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Author: ssmith
Posted by ssmith on April 16, 2010
Although the web has long provided support for non-HTML documents (PDF, Word, etc.) that doesn’t mean it is a good thing to do. It can make it difficult for users to find what they need. Non-HTML documents are often not …
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Posted in Uncategorized
Posted by ssmith on April 9, 2010
There are a few key things every web manager needs to track about their visitors – like what did you come to the website to do and were you able to complete your task? Let’s call them TASKS and COMPLETION. …
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Posted in Management and strategy
Tagged top tasks
Posted by ssmith on December 16, 2009
A link is a promise Gerry McGovern says “a link is a promise, and if websites were marriages, many would end in divorce”. Links need to keep their promise or people are frustrated. Designing links is the fundamental skill of the …
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Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged UX
Posted by ssmith on December 16, 2009
Sometimes it is hard to find budget for user research. In a budget crunch, decisions can overlook the importance of user input in managing a user experience. Whether you manage a website or an application, you can’t be decisive without …
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Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged top tasks
Posted by ssmith on December 9, 2009
Google says a faster web will make a better world, that customers prefer websites that are faster, and that we’ve only just begun. We agree. But Google cannot do this on its own. So Google is asking people to work …
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Posted in Management and strategy
Tagged top tasks, userexperience
Posted by ssmith on September 16, 2009
The “long neck” refers to the 5% of your web content responsible for 80% of your web visits. The “long tail” refers to the bulk of your web pages that get very few visits. The long tail is exemplified by e-commerce …
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Posted in Management and strategy, Uncategorized
Tagged top tasks
Posted by ssmith on September 9, 2009
How long do your users take to perform important tasks on your website? Could you answer your senior executives if they asked you? Never before in history has it been possible to answer such a question so accurately. Task management …
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Posted in Management and strategy
Tagged top tasks, userexperience
Posted by ssmith on May 16, 2009
The tax folks offer an online way for businesses to figure what they owe the government –the Payroll Calculator on the Canada Revenue Agency website. Just try to use it. Arriving by search works pretty well. The alternative is to wade through …
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Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged UX
Posted by ssmith on March 9, 2009
Once in awhile we ask whether we are in a position to solve the bigger problems. What about the really big problems facing the world right now? Are we as a profession having impact on the economic crises we face? …
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Posted in Management and strategy
Tagged userexperience
Posted by ssmith on September 16, 2008
Where is usability testing heading? One way to answer that is to follow the trends in patents. Inventions in usability testing patents show a trend toward equipping the usability professional with affordable toos to analyse behaviour patterns. In recent years, …
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Posted in Remote usability testing
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