Wizards and Guides: Principles of Task Flow for Web Applications Part 2 When to Develop a Wizard
General Usability, UCD, & UX Design
Articles Top A visual vocabulary for describing information architecture and interaction design Best of CHI-WEB and SIGIA-L Mailing Lists Brevity Versus Usability: On the Need for Articulate Messages in User Interfaces Don't Forget the Power User Feature: Shneiderman demands Computing Renaissance Interface design as a life or death proposition Just how far beyond HCI is interaction design? Lessons to be Learned Less is More (More or Less): Uncommon Sense and the Design of Computers Lisa GUI Prototypes Myths, legends and reality: the story of Clarus Prodding at the Limits of User-centred Design Progressive Disclosure: The best interaction design technique? Response: The Backlash against Jakob Nielsen and What it Teaches Us So You Want To Be An Interaction Designer Technology’s Untanglers: They Make It Really Work The Anti-Mac Interface The End of Usability Culture The Expert User Is Dead The list of reasons why ease of use doesn't happen on engineering projects The Paradox of Choice - Why More Is Less The user experience: The iceberg analogy of usability Usability Basics for Software Developers (PDF) Usability in Software Design Usability Of Artifacts Usability Professionals: Stay Prepared for Business Waves User Interface Design — Is it A Science, An Art, or A Craft? Web Developers: On Being Too Wired Why are Human-Computer Interfaces Difficult to Design and Implement? (PostScript) Blogs Top 456 Berea Street A design and usability blog: Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals) A List Apart Adaptive Path Blog Boxes and Arrows EverydayUX Functioning Form - Interface Design Blog (Weblog) Jensen Harris: An Office User Interface Blog Information Architecture Television Info Design InspireUX Nooface: In Search of the Post-PC Interface Signal vs. Noise Smashing Magazine The Laws of Simplicity Top 100 User-Centered Blogs UI Trends UsabilityPost User Interface Engineering - Brain Sparks UX Agile UX Booth UX Exchange UX Magazine UX Matters WebWord.com: Usability and Human Factors for the Internet What Makes Them Click? Yahoo! User Interface Blog Business benefits of usability Top A Business Case for Usability Cost justifying ease of use Convincing Clients to Pay for Usability Cost of User Testing a Website Loaded Cost of Employee Time Return on Investment Return on Investment for Usability Return on Investment for Usable User-Interface Design: Examples and Statistics (PDF) Selling Usability to Your Manager The ROI of Usability The Short-term Benefits of a Usability Strategy Usability and the Bottom Line (PDF) UX in the Boardroom: A Solid Case for Investing in UX Visualizing Success: How user-centered design drives real business results (PDF) Human-computer interaction Top A Brief History of Human Computer Interaction Technology As We May Think by Vannevar Bush Carnegie Mellon Human-Computer Interaction Institute Research CNET International - 30 years of windows: a retrospective Doug Engelbart 1968 Demo HCI Handbook HCI Research at Stanford Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL) at University of Maryland Human Oriented Technology Lab at Carleton University Microsoft Research Milestones - PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) MIT Media Lab Research Operating System Interface Design Between 1981-2009 The Newly Inspired Bushy Tree The Xerox “Star”: A Retrospective Management Top Building the UX Dreamteam Evangelizing Usability: Change Your Strategy at the Halfway Point Sharing Ownership of UX (User eXperience) The 3 Qs for Great Experience Design Three Steps to Fostering a User-Centered Design Culture Organizations Top ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI) STC (Society for Technical Communication) Usability & User Experience Community The Information Architecture Institute The Interaction Design Association (IxDA) Usability Professionals' Association (UPA) Resource collections Top Ask Tog Home Page GUIdebook: Graphical User Interface gallery GUUUI - The Interaction Designer's Coffee Break: Articles, columns & tips HCI Bibliography: Human-Computer Interaction Publications and Resources HCI Index ia/ information architecture news IBM: Ease of Use InContext » articles Interaction-Design.org Macromedia - Flash : Usability Measuring the User Experience Measuring Usability: Quantitative Usability, Statistics and Six-Sigma MSDN User Experience and Interface Design Developer Resources Online International Journal of Usability Studies OpenUsability SAP Design Guild STC Usability SIG Web Site - Usability Resources SURL Usability News The Graphical User Interface Gallery The User Experience Group: Indiana University UIweb Usable Web UsabilityNet Usability Glossary Usability News User experience design resources (Dey Alexander Consulting) User Interface Resource Center useit.com: Jakob Nielsen's site (Usable Information Technology) UX Bookmarks
Mobile Design
Articles Top Babyface Design for Mobile Devices and the Web (PDF) Choosing an Approach to Mobile Development Comparing Data Input Methods on Handheld Computers Designing for the Small Screen (PDF) Designing Exceptional Mobile Experiences Designing in the Large for the Small: Combining Aesthetics with Usability (PDF) Designing the Mobile User Experience Development of a Future Wireless Information Device (PDF) Evaluation of Multimodal Dialogue for Small-screen Devices (PDF) Four Key Principles of Mobile User Experience Design Interfaces Supporting One-Handed Use of Small Devices iPad Usability: First Findings From User Testing iPhone Apps Design Mistakes: Disregard Of Context iPhone Apps Need Low Starting Hurdles Making a Site Accessible 4 Smartphones Minimizing the annoyance of the mobile phone Mobile First Mobile Users and Mobile Interfaces Mobilize, Don’t Miniaturize Sorting out searching on small screen devices (PDF) The Future of Usability is Mobile The Dos and Do Nots of Mobile Applications The iPhone User Experience: A First Look The Myth of a Big Screen Twitter for Android: A closer look at Android's evolving UI patterns Usability and Acceptance in Small-Screen Information Systems (PDF) Use Cases for Mobile Apps Virtual Information Piles for Small Screen Devices (PDF) Will Baby Faces Ever Grow Up? (PDF) Zen of Palm Blogs Top Little Springs Design - designing the mobile user experience Mobile Community Design Cascading style sheets Top HTML and CSS for Mobiles Stylesheets for handheld devices Targeting Small Screens Device emulators and SDKs Top Android - An Open Handset Alliance Project Blackberry Handheld Simulators Hiptop Danger Developer Zone iPhone Dev Center Microsoft Device Emulator 3.0 Palm - Ares (on-line IDE) Palm® MojoTM Software Development Kit (webOS) UIQ 3.0 SDK for Symbian OS Windows Mobile 6 Localized Emulator Images Flow and small screen interfaces Top Handheld Devices and the Flow of Functionality Graphical user interface editors Top App Inventor for Android (Beta) DroidDraw (Google Android) Project Ares (Palm webOS) Guidelines and standards Top BlackBerry Wireless Handheld User Interface Style Guide (PDF) Flash Lite: Visual Guide (PDF) Generic interface elements for mobile terminals and services (PDF) iPhone Human Interface Guidelines Making Small Devices Look Great Nokia - Design and User Experience Library v2.0 Palm webOS User Interface Guidelines Series 60 UI Style Guide Series 60: Usability Guidelines For Enterprise Applications (PDF) Sony Ericsson Mobile UI Style Guide Successful User Interfaces for Mobile Devices Touch Gesture Reference Guide Touch Target Sizes User Interface Guidelines \| Android Developers W3C Mobile Web Initiative Windows Mobile 6 Design Guidelines Windows Phone 7 Series UI Design & Interaction Guide (PDF) Interface design Top Adapting User Interfaces of Mobile Applications – Success Factor Usability Android UI Design Tips Challenges of Interface Design for Mobile Devices Designing a Palm user interface Designing Effective User Interfaces for Wireless Devices Interface design and the iPhone Multi-touch interfaces Top Multi-Touch Systems that I Have Known and Loved – Bill Buxton Touch Usability: News and research on usability aspects of touch interfaces Prototyping stencils and elements Top 21 Prototyping, Mockup, and Wireframing Tools for iPhone App Development \| iPhoneized Android GUI PSD Vector Kit Android GUI Prototyping Stencil (Visio) Android Wireframe Templates Fireworks template for Android Google Android (OmniGraffle) iPad Photoshop Template iPad Stencil for Omnigraffle iPad UI Templates iPhone iPhone UI Library for Keynote and PowerPoint iPhone GUI PSD iPhone Wire Frames (OmniGraffle) Palm Pre GUI PSD Yahoo! Design Stencil Kit (including general mobile and iPhone elements) Resource collections Top 7 UI Design Resources for iPhone Developers Handheld Devices - Topics in Usability Mobile Apps Mobile HCI Mobile UI design resources wiki Small Surfaces - Mobile user interface design and interaction design Topics in Usability: Wireless Devices Usable Products Company > Our Work > Resources Usability testing Top A Guide to Usability Testing an iPhone app Website design Top 10 tips for designing mobile websites \| These Days Labs Best Practices To Develop Perfect Websites for iPhone and Mobile Devices Designing Web Sites for Mobile Devices Introduction to Safari Web Content Guide for iPhone Optimizing Web Pages For Handheld Devices Mobile-friendly: The mobile web optimization guide Mobile Web Design ~ The Series Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 Pocket-Sized Design: Taking Your Website to the Small Screen Power Browser: Efficient Web Browsing for PDAs (PDF) Six mistakes to avoid in mobile usability Tips to design your site for mobile devices Usable web pages for mobile devices Writing a PDA Friendly Web Site
Online Collaboration
Articles Top Building a collaborative workplace Collaborative Design, Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying & Escape the Vicious Cycle of Review & Revisions Creating Collaboration Takes More Than Technology Fifteen Tips for Remote Collaboration Getting the best return on meeting time investment Hiring for a Collaborative Team Leading from a Distance (PDF) Proven, Practical Tips for Effective Conference Calls (TXT) Research on distance collaboration The First Key to Project Success Is Collaborative Requirements Definition and Management (PDF) Virtual Team Tips: List of Tips Working at a Distance is hard Where business analysis and user experience intersect: the benefits of collaboration Blogs Top Centre for Creative Collaboration - blog University of London Collaboration 2.0 \| ZDNet Enterprise 2.0 Blog Kolabora: The Online Collaboration Authority The AppGap: News, views, and reviews of Work 2.0 tools, apps and practices The FASTForward Blog: Enterprise 2.0 Blog: News, Coverage, and Commentary Chat and instant messaging tools Top Adium (Mac only) Campfire Meebo Pidgin (PC only) Collaborative prototyping Top Central Desktop Office (PowerPoint) iPlotz HotGloo MockFlow PowerPoint and SharePoint Server 2010 ProtoShare Computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) Top A Manifesto for Collaborative Tools Combining Web 2.0 and Collaboration Support Systems Computer supported cooperative work - Wikipedia Tracing the Evolution of Social Software Document collaboration tools Top EditGrid Google Docs / Google Apps SmartSheet Zoho Flowchart collaboration tools Top Gliffy Flowchart.com MS Office document sharing tools Top DocVerse eXpresso MS Office Live Workspace Mind mapping tools Top DropMind MindManager MindMeister NovaMind XMind Outliner tools Top Checkvist LooseStitch Project collaboration tools Top activeCollab Assembla Basecamp Central Desktop Confluence Huddle Onehub OnStage ProjectSpaces Sosius TeamWork Live Teamwork Project Manager WebEx WebOffice Zoho Projects Remote access tools Top GoToMyPC (PC only) LogMeIn Screencast tools Top CamStudio (PC only) Camtasia Studio (PC only) ScreenSteps ScreenToaster Silverback (Mac Only) Screen capture tools Top FullShot Screen Capture (PC only) InstantShot! (Mac only) Jing Project LittleSnapper (Mac only) SnagIt Screen Capture - Capture and Share Your PC Screen (PC only) Snapz Pro X (Mac only) Security tools Top Cryptainer LE (PC only) PGP Desktop Storage/backup/sync tools and services Top Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) Dropbox JungleDisk SpiderOak SugarSync Syncplicity Windows Live FolderShare Social bookmarking tools and articles Top Home - 2collab del.icio.us Diigo How Social Bookmarking Can Help a Project Team LookSmart's Furl - Your Personal Web File Social computing Top IBM Research: Social Computing Group Microsoft Research: Social Computing Group Six Degrees of Social Computing Social computing - Wikipedia Social Networking: Why are Conversation and Collaboration Tools so Underused? Version control tools & articles Top Beanstalk Managing the server side of collaborative work with Subversion My Version Control Virtualization tools Top Parallels (Mac only) VirtualBox VMWare Whiteboard tools Top Dabbleboard skrbl: Your sharable online whiteboard Team WhiteBoarding with Twiddla - Painless Team Collaboration for the Web
Prototyping
Articles Top 10 Minute Mock Prototyping - Tips for PowerPoint An Interview with Anders Ramsay: Prototyping (Video) AskTog: Rough Sketches Enhancing Experience Prototyping by the help of Mixed-Fidelity Prototypes (PDF) Industry trends in prototyping Interactive Prototypes with PowerPoint Interface in Form: Paper and Product Prototyping for Feedback and Fun Page Description Diagrams Paper Prototyping: Getting User Data Before You Code Prototyping in the Software Development Cycle Prototyping With PowerPoint Prototyping: Picking the Right Tool Rapid Prototyping Tools Revisited Real Wireframes Get Real Results Review: 16 User Interface Prototyping Tools SAP Design Guild -- My Design Tools — Part 1 Six Signs That You Should Use Paper Prototyping Sketching in Code: the Magic of Prototyping Snyder Consulting - Paper Prototyping The dark side of prototyping The future of wireframes? The Perils of Prototyping by Alan Cooper Using Wireframes Visio Replacement? You Be the Judge Visio tips & tricks for Interaction Designers What do Prototypes Prototype? (PDF) Wireframe-Prototyping Using PowerPoint 2007 (Video) Prototyping tools Top Adobe Flash Catalyst (PC only) Axure RP Balsamiq Mockups Creately FlairBuilder - Interactive Wireframes and Software Prototypes HotGloo iPlotz: wireframing, mockups and prototyping for websites and applications iRise - Innovation Through Visualization (PC only) inPreso Screens ixEdit Jumpchart Justinmind Lovely Charts Microsoft Expression Blend (PC only) Microsoft Office PowerPoint Microsoft Office Visio (PC only) MockApp MockFlow Mockingbird MockupScreens OmniGraffle (Mac only) ProtoShare Runtime Revolution Specifications Top 4 easy steps for documenting user interface Dialog maps Functional Spec Tutorial: What and Why Getting Creative With Specs: Usable Software Specifications State charts Top UML 2 State Machine Diagrams UML Activity Diagrams: Detailing User Interface Navigation
Psychology and Design
Auditory Interfaces Top Sounds to Support Navigation in Mobile Phone Menus (PDF) Using Non Speech Sounds to Provide Navigation Cues (PDF) Why Is That Thing Beeping? A Sound Design Primer Cognitive psychology Top A Web-based Test of Fitts' Law Expanding Target Prototype Designs Generating Metaphors for Graphical User Interfaces How To Improve Usability With Fitts’ and Hick’s Laws Human Factors Design Principles Personality Type Information Pie Menus a Brief Examination Reducing reliance on superstition Response Time Overview The Myth of Seven, Plus or Minus 2 Conceptual models Top Affordances & Design Design as Communication Models of a User Interface The Myth of Metaphor (PDF) The Secret to Designing an Intuitive UX: Match the Mental Model to the Conceptual Model The Three Models User-Centered Design: A Clinician's Perspective Flow Top Design for Emotion and Flow eLab - Research: Hot Topics : Flow Flow in Web Design - designing sites for optimal user experience or flow state Go With The Flow Interfaces for Staying in the Flow Make It Flow: Achieving the Optimal User Experience (PDF) The Role of Flow in Web Design Visual design Top 7 Principles of Effective Icon Design 10 Mistakes in Icon Design 10 Tips for Effective Icon Design 50 Totally Free Lessons in Graphic Design Theory Color + Design Blog / Color Basics: Dos and Dont's by COLOURlovers Color Contrast & Dimension in News Design Color it effective: How color influences the user Color Matters: Effect of Color on Ecology and Usability Color Matters: Effect of Color on Ecology and Usability Color Theory for web designers - Colors on the Web Color Theory for Designers, Part 1: The Meaning of Color Color Scheme Picker Colorblindness - A Usability Guide for Commercial Applications, Part 1 Communicating color efficiently - red & green Design Basics Getting Started with Page Layout: Principles of Graphic Design How to Choose Colors Everyone Likes Microsoft typography Modern Web Design Style, Good Web 2.0 Design Natural Selections: Colors Found in Nature and Interface Design Lorem Ipsum Patterns for the Color Blind Screen Layout - Part I: General Considerations Seeing Color: Color Tests Sessions.edu Online School of Design: Interactive Learning Units The Four Basic Principles of Design Typedia: A Shared Encyclopedia of Typefaces UX Design Framework – Visual Design Visible Narratives: Understanding Visual Organization Visual tricks can make downloads seem quicker
Remote Usability
Card sorting tools Top MindCanvas OptimalSort Websort Conference call services Top Accuconference.com ConferenceCall.com FreeConference.com Remote focus groups tools and articles Top artafact - engage your market Introducing WebEx Online Focus Groups (video - registration required) Telephone Focus Groups Remote usability testing Top 5 Second Test An Empirical Comparison of Lab and Remote Usability Testing of Web Sites (PDF) Bridging the Gap with a Remote User (PDF) ClickTale Clixpy Debunking the Myths of Online Usability Testing Ethnio Experience remote usability testing, Part 1 Experience remote usability testing, Part 2 Feedback Army In-person usability study compared with self-administered web study (DOC) Interno Tredici :: Remote usability testing Loop11 Museums and the Web 2006: Papers: Hecht, Viewing The Viewer: Remote Usability Testing Offshore Usability (Alertbox) OK/Cancel » Archive » Guide to Remote Usability Testing Optimal Workshop: Chalkmark PlainFrame.com Remote Online Usability Testing: Why, How, and When to Use It Remote Testing versus Lab Testing Remote Usability Remote Web Site Usability Testing (PDF) Testled Usability Evaluation from your Desktop (PDF) Userfly Usabilla - Transparent Usability - Visual Feedback UserFly UserTesting.com UserVue UX 2.0: Any User, Any Time, Any Channel What Happened to Remote Usability Testing? An Empirical Study of Three Methods (ACM) Remote user studies tools and articles Top Defining a Product Vision using Remote Research Methodologies (PPT) Ethnio Recruiting :: Made with 100% natural ethnioil Intervue Overcoming Distance in User-Centered Design (PDF) Remote Contextual Inquiry: A Technique to Improve Enterprise Software User-Centered Design at a Distance Scheduling tools Top Doodle Meeting Wizard Meet-O-Matic ScheduleOnce TimeBridge TimeDriver Tungle When Is Good Screen sharing tools and articles Top Glance GoToMeeting Screen Sharing Tools and Technology: A Mini-Guide Web Conferencing and Online Meetings with Desktop Sharing: WebEx Survey and web form tools Top FormAssembly Formspring Google Docs spreadsheets / Google Apps spreadsheets Icebrrg JotForm SurveyGizmo Survey Monkey.com WuFoo Zoho Creator Zoomerang World time tools Top Every Time Zone iStat menus (Mac only) Permatime The Time Zone Converter Vela Clock (Mac only) Vista Gadget: Presto's Sidebar Clock (PC only) www.timeanddate.com world time engine
Usability Evaluations
Benchmarking and best practices Top Benchmarking-measuring and comparing for continuous improvement Benchmarking: Avoid comparing yourself to the industry average Eye tracking Top Demystifying Usability : Eye-Tracking studies- Usability holy grail? Eyetools Research EyeTrack07: The Myth of Short Attention Spans Eye Tracking as Silver Bullet for Usability Evaluations? Eye Gaze Patterns while Searching vs. Browsing a Website F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content Scientific Web Design: 23 Actionable Lessons from Eye-Tracking Studies Usability inspections Top Heuristic Evaluation Heuristic Evaluation - A System Checklist Methods and Techniques Performing a Cognitive Walkthrough Review of Heuristic Evaluations Site Usability Heuristics for the Web The Streamlined Cognitive Walkthrough Method (PDF) The Usability Methods Toolbox Usability Expert Reviews: Beyond Heuristic Evaluation Usability Heuristics for Rich Internet Applications Why it makes sense to do both Expert Review and Usability Testing Usability questionnaires Top Perceived Usefulness and Ease of Use Should you use 5 or 7 points scales? Questionnaire For User Interaction Satisfaction SUMI Questionnaire Homepage SUS - A quick and dirty usability scale (DOC) Web-Based User Interface Evaluation with Questionnaires Usability reports Top How to Deliver a Report Without Getting Lynched Making sense of the data: Collaborative data analysis Usability Report Tips Writing Usability Reports Usability testing Top 4 ways to combat usability testing avoidance 6-step process for planning a user test 10 Tools to Improve Your Site’s Usability on a Low Budget Avoiding Demographics When Recruiting Participants Caroline's Corner: Designing comparative Evaluations Do’s and Don’ts of Usability Testing Four Words to Improve User Research How (much) to Intervene in a Usability Testing Session If They Don't Test, Don't Hire Them (How user testing saves money) Influence of Cultural Background on Non-verbal Communication in a Usability Testing Situation Labs/Ubiquity/Usability/Usability Testing/How To - MozillaWiki Learn About Usability Testing Observe Users: Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines (PDF) Observer Effects in Usability Testing OK/Cancel » Archive » Beginner’s Guide to Moderating a Usability Study Practical Usability Testing Seven Common Usability Testing Mistakes Success Rate: The Simplest Usability Metric Task-Free Usability Testing: Summary of UPA Seminar Testing Whether Web Page Templates are Helpful The ultimate ways to test your site Ultimate Usability Testing Toolkit Usability Basics: Writing Tasks Usability Metrics Usability Test Data Logger Usability Testing Usability Testing Demystified Usability Testing: You Get What You Pay For Usability Testing for e-Learning Using the RITE method to improve products; a definition and a case study (DOC) What’s in a Number? Why you only need to test with five users (explained) Why you shouldn't ask “Why?” in a usability test
User Needs Analysis
Anecdote Circles Top Anecdote Circles at High Speed Narrative inquiry - Regional Knowledge Resource Kit The Ultimate Guide to Anecdote Circles (PDF) Contextual inquiries Top Affinity Diagrams Contextual Enquiry Contextual Enquiry - A Primer Contextual Inquiry - Fluid Project Wiki Contextual Method for the Re-design of Existing Software Products Data From a Few Leads to Optimum Results Designing to the Intent — Support Your Users' "Whys" Not Just Their 'Whats" Don't Ask Your Customer—Use Contextual Inquiry Field Research in Commercial Product Development (PDF) Focus Setting: Building a Strong Foundation for Your Project Guerilla CD Helpful Tips to Improve Your Contextual Inquiry Techniques Just the Essentials — Adapting Contextual Design to a Narrowly-Scoped Project Field studies Top Field Studies: The Best Tool to Discover User Needs Focus Questions for Site Visits Site Visits Tips for Talking with Users During Site Visits Focus groups Top 10 Tips for Running Successful Focus Groups Focus Groups to Study Work Practice How to Conduct a Focus Group Observation The Use and Misuse of Focus Groups Wants and Needs Analysis (PPT) Interviews Top Better interviewing for better requirements (PDF) Conducting Successful SME Interviews Face to Face With Your Users: Running a Nondirected Interview Interviews: RESPECT User-Centered Requirements Handbook (PDF) Site visit interviews: from good to great Six Steps to Better Interviews and Simplified Task Analysis Personas Top Ad-Hoc Personas & Empathetic Focus Agile Personas Bringing Your Personas to Life in Real Life Extending a Technique: Group Personas Framing Learner Personas Goal-Directed Design How Personas Drive the Design of Successful Business Applications MSN Explorer: Usability Research Persona Creation: Beyond Fake Personas Practical Persona Creation Perfecting Your Personas Personas: Focusing on getting the design right – Part 1 Personas: Matching a Design to the Users' Goals Personas: Theory and Practice (PDF) Personas: Setting the Stage for Building Usable Information Sites Personas - the definitive guide Personas and Storytellings Reconciling market segments and personas Taking the "You" Out of User: My Experience Using Personas Three Important Benefits of Personas Personas in Usability Questionnaire design Top Guide to the Design of Questionnaires Hints for Designing Effective Questionnaires Questionnaire Design What Is a Survey Requirements Top 10 Small Steps to Better Requirements 13 common objections against user requirements analysis Are you designing for user goals or simply tasks? Bridging the Gap with Requirements Definition Conventional Requirements Model Flaw Misses REAL Business Requirements (PDF) Cosmic Truths About Software Requirements (PDF) Define goals Defining the Problem The Directory of Usability, Information Architecture, and User Experience Design Software Identifying Website Requirements Investing in Requirements Analysis Karl Wiegers Describes 10 Requirements Traps to Avoid Leaving technology out of requirements gathering Linking Usability Goals to Business Goals Making Projects Succeed: Part 1 - Measurable Business Goals Requirements by Collaboration: Getting It Right the First Time (PDF) Volere Requirements Resources Writing the Market Requirements Document Task analysis Top Brainstorming Sessions Conduct Task Analysis Development Methods: User Needs Assessment & Task Analysis Hierarchical Task Analysis Modeling User Workflows for Rich Internet Applications Task analysis Task analysis techniques Uncovering True Motivation: The Whys and Wherefore User Task Flows (PDF) Use cases Top Modeling essential use cases Structure and Style in Use Cases for User Interface Design Top Ten Ways Project Teams Misuse Use Cases - - and How to Correct Them (PDF) Use Cases and interaction design Use Cases vs User Scenarios User profiles Top Specify User Characteristics: RESPECT User-Centered Requirements Handbook (PDF) Task-Based Audience Segmentation User Group Profiles \| Accessibility in User-Centered Design \| Just Ask What Kind of Users Use Your GUI? User research Top Case Study of Customer Input For a Successful Product (PDF) Effective Design Research: Analyze Goals First Planning for User Research Success Research Is a Method, Not a Methodology UsabilityNet: Requirements overview User requirements analysis: a review of supporting methods (PDF)


paulhibbitts.com	About Paul	Working with your Team	Clients	Case Studies	Resources