think broadly first - The devil is in the details - Never having seen someone use it - No documentation of user mental model - “Lob it over the fence” build mentality - Small decisions do not make-or-break alone
- Users read “about” pages to learn more about the person or organization to build trust and context. - Users read articles to learn new info and / or to find something they can use to complete a task.
and microsites. It can get cumbersome for large sites with very specific pages. On deep level navigation, efficient interaction is very important. Hover / animation is less work for the user than reloading the page.
it. You need to be able to discover stuff in it. The whole features of your application will live or die by whether or not users find them in the navigation.” - Hagan Rivers
participant your content and don’t tell the them any predefined categories and ask them to group it. Pro: captures a user’s true mental model Con: user may not understand all of your content well, a lot of explanation needed
defined and are asking users where they would put things. Pro: discover how your user would group what you have Con: making assumptions on how they think about it in terms of categories
one person’s ideas decide the navigation. Do a few sessions and see where common links are found. More on Card Sorts: http://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/ methods/card-sorting.html
changes, especially immediately after a visual interruption such as a flickering screen, device reorientation or page refresh. http://www.gocognitive.net/sites/default/files/change_blindness.v.0.93_0.swf
installing the elevator before knowing how many floors the building will have. Without knowing the inner workings of your app, you can’t possibly know the optimal path to guide your users through it.” - Jared Spool
creates longer search times and user confusion. Designers and businesses want to be creative, but for usability, using standard designs actually can be better, because…